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I'm in the process of getting my family's house built in the Hewa tribe of Papua New Guinea. I just returned from a 2-week slabbing trip and thought you guys might like to see some pictures from that.







This is where my house will go. We only had picks, digging bars, and shovels, but were able to get all the stumps and roots removed and the site cleared.




Here's a few random pics of the people and some tobacco pics...

The guy in the last pic has an awesome beard, you seem to have tanned quite a bit and dyed your hair. Who's the goofy gringo on the right?

Dude every one of those pics are awesome. Thanks for posting them, made my morning.
That chainsaw mill is a frigging workout isnt it ? I'd love to see some of that wood you're cutting with a good sanding and finish on it.

Alden wrote:Dude every one of those pics are awesome. Thanks for posting them, made my morning.
That chainsaw mill is a frigging workout isnt it ? I'd love to see some of that wood you're cutting with a good sanding and finish on it.

Yeah, that slabber will wear you out. I'd bet this wood would look look really nice. Unfortunately, it's not going to get finished...just has to be good enough to build my bush house.

Alden wrote:I'd love to see some of that wood you're cutting with a good sanding and finish on it.

It would be dandy to sand to 800 grit!

Nothing like some hard old fashioned lumber work, eh!
Looks like a neat spot to build your house!
Nice pipe your smoking there too!=)

Regards Jon

JMG wrote:
..just has to be good enough to build my bush house.

Yeah, I figured as much !
I'm sure you have a basic idea of how the home should be constructed, but I have an excellent book on Japanese Joinery I would be willing to send your way. The tradition there goes back thousands of years and is done entirely with wood joints and dowels. Some of the temples built this way are multiple stories and hundreds of years old.
Eh, what am I talking about, you just want a roof over your head
Seriously though if you are interested I would donate a handmade Japanese saw for cutting the joints too.
Very cool stuff you're doing there, thanks for sharing it.

Alden wrote:

JMG wrote:
..just has to be good enough to build my bush house.

Yeah, I figured as much !
I'm sure you have a basic idea of how the home should be constructed, but I have an excellent book on Japanese Joinery I would be willing to send your way. The tradition there goes back thousands of years and is done entirely with wood joints and dowels. Some of the temples built this way are multiple stories and hundreds of years old.
Eh, what am I talking about, you just want a roof over your head
Seriously though if you are interested I would donate a handmade Japanese saw for cutting the joints too.
Very cool stuff you're doing there, thanks for sharing it.

That sounds awesome, man. Thanks for the offer. I'll just be going with a traditional stud style. I was thinking about post and beam, but couldn't round up anybody here that was savvy enough in that style construction. Oh well. The front of my house will be on about 4' post and the back around 7 1/2'.

Anytime you're doing this kind of work you need to include a picture of you holding up all 9 1/2 fingers, jm.

Awesome pictures.

wdteipen wrote:Anytime you're doing this kind of work you need to include a picture of you holding up all 9 1/2 fingers, jm.

Awesome pictures.

Just for you, Wayne...

I'm still not convinced they are all still intact. What about the ends of the other four on the right hand. We need a complete finger check for assurance and peace of mind.

Incredible, just incredible. Thanks for the pics, as said before, really made my morning.

JM,

Thanks for posting this. It's always good to see pics of you and your work. So, I know you have to be careful with saws and such, but how about the wildlife? Have you had any interesting run-in's with anything dangerous or cool?

Take care out there.

Brian.

As a long-time proponent of clear cutting, I really enjoyed seeing these pics!

Very cool stuff - thanks for posting.

Pave the Rainforest!™
EM

Growley wrote:JM,

Thanks for posting this. It's always good to see pics of you and your work. So, I know you have to be careful with saws and such, but how about the wildlife? Have you had any interesting run-in's with anything dangerous or cool?

Take care out there.

Brian.

Uh, nothing too crazy just yet. I did get into some bullet ants that earned that name for good reason...those suckers hurt!!! We came across some cassowary and tree kangaroo, too, but the cassowary was small so no danger.

e Markle wrote:As a long-time proponent of clear cutting, I really enjoyed seeing these pics!

Very cool stuff - thanks for posting.

Pave the Rainforest!™
EM

Ah, we only put down about 5 trees. The Hewa guys put down a lot more so that they could plant gardens. The big ones we fell opened up the canopy and let sun light through, so they jumped on the chance to plant gardens there.

e Markle wrote:As a long-time proponent of clear cutting, I really enjoyed seeing these pics!

Very cool stuff - thanks for posting.

Pave the Rainforest!™
EM

Nice to see Pipemakers doing something to really change the world.
Good job Ernie !

You'll have to send us some more pics as you go.

Getting to work with trees like that will spoil you...

How does it cut compared to something incredibly boring we have over here... let's say white pine?

That's awesome! I've always wanted to try a chainsaw mill. The closest I've ever gotten to making my own slabs was with an axe, some wedges, a sledgehammer, and a 2-1/2' wide stump of black walnut (and a bandsaw). While that chainsaw mill doesn't look any easier, would be very cool to cut a bunch of slabs and just let them air dry.

Speaking of which, and since you're using green wood, do you have to use some kind of sealant once you've got your boards up?

Sorringowl wrote: Speaking of which, and since you're using green wood, do you have to use some kind of sealant once you've got your boards up?

Not really. In total they will have about 2 months to dry before they are used to build with. Though still green at this point and I'm certain they will warp, twist, and split, they should be good enough for a bush house to stand the 15-20 years. Hopefully, anyway.