Cut Away Everything That Isn't a Deck

For his second large beam end, Noel chose the one by the stairs, because that would easily be the hardest beam to cut.

He started by sharpening the saw.

This is more than just a metaphor; the saw he was using was quite dull and that's no way to cut a beam. He used a small metal triangle file and worked on the saw for quite a while. It might be worth it to have a professional sharpener do the whole thing, as I'm pretty sure I don't have the patience to sharpen it.

This beam got cut off the same as the other, but the cutting was complicated by having the stairs in the way.

When he'd cut the end off, he put some sealer on the ends of both beams to keep them from getting bad. The pressure treatment doesn't go all the way through the wood, so you need to seal any cut ends on PT wood. Usually you'd use a special pressure treated wood sealer, but the same end sealer that we used on the ipe works just fine, too. The more open grain of the pine takes a lot more of it, though.

To round out his day, Noel also cut off the plugs on the stairs and sanded them smooth. I have high hopes that we will get some real work done this weekend and haul this thing closer to the finish line.

posted by ayse on 06/06/12