A sawmill for Christmas

To say the Farm closed out the last quarter of the year with a bang, would be a monstrous understatement. As autumn was coming to a close and Old Man Winter was settling in with all of his white, fluffy goodness, we were anticipating a very special delivery. During the first week of November we ordered a TimberKing portable sawmill. The lead time on the order was four to six weeks. Needless to say, we were waiting anxiously and on Tuesday, December 31, the mill arrived.

This photo isn't particularly in focus. Overnight lows were -10 and this picture was taken with temperatures having inched up only a handful of degrees. I suppose my phone camera didn't want to work in such extreme temps, and I can't blame it…..I didn't want to work in them either.

One of the reasons the tree farm has had such success in forestry management, and I'd like to think a reason we won the Tree Farm of the year award, is because we have always had a plan. The addition of a sawmill is the Farms first major step of a new plan.

The sawmill will give us the ability to efficiently cut logs into lumber. The farm has access to wood that will make beautiful slabs for coffee tables, dinning tables, desk, and benches. Here is a photo of book matched hickory. The next few steps of this new plan include building a kiln out of a storage container and creating a space in the Husker Barn to do woodworking. 

Stay tuned, if we get some warmer weather, I'll do a post on using the sawmill. Additionally, I'll share with you my furniture design ideas, think live-edged slabs with metal bases. And also, how to create a kiln out of a shipping container.

Makin' some lumber

On Monday, Rachel and I took a road trip to the sleepy little town of Johnson Creek, Wisconsin. The purpose of our trip was to use a bandsaw mill to saw two white oak logs and to view a lumber drying kiln. 

The Alaskan chainsaw mill that we have put to work on Arington Tree Farm has given us a stack of live edge, slab lumber. Unfortunately, before we can build anything with it, we will have to get some moisture out of the wood. The passive approach would be allowing the lumber to air dry. However, with the thick slabs that we milled, it would take years to dry to a workable level - approximately 6-8% moisture content for interior applications. 

New chainsaw mill brackets

As my earlier post mentioned, the chainsaw mill brackets for the first slab didn't work well. The system was simply turning 2x4 lumber on edge to then run the mill along. The weight of the saw, the lack of perfectly level and straight 2x4s, and the narrowness of the rails all factored in to a less than flat initial slab. 

Well my Yankee ingenuity got the best of me. I spent some time building my own slab rail system. I cut a 3/4" thick piece of plywood down to 24" wide and 7' long. To add even more height and strength to the bracket, I actually sandwiched two sheets of plywood together, then added a metal frame to the underside (1 1/4" square tubing). The frame adds strength as well, but I mostly wanted the metal to create a level and square frame to attach the plywood.

Chainsaw mill is up and running!

I got a heads up that Arik was running the Alaskan chainsaw mill today so I ran back to take some photos. He and Joel were busy slabbing up the Big Oak and a black oak.

I had never seen a chainsaw mill in action before, so it was very interesting and educational to watch! While Arik has used the saw solo, it's definitely helpful to have an extra pair of hands on deck.

The slabbing of the Big Oak!

Winter has held on here at Arington Tree farm. I had hoped to slab the Burr Oak months ago, but snow plowing has occupied my time. However, with no measurable snow the last few weeks I was finally able to use the new Stihl 880 running an Alaskan chainsaw mill.

The photo below shows the slabbing brackets setup for the first cut. From all my prior research, the importance of a level first cut can't be stressed enough. I didn't like the slabbing brackets that were supplied with the kit. They only require two, 2x4's on edge, which is what this photo shows. After a challenge first cut I will be building my own bracket. That will be another blog post.

I didn't have anyone available to take an action shot. I'll get Holly or Joe to do that soon. But this second photo shows the log with three slabs removed. At the widest part, the log is 42 inches across. I feel that the scale is hard to appreciate in the photo. We have some ideas of what we want to do with slabs. My next post will show the action photo and what those slabs look like. But if you have any ideas post a comment.

I learned that an Alaskan mill is loud, dusty, and creates a lot of vibration. After three cuts I was close to being done for the day. I actually ran out of sunlight, but it was a welcome interruption in the process.