Back in Feb 2015 we took delivery of the best toy ever. Here is a sneak preview:
What is that in yellow … a front loader perhaps!
As well as some other bits and bobs:
Double axle trailer
Potato lifter undergoing refurbishment
And in Steampunk mode …
Mr Chihwy the welder
Never before seen images from the hi-tech side of logging, we can now exclusively show you THE WORLDS MOST POWERFUL FLYING CHAINSAW, invented here in Troutbeck
the worlds most powerful flying chainsaw
Look at all the toys she has on board …the new levtek seat AND the tree-o-scope vision system …
shaved pilot with safety glasses demonstrating levtek seat & tree-o-scope vision system
Finally we get some idea of the power behind this machine.
flying chainsaw twin turbo-prop engines, with double port side wingdoodles
No trees were harmed in the production of this post
Although these look like walls – they are in fact the foundation walls build on top of the footings i.e. they will be below the level of the final building ground floor.
Here is the idea in progress – the foundation walls now part way up.
Rondavel extension foundation walls in progress
and here, showing a temporary retaining wall in stone immediately behind the builders
Rondavel extension foundation walls in progress
Next some details of the building process when working in stone as we are here.
Farai begins his wall
Of course the stones don’t come in pre-packed sizes…so yes they have to be first burnt, then hammered and finally, artfully positioned so that they fit and the ‘look’ from the outside or inside is ‘good’
Hammering stone to size
Mr Patrick Samhembere in action
Mr Patrick Samhembere in action
Mr Patrick Samhembere in action
The hands that built Hornbydale
The hands that built Hornbydale
After a day the spare cement is scraped away
Mr Perkins Makore – builders assistant
Mr Farai Samhembere – builder
Mr Farai Samhembere – builder
Mr Mabika – builder
Mr Tendai Mushonga – builders assistant
Mr Tendai Samhembere – builder
Mr Tendai Samhembere – builder
Nearly there on the foundation wall
Finished section of foundation wall
Tendai enjoying having his picture taken!
Update:
The completed ‘slab’ on top of the foundation walls
Completed slab on top of foundation walls – looking west
Completed slab on top of foundation walls – looking east
Here are some ‘before’ and ‘after’ shots – so we can see how far we’ve come since 1st April 2014!
At the beginning – a burnt out shell of a building
A burnt out roofless structure
and suddenly ..
The tadpole building
Walls go up and extend the original rondavel
Looks better now
looking south
at sunset now
the original doorway
and now its an interior doorway!
And again from the inside – the original door and window to its left.
that original doorway from the inside
our masonry stove – faced in soap stone
Remember the saga of the stairs:
Mr Willard infront of the eventual stairs
Well we got there in the end!
stairs – unfinished
Finished stairs
Looking down those stairs
And finally the school room up those stairs
Our Montessori school room upstairs in Tadpole
The Scottish play in our school library
After burning some of the granite rock out of the way we start digging. How hard can it be after all?
Mr Didymus & Mr Tongai in the easy trench
Edmore getting that earth out
and then signing off for the day
Well up here what you see on top is not what is lurking underneath – more rocks.
OK more burning was to come. The rocks are all under ground too!
after burning – well nearly after
Somethings still alight in there
And it is a building site with a pretty good view too.
It slowly goes down in size
We have to dig round out to burn it. Lots of digging
smaller now!
Temporary retaining wall
The men who bring the sand and gravel take a look at progress
If this tree was to fall down…
Mr Garikai does the job first
and shows us how its done
He’s getting good at this
The site is ready
Measuring for the footings
Well the stairs were a bit of a mission in of themselves. To start with they had to follow the curve of the rondavel, plus I had the fine idea to make them wider at the bottom than the top. So what yours truly didn’t realise is that making a single laminated plank a) angle up, then b) curve while angled, and yes c) follow a decreasing arc not a constant curve (the stairs being wider at the bottom) is not straightforward! So the carpenters had to do their best job yet.
Mr Willard infront of the eventual stairs
Below you can see the laminated plank that was contorted into part of a decreasing 3D spiral
Mr Willard planing
Is this really going to work?
The Nyakameme brothers do their thing
and they make it work!
Mr Willard chiseling
The helical stairs take shape
Bannisters go on
Edmore at work
Bannisters at dusk
Eastern Highlander 