I would like to complement Kevin on his article Build Scale Retaining Walls in the October issue. He presents a very good and detailed approach to solving an often overlooked issue in the garden. I have seven such retaining walls built in a very similar technique. Kevin suggests ripping the cedar fence board then letting it dry out for a few days. Some of the "boards" will get sever twists and to use those deformed pieces in your next bonfire. To reduce the number of twisted and useless "boards" I lay the fence boards on the roof of my storage shed for at least a couple of weeks before using the table saw. Since the wood is now much dryer there are far less twisted boards. On the other side of the roof is where I store all my "stockpiled precut lumber". Since my scale lumber has been exposed to Mother Nature for 3~6 months before being used, it already has an aged look. None of "new" structures look new as the lumber is pre-aged. On several occasions I have used those "twisted and warped boards" to achieve an even older look. The "foot tread way" on my bridge to the top of the falls was built with nothing but warped scale lumber giving it a very uneven well worn look. So the only bone I have to pick with Kevin is putting the "architecturally attractive" (twisted) boards in the fire bin.
Tom Trigg
kstrong 'course that means I'll have to buy more firewood... ;)
Kevin: one to twenty-something scale lumber don't make that good of a fire in the first place, unless you are in a 1:2x scale hobo gentlemen of the rails camp.
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