welcome to the construction site.





Mr imagination's new fort will be going up here.



More to come.

Do you ever sit still?

Is 'tree house' what they're calling deer blinds these days?

Haha!

Nope, this one is in our yard at home.

Is there going to be a corn pile by this "tree fort?"


I remembr being that age, I built s fort anywhere I could. Can't remember how many were on neighbors property!

What's that got to do with it?

Word for word what I thought when I opened this thread.

Awesome!

Now will this be a Treehouse or a Fort.?

Big Big difference in the layout of the defenses between the two...

Treehouses offer protection from Cootie carrying girls, Forts defend attacks from Injuns, Knifebears and Swampsquids...

ND needs to get it while he can, he is getting older.

That is a tough call. I will consult with the project manager.

You gotta get stuff done with only 3 months of summer available.

He says it's a tree fort.

Forts are cooler.

Just think of it as an elevated fort.

When I think tree house I think of the movie stepbrother.

Its not your birthday?

No, my birthday was last month.

(The whole month.)

Yay, another Dave building something cool thread!

Seriously Dave, you do enough cool shcit to have your own TV show. No script needed.

We got a good start on the main support frame tonight.









My partner on this project is high energy. Good tool and lumber fetcher, very excited.

One of the few shows I received and watched whilst living in Korea was the "Tree House Guy" or some such. Built great chitt. Something I thought would be good in Idaho if any my three sons ever sort out a proper woman.

I hope the 3 can find more than 1....

GFY you literate [bleep]. Remember, I is a dump-[bleep] enginear.

[bleep] is such a fun word.

Yep, like a chin sack

I dunno about chin sacks and enginequeers, but I know a bad azz tree fort in the making when I see one.

Gonna be some righteous pine cone and bottle rocket wars waged there, I'd wager.

These type projects not only require such a hand, but succeed or fail because of them.

Each lad has a priority and focus for Dad-time. I like it.

8 hours of wrestling metal on a 69 ford mustang followed by 3 hours of tree climbing after the school bus drops off the project leader....

I hurt.

Lol!

Gonna do it all over again today!

All you guys gotta remember, PWM needed something built for Him after RWS project was completed.

Don't worry Dave, after this one's done, there is only Pam's project, then Taylor's project to be completed, before you can start on YOURS !

Hey, I wanna play...

nails or skrews?

Tape

Is that thang square and plum and alla that?

Dave, you phugger. I'm readin' ya. You and 2nd are building a bigger , better treestand for later to shoot chit out of when older brother moves out of the nest.

Have fun.

LD

Dave, serious question here...

On building the framework in the tree, is tree movement a consideration, like when the wind blows? Can it loosen things?

It's a great thing that you spend time with your kids like that. They won't forget that.

Yeah, I'm trying to allow for tree movement. Especially since this thing is in 2 trees.

I basically have a set of main joists that are the crib for a floor frame which is now sitting on top.

My thoughts are that the "house" floor can be fastened down to the main crib at the 2 center joists of the floor frame and let the rest float. I'm hoping for enough flex out of the main crib between the trees.

The crib joists are attached with hangers where I used screws to mount the hangers and then used nails to anchor the joists in the hangers.

I've put deer stands up in trees with crappier lumber, what ever screws or nails I have on hand and a lot less planning and the damn things seem to stay up there till the tree falls over.

Lol

Less typee, more workee.

You appear to be at your best when you are working like a field slave on a project you enjoy.

Thanks Dave.

I like the hanger idea. May have to steal that from you. I have the perfect place between some trees to put a roof over my tractor. Was worried about movement with the oaks though.

Bofe.

Nails anywhere I think flex will occur.

Cuz nails bend, screws break.

PS, I got all my lumber and screws in greenbush. But I have to go back cause lumber boy forgot to throw an 8' 2x6 in the truck. Roof center beam.

I can try to post some detail photos but its almost safer not to, lol.

"Hey, that's the way dave did it, and he didn't die..."



Its actually rock solid up there. Nice view too. Project manager is very happy.

A great tutorial here.

http://www.bcsportbikes.com/forum/s...to-Build.-What-is-this-I-don-t-even.....

"Hey, that's the way dave did it, and he didn't die.


That's one of the funniest lines I've read in a while. Can't wait to see the finished product.

You think !!!!



