What are you presently reading?

The_Krakenite · Jul 17, 2022

And so, the weekend is slowly coming to a close. Here's my second book or so I completed for the week.

I bought half a dozen more books on Friday, including a whole new bookshelf. Perhaps it is no surprise tomorrow I'll pick up even more shelving now that there are some sales going around town.

volpri · Jul 18, 2022

volpri said:
Here is another classic. More detail than Trooper Tom’s. But Trooper Tom is straightforward and works just fine. If you want more detail for things like dovetailing….scribing logs..then Mackies is a good book. I have the mackie old spiral bound version I borrowed from a friend years ago and never returned it LOL. Gotta get that book back to my friend! I do see a cheaper updated version than the old spiral bound version is also in this link.

I didn’t have to have alot of tools and power lifts. I just picked a building site with two good sized trees diagonal above the site. I strung a used 5/8” steel cable (probably off a crane of sorts) that I bought from a metal recycling plant. I held it on place around the trees with large nails or spikes at an appropriate height above the building site. Then I clamped tightly around the trees with double cable clamps and then rigged a pulling system to ride back and forth down the cable across the building site. A pulley system that could jump off the cable. I put a chain tackle and block hooked to the rolling pully that could not jump off the cable. I had timber hooks end attached to the chain and tackle lift (no wooden handles on the hooks). My logs I pulled to the building site with a chevy impala and chain wrapped around the log and bumper LOL. BACK then cars had steel bumpers! Most any pickup would have worked. Once I got the logs there and they were peeled I would just roll the pully system over the log site hook timber hooks in a log. Wrap a chain for safety and lift the log single handly with the heavy duty chain and block tackle. Then with a rope I pulled the entire thing with the log hooked on it over the building site and let it down on the walls that were going up. Since cable was strung diagonal I could turn the log in the best position for which side of the wall it was gonna go on. Let it down… unhook it and roll it over to the wall end by end with timber hooks.

I just went up with the logs drilled holes pinning them together with 1/2 galvanized water pipe and a drive pin. I had a machine shop lathe down the drive pin out of a steel rod so it would slide easily but snuggly into the inside of the pipe and easily pulled out to drive the next pipe. The drive pin had a shoulder that would rest on the outside of the pipe and have about 4 inches above the shoulder to pound on with a sledge hammer. I drilled the holes in the logs so the galvanized pipe would go in, but tight.

I knew where I wanted my windows ( as I drew on an 11” x 8” paper) my homemade house building plans LOL. As the wall would go up I would pin one log to the one below it staggering the pins a ft or so apart on each successive log. Staggered on the the outside perimeter of any door or windows placement. I just raised the wall up this way. Once it got to the height I wanted I plumb bobbed it and drew in the door and window openings within markings of the galvanized staggered pins and I took a chain saw and went down the plumbed bobbed marked lines. Thereby cutting my openings for doors and windows and they would be plumb! Then I just cased them in all around to the logs with 2” by 10” (or however wide the logs are) thick boards and larges spike nails. I think I also liquid nailed the casing to the logs ends. Then hammered them in place leveling them with a level. They were generally level on the plumb bobbed sides but still the edge had to be leveled vertically and the bottom and top of casing had to be leveled. For the top and bottom casing boards I had to level the log flat (with a chain Saw) so the board would lay snuggly against the log. The bottom case board I sloped slightly down towards the outside of the wall so when it rained water would run off. Windows were later hung in the spots.

I had a welder make me a heavy duty peelers with a wood handle on it. A piece truck leaf spring is heavy enough. It had to be heavy to push through little knots and things on the log. Some logs I sat on and peeled with a draw knife. Logs look prettier if peeled in the fall. Cut the trees when sap is down. Peel in the fall. Peeling is alot of work. And peeled logs are gonna check (that means “cracks” will form as they dry). I discovered a lazy way to get the bark off trees. Build a platform off ground. Put the logs on it spray with insecticide if worried about bark beatles. Leave them there for several months. The logs will cure and the bark will loosen and I could then peel the bark off in big chunks with my bare hands. The log underneath would have virtually no “checks” in it. There would be a few beatle trails here and there. But nothing serious. Peeling logs in the fall while they are green looks prettier but is alot of work.

Trooper Toms book talks about some of these techniques and how to get the foundation ready for the first logs..etc.

