A major benchmark was the day the logs arrived. We also took delivery that day of about 500 bd. ft. of 2 x 6 T&G boards destined to be the ceiling of the sauna and dressing room. The placement and stacking of the delivered material was important. The logs needed to be in two piles. 10' lengths and 12' lengths. This would make it easier when it came to actually using them. The 2 x 6's were to be used after the logs were up; they were place out of the way.
It was also important to put the logs in reach of the gin pole.
Ahh...the gin pole. This magical device was used to lift heavy things from the ground onto the sauna. Think about masts and booms on a clipper ship and you will have a good idea of what it is all about. Fortunately for us the sauna was near an oak tree. I used this as the 'mast'. To build the gin pole itself you have to do some geometry. You need to know how high you will ever want to lift on this project. This will ultimately tell you the length of the pole you need.
Because I used a chain hoist at the end of the boom I needed to know the length this required too. Umm...that means the distance from the hook on top of the chain hoist to the hook on the bottom of the chain hoist when the hoist is pulled all the way up. Since you can't lift any higher than that distance you need to add it to the highest lift you will need.
You also need to know how far from the mast you have to reach. Think about angles. When the pole is lowered it sends the chain hoist out further from the mast BUT it also lowers the chain hoist. Try it with a pencil. Put the eraser on the desk top and start to lean it over. As you do the point moves further away but it also gets lower. Since lifting is actually upside down balancing on the end of a rope you need to make sure that that balance point is over the final resting place. Our gin pole just missed this point on the final lift of the ridge pole. It did lift and place the pole but we had to man-handle it into its final position by about 6'. No problem since we had lots of help that day. If I were doing this all by myself I would have had a problem.
Once we did the math we went looking for the pole itself, cut it down, removed the bark and installed the 1/2" eye bolts for the chain hoist, and blocks (pulleys) used the lift the pole. Our gin pole was 6" at the butt and about 4" at the top. I think it was 28' long.
It was also important to put the logs in reach of the gin pole.
Ahh...the gin pole. This magical device was used to lift heavy things from the ground onto the sauna. Think about masts and booms on a clipper ship and you will have a good idea of what it is all about. Fortunately for us the sauna was near an oak tree. I used this as the 'mast'. To build the gin pole itself you have to do some geometry. You need to know how high you will ever want to lift on this project. This will ultimately tell you the length of the pole you need.
Because I used a chain hoist at the end of the boom I needed to know the length this required too. Umm...that means the distance from the hook on top of the chain hoist to the hook on the bottom of the chain hoist when the hoist is pulled all the way up. Since you can't lift any higher than that distance you need to add it to the highest lift you will need.
You also need to know how far from the mast you have to reach. Think about angles. When the pole is lowered it sends the chain hoist out further from the mast BUT it also lowers the chain hoist. Try it with a pencil. Put the eraser on the desk top and start to lean it over. As you do the point moves further away but it also gets lower. Since lifting is actually upside down balancing on the end of a rope you need to make sure that that balance point is over the final resting place. Our gin pole just missed this point on the final lift of the ridge pole. It did lift and place the pole but we had to man-handle it into its final position by about 6'. No problem since we had lots of help that day. If I were doing this all by myself I would have had a problem.
Once we did the math we went looking for the pole itself, cut it down, removed the bark and installed the 1/2" eye bolts for the chain hoist, and blocks (pulleys) used the lift the pole. Our gin pole was 6" at the butt and about 4" at the top. I think it was 28' long.
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