5/23/05 Andrew helped prepare ten receptacle boxes by knocking out the knock-outs and installing the EMT adapters.

5/24/05 I went up to the property for 3 days: Tuesday through Thursday.

I arrived at 1:30. It was a beautiful spring day. There was no frog in the gate lock. After moving in and having lunch, I installed two receptacle boxes and the conduit between them. I also chiseled two more holes for two more receptacle boxes.

On Wednesday, it was another beautiful day. Two jays came around for peanuts the first thing in the morning. The Indian Paintbrushes were blooming and the first of the wild roses were also blooming. Of course I stopped to smell them.

I finished chiseling all the receptacle box holes in the living room and in the bedroom. There will be no receptacles in the log wall in the bathroom, so the only ones left to do are the ones in the utility room. I didn't have any more EMT so I didn't install any more boxes.

By now, I am getting pretty good at chiseling the holes. This is consistent with my typical pattern of gradually learning some skill so that by the time I am good at it, I am done with that job and the new-found skill ends up being useless. That has never bothered me before, and it doesn't bother me now.

Since I think I have worked out a pretty good method, now is the time to describe it. I start by placing a box against the wall where I want to install it. I place it with the open side toward the wall in the crack between two logs. I use a combination square with a bubble level on it to get the box plumb. Then I hold the box in that position with my left hand while I grab a hacksaw blade that is mounted on a handle on one end of the blade.

I place the hacksaw blade on top of the box so that the teeth can scratch out a mark on the log along the top edge of the box. I tried writing on those varnished logs with different pencils and pens, but nothing makes a better more visible mark than the scratches made by that hacksaw blade. With the top marked, I do the same thing on the underside of the box to mark the bottom horizontal line. Then, still holding the box in position, I use the hacksaw blade to make a vertical mark at each of the four corners. The marking is very quick and easy this way.

Next, I start a 3/8" spade bit centered on one of the corner vertical marks and about 3/16" above the bottom horizontal mark or below the top horizontal mark. That makes the hole tangent to the horizontal mark. I used my 3/8" DeWalt drill with a bubble level in it. That way I could make sure I drilled the 3/8" holes nice and level. I drilled the holes deeper than they needed to be. After drilling all four corners this way, I switched to a 1 1/4" spade bit and drilled a big hole in each corner. I started each hole trying to make the hole tangent to the horizontal marks and sticking out beyond the vertical marks a fraction of an inch. I watched the bubble on the drill to keep these holes level as well. I had a pencil stub with a mark for the proper depth of the holes and I used it as a gauge for the first hole. I judged the depth of the other three holes by sticking a finger in each of a pair of holes and just feeling whether or not they were the same depth. It surprised me how well this works.

With the four big holes bored, I used a big wood chisel, which I am sure weighs over a pound, and a 3 lb. hammer to cut out the wood between the holes. I started the cuts by holding the chisel horizontal with the blade right on a horizontal line. The flat side of the chisel was up for the top line and it was down for the bottom line. That way, the chisel pretty much cut the final plane surface of the hole. I would give the chisel a few good blows to drive it in an inch or so, and then I would move it to the other half of the line for a few more blows. The width of the chisel is about half of the distance between the tops of the holes.

A few more blows with the chisel cutting at the back side of the notches and big 3/4" size chips would fall out and the hole was ready for a little truing up. I would stick in an assembled box with a cover plate attached to see how much more cutting was required in order for the box to go all the way in and to get the cover plate to just touch the logs. I would also use the combination square to make sure that the cover plate was plumb. As my technique improved, the boxes fit better and better sooner.

On Thursday morning, I chiseled the last three holes in the utility room. On the last hole, the box fit perfectly the very first time I tried it. I guess that proves that I have mastered the technique and I can now stop doing it. This makes a total of 25 four-inch boxes, each having four receptacles. That's a hundred receptacles around the baseboards and in the kitchen, which should be enough. There will me more receptacles yet in the interior walls so that should be plenty. I felt pretty good about getting that chiseling done. Next week I'll install all the boxes and conduit and schedule an inspection. Then I'll be ready to begin chinking the inside walls. I left for home at 1:15.

5/28/05 Andrew helped prepare the last four receptacle boxes by knocking out the knock-outs and installing the EMT adapters.