Category: Sawyering

Milling A Little Today

It was not too hot today, so I got out to the mill and put the blade through some logs. There were three 6×6 inch by 9-ish foot posts against the granary when I started the day. Then I cut up another one to finish the corners of what I need for a woodshed. I then cut three 3×10 inch by nine-ish foot beams for the same woodshed. I’ll be double-checking my books before I decide where those are going to go. I also got a couple of four-quarter boards out of the wood, but they don’t have a straight edge, so they will need to be used for spares or small pieces in some project sometime.

After adding the fourth post to the collection I have a complete set of corners for a woodshed.

Incidentally, I have some spindles on order for the riding lawnmower, which ought to improve the shape of the yard. For now, the grass and weeds are getting a bit long.

After it got too hot to carry on, I leaned the wood I had finished for the woodshed next to the granary and went in for a needed break.

I may need thicker beams for the outsides of the woodshed at the tops of the posts. No worries. There are still several logs ready. Ideally, I would like to build a woodshed in the autumn, and load it up with enough wood to hold us through three or four months of winter, then add another shed or two next summer. This would be a first build for me, and I do have several other structures I could use, such as a place to hold the tractor implements as a sort of roofed rack. I’d also like to add a free-standing chicken coop to the farm! All need to be practice before I put together a fun structure as a work-shed or something of the sort. I have no building experience, so this is all a learning curve for me!

Do I Need to Tell You?

It is hot! Summer weather gets a bit unbearable at this time of year. I think there are places where the temperatures have exceeded their normal range by a bit, and records have been set. Our highs have been a bit more in line with the norms of the past decade, though I have not looked in the records to compare. It seems like fairly normal hot weather. So why would I be moaning about it then? I suspect that it is because summers in say, southern Nevada, get hotter, but winters stay much warmer. If the lows barely break into the freezing range, compare that to our winter low of -21F this year. Our total range has been closer to 120 degrees F in total. I am not speaking for anywhere else, so much as just saying that the reason I am feeling overheated may be because of the severity of our temperature swings throughout the year.

This coming week we have a lot of work to get done! The weather will give us a break, and it should be much more bearable for a bit, so we will be taking advantage. We have really got to get a few last pushes through in order to get our home-based businesses started. We have things to organize, and we have some cleaning to do. IT is time to see about things like windows on the house, too. I have a bit of work to do around the old chimney to try to prevent a leak where it meets the roof. I hope to see a man come by to offer a price on getting our septic redone, so we can get the yard into a state we can live with. There are many projects to get done!

My personal push needs to be to get the shop in a working state, with all the workbenches cleared off, and the tools organized and put in places. I have the likely last of any major purchases on order now. It is a set of blades for my plough plane. I’d like to do more than just build, though some of the blades will help with that, but also be a bit decorative, which some of the other blades will accomplish.

About that firewood…

I have a happy setup established with the trailer, a winch, and the tools required to bring home logs just shy of ten feet long. Those are great for the mill, and produce some scraps for the firewood pile. I also need to get some proper splitting rounds to add to the firewood pile. It has taken longer than I hoped to get the collection tools gathered and working properly, and while I can work in the mornings when it is still cool, it heats up quick and puts a damper on getting the job done in a day from collection to putting everything where it belongs here ready to process. It is best for me if I can do that. Hopefully a little break in the temperatures will turn into a long break, and I can get down to get more wood soon. It is always one of the things that is hard to get my head around; going out in such heat to get firewood! One has to keep in mind just how cold it really gets here in the winter!

It is getting pretty close to time to eat! I am off to have a lovely Friday evening and enjoy the company of family before we spend our last weekend as people who are not in a hurry running our own businesses.

Gardens and Goat Pens

It was a very wet spring here. The grass is off to a roaring start as it grows up almost to my knees already. I have put the tiller on the tractor, and got to work on the garden beds, tilling the soil clear of grass and weeds, and hopefully any hope they have had of settling into the space. I have also started clearing animal pens, and moving the hay and other natural contents into the garden bed, and tilling it in.

Our garden space is fair sized, though I would not think of it as large, considering the space our property has. I have animal pens in front of it, relative to the street. And behind it I am squeezing in an orchard, and will soon be setting up a sawmill. The sawmill requires the space to work, keep logs, and put wood that has cut to the side till it can be stacked and dried properly. So that’s a fair amount of space on its own.

I got to work on the pen next to our dog, Bandit. There was a pen in this space, but the goat destroyed the fencing, and it all required replacing with a stronger type of fence. We had originally put in a welded wire fence, but now I am putting up horse fence, which is far more resilient to the efforts the goat puts into its destruction. Welded wire is not worth putting in for any animal larger than a chicken, as far as I am concerned. But we were on a tight budget then, and had to go with what we could afford. I will likely finish the pen today, then I will be moving the buck into it, and letting him live in there. Then all the girls will come out of the pen in the back yard, and move into the pen the buck is in now with the sterile doe. That will give them more room than where they are at, and I will take out their current pen, and make that into a back yard, again. We need an open space in the back for our grandson to run around in. It will also be a step towards just making a lovely space for humans to hang out and give the animals a more defined space of their own in one part of the property. We will likely be removing part of the chicken run, putting in a storage shed there, and I think the rabbits will likely get a space between the sheds where they can have the freedom to run around a bit. But all of that is a mile away, still.

I am not sure if we will garden this year or not, which is a little late in deciding. We need to have a new septic installed, and we don’t yet know for sure where that will go. If it ends up under the garden beds, then it will ruin whatever gets planted. I am sure of being able to use part of the beds, though, so I can see putting in some gourde tunnels. Once the farm is esteblished as a business, which should be today or Monday, the biggest client I have wnats gourdes. That’ll be Antiquary Artisan, my wife.

The Mud is Gone!

The mud has gone from all parts of the yard. Some patches had to be buried to vanish them, but after I did that with the tractor, I let things sit a couple of days and then gave it a go in the garden with the tiller. I was able to till without striking mud or sinking down too mauch anywhere. This morning I tilled the whole garden space again with the back flap on the tiller dropped all the way down, and it levelled the garden pretty good!

We had a gopher digging back in the orchard next to an apple tree. Yesterday I dug down and found the opening to his den and stuffed a pipe into that. Then I closed everything off again around the pipe and stuck the other end of it into the tractor exhaust pipe. I let that run till it was too hot to hold anymore, and then shut it off, pulled the pipe, and sealed the den. No more fresh tailings in front of the den this morning. I suppose that instead of eating the tree’s roots, the tree is going to be fertilized off the gopher.

I worked in the shop a bit today. The workbench by the south wall is finished for the time being. I only need to get a couple of fixtures and some bulbs to put some lights above it. I am happy with how it came out. I am happy that I got it pretty much the same height of the main workbench across from it, so i can span larger items from one to the other. I do need to get some electric power to it. I’ll be setting up my beeswax melters over there, and an oven to reseason my cast iron, too. That will get the stench of that chore out of the house, and make it easier if I find myself stripping old seasoning off the iron first.

I just have a lot of stuff that could use a home out of the workspace.

Missus is setting up to run an at home business with quite a few possible products. We have got a 60 inch loom set up now, and there are a lot of thigns she wants to make on that. We also have a potter’s wheel and a kiln set up, ready to start throwing. We both have lathes, and plenty of other tools for making all manner of things. I still need to get the sawmill set up. But that will come soon. It is getting time to get firewood going, and some wood to saw. It is also getting time to get the llamas shorn. We have busy days ahead of us!

The kids are finished up with their homeschooling. They will both be going to public school in the autumn. One is accepted to the school we wanted, and we are still waiting for a reply for the other.

This summer brings a whole change of pace for us here on the farm. It ought to be an advanture! With us both trying to earn here at home, nothing will be the same again.

It’s Amazing How Tired…

A fella can get from driving down to pick up a trailer, then another one. The trip was maybe 40 miles each way, but the driving and maybe the stress takes a toll on the old body. It is the arthritis playing me up, for sure.

But the point is, Missus has a new trailer to take to the Farmer’s markets, and I got one to put the tractor on.

A nice box trailer with a ramp on the back to make a mobile shop for Missus to use at the Farmer’s Market’s and out front of the house. This will allow her to set up a shop space without the month-to-month cost that I believe can kill a small business.

