Still raining, with at least another 5 days of nasty weather to come.

The timber work continues. The learning curve is pretty steep, but I'm enjoying the process. These 3 pics show some of the tools, systems and  design employed. The beetle (mallet) was made from a gum log. Initally 10kgs , but proved to be a bit heavy, so cut it down to about 6kgs and now does the job nicely. The 2500kg truck tiedown is just the trick for pulling the joints together tightly. The inlay around the post top will feature the top of stair case banister post. I purchased a Makita chain mortiser which makes short work of the mortise joint. Tenons are cut carefully with a circular saw and hand saw. I'm learning the art of keeping a keen edge on the chisel.

The wooden pegs arrived today from Log Home Store in the US. Ideally I would have sourced the hardwood pegs locally, but that had its challenges. An internet search and on-line purchase took just 5 days form order to delivery; both economical and efficient. As I had pre-drilled 25mm holes in a number of beams, I was very pleased to discover that the pegs fit my holes perfectly.