My quick intro

[Krusty]

While my knots seemed tight yesterday, I am going to switch to bolts for the top and bottom row so it is tight where the rafters sit. Will post a pic later.

[Yurtman]

Yes knot tying is very hard on the hands. I tell customers who make my kits that if their hands are not burning after 30 mins, the knots are not tight enough. I had one customer who was under pressure to get it tied fast, had bleeding hands😀
I wear leather gloves with the finger tips cut off, but I still have to be careful around the base of my little finger. I’ve tied so many knots now that the calluses on my finger tips cause problems on my iPad!

I oil the rafters and lattice as sanding etc is so time consuming and you really need to put a minimum of two coats on which means sanding between coats.
There are 3 disadvantages to varnish, the first as described, 2nd any chips or “dinks” to the varnished parts means

moisture

can penetrate into the wood and the varnish stars to flake off. Thirdly, if you need to re-coat the wood, you will have to cut all the knots off, sand, re-coat and then re tie the lattice. With boiled linseed oil, you can re-coat in situ.

So what are you going to do for the roof ring? Are you going to steam bend some of that nice wood you milled up, it looks perfectly straight and without knots. Ideal.

[Krusty]

Hi Yurtman

I am not a fan of the wipe on oils for outdoor things at all. There is a great book on wood finishing by Bob Flexner and is considered the bible. Varnish will be quite fine for my needs. Actually the only time I would consider an oil is on cherry, but would still put something else overtop it once cured.

As for the ring, first rendition will be a simple pine glueup as I have yurt camping with my kids early june so the pressure is on. Its been a decade since I used my router table and have no idea where it is for the rafter ends. Router is easy to find. For the tenon end I plan to stick the tenon cutter in a big arse lathe but need to whip up a quick platform to hold the rafter piece on for uniformity.

Come this winter, which generally sucks in canada, i will try some steam bending forsure with ash. Should have no problems getting a 36" diameter steam bend out of 1/2" thick ash. Driving home from grocs I thought it would be fun to do a dovetail joint where the 2 ends come together in the ring. Would not be laminated but a single piece brought together at the ends. Dovetails would be plenty strong to keep it together. Tomorrow I will search for the router table!

[Bob Rowlands]

I primed and painted my wall and rafters and yurt door with Rustoleum oil enamel. That's one heavy duty finish that withstands the yurt cover snapping in the wind on rafters and laths. Door and it's frame to sun and weather. But only to a point.

[Krusty]

Plan to start sewing canvas this weekend. I have read that sometimes there is a layer between the canvas and wood. Wool of course in winter but anything else to provide some protection to canvas chaffing on wood?

[Bob Rowlands]

For a bright interior, install a light colored liner first. Felt second. Outside cover last.

My yurts only had a cover, no liner, no

insulation

. The cover snapped and popped in heavy wind to where the rafters left marks on the cover. There was no chaffing.

I had a rope 'bridle' on top of the cover to help secure it and the rafters. It worked OK but a tight 15 year pro fit vinyl cover it was not.

[Krusty]

Hi Bob.

I think I will attach 6 straps coming down off the roof cover to the ground sheet. That way it will stay on or blow us all into the sky. A tad warm today for mid may at 100F humidex but I love it. The roof ring is pine and I will make a proper hardwood one. It is 4 layer glue up octagon cut to a circle. It is rough sanded and I dont think it would last 100 years compared to a nice hardwood one. Rain is coming so will set it up again inside to start sewing. Still have to sand the odd edge from tenons and such. But progress! I was skeptical with a 3 ft ring on a 12 ft yurt but it is good enough for me. I thought the scale might be off. It is roomy inside and even though the walls are around 4', the ring sits about as high as I can reach stretched up.

[Bob Rowlands]

Nicely done dude! Thanks for the photo.

[Bob Rowlands]

A few photos of my 16' yurt are on google images.

Bob Rowlands homemade yurt.

Mine is the rustic one with green door and vertical rafters each side of the door frame. As you can see in closeups my roof ring is heavy. You can see the five point 'roof bridle' shadow on the interior view.

[Krusty]

I might get to sewing material tomorrow! Have ends of various parts that need to be varnished and while it is drying I will start with the ground sheet using vinyl. What kind of webbing did y'all use? There are several different materials, nylon, polyester, polypropylene etc. Also how is a door constructed, well I guess fastened? If the wall canvas wraps around the door frame uprights, it does not leave anything to fasten to. Wisdom appreciated!