Chris LeBaron will be putting a sunroom addition on his Richards Road Home, come August, he hopes. With the determination and focus I saw, there is no doubt he will accomplish that. Chris is a 67 year old retired History Teacher, well, maybe not quite retired. Anyhow, here's what is going on:
Chris LeBaron of Richards Road in Fairfax says, "I have hewn thirty-five beams of the fifty-five or so that I need, so will be at it for a while--five weeks or so more. I began in March and worked days when it was in the ten to twenty degree range, and now here we are supposedly headed to near eighty in the near future so I've been at it for a while. The fact that I am using only hardwood has also stretched the time frame and upped the effort noticeably, but there is nothing like a bit of agony to clear the mind. However, I have worked on enough tough projects over the years to know that regular and persistent efforts pay off eventually. My only diversion lately has been a morning run to Minor's for coffee and a bit of gab with the AM regulars. Then I head home to beat up on another log.
(http://www.vtgrandpa.com/newforumphoto/2008-05-27 001a.jpg)
Chris lays his glove across a log to give you an idea the size of the log he is hewing out for beams in his sunroom
(http://www.vtgrandpa.com/newforumphoto/2008-05-27 003a.jpg)
Now these are all hard wood logs, however Chris did tell me he only did one Elm and that was enough
(http://www.vtgrandpa.com/newforumphoto/2008-05-27 005a.jpg)
By the way those axes are very, very sharp - Chris showed me where he shaves the hair on his arms to make sure they are sharp enough
Now you know why he is wearing the safety gear on his legs, just in case he misses
(http://www.vtgrandpa.com/newforumphoto/2008-05-27 007a.jpg)
Although difficult to see, Chris follows the blue chalk marks on the log to make them the right dimensions
(http://www.vtgrandpa.com/newforumphoto/2008-05-27 011a.jpg)
As you can see, quite a few chips there and he has already had several loads drawn away
(http://www.vtgrandpa.com/newforumphoto/2008-05-27 013a.jpg)
Chris kneels beside a log he is working on with some of the axes he uses to hew them out
The axes have handles that curve out a bit - Again this saves Chris from bruising his hands when the axe comes down
To view more photos, go to my photo gallery and click on Chris Lebaron's album below. You can click on the thumbprint then the arrows and go through the album. Chris showed me several other projects he had done, like iron work and stone work, but like any old retiree, I managed to stay focused on this one project, at least this time.
http://www.vtgrandpa.com/photos/lebaron_080603?page=1 (http://www.vtgrandpa.com/photos/lebaron_080603?page=1)