Ash, Oak, and Birch in Andover

I took a weekend off to make sure that I would be able to attend a family get-together last Sunday. But this past weekend I was 'on the road again'.

I didn't have to go very far though, just to Andover, near the Hebron line, about 10 miles.

Jeff and Karen have very a attractive house with a fairly new addition on a back lot.  Jeff is doing the stone facade that you can see between the garage doors himself.  The upper area will be next year's project.

Jeff had about 14 logs that were a couple of years old.  He had an idea that something could be done with them, but didn't know what until he happened to see me at the Coventry Farmer's Market back in early September.

The logs were ash, oak, and one birch.  The ash logs had developed some pretty big splits, which came close to dividing the logs into halves or quarters.  But, the logs were big enough that they still produces a lot of usable lumber.  The oak and birch survived the wait in better shape, and also gave us some nice boards.

It was a beautiful fall day to work outside.  Several friends and neighbors stopped by to watch or help.  We finished up well before we ran out of sunlight, and I left Jeff and Karen with a larger pile of lumber than they expected, which they still weren't sure what they were going to do with.

More Maple in Middletown

I returned to Justin's house in Middletown on Sunday to finish up the remains of the maple tree that had been in his front yard.  There were 3 logs that we hadn't been able to get to on my first visit. 

The lumber we had created the last time I was here was neatly sticker-stacked at the end of the driveway, with the top covered by a blue top, but with the sides open to allow for air-flow.  A nice job of green lumber stacking.

The slabs and scraps from the milling had been piled at the edge of the lawn near the road.  Justin told me they disappeared into neighbors wood piles within a day or two.

The smaller logs on the menu for this day gave us a lot less trouble than the monsters we had tackled before.  In two hours we had a fresh stack of boards and a new pile of slabs and scraps. 

Once again, I forgot to take pictures.  I need to work on that.

Oak, Maple, and More in Coventry

I milled for a neighbor on Saturday, just a few houses down the street.  It was so close that I walked home for lunch.  It will be hard for someone to top this in the 'closest customer' contest.

Chris was the first person I ever handed a CT Logs To Lumber business card to.  Back in December, my next door neighbor was selling Christmas trees from a small stand.  Chris came to take a look, and spotted my sawmill.  I happened to be outside, and he introduced himself and told me that he had some logs that needed sawing.  I explained that I wasn't in business quite yet.  After sprinting to the house and back to fetch a business card, I suggested that he call me in the spring.  He called in late August, and I put him into the schedule.

Chris has a few acres behind his house that he has been clearing as he finds time. He had 11 logs between 8 and 9 feet long that had accumulated as part of this process.  Fortunately, the logs had been moved to a single location.  Unfortunately, this location was not chosen based on how easy it would be to roll them onto a sawmill.  But it wasn't that bad.  Each log needed to be rotated 90 degrees, and rolled about 20 feet to get onto the loading arms.

One unusual aspect of this job is that I worked alone.  Chris got me set up, and then left for work.  He returned when I was almost done with the second-to-last log.  I found that working alone is a lot more work that working with an off-bearer.