Mother's Rustic Pergola

(Page 13 of 13)

February/March 1998
By the Mother Earth News staff 
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Once lags are in, the access holes should be plugged with tight-fitting dowels to exclude water. Just tap plugs in at first. Once the structure has settled and you've cinched the joint tight once or twice, hammer in plugs—with pitch in side the hole—and cut protruding ends of flush for best appearance. You can dull out the plugs to access the lads it the joint becomes loose later on.

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Use this joint to inset a smallish rung or ornamental stretcher into a larger-diameter log. (It's better than trying to fasten two natural, round rustic logs, with their curved surfaces abutting round-to-round, making a weak joint that is fine for pure ornamentation, but that begs for the joiner to roll off its fastener if grasped or even if stressed by a heavy vine.) Work the smaller piece of wood first and trace its final shape onto the larger, which offers more latitude for adjustment and error.

If you have a 1 1/2" or 2" wide chisel you'll find that the tool offers a convenient pattern to mark out these joints. First, to form the inset lap in the smaller-joiner log—the rung or stretcher, cut out the lower half of the leading 1 1/2" or 2". Trim the sides of the half-cylinder-shaped upper-lap remaining to match a 2 1/2" or 2" notch to be cut into the top of the prime log.

Next, chip off bark and surface wood off the prime log where the stretcher's inset lap is to fit. Trace the shape of the inset lap on the top of the prime log and chisel out the top and side to be mirror images of the lap already cut into the upper part.

Using tar, if you have it, in and over the joint, tap the halves together firmly and secure them with a ringed nail in a pre-drilled hole if wood is smaller than two inches in diameter. If it is larger than this, you'll need to use self-tapping screws.

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