Making the Trusses

The trusses are made from salvaged lumber, which we salvaged from an 1880's homestead. It had a beautiful view of the ocean, and one day, when I was there, I saw a Bald Eagle strike the grass and come up with a field mouse. There where no windows in the house at that time, and the eagle was no more then 10 feet from the house. Thankfully, a lot of nice wood was saved before the house had to be burned.

The wood was sanded slightly- not enough to sand out the old saw marks in the wood. We planned to make the trusses timber framed with dovetailed joints. We decided that it would add a nice sense of space to make a curve in the rafter ( the two pieces which meet at the top) and the collar tie (the connector piece).
After the rafters were cut, we marked the curve, and used a jig saw to cut the curve. These where then sanded.
The collar tie was fit for each pair of rafters, and Jimmy and Daniel helped to do the advanced work with the dovetail joints. When each roof truss was finished, all the exposed edges where chamfored. This makes a very lovely rounded edge and is one of the beautiful little details that add so much, and doesn't take much time when working on such a small scale.
When all the woodworking was done, the rafters where sealed with a mixture of linseed oil and a non-toxic citrus thinner. This gives them a wonderful, deep amber glow.
The final product is something to behold: