More Oak in Higganum

I worked for Scott in Higganum again this weekend.  Sorry, no pictures.  We got rained out in mid-afternoon on both Saturday and Sunday, but we still managed to mill over 2,000 board feet of logs.

Scott had plenty of helpers on hand to move logs and beams, which was greatly appreciated since I'd had hernia surgery on Monday.  

We've milled about 45 logs so far, but there's still more left.  I'll be going back in two weeks, and hope to be able to finish up at that time.

I'm getting much better at being able to tell white oak from red.

Oak In Higganum

This job was by far my biggest yet, and it's not over by a long shot.  The customer was Scott.  The logs though were on the property of Scott's friend Troy, where the trees were taken down to open up the woods that had closed in since the house was built.

Scott has plans to build a small post & beam building, and was primarily interested in beams and 2 inch thick lumber to be used as flooring.  Some one inch thick lumber was inevitably produced during the milling process as well.

I had visited Scott at the site a month ago before any trees had been turned into logs. We talked about his project, and trees and logs and the site requirements for the sawmill.  I expected to find a fair number of logs lined up when I arrived in Higganum, CT on Saturday morning, but was surprised to find five big piles of big oak logs.  There was no question that this job was going to take more than one weekend.

The milling site was tight, but well organized.  Beams and scrap went to the rear of the mill and into trailers.  Boards were brought forward with the Wood-Mizer board return, on put onto my sawhorses temporarily, and then onto another trailer.  

I measured the logs as they were loaded onto the mill, except for one or two where I forgot.  In two days working 8 to 5, we milled 25 logs which scaled at 2,165 board feet. 

This is the first log pile we tackled.  That's Scott in the center trying to work a log free.  His dad is supervising on the left.  The small Kubota in the background was not used to create these log piles.

We've moved on the second pile on Saturday afternoon.  Here, one of Scott helpers in the red shirt is demonstrating how not to pull a log down off a log pile.

That's better.

The log is safely on the mill's loading arms.

Scott on one of his fine oak logs.

Maple in Andover

I took the sawmill to Andover, Connecticut today, a trip of only 7 miles.  A new winner in the closest customer contest.  George’s story is starting to sound familiar. The lot was cleared for the new house about 20 years ago. At the time there was plenty of sunlight, but trees keep growing, and they tend to lean into the clearing, and therefore toward the house, so arborists are called in to open things up again. 

George and his teenaged son Corey had apparently caught the wood turning bug, and wanted the logs cut in a way that would supply them with raw material for their new hobby.  George wanted beams with the irregularities removed, but some amount of bark left was acceptable. This was an unusual cutting pattern, but made for some fast milling. It also left us with some pretty heavy beams to carry off the mill.

Most of the reasonably sized logs were behind the house, and needed to be brought around to the front. The LogRite Fetching Arch fit the bill perfectly. George and Corey used it with the two man handle to move some of the smaller logs, and with the tow tongue and winch together with their Jeep SUV to move the larger logs. While they moved logs, I ran the mill.