building materials

[FarmerBEN]

I am going to build a log ride on a downed tree around the farm, but I am wondering about building the ladder bridge to get up there. Do I use greentreated lumber or be stingy and use regular lumber I can scrape up around here. I see the safety advantages of greentreated, but then again I would assume regular lumber would last for a few years before it starts to rot. Any tips for a novice builder?

[berrywise]

I am going to build a log ride on a downed tree around the farm, but I am wondering about building the ladder bridge to get up there. Do I use greentreated lumber or be stingy and use regular lumber I can scrape up around here. I see the safety advantages of greentreated, but then again I would assume regular lumber would last for a few years before it starts to rot. Any tips for a novice builder?

I think you already answered your question :). How long do you want it to last? Morc uses all green treated lumber for its obstacles. I'd spend a few more bucks and go with the treated myself.

[TML]

Just build it with what ya got. If you're not opening it up to public use, and you can just check it's integrity once in a while before you ride it, it's really not that important to build it "to code".

The point at which the wood hits the ground will be the first thing to rot, in general. Anchoring that point on top of some rocks will help eliminate the steady wicking of moisture from the ground into the wood. Moisture is the biggest factor leading to rot.



I am going to build a log ride on a downed tree around the farm, but I am wondering about building the ladder bridge to get up there. Do I use greentreated lumber or be stingy and use regular lumber I can scrape up around here. I see the safety advantages of greentreated, but then again I would assume regular lumber would last for a few years before it starts to rot. Any tips for a novice builder?

[Lezgo Cycling]

get the good stuff right away...otherwise your spending twice as much, sooner than you really probably want to

[TML]

I think you already answered your question :). How long do you want it to last? Morc uses all green treated lumber for its obstacles. I'd spend a few more bucks and go with the treated myself.

Or you could pony up and do that. ;)

[RiverRat]

I haven't built anything related to biking out of lumber, but I would use green treated on anything that touches the ground. If you must skimp and use standard lumber, do it only on parts that don't touch the ground, and inspect it fairly regularly for rot.

[FarmerBEN]

Also should I build it freestanding or dig a few posts into the ground? I think I may build it freestanding and attaching it to a few steel posts for stability, they are easier to pound in than digging in wood posts, plus they won't rot like wood will.

I think I am going to see how much treated will cost, maybe even a combination of treated frame work with scrap for the slats. now to nail or to screw?.....

[Lezgo Cycling]

. now to nail or to screw?.....

screw

[TML]

I think I am going to see how much treated will cost, maybe even a combination of treated frame work with scrap for the slats. now to nail or to screw?.....

Screws on the decking.

Nails or, better yet - bolts, on stringers and posts. This driven by the fact that screws are much more prone to shear force failure than nails or bolts.

[FarmerBEN]

I was leaning screws and bolts, I am fair more confident in the stability of something screwed than something I nailed. Not to say I am terrible, but not willing to trust myself on a structure over six feet high.

[RiverRat]

over 6 ft high? You are going to want to somehow anchor it to the ground. If you use steel posts, make darn sure you can't impale yourself on them. And I would go with bolts on the structure and screws on the decking. If it's small you can get by with nails and screws, but you start getting over 3 feet high and you don't really want stuff falling apart randomly.

[Lezgo Cycling]

structure over six feet high.

:crazy2: where is this... BC? :D

[schlemmin]

if you use treated lumber, make sure you use fasteners that are a.c.q. approved. bolts must be galvanized, stainless steel (big bucks), or at least 1/2" in diameter. same goes for nails and screws(galvanized or st. steel).

[FarmerBEN]

:crazy2: where is this... BC? :D


if BC is Bellechester then yes. Unfortunately when my Great G-pa was farm hunting he didn't have the foresight to pick a locale with nice hills, trees and other terrain that is good for mtbing. So I am trying to make my short flat section of trail as interesting as possible by taking advantage of any technical features I can. So far the plan is a short fast smooth trail winding through the 3-5 acre grove that is my front yard, and then crossing the driveway to a loop of more technical trail in the slightly larger grove surrounding our pig barns. Not that it will be especially techy, there is some old slabs of concrete that make a fun little step, a log on the ground that will make a nice ground level log ride, and the log ride I am hoping to build.

The story with what I am building is an old ash tree broke at the trunk about 7 feet from the ground, it is still sturdily sitting on the trunk with two routes that seem sturdy enough to ride on. So I am building a ramp up to the trunk above the fork so that the log ride can take a line straight to the ground (easier) and one that rides out aways until you can get on a another ladder bridge which will take you down(harder). I am pretty sure I will never ride the harder route, but it would be a sweet feature just to build it.

I am hoping to have a party when it is done, you all will be invited. Beer, bonfire, biking. I am hoping to do some experimentation with a format of race I have been toying with involving two riders racing head-to-head on two short loops (sprinting) and doing a bracket format. Basically it will be like a XC DS if you could imagine. But more on that when I actually get the trails done.

[Heuy]

I would build out of what you got. It will outlast your interest in it and by the time it rots out you'll want to build something else and you'll have more odds n' ends lumber.

As far as the trail, sounds like you're building some pretty high-stakes stuff. maybe a skinny over the lagoon if you have one??:sick:

[gus man]

Ben, green treated all the way. Everything in memorial is except for the last piece of garbage that someone was to lasy to take out after a race. Screws for sure.

G

[taylor p.]

Cedar, go to your local electrical company and ask if you can have some of their old power poles.

[jitterjepp]

Screws on the decking.

Nails or, better yet - bolts, on stringers and posts. This driven by the fact that screws are much more prone to shear force failure than nails or bolts.
+1

When I did construction work we would recycle 2 x's with screws. You whack the protruding screw with the side of your hammer and they break off instead of bending like nails. Bolts or nails for things that take side force. You may have a few screws in one location and think its fine and only one out of four may be holding it because the rest are broken. Deck screws and sheet rock style screws are the worse for this and stainless screws break in half very easy.