Hel"Lowes" & Ho-ho-Home Depot

I looked back at previous postings and discovered I had never put up a photo of the completed bamboo "nipa" house which has become our cooling-off and kicking-back place, so I'll start with a view taken from near the front door of our present house (see "Arrival" blog for photo).

It's a nice place to sit and relax.  I got the electric line done a week ago, but
so far there's been  no need for an electric fan out there.  The trees are papaya,
guava, and kalamanci (like key lime); coconut and others are nearby.

Meanwhile, we started construction on another concrete-block house just beyond the back of this bamboo structure.  There is a building "boom" going on in this area, and even "usually" there is no large-scale lumber or home-improvement supply industry here - so getting materials has become a little challenging. Lumber is cut- to- order by several small mills who get their material from legitimate (needing paperwork "permit" for some species of trees) logging.  Cement blocks are hand-made with molds by some local businesses.  Steel re- bar, hardware, and roofing come from independent supply companies - it pays to canvass around for prices!   When nobody nearby had any stock of lumber, we had several of our own trees (mostly from the farm) processed so that we would have material for bracing, scaffolding, and later to re-use as studs.

The tree is felled in the usual manner, with guide-ropes and small branches to 

cushion if needed.  Here, the "sawyer" has rolled it into a good working

 position and is marking with a "string-line" to take a thin slat off one side.

He walks his saw along the log following his straight- line to flatten one side,

removing the least possible material. Then, the log is rolled flat-side down, 

and another straight-line mark allows him to square-off one corner.

The squared log is string-lined to cut 3-inch and 2-inch slabs, and it will then

be rolled  to cut slabs into lumber.  He leaves some "Siamese" places joined in

each cut, to be separated at the end of the process.  Maker's name is worn off 

the saw case but it looks like a REAL BIG Stihl or "Husky", 7 inch wide x 40+

inch long saw  bar.  He is beyond "expert" to "artist" operator.

Shows the log nearly finished into lumber. There are other horizontal cuts

below the picture-edge; he's cutting more than one "set" of pieces.

Well, the pieces are cut; he still has all his toes; the remaining slats will be cut
 as usefully as possible.  This is one of several trees cut in about 4 or 5 hours.

I just had to show you the string-line.  Made from an oil bottle, a fishing
 line,a hand-made crank for winding the string, and uses oil, not chalk.

The lumber arrives at our house aboard a motor-"tricycle," standard small-
hauler in the  Philippines (more on these in another post, soon).  There is
 a stack of table-slabs on top; mostly 8, 10, and 12- foot lumber, but also
six  16-footers.  The entire stack cost about $80 U.S.

The table-slabs were cut from a species prized for this purpose; all very even
and parallel on both sides.  A very impressive feat.  No need for a sawmill here.

Well, I have more to say about materials and the beginning of construction, but this seems to be about the usual length for one of my posts.  So I'll stop for now and get back to you later with other "differences" about how things are done, here. 

PROCESSES - how things are planned and made to happen - always interest me.  And, once you see a few samples of scenery you pretty much know what it all looks like.  I'll work "scenery" photos in fairly often, and try not to go "over-BOARD" on the process photos (or, you might be bored).  But you can expect to see some photos of differences in vehicles (from USA), market and grocery-buying, farming and several other  topics where the folks here adapt to their surroundings, which are different from KY, U.S.A.

Have a great day - -   TeeJay