I haven't been on lately because I didn't have anything to add to the discussion. Today I got my flatbed trailer unloaded and went to the woods for a shakedown load. A friend has a timber sale and needs some lumber and I need a bunch of lumber. So he supplys the logs on a landing and I load, haul and mill. 50/50 split on sawn lumber. It'll work. Anyway here is a small 1st load of green white spruce that I will be making 6x6s and 2x6s from on my Mighty Mite Gen ll band mill. I've never hauled logs on this trailer, or been to his sale. This was all the logs he had on the landing so it was imo just right.
Its been a busy summer and I haven't gotten much done on the homestead. But we live here now. I need to build a garage before winter. That's what the logs are for.
Thank you all ! Yes, I will be putting up pics as I can. Real marginal service@ the homestead in the summer.
Got a place cleared enough to get the mill in and the log trailer on 1 side and a trailer for lumber on the other side.
That looks like it will be a pretty efficient setup. How far is the landing from the homestead? If it's anything like around here all the projects never get done before winter, and don't really even have winter anymore, just mud.
Boy does time fly. Goes by @ 28'000 miles an hour The mill yard (small tho it may be @ this point) Is about 100 yards from the house. Far enough so the distractions from the house won't distract me from working. I wish I could say I was making lumber today. But today was plumbing in the propane line into the kitchen . Didn't get enough of the correct fittings the first trip to the hardware store so I had to make another trip. 24 mile round trip so that hour used up the time to cut, flare and finish the hookup to the stove. Hopefully I'll have it working by 9 in the morning. Then I can spend the rest if the day @ the mill. I did get 1 rough 4x4 sawn the other day . Aspen, I'll use it for cribbing to get the mill leveled and solidified. I gotta figure out how I'm getting water in the hydraulic system . I drained the system last fall. Filled it with fresh AW32 hydraulic oil this spring and it's milky again . Had the top on the reservoir nice and snug. Maybe I need to plumb a water separator filter into the system ?
We are in the fall weather weeks of August. Temps have been in the low to mid 40s in the mornings. Some leaves are starting to turn yellow. Most of the fireweed has finished itself off. This workin a job is really getting in the way of doing what I want to be. The garage probably ain't gonna happen this year. But the arctic entry should. 8'x12'. That will keep the house warmer.
Yep, working is a real distraction for sure, I'm trying to quit myself. It's really bad when you own the stupid business. I gotta say I'm really jealous of your temps though, it's been upper 80's and humid here for weeks, just horrible! As to the water in the oil, it maybe condensation, those tanks have to "breath" and often cool and pull in outside air that's damp. It doesn't take much water to turn the oil milky, an option is to run the machine hard for a few hours & see if it clears up, heat will often evaporate the water out. Take a pic of a small sample & I can likely tell how much water is in it. Let about 8oz sit in a clear glass jar overnight & see how much water is on the bottom, then you'll know for sure.
That is a Great idea ! I did finally get the mill so it's sawing Square. I was fighting trying to get it to cut a SQUARE cant instead of a trapazoid. Finally I read the mill instruction book. Did some measuring and sure enough the band blade was 1/4" out @ 18" width. I adjusted it and Now it cuts Square . So I squared up a cant That I had 4 side slabbed . Then sawed 7 , nice 1x9x11' aspen boards from it. I'm Really happy !
Don't feel too bad Cold Trigger Finger Most of us here have experienced times where we are forced to admit, when everything else fails, read the instructions.
Some nice boards. Having not seen used or used a mill myself until this year i cant say how cool it is to see a log sawn into boards. Ive always looked at them as firewood, but now its like "ill bet that'll make some nice lumber." Great pics CTF, keep em coming.
Thanks . it is much slower going (not actually sawing but getting things set up) than I thot it would be. I guess the 170 ish mile trip from Glennallen to our place in Deltana caused the mill to get out of wack. Then not using the mill for 2 + years I might have forgot a thing or 2. But my kinda plan did work. I sawed up some firewood logs to make cribbing First. Then this aspen log to make lumber. Now its cutting good so I can start sawing spruce for framing lumber.
