Oak Beam

CLICK ANY PICTURE TO ENLARGE

Last year I purchased a permit from the Forest Service to harvest down-and-dead wood.  So I ventured out in the national forest during the month of October and found this storm-toppled oak tree in Warsaw Canyon. I was able to cut a eight foot log from the tree which was very solid and HEAVY, so I had to be careful of straining my back loading that 8"-diameter sucker in the truck.

I needed to span a beam between two rooms of the studio.  So I placed alongside the oak log an 8-foot laminated beam that I found in a construction dumpster.  This created a combined beam width of about 12-inches.  That width of the two side-by-side beams allows me to continue the cob wall above the 'beamed' span.

Thinking about the time when I found the beam and the 9 or so years it was stored.. ...reminded me that now would be a good time to say thanks to my friend Jim for letting me store that laminated beam in his garage for years, and for having patience with my vision that I would someday construct an adobe around that beam.