Sawing Lumber

In early July 2002 we sawed the lumber for a shed to go over the mill. It is going to be a pole type shed with the east wall open. We cut down some poplar trees on the ranch just east of the mill, and hauled them to the mill on a hayrack. We are moving the logs and finished lumber with a front end loader on one of the farm tractors.

Here we are making the first cut off a 16' log to make some 2"x10"s and a 4"x10" beam.

We have rolled the log, done by hand with some cant hooks, and are working on the second side to square up the cant.

Here we are actually rolling the log and pushing it back onto the carriage for another cut.

Three sides square.

Taking the last slab off the cant and preparing to make some 10" wide boards.

Cutting a 2"x10" and the cant is the 4"x10" beam.

Loading the useable slabs on the carriage to cut them into square boards.

Final cut on the slabs and ending up with two 2"x6" boards.

Stacking the boards on the loader. You can see the slabs in the trailer on the left. Those are from about half the logs cut for the shed. They will be cut up for firewood to heat the house in the winter.

Stacking the lumber to dry. When cutting the boards you end up with small sticks that work great for stickers. You use them to stick in between the rows of lumber so that air can get in the pile and circulate taking the moisture away.

Here are the sawyers with the completed lumber pile. From front to back is my older brother, my Dad and my younger brother. There is about 2,500 bdft of lumber in the pile.

Click here for construction of the building.

We harvested some Oak trees from the south pasture the fall of 2001 and here we are sawing them into boards.

My brother and I are loading the logs onto the carriage in this picture. He is the person in the foreground.

The 40" blade on our mill could be a bigger for these logs. We have some more logs that are even bigger than these! Those will be a challenge to saw up.

These logs are big and heavy. Using cant hooks was a must to be able to turn them.

My brother, my Dad and I are doing the milling operations. I am in the foreground, by brother in the middle and Dad at the outfeed of the mill.

To let the lumber dry, you have the place stickers in between the layers of lumber to let the air to get to all sides and circulate through the pile. It will be a year of drying outside, then we will take it indoors for some time. The final determination of ready for use will have to be from a moisture meter.