according to this picture your having a great time. keep it up!

For the past 4 months there has been two large Birch planks dry piles on the floor of my shop that I have been tripping over, along with the rest of the mess as you can see. Harley a fellow trapper cut them with his Alaska Chain Saw Mill. He also has about a dozen dry piled in his yard. The other day I cut them in half and planed them. One was over 14 inches wide so I had to trim each side of it before it would fit my planer.

What we have now is four nice clear birch 2" X 10" X 55" long to make fleshing beams. Well one has a knot but we can cut to avoid that.

After the crash we had to prune all the posts back to the first of the year. It was a choice between yours and all others Ron ....so we deleted yours.

Oh sure, easy pickins ! Think I'll apply for mod status with "The Boss", just so I can get even. Better yet I'll PM Ol' B who needs to also get even and she will fix your little red wagon.

LOL !!

Today I decided it was time to make some sawdust and shavings. Mostly for the board comparison discussion, but got carried away.

For today's project I am splitting western red cedar blocks 3 feet long to make marten boards. Here is the process, first the block, then the split shake, then plane the shake to thickness. Next the board is squared up and cut to 4" wide x 36" long. Lastly a finished marten board.

Notice that the cedar had a big center rot/hole on it, typical of western red cedar.



The first step is to mark the board from a template or pattern. The end of the board is marked in the center. The pattern is then drawn on one side of the board facing away from you with the nose to the right. Then the board is flipped and the same tracing producing a line on the flip side. The reason for this is that it is easier to cut out on the band saw using your right hand to guide the board while cutting. If board is all marked on one side then cutting the right hand side of the board is very awkward.





The board is then cut out on the band saw.



I then put the board in the wood vice and plane each edge to the pencil mark. Then plane the edges round and sand them. For major production you can set up a router to round the corners.

Here are a few marten boards, large and small, couple of male mink boards and some belly wedges.

Pretty Cool, thanks for the step by step on how yo made them. Very Nice boards.

Nice

Nice Ron... I love cedar!

There is a fire burning in the center of our trapline:

http://www.castanet.net/edition/news-story-79740-26-.htm#79740

Not good.

The fire is on our line that does not have a cabin. Sounds like it has not hardly moved today and crews are getting the upper hand at just over 50 ha (125 acres) in size . Just outside of our our fire zone and just North of the Fire Warden Patrol route that I do.

http://bcwildfire.ca/ftp/!Project/WildfireNews/8272012~94923_Vernon-20120827-00047.jpg

Hopefully it won't do too much damage.

Well back into trapping mode and working on my on my "to do list". Made up some new beds for the camp, three for the loft and one for my brother. They are made so the Rubbermade containers will fit underneath for storage etc. Painted my bed, finally. Just a couple of things left do do inside. A ceiling panel (sheet in) above my bed. Same above my brothers bed in his room.

Sleeping to accommodate 6 now. My wife when she comes to camp uses the pull out couch.

Replaced the cardboard woodbox with a new plywood one.

Loft



My Brothers new bunk.



My bunk and the pullout couch. You can see my wife has her own little cabinet, and her own wash basin.



New woodbox and in place by the stove.

Started to fix my old marten sets changing them from vertical boxes to horizontal and many will be double sets. Also some will move near by to a better location. I prefer my boxes out past the tree rather than between the two trees. The birds can feed on the bait through the screen. Two whiskey jacks (Grey Jay or Canada Jay, whatever you prefer to call them) fighting over the bait is as good as any scent. Some will be between depending upon the situation.

I used to fasten one end solid to the tree with a spike and wire the other end so the poke has movement when the wind blows and does not come detached. Now I powersaw cut a slot in one end and spike that instead of using the wire. Serves the same purpose.

Here is an example:

From this type of set.





To this. Some will just be single boxes.

Ron, nice looking set up! Are you pre-baiting now?

Problem with prebaiting is that a griz will eat my bait, box and all in that area.

Good job Ron, I really like a double box set-up, normally I set both sides of the trail or road, will install 4 boxes at major creeks or river crossings. I can not count the times I have missed at one and caught at the other set or in a really good year have a double.
I gave up pre-baiting because of the black bears here in Ontario, now I designed my boxes so that the bears can knock them off the tree and not damage the box.
Jim

Yea, if the bears are around I guess it's not wise! lol!

I have a couple around and for that reason I do not pre bait either.

nice set up