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My timber frame build

Started by Ljohnsaw, April 22, 2013, 01:25:11 AM

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Ljohnsaw

Update 6/1/18:

Made it up Thursday morning with a friend and he brought along his girlfriend's son.  We stayed in a neighbor's cabin overnight and did lots of milling - about 9 hours each day.  But that includes scraping off sawdust and making my piles bigger down in the cabin basement.
Our little helper.  A very big kid who is only 5!


   Scroll up this tread to see what this looked like not too long ago!

 

 
Totals for Thursday was 910 bd-ft of which 712 bd-ft is for the roofing boards (2x10).  Friday was 728 bd-ft (584 for roofing) and two log stop hits with fairly new blades :-\  My roofing percent went from 37% to 60% cut and the overall cut is up to 30% complete.  I have a few more logs left and then it is on to the main beams and rafters that make up 30% of the bd-ft to cut.
John Sawicky

Just North-East of Sacramento...

SkyTrak 9038, Ford 545D FEL, Davis Little Monster backhoe, Case 16+4 Trencher, Home Built 42" capacity/36" cut Bandmill up to 54' long - using it all to build a timber frame cabin.

Magicman

Wow John, you are gonna soon have to build so that you can have more stacking room!  :o

Looking good.  :)
Knothole Sawmill, LLC     '98 Wood-Mizer LT40SuperHydraulic   WM Million BF Club Member   WM Pro Sawyer Network

It's Weird being the Same Age as Old People

Never allow your "need" to make money to exceed your "desire" to provide quality service.....The Magicman

Ljohnsaw

Update: 6/13/2018

Went up early Saturday morning after dropping my son at the airport at 0430!  Stayed up until this afternoon.

Saturday morning I re-hooked up my water to my bath house.  It can be gravity fed (for the toilet and the sink) and has a 12v pump for the shower.  I re-aligned the pipes at the holding tank in the cabin basement and turned the water on.  I walked around to the bath house only to see water flowing fast and free from under the bath house >:(.  I shut the water off and walked back - I forgot I put in a threaded cap underneath and had taken it off for the winter ::).  Put it back on and turned on the water.  Then I found my tankless water heater was leaking. :-X  I had removed the plug to winterize but it still seems to have gotten damaged.  I bypassed the water heater.

I was staying at a neighbor's cabin (with a hot shower ;)).  PG&E had dropped a tree last year and I had them leave it whole.  They trimmed and chipped the branches ;D  I cut the top 8 foot or so off leaving me a 53' log.  I had to reach in with my SkyTrak to retrieve it - I didn't know where their water tank was located.  At full extension I could not lift it, just drag it - barely!  I supported one end in my log arch and carried the other with the SkyTrak (no, my truck is not attached to the arch).  I pushed it down the road and was actually quite easy to steer.

Notice the cable...

 It actually came out pretty easy! 8)

 


Sunday, my fishing buddy came up and we sawed the last "good" log - 20/22" x 12'.  Cut great and got eleven 2x10s and some other side stuff.  Then we put on a "bad" log.  24" top and 30x36" base with a bend.  Hard and nasty pine.  First boards (1x's) came off great then when we got into wide stuff, the blade went wherever it wanted.  Changed blades, more tension, added lube - still bad.  Tossed it aside as a bench.


Monday decided try one more "bad" log.  This one was straight but big - 26" - and fairly dry.  Couple of cuts were good but then went crazy.  Flipped it and the same thing (with a new blade).  It became a bench, too. 

 

 So, switched to do some dirt work on the east side.  Before:

 
Tuesday finished the rock/dirt work.  Will add "little" rocks I can lift into the holes where you see dirt.

 

 
With a little more daylight, I started on redoing my water line.  When I first installed the line and conduit, I had MANY pallets of FasWall blocks in the way.  I hand dug about 10 feet trench about 18" down.  Since then, I regraded the drive much lower and snagged the conduit.  After digging for a little bit, I had this tree stump with a very large lateral root:

 

Wednesday finished up the re-routing of the water and conduit.  I couldn't budge the stump with my backhoe and the SkyTrak did nothing - even with over 9,000lb of lifting force and more with the fork curl.  So, I washed the roots down with water to try and cut them out. 

