Chasing the Sawdust Dream

[barbender]

 Black Angus...there's usually a mean cow in every herd. I used to accompany my Uncle out feeding on his NE Wyoming ranch, I remember being reminded about every time to "watch out for that b****!" Mean Angus cows that you didn't want to turn your back on.

[Resonator]

Still chasin'...



Been a while since I updated my thread, here's some pics of different sawing jobs I've done since last I posted. 
Had one of my repeat customers bring in some relatively big red oak logs, biggest around 30" (about as big as I want to lift and handle with my tractor). I chain slung the biggest as far back on the forks as I could, lifted it a few inches, and had him drive out from under it.



I had cut quarter sawn before for him, and one of the logs I quartered with the chainsaw the in the same way as before. This also broke the big log down into easy to manage pieces on the mill.



Stack of 4/4 lumber ready to load.



He also wanted some sawn into 2" slabs, and cut them as wide as possible.



The center ones made a nice book match with rays.










My best customer of 2023 brought some black cherry burls for me to saw up. I mad a jig out a few scrap boards, camped each burl down, and cut as many 3/4" slices as I could.



One of my other repeat customers took down a spruce "yard tree", and gave me a few logs. All he wanted in return was some slabs for one of his friends that helped take it down. I didn't get a pic, but he also bought a cookie cut off of a 130+ year old pine log I had on hand, said he wanted to put it up as a display, and mark dates in history on the rings.



The rest of the spruce he brought I think I'll cut into knotty paneling... very knotty paneling. :D



A new customer came with a trailer load of logs, he had contacted me some time back about sawing them, but for different reasons couldn't get them hauled until recently. He dropped the trailer off with me, and I agreed to unload the logs and reload it with cut lumber.



The load was mostly poplar, with a mix of rot and spalting. I had to slab it deep on quite few of them, and some were too far gone to make lumber. Did get some decent boards out of what I had to work with.



Also had some black cherry logs and a red oak mixed in the load, They made some nice boards, and kept them in separate stack on top. 



All loaded stickered and stacked, ready to ship as requested. He also wanted all the slabs for firewood, along with a couple logs that he didn't want cut. He seemed to like what lumber I cut, even got a tip.



Getting later in the year and the temps are getting colder. Will "play it by ear" (old saying) ;) how much more sawing I do before winter, will see how it goes. 
Just another day... chasing the sawdust dream.

[Resonator]

Still chasin'...


I'm going to dust the dust off of my sawdust dream thread, been a while since I posted on here. Reason being there hasn't been a lot to post, it's been a frustratingly slow year for business.
Did have some sawing, lumber sales, and tree jobs, as well as a repeat order from my greenhouse grower friend for custom pallets. Built them with white pine runners and poplar deck boards cut from my logs. Here's a pic of my truck "Old Rusty" loaded up making the delivery.
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Way back in 2017 when it all started by buying my first mill, I built a deer hunting blind from lumber I cut as a "value added" product (more pic's in reply #3). Over the years since I've gotten several messages from members who liked it, and wanted details of how I built it. I decided to build another one this year to sell, and photographed the process for those who were interested.

The overall size I kept to 5'x7', one of the requirements being I have to be able to lift and move it with my tractor. Also this is similar size to what is commercially sold for blinds.
The basic framework is all white pine 2x4 and 2x6, with full dimension spruce 4x4 corner posts. The only store bought lumber in the build are PT 4x4 runners the floor boards are nailed to. I wanted to overbuild and make it sturdy, and wanted the look of an all wood mini cabin.
One side note I built the framework inside my new shop building (an on going project ). I built my shop with just over 10' height to the bottom of the trusses, specifically to allow room to make projects like this inside.

I did make a few changes from my original blind, this one having 4 large drop down hinged windows instead of small sliders. I built a jig from 2x's to make the windows, with blocks to keep all the mitered corners square during assembly. The frame being white pine with a rabbet cut for the glazing, and 1/2" thick strips brad nailed to hold it in. I planned it out so that one sheet of clear polycarbonate could be cut into 4 pieces to make them.

