7/25-27/17 I went up to Camp Serendipity for 3 days: Tuesday through Thursday.

It was 80° at 12:20 when I pulled up to park at the hairpin turn. There in front of me were 4 or 5 big birds that I think are wild turkeys. It looked to me like they were eyeing the blackberry patch and as I slowly drove up, they sort of glanced at me and then nonchalantly ambled over to the creek and into the woods. I didn't see any black blackberries in the patch so I was afraid the turkeys had taken them. But as I looked closer, and as my eyes got used to the bright light, I could see that there were plenty of ripe berries in amongst the red and green ones.

I brought half of my gear up to the cabin in one load and was again relieved to see that there were no mice in the traps. I hoisted the flag and brought a 40-oz. yogurt container back down to the hairpin turn. A lot of the blackberry patch was in the shade so I figured I'd pick what I could while it was still shaded. I ended up filling the container.

I brought the other half of my gear and the berries up to the cabin and had a late lunch, followed by a nice nap.

When I got up I turned on the valve to irrigate Brian and Paul. Then I measured the diameter of the small end of the vine maple rail to begin designing the mortise and tenon joint at the Grid G2 column. The rail was 1 1/2" in diameter. Then I selected the biggest spade bit I had which was 1 1/4" wide. That would be just about right to make the mortise hole, but the bit was too short. I found an extender and was happy to see that the bit fit into it. I secured it with an Allen screw. That made the bit some 18 inches long which would be plenty long enough.

Next I noticed that the bit was pretty dull so I sharpened it on the grinder in the utility room. Then I went into the woods and checked on the sequoia trees. Paul was getting plenty of water but Brian was not getting as much. When I went back to the cabin, I tightened the valve on Paul's side of the wye a little to send a little more water up to Brian.

On Wednesday Dave called and explained that he couldn't talk long so our conversation was brief. I took another 40-oz. yogurt container down to the hairpin turn and picked another 40 oz. of blackberries. I also irrigated Brian and Paul again.

Then I went to work on the rail. I needed to locate exactly where the mortise/tenon joints were going to be, figure out the exact length of the rail plus both tenons, cut the rail to length, and then fabricate the mortises and tenons. I suspended the rail using ropes and maneuvered it into near its final position. Since it was too long, I couldn't position it exactly, but I could figure out the length anyway.

While the rail was hanging there, and while I was looking at it, I became dissatisfied with the straightening job. There was still quite a bit of bow in the small end that I thought I should try to straighten.

I also thought about the mortise and tenon joint planned for the bottom in the Grid G3 newel post. It was clear that there would be no way of keeping water from running down the rail and pooling inside the mortise hole. That would be unacceptable. After thinking about it for quite a while, I decided to abandon the mortise and tenon idea and to mount the rail flush to the newel post and fasten it with a big lag screw. That would also make installation of the balusters easier.

Regarding straightening the rail, I really didn't want to set the steam box back up so I tried to figure out an alternative. When I had talked to Robert about steam bending my rail, he told me a story about his dad and a blacksmith who straightened an axe handle by using water and a torch somehow. I didn't quite catch all the details, but the idea of heating the wood with a torch seemed like something I should try. I took a break to think about it and to have lunch and a nap.

Just as I started lunch, Bill called and we arranged the date for us to go down to his place in Packwood and to hike to the High Rock Lookout. We decided on August 26-27. After a nice long chat, I had my lunch and my nap.

When I got up, I found a scrap piece of vine maple about 6 feet long and about 2 inches in diameter that had a severe bow in it. I decided to experiment with it. I suspended it between two sawhorses with the bow up and then heated the top of it with a propane torch. The wood scorched right away if the flame was too close, but I could avoid scorching by keeping it far enough away. I wasn't sure it would get hot enough though. That was why I needed to experiment.

After heating the stick for what I thought was long enough, I shut off the torch and with my gloved hands, simply put my weight on the stick. The temperature on the porch was 85° so I wasn't sure I could hold the stick down long enough for it to cool sufficiently. It wasn't a very scientific test, but when I did let go, I measured the bend again and I had taken one or two inches out of it. That sort of proved the concept.

I also did a little scraping where the wood had been scorched and determined that the scorching doesn't go all that deep and it scrapes right off. It looks like using a torch to straighten the rail just might work.

Next, I tried to set up a system for straightening the rail by torching it. I used clamps, a concrete block, and my riser on blocks to hold the rail with the bow up as I had done with the scrap stick. Then I tried different methods of leverage using 4x4s, chains, and clamps in various configurations. None of them worked very well. Some of them even seemed dangerous. I needed to think about it a lot more.

Next week will not be a routine week at Camp Serendipity. I need to be home Tuesday and we are having an out-of-town visitor next week who might want to come up to Camp Serendipity on Wednesday, so I planned to spend Thursday morning of this week (tomorrow) to clean the place up and strip the beds in order to get ready for our guest. So, I will have nearly two weeks to think about how to do some more straightening on the rail. Progress is slow around here.

On Thursday morning, Dave called and we had our normal rather lengthy conversation. Then I had my breakfast, put away all the tools, vacuumed the place upstairs and down, and stripped the beds. I left for home at 12:30 after picking a few more blackberries.