You can see where I cut next to the stump but as expected, hit a rock.  So I tunneled under finding soccer ball-sized rocks and then back filled.

   Finished the grading on the west side.


I'll be back up in about 10 days to stay for a week.  Hope to attack the 53' log to make my 8x12x51' floor beam and then start taking down some of my trees for the other main beams, taller posts and rafters.
John Sawicky

Just North-East of Sacramento...

SkyTrak 9038, Ford 545D FEL, Davis Little Monster backhoe, Case 16+4 Trencher, Home Built 42" capacity/36" cut Bandmill up to 54' long - using it all to build a timber frame cabin.

fishfighter

Looks like you got a lot done on that trip. ;D

samandothers

A lot was done!  Probably seemed like way more work than results!
Thanks for sharing!

Ljohnsaw

Quote from: samandothers on June 14, 2018, 11:26:02 AMProbably seemed like way more work than results!

Thanks.  Yes, little to show for the effort expended!  Eleven to 13 hour days...
John Sawicky

Just North-East of Sacramento...

SkyTrak 9038, Ford 545D FEL, Davis Little Monster backhoe, Case 16+4 Trencher, Home Built 42" capacity/36" cut Bandmill up to 54' long - using it all to build a timber frame cabin.

NorcalMatt

Looks great John!  If you're up where I think you are, that 53' tree is probably a rarity. Don't leave a toe board up!

Ljohnsaw

Quote from: NorcalMatt on June 15, 2018, 06:23:22 PMDon't leave a toe board up!
Toeboard?  What's a toeboard? :D  My homemade mill don't have them!  I use a manual jack.

Actually, I have about 7 or 8 trees next to the cabin I'm taking down that are taller!
John Sawicky

Just North-East of Sacramento...

SkyTrak 9038, Ford 545D FEL, Davis Little Monster backhoe, Case 16+4 Trencher, Home Built 42" capacity/36" cut Bandmill up to 54' long - using it all to build a timber frame cabin.

NorcalMatt

Awesome!  The fire nearby (maybe 2001) must have missed your place.  How long of log can your mill handle?

Ljohnsaw

When you exit the freeway, you are looking down the Yuba River watershed.  You make a short right and that is the American River watershed.  The "Yuba Gap" fire in 2001 was in the American River watershed.  My cabin is on the Yuba River side of the slight ridge.  The neighbor's cabin I get to use when I stay up to work has a few big trees out about 100-200' from the back (south).  The rest of the land is clear from the fire.  My cabin site is about 1,000' north of where the fire was.

My mill is 3 sections of track.  One is 16', one is 16' 8" and the third is about 6'-something IIRC.  So it is about 38' long and will do a ~33' log.  I made some 5' "parking track" to attach to each end which gives me another 10' (43').  I'm going to pick up some more steel on Monday to make two "lightweight" sections of 5' each so I will extend to ~53'.  These sections will not have log bunks, they will just be track with a scissor jack supporting them mid-span.
John Sawicky

Just North-East of Sacramento...

SkyTrak 9038, Ford 545D FEL, Davis Little Monster backhoe, Case 16+4 Trencher, Home Built 42" capacity/36" cut Bandmill up to 54' long - using it all to build a timber frame cabin.

thecfarm

Probably said it all ready in this thread,but you have rocks like me. And the rocks grow around the stumps and roots too. ;D  I have big ones I can not move. And way too many that I can move. ;D
Model 6020-20hp Manual Thomas bandsaw,TC40A 4wd 40 hp New Holland tractor, 450 Norse Winch, Heatmor 400 OWB,YCC 1978-79

Magicman

Thanks for the updates John.  Lotsa small steps add up.  8)
Knothole Sawmill, LLC     '98 Wood-Mizer LT40SuperHydraulic   WM Million BF Club Member   WM Pro Sawyer Network

