Live Streaming: Great Adventure in the Wilderness-Chapter 694 - 691: Labor
Chapter 694: Chapter 691: Labor
The tranquil forest was punctuated by a monotonous chopping noise, occasionally mixed with the barking of dogs. Bi Fang, who had shed his coat, brought the sledgehammer down, driving the wooden wedge further into the tree with fiery zeal.
Flakes of accumulated snow fell onto his shoulders, quickly melting into damp spots under the warmth of his body. Despite the cold, Bi Fang, having eaten breakfast, felt an abundance of strength surge within him, emitting warmth that dispelled the severe chill.
After dozens of strikes, the fourth wedge was inserted into the tree, almost completely severing it, but it still didn’t fall, just lacking that final bit.
Coarse hands tightly grasped the smoothly polished wooden handle of the hammer, and his robust forearm muscles tautly contracted and relaxed, escalating force upon force with the support of sturdy bones.
The sledgehammer was raised to its highest point and, guided by the large arm muscles, carved out a semi-circular arc to hit the wedge precisely.
Crack.
...
The crack pierced through the bark, emitting a crisp sound, the tree bark, lacking moisture in the bitterly cold region, dry and brittle, snapped like a piece of deep-fried crispy pork skin.
After a moment of swaying, the completely severed giant pine tree slowly toppled to one side, its branches shedding the last bits of snow.
Like falling on a cotton field, a great deal of snow whirled up, stirring a choking cloud of dust that, being snowflakes, wasn’t at all unpleasant.
A moment later, Bi Fang emerged from the forest, carrying a log on his shoulder and dropping it onto the snowy ground, his cheeks slightly flushed, whether from the cold or from excessive physical exertion.
Bi Fang did not choose to build his cabin near the river; instead, he chose a spot about thirty meters from the river bend, in a relatively open area.
The ground’s snow had been cleared away early, revealing the grayish-white soil underneath, which was heaped with trees Bi Fang had chopped down, and next to it was a two-meter-deep pit that he and the three fools had dug together.
The deep pit didn’t serve any special purpose for the trees but was a sudden inspiration from Bi Fang after he dug out peat soil, curious to see if there was any beneath this valley, and to his surprise, there was.
However, unlike the one he dug during the blizzard, the peat soil here was buried deep, having dug more than a meter, nearly two meters before finding it—deeper than normal peat soil.
Nice, no more worries about fuel in the future.
Bi Fang set the log down from his shoulder and brushed the sawdust off his hands; to him, this peat soil was an inexhaustible resource.
The large and small logs, stripped of their excess twigs, were neatly stacked together, but this was only a beginning. They still needed further trimming, cutting, and fashioning into the appropriate mortise and tenon joints.
Without the right tools, and only using a dagger, the process could undoubtedly be done, but was unquestionably going to be much more cumbersome, a lengthy, complex process that even the viewers felt fatigued watching.
“Because the wood doesn’t have any slots, we need to build a framework to prop it up,” Bi Fang explained.
Bi Fang selected suitable timber and buried it into the soil, tamping it down firmly.
“First, we need to collect 14 sturdy poles between two and a half and three meters long. At each of the four corners, we bury three poles, which adds up to 12 poles in total.”
“Bury the poles twenty to thirty centimeters into the ground, compact the soil all around to secure them. Then, a half-meter plus to the left of the front right corner, insert another two poles. This area will serve as the entrance. Make sure all the supporting poles are secure so they can hold the horizontal poles and form the walls of the shelter.”
Bi Fang did his work meticulously, sharpening the base of the wood and driving it deep into the ground; after giving it a shake, it was very stable.
Yet another exceedingly exhausting process.
[Master Fang, the woodworker, has come online]
[Just Learned Another Craft]
[Can you really learn it? I feel like you’re deceiving me]
[You caught me (Dog’s head)]
From chopping down trees to clearing the land, and then to driving in all the stakes, a day just passed like that.
“I’m too tired, that’s it for today, time to rest.”
The exhausted Bi Fang turned off the livestream.
…
Today, not even a sliver of the sun showed up; at noon Bi Fang looked out at the distant horizon.
Yesterday the sun wavered between peeking out and merely shining, but today there was only light.
Sighing, Bi Fang pushed against the stakes he had fixed into the ground; they were very sturdy, not budging even when he ran up and collided with them.
“Once all the support poles are in place, you can start stacking the logs horizontally between them. Use an adequate amount of grass and mud to make ‘plaster’ to reinforce the logs and seal the gaps.”
Although Bi Fang didn’t chop many trees, each one yielded several segments, enough for his use.
“To make mud plaster, just mix equal parts of mud and fibrous material, like dry grass, straw, or fern plants thoroughly together. Once it dries, this mixture works like strong glue.”
Bi Fang dug a small pit in the snow nearby, pouring river water, the mud from the river, some fern plants, and strips of tree bark into it.
“The back wall of the wood house should be over one and a half meters high, and the front wall should be over two meters. A significant height difference can prevent it from being crushed by snowfall, ultimately leading to collapse.”
Bi Fang placed a log horizontally above the front wall and the entrance, supported by the side walls.
In the end, he spread a generous amount of prepared plaster on both the inside and outside of the walls, which quickly set in the cold wind, turning a faint grayish-white color.
Bi Fang placed the logs in parallel across the top of the shelter, at a right angle to the entrance, until it was completely enclosed.
Afterward, he used mud plaster to seal all the gaps, and then covered it with sod and leaves cut from the logs.
“If you’re planning to light a fire inside the wood house, make sure the ventilation holes are large enough and can be opened and closed. You can use any suitable material to make a door; you might also choose to fashion a wooden door from available materials.”
“But most of the time it’s necessary, as the shelter you’ve built will become your home, so it’s vital to set aside an area for making a fire.”
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“With fire comes light, warmth, cooking, and entertainment. But if used incorrectly, it could cause a fire disaster, and one might even perish in the flames.”
“Before starting a fire in the shelter, ensure that the ventilation holes are operable and can vent smoke, to prevent suffocation and carbon monoxide poisoning.”
“A good fire pit is often located between the door and the center of the shelter, not affecting the use of the area at the back. For optimal effect, dig a circular fire pit with a diameter of less than half a meter, but go a bit deeper, preferably over two meters, then line the bottom and sides with stones.”
When Bi Fang was building the wood house, he left a hole in the outer wall, constructing a protruding outlet with rocks mixed with plaster, all to create a fire pit at this moment.