AWESOME SMILE

Dave,

Just ran my practiced surveyors eye over the pics posted to date, & may have detected a serious planning flaw.

I can not see an appropriate peeing rock.

If I was you, I would blame the project manager !

Damn Dave, you stay busier than a one armed paper hanger.

I found a rock.

I'm going to crack into a 6 pack later and do some testing, see if it will work.

How many associates of the project manager do you suppose the board room will support for an overnight meeting this summer?

3 to 4 comfortably.

Weight rating?

Heavens no.

We rate our associates by character and sense of humor.

Good'n.

Too g'dang windy for tree fort building tonight. So, were going to rig up a watering truck to water the 60 trees pam and Nate planted yesterday (instead of climbing big spruce trees)

Windbreak.?

Lmao!

Don't mind if I do.



I'm on a roll.

I've got some High Life brews and could help you come test after dark. That rock looks a bit flat to be peeing on but from that elevation, it should work just fine.

Last page & a half made my day !!

Off home now, wearin' a big grin.

Camp Chickenbuck ll?

Satellite camp

Don't forget to tin foil the roof.

What sort of contraption will loft personal to the tree house?

I'm thinking a ride in the loader bucket or maybe even a rope ladder would be fun for most but knowing you & Joe a trebuchet or other ingenious contraption may be in order for the lifting duties.

Chickenbuck Heights? Or how 'bout Chickenbuck Lite?

Dave, yer not foolin' me-I'm waiting for the pics of the shooting lanes going in planted with buckwheat and clover. Knowing you, there will be lazer rangefinders mounted to the roof on gimble brackets that articulate and pivot to cover all the trails and bedding areas. The cable operated automatic deer drags will go in next, along with the mini distillery on the third floor below the heliport and the satellite dish.........

A few photos from the weekend.

Winds were high, so being up in the tree platform was non fun.





The rechargeable battery for my framing/sheeting nailer went bad on us. So, we did some hammer swinging, which is actually an important part of a kids tree fort.







We are paneling the exterior of this fort with recycled barn boards, there's plenty of board cutting involved.





[img]http://i43.photobucket.com/albums/e...ads/tree%20fort/IMG_7292_zpsmc8rxt0d.jpg[/img]

here is our first 6' high sidewall ready to go up into the tree.

[img]http://i43.photobucket.com/albums/e...ads/tree%20fort/IMG_7293_zpslpmhe3kr.jpg[/img]

These little details, are true American boyhood.

[img]http://i43.photobucket.com/albums/e...ads/tree%20fort/IMG_7294_zpszm9r2i0o.jpg[/img]

My grandfather gave me a hammer holster when I was about his age.....and I still have it.

Bent nails are part of the education!

Earmuffs at the saw? Yanno, to be able to hear a twig snap in the future?

I guess I truly am some kind of dinasour. Lol.

I can't even make it through a tree fort project without safety violations!



I'm good to have ear protection on hand when shooting, especially for the kids.

I do need to have some hearing protection added to my shop's ppe inventory.

I do a lot of grinding and air hammer work, its loud as hell.

I've got the glasses, full face shield, various respirators, but I have no hearing protection on hand in my shop. I need to get some.

Aahhh. you probably couldn't hear the saw anyway. Everyone tells me I talk loud, but hell, I can't hear em.

Quintuple Security,..Outstanding.!

I can remember doing that to my grandpa's wooden saw horses when I was that age...

you're a smart cookie Dave

I can like that about you.


just did a project for your oldest boy that was hella cool


now one for the sprout


only move you had, but too many aren't smart enough to see it.

that you can, well carry on you car restoring, skyscraper fort building dude

I have this sneaky suspicion you ain't gonna go through some of the heartache some families do with their kids.

least I hope not

you're one cool dad

I'm sure you probably got it covered Dave, but I'd be remiss not to mention it.


some of those walls are gonna need hinged windows yaknow


kinda hard to defend the fort if we don't have shooting access with the bb gun.

c'mon pard FOCUS (grin)

First, thanks for the nice words.

As for window, we have one now which I do have higes for, lol! Thinking about picking up one more.

Sorry Dave. Meant out of concern rather than criticism.

I didn't take it any other way.

I cant beleive Joey let you get by nailing like that. I see he showed you the correct way...thats what those fancy dancy air nailers do to you.... Looks GOod. keep plugging away. Looks like some indoor chickenbuck wood there!