It's Weird being the Same Age as Old People

Never allow your "need" to make money to exceed your "desire" to provide quality service.....The Magicman

Ljohnsaw

Update 6/23-29/2018:
Had two half days (Saturday & Sunday - 6/23-24) working on re-setting up the mill.  Before:


 

 
I added two 5 foot sections between my three "hard" track section that  each have 4 2,000lb leveling jacks.  I also added some parking track on each end for the mill head.  That gives me a total of 58' 9" of track.  The head consumes 4'5" so in a perfect world, I could mill a 54'4" log.  After:


 
I reversed the cut direction as well.  The sawdust used to be deposited on the near side, the same as the slab and boards - what a mess.  Cutting the other way, all the sawdust is up against the trees and the wood is much easier to manage.

In scrapping down the grade about 6 or 8" I did find a few rocks...  I used them to fill in between the bigger rocks/boulders.


 
Monday, 6/25, I put a 22' log on the mill that looked like it might have some rot.  Well, it did and some splits.  I got one 2x10x12' usable board and 91 stickers.  I also got some 8x12x24 blocks for cribbing.  They came in handy for the next log.  I loaded up the 53' log I got from a neighbor.  I need a 51' 8x12 beam so I cut off a little of the butt end that had a swell on one side.  I still couldn't lift the whole log with my SkyTrak.  So I lifted one end and drug it over to the mill and set it up on some blocking with one end over the mill.  I lifted the other end until the opposite end touched the bunk and placed it on the mill.

Upon closer examination (now that the bark was all off), there was a break about 6 feet from the end when it was felled.  There is a vertical break to the left of the knot, travels to the left (to middle of pic) and then up to the top of the picture.


 
So I cut it down to 40' - enough to do 3 of the 4 spans for the main floor beam.  Also, with the bark off, I saw this:


 
So I spent the rest of the day cutting around and digging it out.  The "base" of the bracket was buried 6 1/2" into the tree.  It was completely enclosed in wood.  After pulling out the insulator:


 
At first, I thought it might be a big ring spike nail - but I was wrong.  I worked on it until dark.

Tuesday, 6/26, I used my metal detector and found the other end of the bolt.  Quite a few years ago (30 to 40?), the insulator was through-bolted to the tree.  I had to dig out the bolt head from the other side.  As it turned out, it was a 1/2" threaded rod with big square backing plates.  Would not have been fun to cut into!


 
This is the 40' beam in progress with two sides cut.


 

I was still able to get my 8x12x40' beam.  There is a big black square stain from one of the plates that ended up on the side surface of the beam with the 1/2" hole through the middle of the beam.  I might reassemble the insulator and stick it through the hole in the beam once the cabin is up.  I also cut four 2x10x24' floor joists and a number of 2x10s for roofing boards and some long 1x4s for strapping.  A total of 745 bd-ft from one log, but it did take all day.  Flipping it over to make cuts was no small feat!  And getting into my basement was an exercise with my SkyTrak as well.

Tuesday evening, I spent a couple hours taking apart and repairing 3 ice breaks in my tankless water heater.  Apparently, disconnecting the water lines and pulling the drain plug didn't winterize it.

Wednesday, 6/27, I re-installed the tankless water heater only to find the pump has a small crack in the housing.  I'll either have to find a new housing or buy a new pump.  Then I finished up the side wood from Tuesday and stacked it.  I had two trees (too close to the cabin for my comfort) that were also limiting my solar for the water pump. I got two logs (24' and 8') from one tree and three logs (24', 10' and 8')  from the second tree.  I basically cut the logs where a whorl significantly reduced the log diameter.  Plus I need some 2x10s at 24' and some 8x8 and 8x10 posts at 22'.  I staged them for Thursday.

