A year ago I built this covered bridge across the channel that runs across our property. Mostly it looks older and not new because it was built from reclaimed lumber. The six by eight beams are twenty feet long and were abandoned at Belnap hot springs. They are most likely cut in the 1930`s and were taken out when the lodge was remodeled In 1989. The roof trusses are from 2X6 from the same remodel discards. My eighty year oldfriend made the trusses for me and his nephew put the roofing on. I do not do high places well, At my age the ground is just too hard. The rustic lower walls are made from 4x4 posts that I recycled from another location. The lower walls are from recycled fence boards that someone was about to burn. I did buy treated 2x6 for the decking and the roofing is also new material. I really like the challenge of working with recycled wood. This last spring I was given a collapsed building behind the Rustic Skillet. The wood was mostly 4x4 and 2x6 lumber all in really good shape. The building had collapsed with the winters snow, who ever designed and built the thing really needed carpentry school. Sue and I disassembled the thing brought home all the wood and pulled all the old nails. From this lumber I was able to build with help from my wife and friends A garden tool shed for Sue it is 8x12. I was also able to put a 10x12 covered deck on my shop. Had to get garden tools out of my shop so I could get back to building furniture.
I wanted to build furniture in my spare time and when I retire, in four years. Plans change found myself out of work. Needing something to do I started to look for wood to make the Captains queen bed for Tamara. Soon found out that wood is very expensive when you are unemployed. I mentioned this to my friend Ray and he says I have some fifety year old Maple you can have! Wow it is nice wood apparently it was logged locially and stored in a barn for decades and a friend gave it to him for fire wood! I now have all the pices cut and I am sanding the pices prior to assembly and the grain is very pretty. I wiped down everything with water today to bring up the grain after first sanding and it is going to be a keeper.
