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: A Public Defender's Life in Alaska

So, I am about to embark on a new adventure that I will chronicle here and on Youtube.  My wife thinks I am crazy.  And I might be. I am going to build a timber frame home on my land in Alaska.  Nothing crazy about that.  But I am going to build it here in California FIRST and ship it North next year.  Next year.  Next year I am going home.  So I have started gathering Douglas Fir beams here.  I bought a 20 foot deck over trailer.  I bought a 1954 forklift for a few hundred bucks.  I rented a space in a timber framers shop for $500 a month.  I can use all his equipment.  We are going to build the frame here and take it north next June and put it all back together.   I bought a small metal detecting wand and I am going over every beam looking for, and removing nails and screws.

It is going to be a 3000 square foot house with an adjoining 40 foot high tower and a two car garage.  I am also going to build a shop with a greenhouse on top.  I don't the money for this yet, but I won't let that stop me.

Is my plan economical?  Hell if I know.  But it's a lot better than watching TV.  Nights and weekends I will be learning how to make scarf joints. Run a Woodmizer.  Make mortise and tenon joints.  I am going to build something like this.  Then, one day, when I am old, I will be able to tell my kids and grandkids what I did: I gathered every piece of wood you see in a place thousands of miles away.  I spent time going over every single one.  Hauling, measuring, planing and cutting.  Then I hauled them North. Put them together with a German timber framer.  This is going to be quite the adventure.....

Full post as published by A Public Defender's Life in Alaska on March 02, 2017 (boomark / email).