This flatbed trailer should help in many ways! It has stake pockets so I can build sides to keep long logs on it, and it has D-rings and ramps so I can load the tractor on it. I’d like to put a winch on it to load a dead car, truck, or tractor onto it.

Both trailers seem good, with solid jacks and decent LED lights. The electrical connectors are great compared to the other trailers I have, and the chains and spare tires are very nice. The rigs feel adequate for their purposes.

So, I suppose at this moment, I can hire out for tilling for spring gardens if anyone needs it. I should also be fine to do box blading, and post hole digging. I don’t really want to do junk haulage and have to pay out of my citizen’s account to unload at the dump for others. But I do want to get firewood and logs for milling on the trailer and bring them around to the house to work on.

So that’s where I think we’re at. We have more projects to handle now, since these trailers need a bit of customization to complete them. And right now, the mud is so bad, I cannot even take them to the back of the house or over to the designated trailer parking to get them off the front drive. It’s storms for the next few days, then we have warmer temps finally passing through! I’ll have plenty to do once the ground finally dries up!

Arrived! One Sawmill

When I ordered the sawmill, I did so early in the season, expecting it could arrive at any time, even months from now. But it did say it would leave the warehouse within a week, and I guess if there is nothing else they are good at, it is keeping their IT and inventory up to date. Woodland Mills deposited the mill with RL Carriers, then waited like four days till they e-mailed me to tell me they had. I got the e-mail on Saturday, and thought it would mean it was going to be a day or two till it was picked up and put in transit. The e-mail even said so. But I decided to run the tracking number anyway, and it had already been moving four like four days! Given the track record of this particular carrier, I figured it would arrive mid-week this week. But they did not use a last mile carrier, and as you can tell from the title of this post, the mill is here.

The mill is here, and there is nothing I can do with it, but cover the box with a tarp and wait till the ground dries up, and I can get some wood to mill and start collecting what I need to build it a covering.

The load was meant to be 1,295 pounds. I took that off the truck with my little Kioti tractor. The tractor had a hard time lifting at that height. But it did get the couple of inches needed to move the huge box off the truck. I say huge. It is not as big as a mausoleum or anything like that, but I could fit a coffin in a vault and put them inside, I’m sure. I was not impressed with the driver when he got between the box and his truck where I could tip forward and smash him. I’d really of liked him not to do that! I remember granddad moaning about the people he worked with when he was on cranes, and how they would constantly endanger themselves. Like him, I just want to be able to sleep at night.

So now the mill is sitting, waiting with all its parts, for a better day to put it together! There is snow and mud all over this farm, and no place to set that old thing up.

So, the mill arrived ten days after ordering it. I’m sure it is going to take a lot longer to set it up!

Candle Making & Etc…

I have one of the crock pots full of wax and heating on the stovetop right now. The candle molds are waiting next to it. I have the wick out and ready to be cut then primed. My ten-year-old is doing her schoolwork, then she will be joining me to learn how to mold the candles for use. It is a part of her Homestead Economics class lesson. When these are done, we have the option of selling them, or using them ourselves. It is the using them ourselves that has me tempted to get some lovely bright candle lanterns from Townsends. Getting enough of them to be really useful would be expensive. But I would like them that much, and that is a thing.

& Etc…

I have not yet received any shipping confirmation on the sawmill. I still have not had any buyer’s remorse, either. I need to figure out where to put it, and I am working on ideas for that. If nothing else, I can put it on the other side of the street and have all the room I need to work all I want. I think if I had ordered an industrial mill, I would. But as a hobby mill, I think I would be more content with it on this side of the street, where I can use it with a bit more ease, and less of the officialness of leaving for work, as I would feel I would do if I were to cross the road.

A lot of my concern is the workflow of the mill. There will be logs to go in, lumber to come out, and off-cuts and sawdust to manage. I would prefer to use the tractor rather than a log deck to load the mill with. I want to stack the lumber straight into stickers, and onto bolsters. I think I have the flow worked out, and the position of things in relation to the mill itself. I guess I’ll have to go out with a measuring tape and confirm my ideas.

& More…

It snowed last night. WE got maybe 2 and 1/2 inches of it! Things were looking like they would clear up, and suddenly we are back under it again. Despite that, it was not a cold night. I burned wood, but not a lot of it. The temperature out right now is 36F. It feels fairly nice. That should tell all about the winter we had, when I was outside a bit ago in a short sleeve T-shirt and feeling quite nice.