Thursday, 6/28, I cut the first (skinnier) 24' log and got my 8x8, a 2x10, a 2x6 and some 1x4s.  Since my track is so long, I loaded up the other 24' log and the 10' log that I may get to on Friday.  My SkyTrak has two leaky hydraulic cylinders so I drove down the hill to borrow a tool to work on the repair and to pick up a lot of hydraulic oil.  One cylinder is the side tilt - a small 6" diameter x 24" long that I will just remove and take in.  The other is one of the boom lift cylinders.  It has a 3" rod in a 5" cylinder about 6 or 7 feet long.  I plan on just removing the rod/piston and have that rebuilt like I did on a different cylinder.

Friday, 6/29, I added 30 gallons of hydraulic oil and then removed the cylinder and rod from the SkyTrak.  The 3" rod is about 7' long.  Not too awfully heavy but pretty difficult to handle being very slippery!  The leveling ram was more trouble - the bottom pin was a little difficult to pound out, both because of a little rust and access.  Got that done in about 3 hours, including doing some clean up of oil soaked dirt.  I decided not to slice up the logs but cleaned up the bark I peeled from the 53' log.  That was a lot of bark!  Dropped off the parts at the hydraulic shop on my way home.  Hopefully it will get done by Thursday.  I will be going back up the hill on Friday for another week.
John Sawicky

Just North-East of Sacramento...

SkyTrak 9038, Ford 545D FEL, Davis Little Monster backhoe, Case 16+4 Trencher, Home Built 42" capacity/36" cut Bandmill up to 54' long - using it all to build a timber frame cabin.

Magicman

Sounded like a very busy but productive week.  It's good that you spotted the fracture in the 53' log which was caused by the tree landing on an uneven surface when it fell.  :-\

Knothole Sawmill, LLC     '98 Wood-Mizer LT40SuperHydraulic   WM Million BF Club Member   WM Pro Sawyer Network

It's Weird being the Same Age as Old People

Never allow your "need" to make money to exceed your "desire" to provide quality service.....The Magicman

Ljohnsaw

July 6-13

Friday, 7/6
Dropped my son off at camp, he is staff this year.  I was on call to haul the food delivery up in a trailer along with other pickups. The Sysco truck arrived about 1:30 pm and we were able to load all the food in 3 pickups and one SUV so I was not needed  :-\  Got back to the cabin a little after 3 and decided not to start working on anything.

Saturday, 7/7
Formed up and poured the top of the supports for the main floor beam.  


 

 
Milled up the two logs I had sitting on the mill.  One 25' log gave me a 8x10 and some 2x8s, a 2x6 and some 1x.  The other 10' log gave me one 8x8.  It was a nice straight 12" SE so 4 cuts and done!  Moved all the wood except the 8x10 since my SkyTrak is still down waiting on hydraulic repairs.  Sure takes a long time when my manual mill is in full manual mode :-\

Sunday, 7/8
Hauled 4 "candidates" to camp along with about 50 backpacks in a big cage trailer.  A 6 mile trip on a "4x4" road that took 40 minutes to go up.  Base elevation is 5,600 and camp is at 7,300.  Got back to the cabin at noon.

There was an old foundation adjacent to my property that had a lot of rebar sticking up.  I took my sawsall to it and now I don't have to be quite so careful where I drive!  This rock has been a pain ever since I started my cabin.  I tried a couple times with the SkyTrak to fork it out, but no go.  


 
So I dug around it with my backhoe.  Quite the beast.


 
Was debating whether to just dig a deeper hole or pull it out.  When I get the SkyTrak up and running again, I'll see if it will pop out now.

Monday, 7/9
Did a little more rock work (waiting for my SkyTrak repairs :-\)


 

 
Maybe put the big rock here?


 
Then I decided to clean out and re-grade the area past my pump.  It was an extension of my driveway where I stored my scaffolding parts and planks.  When I dug down my driveway last year, this area was up a foot or so and caused water to pond in front of it.  So I scraped back the fine gravel and dug down with my backhoe and graded with my quad.  I needed to go another 6" or so but 2" down was a big flat rock (so I thought).


 
It was way too big for my backhoe to lift so I had to dig a ramp and slide/roll it up and out.  This will go nicely in the rock wall on the north side of the foundation.  Now my driveway should drain properly.


