Thanks guys for all the great info. Yes, I will be building a bridge later this year when the drawings are finished.It is a Civil War era bridge that spanned the Cumberland River in Nashville Tenn. Originally the Louisville & Nashville ry. Original bridge was a covered bridge later uncovered then burnt to the piers and rebuilt again. The modern bridge can be found on google earth type in “Shelby Bottoms Nature Center” and it will take you to the bridge…and yes it is a loooong bridge…Travis
I own a couple of Lone Star Bridges, made from Marine Grade Mahogany. One day while doing maintenance on the railroad, I wanted to fix a brace on one of the bridges that came loose and discovered a unique way LSB assembles the braces, there is no glue or nails being used. everything is just held together with the brass rods. to keep the end grain from wicking water, there is something like a nail head or staple inserted into the end grain and is slightly above the end grain, all these braces are not touching another piece of wood but metal.
This keeps the water from rotting the wood.
Got to figure out how to duplicate this construction, have talked to Mark Smith and he will not divulge his secrets.
If you get to see a LSB bridge look carefully at the assembly.
On another point about cutting wood, I use a home made sled on the table saw. It makes accurate cuts and you can set it up for repeat cuts.
Example:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=69t6MFCUobw
I also use a blade vibration damper, this are extra large machined washer(s) you place on the saw blade, they replace the small 3/4 washer that normally come with your saw.
Here is an example:
http://www.forrestsawbladesonline.com/category_8_DAMPENER_STIFFENERS.html
Thanks for this info, Dennis. Sounds as if Mark knows what he’s doing, anyway!
John Le Forestier said:
I make sure there is plenty of air circulation in, around and through any wooden structure. For example, I avoid glazing windows, and don’t add interior partitions.
I’m curious about this John. Some of my buildings are open but some are closed up tight. I remember reading a book by the late great Peter Jones who lived in England and had to deal with the almost constant dampness of that country. He used to seal his buildings edges with white glue and made them to be tight like a drum.
My oldest structures are 6 years old and most are only 2 so it is hard to tell which process is better over the long term. Open to let the air through or tight like a drum?
What do you guys like to do?
I vent all of my buildings. Otherwise, you can have problems with condensation as well as heat buildup which can lead to warping.
I’ve used smokestacks as well as just openings backed with screens.
Around here, a vented building invites wasps and hornets.
I discourage their homesteading by placing a cotton ball soaked in citronella oil inside each building.
My wife doing some research on how to discourage rodents, discovered that pepermint oil plays havoc with their sense of smwll and they will look to other quarters. That should cover the other ‘uninvited guest’ problem with permanently outdoor located structures.
Bob C.
I haven’t had any problem with wasps or hornets. My main invader is spiders. I’d like to find a deterrent for them.
Rooster’s
Lizards & Frogs work too !
I have been building structures with a Brazilian hardwood in the mahogany family called I’pe. I have stored some cut-offs outside, in the weather from a deck I helped to build 10 years ago. The only sign of weathering is the exposed surfaces have a natural gray tone, no splits, checks, bowing or cupping. The sawdust is a respiratory irritant and it is hard, (some carpenters/woodworkers call it Ironwood). I does work very nicely though. FWIW.
(http://freightsheds.largescalecentral.com/users/lastmanout/_forumfiles/Bridge8.jpg)
(http://freightsheds.largescalecentral.com/users/lastmanout/_forumfiles/bridge10.jpg)
Bruce, Try getting some Hedge Apples if you know anyone who has the tree. We toss them along the house in the Fall…No spiders in the house…Travis
That is a nice looking bridge you built David. You are so right about the mahogany being a respritory problem. I learned that the hard way when I first ripped the stuff and everything in my shop was coated with a fine red dust and I was coughing for a week. The splinters are also very fine and you won’t even know you have one until it starts getting sore. It is a very hard wood and shooting 18 gauge brads into it can split thin pieces while shooting 23 gauge pins into are OK but longer than 1/2 will probably bend them half way through the piece. Otherwise for all the pains of using it the mahogany holds up very well outside.
Here is a photo of a mine head structure I built using mahogany for the “legs” and ladder and cedar for the building planking. Today a year later the red mahogany is more of a grey tone.
(http://freightsheds.largescalecentral.com/users/capecodtodd/_forumfiles/MineBuildings.jpg)
I like the large building on the right side. +++
Steve Featherkile said:
Around here, a vented building invites wasps and hornets.
I discourage their homesteading by placing a cotton ball soaked in citronella oil inside each building.
Good point, and a problem around here too, Steve. We also get carpenter ants and paper wasps, as well as another kind of wasp or solo bee that eats its home into wood. All these are additional reasons that I prefer cedar, which seems to resist all these visitors.
In this part of the world, that usually means Eastern white cedar. There will be many, many variants around the continent, not all necessarily called cedar, btw. Cypress is a cedar, I believe, as are redwoods, n’est-ce pas?
Interesting comments about thehealth hazards oif mahogany; I have heard that oak can also cause respiratory problems.
Exposure to these irritants is not something to be taken lightly, by the way. The inflamatory response can resurface years later as very serious, debilitating, and terminal respiratory disease.
"Interesting comments about the health hazards oif mahogany; I have heard that oak can also cause respiratory problems.
Exposure to these irritants is not something to be taken lightly, by the way. The inflamatory response can resurface years later as very serious, debilitating, and terminal respiratory disease."
Very true John, inhaling dust can cause all kinds of problems now and later on.
Ever since that first bout if I have anymore than a few small pieces to rip of any type of wood I take the table saw outside and rip away. I can’t take my table top belt sander outside very well so if I have lots to do with that I will wear a mask while the dust flies.
One can never be too careful when it comes to your health.
Thanks David that is my mining operation and a real focal point on my RR. For some reason the angled conveyor piece was not in place when the photo was taken and I don’t seem to have a photo of it here in the freight shed but if you have Garden Railways Mag. April 2012 it is in there on the back page “If I’d Only Known” section.
This isn’t the exact table of Wood Toxicity I saved someplace in my files, but the info is there, just harder to read.
http://www.hobbywoods.com/wood_toxicity.htm
…and for the Limeys:
http://www.hse.gov.uk/pubns/wis30.pdf
Respiratory problems from wood dust is nothing to sneeze at.