1. Pour foundation and attach 1 inch standoffs.
2. Receive a delivery of lumber. This pergola will use pressured-treated wood for posts, regular spruce for the bottom two horizontal layers, and a clear grade lumber (very nice, straight, no knots) for the upper horizontal layer.
3. Chamfer edges of posts. This is to remove imperfections at the edges of the posts, mostly due to edges being right at the edge of the tree they were milled from. There was even some bark on a few pieces.
To do this I marked a line a set distance from the edge to be cut and then screwed a guide (long, straight piece of wood) to the post. The circular saw can then rest against the guide while cutting a chamfer on the edge.
4. The next step will be to paint, or more likely prime the posts and the other lumber before assembly to try to reduce painting time, but this might not be possible with temperatures dropping. I'm using an oil-based primer, which should be a little better at lower temperatures.
