Log Cabin Blacksmith Shop Build Continues Closing it in 1800's PIONEER LIFE SELF RELIANCE

That was the last nail in the framing. That's pretty exciting and the thing's pretty rigid now she was wiggly wobbly till you get the last nail in. Anyway what we have here is the opening for my forge for the chimney and got that all boxed in and yeah I'm going to hang up my carpenter apron and put on my masonry apron. I'm a wee bit handier at the at the carpentry but anyway we'll see how that goes. The chimney on the cabin went okay but I think if there's a word to describe how I feel today a single word it would be outstanding because this project's pretty much getting close to completion the building part of it at least. Yeah a day will sheet the roof and get my soffits and fascias on and yeah first fire in the forge. Done. One side finished. I got soffit, fascia, trim, battens. I didn't think it was going to be a shot but it's almost pretty enough to move into. Yes sir. Coming along. Hey top of the morning Bo. Hello Peter. Good to see you. Yeah good to see you too. And help. I have help today. This is wonderful and you've brought it. Brought your ash dump here. Wow look at that. All restored for me. Yep. Isn't that grand? Now the moment of truth. So I've got my I've got the bed fabricated over here but I've been pondering whether I oriented those two holes right. Well let's try it out. Let's check it out. Look at that. How sweet is that Bo? Gonna work? That's gonna work. So Bo did some work on this and typical of his artistic flair. I don't know if we can get a close look at that but he's done a little swirl even on the ash dump part of it there. And you said I can actually switch this side to side for the shaker? Yep. Great. So all I got to do now Bo is get a stone forge built in the stone chimney and yeah we'll be having our first fire here shortly. That's grand. That's just outstanding. Shaker there. That's gonna work Bo. Okay good. So enough metal work on to some woodwork. What do you think? Sure. I can sure use your help. What do you think Bo? We coming along? I think we're almost ready. Ready for a break? Yeah. How about a nail? That sounds good. It's getting warm. Yeah it's getting warm. It's amazing how much more you can do with two extra hands. Yeah. Especially that front there. That was really helpful. Anyway my friend here Bo Beckett, a friend for all my life. I've known his parents so we go way back. Their parents and I. But Bo's a blacksmith and he has a YouTube channel and it's just called Bo Beckett. Company I think it's called Beckett's Blacksmithing. That's right. Yeah. Anyway we're worth checking out because you know he's really good at metal work. I don't know how handy he'd be at woodwork but he's pretty good. He can hit the nail every time. He's run a hammer before. Got some practice with that. Bo tells me now after we've been at this all morning that he's not comfortable with heights. He never told me that till now. You okay there Bo? I'm okay. This isn't that high. Anyway so one of our people wrote in on one of our comments. His name is Jeff and he's talking about sharing some family history which a lot of folks have been doing. And Jeff tells me about his great-grandmother who was born in the 1800s. She lived to be 107 and he said she told great tales of horse and buggy days and and what it was like before electricity and all that. But one of the stories she told was she was collecting walnuts and she was standing on top of the horse's back picking walnuts or not sorry not walnuts chestnuts out of the tree and the horse bolted. So apparently she maybe developed a fear of heights as well. I'm not sure but thanks Jeff for sharing that story. Anyway we've got the front and back soffits and fascia's done. Everything's done now except the roof and a few battens on the front and ready to build some doors and onto the porch. And that's where I could use really use your counsel when we get down to that. I'll have to come back. You think it's going to work? I think so yeah for sure. Looks pretty good I think. Yeah I think it'll work. Anyway should we nail some more boards? Sure. You're sure? Yeah. All right here we go. Let's get at it. Here I'll give you the hammer and you set that up. I can watch you hammer nails all day Bo. You're doing good. You're doing really good. So you sport a big beard there Bo. Yeah. How old is that? How long you been growing that? Three years. It's my COVID beard. A COVID beard. And any plans to to you to see how long it can grow? We'll see how it goes. It's still growing but. A tad dangerous around the forge? It is. Get a few sparks in there eh? So a wee bit of history about about the beard. The 18th century was known as the beardless century. So it was very unpopular and uncouth and considered dirty to have to wear a beard. And even on the frontier they'd make an effort to, maybe not if they were on campaign or something, but they'd make an effort to shave. And along comes the 19th century. And it's appropriate because we're building a 19th century blacksmith shop here. So it's appropriate if you have the beard. I should have one now too. Beards became very popular and in fact you weren't considered a real man unless you had one. So that's how fashion's changed. Anyway don't let me stop your nailing Bo. You're doing a good job. It's the last nail. All right. All right. For a guy who's afraid of heights you're doing good. What do you think? It looks pretty good. Going well. Good enough to live in. Ah yeah I'm pleased. That's going to work out nice. Very nice. This is going to be a nice shop. Good size. Anyway my friend I know you got to get out on the road. Yep. I can't thank you enough. This has been uh this has been a huge help especially you know getting those soffits up and yeah and uh it's turned out really good. I'm glad to be able to come out and give you a hand. When you well you can come out anytime. I mean I ain't about to turn down free help but uh next time you get here we'll have a working forge and then maybe you can share some of your wisdom with me. Sure sounds good. Looking forward to it Bo. Anyway safe journey. Yeah safe journey. See you later. Bye now. Hey don't be taking my hammer now. All right. Nice try. That's my favorite hammer right there.