 

 
Got a message from the hydraulic shop - my job was finished so I'll drive down the hill to get my parts in the morning.

Tuesday, 7/10
Put the SkyTrak back together again!  Took about 2 hours to reinstall the tilt ram (easy) and insert the 7' boom lift rod (much easier than I thought) by myself.  Now its a nice, dry machine again!  Pulled the big rock out with the SkyTrak and it was struggling.  Since it is supposed to be able to lift 9,000 pounds and it could just barely lift this 5' granite ball, I'd say it was at least 9k.  I decided it was too big to incorporate into my rock wall and also because if I lost control of it, it would roll at least a 1/4 mile down the hill!  So I put it up on a rocky pedestal for a climbing boulder.


 
It shouldn't be moving again until the next glacier.  And did more rock wall work.  Kind of addicting.  Don't have to search too far for rocks - usually just a few inches down...

Wednesday, 7/11
Played lumberjack.  Cut down a number of trees and bucked them into various beam and post lengths.  I need a few more 8x8 and 8x10 posts in 12, 15 and 20 foot.  I also need 22 foot 2x10 for my floor joists.  This tree gave me two 22' logs.


 
The second log will only give me a 8x8 but also some shorter side stuff.  The first log should give me a 8x10 and a couple 2x10s, maybe more.  I think this was a pair of 22s and a 16 or 17'.


 
I also need some shorter floor joists for where the stair well is coming up from the basement.  The butt log had a funny side branch coming out at 8 foot almost parallel to the trunk.  Just the right length for the joists (in back of picture). The next log on the tree should make a 8x10x14' post and then a 8x8x20'.


 
And the tops that will make something...


 

I hate to admit but I have not walked my entire property.  I've only traveled the easier parts.  I took down some dead and dying (from the 4 years of drought) trees today and ventured into "unknown territory".  That is where I found a couple of these trees.  I think I also found a sleeping area for the deer I keep seeing in the mornings.  I will be clearing a number of sad looking trees just below my cabin for both fire protection and so I can have a panoramic view of these great looking ones!


 

 
The pictures don't do them justice.  They are truly massive trees towering over 200' and 5 to 6' DBH.

Thursday, 7/12
Put the 20' 8x10 away now that I got the SkyTrak back up and running.  Then I was able to edge the side lumber with the mill freed up.  Recut the 40' 8x12 down to two 12' and one 15' 8x10's.  Will cut a new 51' 8x12 for the basement.  Cut up the fat 8' log and got eight 2x10s and eight 1x4s.

Friday, 7/13
Had my Niece, her husband and their 6 year old daughter up for the day to help.   It was the best weather day.  I was having a week of 85°F days but Friday was overcast into the early afternoon and temps in the 70s.  We did manage to get 3 logs done.  Two 8x8x22' and one 8x10x15' posts with a number of 1x4x20' strapping and a couple 2x10s & 2x8s.  They worked very hard, said they had fun and wanted to do it again!

 

 

 
John Sawicky

Just North-East of Sacramento...

SkyTrak 9038, Ford 545D FEL, Davis Little Monster backhoe, Case 16+4 Trencher, Home Built 42" capacity/36" cut Bandmill up to 54' long - using it all to build a timber frame cabin.

thecfarm

All looks good. I have one friend that likes to help too. For some reason he calls before he comes over now. Wants to make sure that I am not running the sawmill or building. :D  I guess those 4X8X14 hemlock right off the mill was hard on him.
Model 6020-20hp Manual Thomas bandsaw,TC40A 4wd 40 hp New Holland tractor, 450 Norse Winch, Heatmor 400 OWB,YCC 1978-79

fishfighter

Hey, thanks for the updates. Nice place you have.

