Making Progress

I just took this picture. There is still sawdust on the back of my hand as I write this. The base structure is more than half way there. I finished the door frame and one wall. I will start tying the other wall together this weekend. You may notice from the photo that the door frame is a little higher than the wall height? That's because I screwed up. :) In fact, I'm probably going to have to cut the side poles down a bit for a more consistant height. The low wall height, about 4 ft., might strike you as too short, but as this will now be a sauna-like dwelling, the low height should add to the success of making the inside hot, hot, hot! I have to say that after tying one wall together, I'm tempted to rivet future yurt walls. Yes, it would save time, but I'm also a little concerned about the gap between wall rods in some places. I'm thinking rivets would hold the wood nice and close to one another. Did I say 'future yurts'? Yes I did. I'm thinking I need to build one that is large enough for at least three spaces; a table area, a sleeping area, and a space to just hang out around the stove. Doesn't that sound nice!!? I got some good advice from wood shop teachers at two high schools yesterday. There are definitely some benefits for working for the public schools... Anyway, I could see having some students do a bunch of cutting for me. OOooo that'd be nice. Nothing like a little slave labor to take care of the dirty work. Time for lunch!!

-is