Building a Timber Frame Front Porch Extension to Cabin

I decided to construct a timber-frame covered porch over the front of the cabin door.  I used a mixture of woods, include Ponderosa Pine, Douglas Fir, and Black Locust.

The pine beams and posts came from Ponderosa trees that I felled right next to the cabin to mitigate wildfire danger.  I drug these pine timbers down to my mill and milled into squared timbers while still green.   I hauled these timbers back home and cut joinery in my carport.   

I did a test-assembly in the carport using persuaders and ratchet straps.

I poured 6" concrete piers for the four posts:

Then I loaded the finished timbers into my trusty trailer for transport up to the build site:

I joined and pegged one bent on the ground, up on spacer timber cut-offs:

Green Ponderosa Pine post meets fully cured Douglas Fir Beam:

I used octagonal white oak pegs:

This first bent, closest to the cabin, was fully assembled prior to raising day:

On raising day, Morgan invited some of her friends from the UI.  They were amazingly helpful.

I placed the finished rafters on the raised bents.  Each rafter had to be cut on-site atop the raised bents to ensure a perfect fit.   At some point, Gavin Gardner helped me a bit:

I put decking on top of the rafters.  I believe I used a router to shiplap the decking.   I used store-bought 2x10 or 2x12, but sanded with 100 grit sandpaper on my belt sander:

I topped the decking with a thick later of roofing felt:

I put a metal roof on the porch extension that matched the color of the main cabin roof.

Several months later, I passed by the cabin while hunting on the land!