Magicman

Hey, I loved the updates and especially the pictures.  One step at the time is very descriptive of your progress.   smiley_thumbsup
Knothole Sawmill, LLC     '98 Wood-Mizer LT40SuperHydraulic   WM Million BF Club Member   WM Pro Sawyer Network

It's Weird being the Same Age as Old People

Never allow your "need" to make money to exceed your "desire" to provide quality service.....The Magicman

Ljohnsaw

Update 7/31/2018:

Went up Sunday evening with plans to meet a guy to buy his beam saw.  He had an old Makita for $200.  Last minute he flaked out.  So I had a backup.  This guy wanted $350 for his new style Makita with a spare blade.  Ended up having a third new (in the package) blade.  That sure is a big saw!  Heavy, too.  I need to cut 6" deep x 3" wide slots in the sides of my sills to place Simpson straps as required by my engineer to secure my knee bracing.  I was not looking forward to using my Skilsaw and/or a chainsaw with chisels.

Spent Monday breaking down the stacks of 2x10's, x8's and x6', trimming to even foot lengths and sorting by width & length.  At the bottom of a pile was some 2x10's that went way crooked.  As I was cutting them down to firewood lengths, they would crack and explode-split.  A bit of stress, I'd say! :o

Started with this:


 

 
and ended cleaned up like this:


 

 
with 3,110 bd-ft of roofing boards.


 
Another 2,700 to go :-\ Not pictured was 4 (FOUR) 55 gallon drums filled with stickers.

But now, I also have a place I can cut and store my cedar sills (6@ 8x14x25') and later cut the joints.
John Sawicky

Just North-East of Sacramento...

SkyTrak 9038, Ford 545D FEL, Davis Little Monster backhoe, Case 16+4 Trencher, Home Built 42" capacity/36" cut Bandmill up to 54' long - using it all to build a timber frame cabin.

Magicman

Congrats on the saw and the nice lumber/timber whacks.  8)
Knothole Sawmill, LLC     '98 Wood-Mizer LT40SuperHydraulic   WM Million BF Club Member   WM Pro Sawyer Network

It's Weird being the Same Age as Old People

Never allow your "need" to make money to exceed your "desire" to provide quality service.....The Magicman

tburch

You must be stacking all that by hand.
Peterson 10" WPF with slabber. Cooks AC36 Diesel.
'94 Ford 4830 Diesel 2WD & FEL.  Norse 450 skid winch.  Logrite fetching arch.  Fransgard Forestry Grapple.

Ljohnsaw

Quote from: tburch on August 03, 2018, 10:50:05 AM
You must be stacking all that by hand.

The individual sticks, yes.  Well, sometimes my feet to kick them into place. ;)  The bundles, no.  I have my little orange helper in the background there...
John Sawicky

Just North-East of Sacramento...

SkyTrak 9038, Ford 545D FEL, Davis Little Monster backhoe, Case 16+4 Trencher, Home Built 42" capacity/36" cut Bandmill up to 54' long - using it all to build a timber frame cabin.

Ljohnsaw

Update 8/9/2018:

Well, not on the cabin...  I picked up a load of Hardi-plank like siding off of CraigsList yesterday.  It was 65 pieces 48" long x 16" "cedar shakes" in random width and length.  I installed them on the two sides of my bath house I put up a couple years ago. ::)  I still have 18 full sheets left and quite a few scraps.  I might have enough to complete the back side.  The front side I still have some of the narrow (5-¼") clap boards that could fill out the peak - or I could use the shakes - not sure what route I want to go.


 

 
John Sawicky

Just North-East of Sacramento...

SkyTrak 9038, Ford 545D FEL, Davis Little Monster backhoe, Case 16+4 Trencher, Home Built 42" capacity/36" cut Bandmill up to 54' long - using it all to build a timber frame cabin.

thecfarm

I feel the shakes would look good.
But if have a wife,better ask her.
Model 6020-20hp Manual Thomas bandsaw,TC40A 4wd 40 hp New Holland tractor, 450 Norse Winch, Heatmor 400 OWB,YCC 1978-79

DWyatt

That is the same exact siding my parents put on their house 8ish years ago when they added on, it is very nice stuff! Looking good! :)

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