| So, back to where I left off: I had these 5 huge logs in the backyard and I wanted seats for the fire pit. Since the logs were tall, using them “as is” was not an option, and if I could cut them each in half I would have double the amount of seats. I didn’t have time to make some sort of fancy piece out of each one, so the plan was to make a simple cut in the middle of each log and place them around the yard. The only problem was that the logs were about 20 inches in diameter and…I didn’t have a chainsaw. I thought about using any of the other saws I own, but there was no way any of them would get the job done. | A ver, donde quede: Tenia 5 troncos grandes en el patio y queria hacerlos asientos para la fogata. Como los troncos eran altos, usarlos tal cual no era una buena opcion, y si los cortaba a la mitad tendria el doble de asientos. No tenia tiempo para hacer also mas sofisticado con cada pieza, asi que el plan fue cortarlos en la mitad y ponerlo alrededor del area de la fogata. El unico problema era que cada tronco tenia un diametro de 50 cm…y no tenia una motosierra. Pense en usar alguna de las otras cierras que tengo, pero era imposible completar el trabajo. |
| We asked on facebook if anyone had a chainsaw and could help us, but if you haven’t noticed by now, I tend to like to do the job myself. So we went to the store looking for a chainsaw – my early birthday present! I did a little research and figured that for the kinds of jobs I needed to accomplish, an electric one would be plenty. Of course for the guy at the store using a 16-inch electric saw to cut a 20 inch log was ridiculous – the saw wouldn’t last and the motor would burn, blah, blah, blah…why don’t I buy the gas 18-inch instead? Well, I wasn’t willing to spend $300 on a big gas chainsaw that I would barely use. We left with electric 16-inch, and it was fine. | Preguntamos en facebook si alguien tenia una motosierra y nos podia ayudar, pero si no lo han notado hasta ahora, me gusta hacer las cosas yo mismo. Asi que fui a la tienda a buscar una motosierra – me regalo de cumpleanos adelantado! Investigue un poco y me di cuenta que para los trabajos que necesito completar normalmente una sierra electrica seria suficiente. Claro que para el vendedor en la tienda usar una motosierra de 16 pulgadas para cortar un tronco de 20 pulgadas de diametro era una idea ridicula – la motosierra no duraria, el motor se quemaria, bla, bla, bla….porque no mejor comprar una motosierra de 18 pulgadas a bencina? Bueno, yo tenia mi plan y no queria gastar $300 en una tremenda motosierra a bencina que nunca usaria. No fuimos de la tienda con la motosierra electrica de 16 pulgadas, y fue mas que suficiente. |
| Back home, I proceeded to cut the logs slowly, methodically, and safely. It took me a while because I had to go back and forth toward the middle, but I cut them all, the chainsaw didn’t burn, and I have still have all of my limbs. SUCCESS! I had 13 new fire pit seats. After I cut the logs, Leslie and I picked out a wood finish (just a clear finish so the wood would look the same) to seal the logs and protect them from weather and boring insects. We took out our electric sander, sanded down the rough edges where the saw didn’t cut evenly, and filled a spray bucket with the wood finish. It’s much easier to spray the logs than paint them, but I still spread the finish with a brush while Leslie sprayed it onto the wood. We did two coats and then left them out to dry for 24 hours, and that was that! We moved our picnic table and the fire pit to the center of our yard and placed the 13 new seats around the fire pit. | De vuelta en casa, procedi a cortar los troncos lentamente, metodicamente, y de manera segura. Me demore un poco porque tenia que cortar alrededor del tronco, ida y vuelta, pero los corte todos, la motosierra no se quemo, y todavia tengo todas mis extremidades. VICTORIA! Tenia 13 asientos para la fogata. Despues de cortar los troncos, Leslie y yo compramos un liquido para sellar la madera y protegerlos de la lluvia y la humedad y los insectos. Usamos nuestro maquina para lijar para suavisar la superficie y aplicamos el sellador. Usamos 2 capas y los dejamos secar por 24 horas, y listo! Movimos la mesa de picnic y la fogata la pusimos al medio del circulo que hicimos con todos los asientos. |
| We thought we were finished, but ever since we moved into our house back in 2011 we’ve wanted lights in our backyard beyond what the fire pit has to offer. We don’t have electricity in the yard, so the quickest fix was to put Christmas lights outside and bring out an extension cable whenever we’re using the backyard. We needed something to hang the lights on, though – our trees are too tall to just string them up. So we bought 6 PVC pipes, sawed them down to the right size, and spray painted them with Rustoleum copper-color paint. The stuff has great coverage and only required one coat for each pole, and they look metal! It was a cheap fix and it’ll do for now. I put hooks in the tops of the poles to loop the lights along the top of them, and that was all we needed to make Los Rodriguez Camp! | Pensamos que habiamos terminado, pero desde que nos mudamos a esta casa que queriamos luces en el patio porque solo iluminabamos con la fogata y a veces se necesita luz sin prender fuego. Como no hay electricidad en el patio, lo mejor que podiamos hacer era instalar luces navidenas y usar un cable de extension para enchufarlas cuando las necesitemos. Nos faltaba algo para colgarlas, los arboles estaban muy lejos para usarlos asi que compramos tuberias de PVC para hacer postes. Cortamos las tuberia para que quedaran a una buena altura y las pintamos con pitura metalica. La pintura cubre muy bien y solo necesitamos una mano por poste, y parecen de metal! Fue algo barato que podemos usar por ahora. Hice ganchos para cada poste y colgamos las luces, y con eso creamos el Campamento de los Rodriguez! |
Los Rodriguez Life 
One response to “Fire pit seats”
Great job(s)!!! There are probably pics somewhere.
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