He's got me swinging the hammer a little better now. I only bend about half my nails over now.

Watch your fingrs, too - or the boy may get a vocabulary lesson!

That's awesome, he will always remember building that with dad. Great times.

And here I thought bent nails and "owl eyes" were a normal part of any carpentry job!

You've seen my work apparently

My personal experience Sir, I am a world class wood butcher!

My grandma would of made me pull the bent nails and straighten them. She hated to waste nails always had a bucket full of straightened and pulled nails for using on stuff like fence boards chicken coops any thing but the house. The house you used new nails on. She lived thru the depression didnt waste anything.

Nice tree fort Dave and Joey

Your boys smile in the 5th pic from the top is priceless. You are a good dad, Dave.

We just talked about that last night, how when we were kids we had to scrounge rusty used nails and straighten them all before we started a project.

I've bent a few nails in my time. Sometimes cut nails over the top of my thumb, which I'm especially fond of.

Hard to believe Preacher is as old as he is. My lil man got his first loose tooth this weekend.
remember when he was like this?


Recognize that rock?

Man these kids grow up fast! great project man!

Fond memories...when we were kids and decided to build something first thing was to empty the coffee can with the bent nails and straighten enough for what we wanted to build.

Thought it was seventh heaven first time seeing a 50lb box of "new" 16 penny nails.

Man, isn't that the truth. Fond memories for sure. If I remember right, some of those old coffee cans had some kind of ring on them, sort of bent over double on each side of the rim. Think there was one laying around the house and my brother fell on it and cut the palm of his hand pretty bad.

Sorry for the distraction, old things connecting the dot moment.

Kinda wish my son had a dad more like yours does.

g

I just see this as my last chance for this tree house project. Joey is 11 now and if I wait any longer he may not be interested.

I've talked about this for a while and now I pretty much have to make the time for it because the window is closing on this opportunity.

I'm really glad we are doing it, its a lot of fun and he's following me around like a shadow.

I'm learning that it works well to just sort of think out loud when you work with a kid on a project. That way you are teaching them more stuff.

They don't know what you are looking for when you sight down the length of a board. But when you don't and say "what I'm doing now is looking for a crown in this board. And I don't mean like a king's crown, a crown in a board is the outside of a bend, see? Look down the board, see the crown?"

And so on.

There ate hundreds of little tips you can pass along rather than just doing stuff for a kid.

That's the tricky part for me. I'm getting better at it. Its easier when you can see that they are hanging on your every word and soaking it all in.

Its very lucky for me that joey is really into it.

My little helper is going to help me build a new BBQ cooker for at home here when this tree fort is done.

Dave - I'm the same with my son as I show/teach him things. Basically you just turn into a woman and say everything you're thinking as you're thinking/doing it and they pick it up pretty quick.

It's how he learned the basics if reloading and building an AR. Brewing beer too.

Run at the mouth while doing stuff together and they'll remember.

I usually scrounged them out of Dad's shop. I remember it well. A 6" deep, thick cardboard box about 10"x10" filled with a mixture of nails. Every nail known to man was in that box. I can't remember the amount of times he needed nails and I had to run into the woods to find the box at the last fort I left em in. Usually found his hammer he needed right next to it as well.

Well said, Well done!

So, about that g'damn sky house....






We're getting closer.

Beyond cool!

Hah! He'll be taking girls up there by the time ya finish it!

By the way, that is a KATF.
(KickAssTreeFort)

Are we putting it past Dave that this was the plan all along?

Dave's got the shop....

Box??? The first I remember was a wooden keg!

DAMM - I'm OLD!!!!!

My dad and I were talking about nail kegs today! Funny.

+1

We have had some crazy winds lately which made tree house building fairly sporty.

We're really glad to have the walls up. Now we can get a roof on it, a couple of doors, then the rest will be finishing work. Trim, a railing on the little deck out front, maybe a railing on the ladder. Oh, the ladder, I have to show you guys what we did to cope with the movement of the trees, so the ladder wouldn't get ripped apart or tear up the house if the trees swayed and the ladder stiff armed the house.

I'll walk out there and snap a couple pics. Give a few minutes.

If that were in Texas, it would be called a Deer Blind!

We put the ladder on the back side.