According to the forecast, we are in a similar, though gradually cooling state till Monday. After that, the weather will come back up again to what it has been over the last week or so. It looks like we are on track for plenty of spring snow. I have no complaints about that. The more water that gets relocated to our area, the better things like hay prices ought to be. Really, everything else, too.

& A Little More

So, what’s the point of the mill? Part of it is living independently. It’s about being able to make whatever we need here on the farm rather than having to buy everything online. My arthritis is too bad to let me build a saw pit and saw lumber with a big old hand saw, but I can buy a mill, and saw trees down to boards and cants and posts, and whatever else I want. The wood species are a bit limited around here, but since I started splitting my own firewood, I have never run into having none of any kind. I have often had access to rather large logs and even whole trees. So why wouldn’t I want to take advantage of that? Furthermore, there are a few things that Missus wants that I am better off trying to build myself than looking for to buy. A single weaving loom of a certain size would cost as much as the mill did. A few smaller ones would certainly pay for it, too. So why not build it and make several and she can sell some? I also would be happy to operate as a neighborhood mill, making lumber for folks close by who need it. Small neighborhood operations are how the world once worked, and what we want it to come back to. We are trying to get to that.

Sawmill

If I were to open a business with a sawmill, I think I would be inclined to call myself “the Sleepy Sawyer.” It’s a name that makes sense. I think sawing logs is all I would do, day or night.

It is a possibility, you know. I did actually put a hobby grade sawmill on order and could do some light jobs to earn some of the money back. It is hobby grade, but it is large, and has a decently powerful motor to do the cutting. It is a Woodland Mills HM130Max. I did not get the trailer option, but instead got a bed extension that will allow me to cut longer logs with ease.

There is not much to say about it. It is a big bandsaw. I looked at Woodmizer, and I ran through the checkout process. What bothered me with it the most was that as I got to a total with a sensible breakdown. I would then press to the last step before putting in the card number, and it would suddenly raise the charge by $150 with absolutely no explanation of what it was charging me that amount for, and it being past the point of anything that should be charged. Woodland Mills simply did not do that, and charged half as much for shipping. It is made in Canada, so not America, but at least it is on the continent. I think we are allies, unlike all the stuff for sale at Walmart.

So, what’s a fella to do with a sawmill? Well, the first plan is to go get some wood for it. I have that all sorted out so long as the status quo has not changed. Then I need to build it a house. If I am successful with that, then a house for the log splitter would be great. Then the wood that I intend to saw and dry will require a house, too. As will the logs I intend to split. If that does not give me enough practice on sawyering, then I am not cut out for this at all. Ideally, I will then begin to collect lumber for future projects. All the sawdust will go to the compost bin. Scraps will go to the woodstove. That includes branches and the like. Lumber will be available to sell, or to use in my woodshop on furniture and other projects around the house. I like to think of myself as similar to Maddox Restaurant which has next month’s meals standing in a field that is only separated from the building by a butchery.

Is it my dream sawmill? For the price it is. What it lacks in hydraulics, my tractor has. It has an electric start. I have added a piece that raises and lowers the blade head with a motor rather by a had crank. Reviews have said things like “this is by far the best upgrade I have done to my saw,” and “saves a lot of shoulder pain.” Given my state of arthritis, I think it best to go ahead and do that. I added some blades, and the tools to sharpen and set the blades. With the extension on the bed to make the cut capability longer, I think I am pretty set for having spent the same as the second to entry level mill at Woodmizer. Plus, it promises to ship from the warehouse in about a week, whereas Woodmizer says three weeks or more. That should get me to work by the time spring becomes real.

So my next big task will be to empty the trailer out and go start collecting the wood I intend to put on the mill. Maybe excess lengths would be a good place to start collecting next year’s firewood. I will need to build a foundation for the mill once I figure out where I can put it and not disrupt Missus at work, and access the sides necessary to do the work from loading, cutting, unloading, storing, and cleaning up the sawdust. It would be ideal to cut and spray the dust straight into the compost heap. I have not got any of that worked out yet, and the mill may end up across the street.