It’s Labor Day in the US, so our ““markets”” are closed. It’s been another intense weekend of work at the Martenson Farm. Thankfully Kevin is here helping, and he’s really gifted and energetic.
One big project I was waiting for help to do is replacing the bridge over our dam. The old one was placed very low over the structure such that during high water events it would trap something like a log or brush, and the next thing you know, the dam was being overtopped by floodwaters, which really is not good.
So the process was to drill into the concrete of the dam and use expansion bolts and epoxy to secure the (Temu) stainless steel post brackets.
I should note that every stick of lumber for this has been cut on our sawmill from trees cut from our property. Very satisfying…
Here’s that old walkway in its last moments…
Here’s a pic of the lateral bracing partway done. The longitudinal bracing is all in. With both bracing sets in, the bridge has no discernible wiggle at all when I hop-jump on it in either direction. Just stupidly solid.
All this was designed in my head based on prior experience as a framing carpenter, with some backup from Grok telling me the max loads for hemlock beams of these dimensions and spans. It’s bomber, as we used to say.
So that old walkway was cut in half with a chainsaw (sorry,
by chipshot 
