Kirk has been working on this bridge the last few weeks. It is made out of more barn wood-these boards were floor joists from the second story. The boards are huge and heavy, 2×12″ true dimension lumber, and sometimes bigger. The wood from the barn is funny, we know it was milled on site, and there are many inconsistent dimensions of lumber. When building something like this, it’s necessary to pick through the boards to find ones that are the same.
We have two drainage ditches that stretch across our pasture. There are culverts on one end of the pasture where you can cross the ditches, but they’re by the road. Last summer, Kirk drug a few of these barn joists down to the field to use as temporary bridges over the ditches. This way, we could walk straight across the fields, through the middle, which is a straighter path from the house. But, the bridges were a bit risky- narrow and often slippery.
So here is his more permanent solution. This is the first one, he plans to start the second one soon. This barn lumber was very dark from over 100 years of weathering- it was never stained or painted. He ran it through the planer, and it’s amazing how just shaving off a few millimeters, it looks as clean as fresh-cut lumber! He is finishing it with Varathane, so it will be pretty fancy!
The old bridge is in the picture- this new one will be a bit safer for walking on when our hands our full of stuff!