Building a children’s life size “log” construction set from old fence boards

[Art Mulder]

I just packed all the parts made so far into the trailer:

Safe travels, Frank. Hope you have a good time.
Our own family vacation is less than 2 weeks off as well.

...art

[Frank Pellow]

I am back in Toronto from Pellow's Camp briefly in order to weed the garden and pay some bills but will be returning there at the end of the week. Now that I have internet access again, I will update this story.

I thought that I had manufatured sufficient peices back in Toronto to build something interesting but, when I assembled the part in the play-yard at camp, I found that I had not done so.



I wanted to have a fuller set for my grandchildren Isla and Ethan when they arrived in August so decided maybe I would build some after I completed last years dock project.

I can tell you that the adult visitors we had at camp for the first week or so were really enthusiastic about the project. Lorna, my sister-in-law, seriously thought that I should market it and was persistent in this assertion. I told Lorna (and others) that at the rate I build things I would quickly go broke and that she or anyone else was quite at liberty to copy my ideas. Also, I used free scrap wood and paying for the wood would, I believe, put the price out of most folks reach.

In the meantime, I made use of one of the windows for about four days. I had forgotten my keys so had to beaak a kitchen window to get into the main cabin.



The place in Hearst where I could get new glass was closed for three days, so I (mostly) pluged the gap with one of the windows from the log play set.



(more to come after I get a bit of work done here)

[Stuart Ablett]

Gee Frank, that sucks that you had to bust you own window.

My uncle has cabins in the mountains, he always hid a key out there, I'm talking a fair ways away from the cabin, under a fairly big rock, that way if he forgot his keys, he had a key.

Good temp fix it up just the same.

Cheers!

[Frank Pellow]

Gee Frank, that sucks that you had to bust you own window.

My uncle has cabins in the mountains, he always hid a key out there, I'm talking a fair ways away from the cabin, under a fairly big rock, that way if he forgot his keys, he had a key.

Good temp fix it up just the same.

Cheers!

I have a hidden keys too Stu, but it would appear that when I left the place last October, I forgot to hide the hidden keys.

[Jim Shaver]

Hi Frank,

I enjoy following your adventures. Too bad about the window, but such are the elements of family stories to come...

[Frank Pellow]

I decided to make 9 logs for the log construction kit out of three 16 foot 2x6s from the reserve lumber pile:



This is the large reserve store of pressure treated spruce wood that I keep on hand for projects that come up from time to time because I want to minimize the trips to town for supplies. Every few years, I get in a large stock of wood on spec. The wood is o good quality and seems to last well in spite of the ad-hoc way in which I store it. The wood that I picked is nice and straight with some small tight knots. It is quite a bit heavier than the cedar but I think that most children should still be able to manage the logs –particularly if they are placed near the bottom of structures and I will encourage that practice. Here are some photos showing some steps taken to prepare the logs:

01) Planing to desired thickness:

02) Trimming to desired width:

03) Cutting to desired length:

04) Cutting notches with jig saw:

05) Rounding the edges:

06) Sanding:

The notches had to be sanded by hand.

07) Painting:

The paint that I used is so old that it was still sold in 4 litre cans (from the good old days when we succumbed to soft conversion of US gallons for our paint). It has survived freezing and thawing for at least 15 winters but it still works well. I love Tremclad paint!

I also painted the door frame and a few of the cedar pieces green in order to be able to build a house with a green foundation and trim. I tried the logs out and I think that the green foundation looks very good!



That worked so well that I decided to make a number of different pieces from wood that I salvaged from our old dock. That wood, too, was pressure treated spruce. There was enough scrap to make 15 of the pieces shown in the picture below as well as a few miscellaneous smaller pieces.



These, too, were painted green.

[John Bartley]

That's a great looking project frank! I'll bet the kids love it almost as much as the adults (we're all kids at heart eh?)

Just curious ... is your power at the island by generator or are you on the grid?

cheers eh?

[Frank Pellow]

Thanks John.

The power is by generator and we only use it for power tools. We have a propane stove and fridge and a gravity feed water system. I am thinking of installing some solar/wind power next year.

[Vaughn McMillan]

Hey Frank, welcome back (albeit just for a few days). Looking forward to more
pics and news from the camp.

[Ian Barley]

Frank

Can I come and stay at Camp Pellow and will you be my grandad?

They look fantastic - its nice to near from you again. I was wondering only the other day how summer at Camp Pellow was going. I (and I suspect several others) am very very jealous.