I made these hanger brackets with some chain to allow for the house to move independently from the ladder.







The wind was blowing hard when I took these pics and the chain hanger system was working perfectly. Ugly but functional, and it's tied into the floor structure in 3 different places per hanger. It's pretty solid.

Need to build a railing for this little deck out front.



View is ok, It will be nicer when all this black dirt below greens up (grass seed is planted). And the field behind our property will soon green up as well, soybeans is what was planted this time.

I see a camp-out in your future!

Very soon I'm thinking.

You got a permit for that.?



Add some plumbing and you can rent it out to 3 families of illegals..

That'd go for about $900 a month here as a little house...

northern_dave,

Your kids are sure lucky to have you as a father!

Also, thanks for your posts here! Many have already noted that your thread made them smile -- and now there is a big smile here in Sweden too!

John
PS: I detect an acute lack of wiener dog in your photos. I hope Eeeener is doing well!

Eener is alive and well. He's a full time employee in my shop. (security guard)

"Bark-Bark-Bark-Bark-Bark-Bark-Bark!"

lol

Glad to hear that Eener is well (my apologies to him for mis-spelling his name!)

I have hunted roe deer in Sweden with dachshunds and it is an absolute hoot!

I watched the deer stop and let the slow-moving (and noisy!) dog come within about 20 yards of them multiple times, calmly teasing him -- then bounding away to repeat it several times as they stayed in their home range.

The dog got so excited that it would not have surprised me to see him drop with a heart attack. When I mentioned that to my host, he said that his family had hunted with many dachshunds over the generations, and that indeed a number of the little dogs had dropped in their tracks rather than quit.

Lots of personality in a small package!

John

Awesome project Dave but I see more windows in your future. You cant defend what you cant see.

Correct, may have to wait till the next trip to menards. Barn sash types are cheap there. lol.

As bare bones and as thrifty as we've been with a lot of used materials etc, tree houses still aint cheap!

Now Josephis has a place to bring all them chicks he's got on the string!

Something fishy going on here. Okay, first there's this thread started last spring. Then earlier this spring there is a "What should I plant" thread. Now I'm seeing expansive views of said planted fields from the window (shooting port). Me thinks we are looking at a world class tree fort (blind), over-looking PWM's (Old Man Shaw's) kingdom (food plot).

A few construction suggestions:

Large skylights such as those are hard to keep water tight.

The boy is going to need a quick get-a-away in case the Bat Signal is shown or mom calls for supper. I'm thinking 2" jute rope.

Gonna need a haul line with milk crate too. Helps to bring up important items needed to complete the missions - flashlights, telescopes, walkie-talkies, and P,B, & J sammiches.

Obviously, you'll have to run it by the project manager and get a change work order.

Good luck and can't wait to see the finished product.

I am...... what's that word the millennials use?

"offended!"



I'll have you know I planted deer repelling trees down there in that new yard area.

One is a "norland" and one is a "prairie magic" both produce deer replant orbs.

Them Minny-Sota folks got some fancy outhouses! I've seen regular houses that don't look that nice!

Does your son recognize how lucky he hit it in the Dad lottery?

Me and Joe are chilling on the observation deck.




We are observing our farm country view.

You need one of those 500 yard bean field type riffles.....just in case.

Highest marks for you, Dad!
That one will be a treasure.

Very Very Nice.

Add a little heater of some sort and spend time there in the winter too.


How fun for your son.


Great job on the tree house. Even better job working, teaching, and spending quality time with your son.

A life of great memories.

That's great!

You do an excellent job of spending time with the kids in a way that matters. Kudos for that.

As I mentioned before... Deer Blind!

Dave, you done good, and the fort is great too. ;-{>8

It's been busy around home here between landscaping, planting apple trees, pine trees, birch trees. Pam and Nathan planted around 60 little bare root hybrid poplar trees yesterday (not in the new yard, we are using them on a property line.)

We are getting ready for my oldest son Nathan's graduation party too.

We got the "ridge beam" installed in the tree fort last night. Maybe some rafters and roof tin tonight.

Still trying to run a business from home here too so the extra little projects like this are weekends and evenings.

We have lots of company coming at the end of the week, lots of them staying through the weekend. Mr tree fort would really like to have his sky compound functional for a sleepover with his cousin (the boys are same age, play really well, good buddies)