Mackies book is more detailed. How to make and use a scribe…etc and scribe the logs to fit better..so on and so on…

I just built more Trooper Toms style and chinked the logs well after stuffing insulation between them and driving small nails into a log and bending them up to the log above it every 6” inches or more. That gave the mortar mix something to grab onto. I mixed cement with sand (a person probably could just brick mortar) and with a putty knife worked and smoothed the mortar in working down the log. Once it cured good I painted it white. Looked right pretty against
the logs as I stained the logs outside dark brown and sprayed them with several coats of water seal like Thompson water seal (but wallmarts brand LOL). The white mortar mix looked nice against the dark logs. They make profesional chinking material. I just never bothered with it. Installed windows and doors and left interior logs natural or stained if I wanted to.

For flooring I attached a 2” by 10” (if i recall correctly) to the bottom log all the way around) made some sills in middle of floor level with top of the board. Then run floor joist on top 2”x10” or 2x8 (don’t remember) them put down 5/8” or 3/4” tongue and groove plywood flooring down. Made for a sturdy floor if space joists close enough together.

Anyway here is link for Mackies book. More advanced stuff. Troopers book more pragmatic and simple to grasp but both are good books. I mostly followed Troopers ideas and added a few things along french style of building.

Have fun if you decide to build. Be careful. Take all safety precautions. Try to never stand directly under logs. Always think through things well before shifting and moving logs. It ain’t like working with tiny 2”x4”. One mistake can do a body in.

My log building was a product of the wind..the rain..the sun…adapting as working off my sheet of hand drawn plans…LOL. Much like trading…Going where the market takes me…ROFL. A window here…a door there…….etc.

I ain’t giving building advice in these posts here except be careful so don’t take these posts as building advice. I am just relating how I did it.

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Just recently found these two pictures of the two bedroom log cabin I built from scratch.
Two bedrooms, open cathredral living room. Open cathedral dining room and kitchen. One full bath. Still stands today!

nooby_mcnoob · Jul 18, 2022

volpri said:
Just recently found these two pictures of the two bedroom log cabin I built from scratch.
Two bedrooms, open cathredral living room. Open cathedral dining room and kitchen. One full bath. Still stands today!

View attachment 289611

View attachment 289612
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Amazing! Is that you and your family?

volpri · Jul 18, 2022

nooby_mcnoob said:
Amazing! Is that you and your family?
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It is family but not me. They came and spent the night in the cabin.

murray t turtle · Jul 19, 2022

The_Krakenite said:
And so, the weekend is slowly coming to a close. Here's my second book or so I completed for the week.
View attachment 289522
I bought half a dozen more books on Friday, including a whole new bookshelf. Perhaps it is no surprise tomorrow I'll pick up even more shelving now that there are some sales going around town.
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CPA Reveals Tricks of the Trade, by Martin Kaplan, CPA+ Mrs Naomi. NOT as detailed as tax lawyer book but WELL written...............................................................................

The_Krakenite · Jul 19, 2022

murray t turtle said:
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CPA Reveals Tricks of the Trade, by Martin Kaplan, CPA+ Mrs Naomi. NOT as detailed as tax lawyer book but WELL written...............................................................................
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I may keep an eye out on that book. But quite honestly, I don't pay US taxes as the only US equities I buy either pay no dividends, or go into my RRSP so there is no withholding tax.

The_Krakenite · Jul 22, 2022

I started reading this book yesterday, and can't put it down (except when wasting time on here and watching porn):

Found it this week on a thrift-store shelf in the business section and find it a VERY good read. If you like Dalio's types of videos, and the history of economics is something you want to brush up on, this one should be at least a 4.5 star rating out of 5.

MacBookProHo · Jul 22, 2022

The_Krakenite said:
I started reading this book yesterday, and can't put it down (except when wasting time on here and watching porn
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Instead of spending your time reading those ....useless....macro scale, slow, theory, economic books, you should read about actual, tactical, real money, trading in the here and now, today, Today's S&P chart,

Carve out your own approach and understanding and process -- because most stuff out there is completely useless,
It won't happen overnight, but if you stick with it....you'll see the light,

The_Krakenite · Jul 24, 2022

I picked up this hard-cover, which looked really interesting. Unfortunately I can not for the life of me find an english version, and the only other language besides french edition was german.

Guess it's time to use a translator next weekend!

MichelleHale · Jul 27, 2022

I haven’t read in a while. Any good books to recommend guys?