I also used a sheet of plywood as a jig when I built the door to keep things square. The door was made with 2x4 stiles, 2x6 rails, and 1" boards for the panels layered and screwed together. There is one small window in the door, and rather than buy an entire sheet of polycarbonate, I decided it was cheaper to just put a glass pane there. This is a standard size and held in with screws, so if it did break it would be an easy fix.

After the framework was done, the spruce 1" under-lap boards for the reverse board and batten were put on. I pre-stained them so if there would be any future shrinkage, no unfinished wood would show.

I then went through my stack of spruce live edge boards and selected which ones to use. I had sawn these with the bark left on, some came off easy, and some took a bit of work to get it off. Used every chisel, sander, wire brush and scraper I had to get it done.
I'll do another post to continue the building process, and to keep the hunting theme end with a picture from back in summer:

I looked out my window after supper one evening and gasped at what I saw. Two albino deer were wandering their way across my property. I wish I'd got a pic right before this, as they were standing right in the low angle sunlight, like they were glowing. Talked to my neighbors, and they've seen more in the area.
Never know what you're gonna see, just another day... chasing the sawdust dream.

[Resonator]

Still chasin'...

Finish up where I left off on the deer hunting blind build, I took lots of pics and will try to cover all the details (long post alert).  
After I had the underlay boards up, I put the natural edge boards loosely with clamps or screws. I did this all by eye, sorting through the stack to find the right boards looked good together, and adjusting the spacing.

Boards fit up with all the bark scraped and sanded off. I wanted to have a full board to fit the full width at the corners and in between the windows. Not seen here yet, but I did use the same board cut off over the windows to continue the same tree.

Fitting up the back side. One thing I did different from the first one I built, was to rip a straight edge on the mill for the end wall corner boards. This I joined up with a straight-ish full board on the front and back wall to form the corners.

Interior view. You can see the underlap wall look inside, I cut individual nailer blocks to fill in between the boards at the bottom of the walls. I saw where some blinds have carpet in them, (I not crazy about the idea), but to compromise I got a 4x6 utility mat and trimmed a little off the back edge to make it fit. That way in can be removed for cleaning or at end of season.
I also wanted a bump stop for where the windows fold down, so I put some short blocks up and mounted some round rubber table leg pads. Attached with a screw hole drilled in the center, it matched up perfect with the knobs.

I used standard hardware store sliders for the main latch. Then for an "easy to open with gloves on" option, I cut a 1 1/4" block and rounded the corners mounted with 1 screw. The knobs are standard kitchen cabinet knobs that I modified. They came with a short machine screw that mounted from the back and wouldn't fit the thickness of my window frames. So I "drilled it out so that it would fit" (Johnny Cash) and mounted it with a screw in the center from the front. A little black paint hides the screw head.

Inside door view. I 45* beveled the ends of horizontal brace boards to clear the wood strips inside the door jamb. Some trial and error to fit the door to the opening, shimming the gaps all the way around before hanging it on the hinges. The window as mentioned is one pane of glass. I made it fixed, and figured it would only take a second for a hunter to open the door if they wanted to aim out that direction.

Roof view. Pretty simple, painted steel panels screwed to pine full 1" framing. The blue tape helped me know where the boards are (didn't want to miss). I tried to keep the roof thin to add headroom inside. I also ripped a straight edge on some natural edge boards to make the fascia trim. The corners are butted together, and then I shaped the bottom of the board end to match the natural edge of the other board. Looking at it from a few feet back it all blends in.



Finished building views. On the door I used standard hardware store hinges and a gate latch. I did have to notch the siding board on the door to clear the gate latch handle, if I did it again I might change that detail.


Had an unexpected wood feature when I was scraping the bark off the spruce I found where the wood munchers had made trails in the grain, it made a neat look stained up.
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In summary this took a lot of hours to build, I wanted it to be a "showcase" piece for my business, and put in the extra time for details. If you built one yourself, you could certainly make it simpler.
 
Couple things I learned the hard way. I painted the underside of the floor (for moisture protection). I did after the building was built, crawling underneath (getting grey paint in my beard ) would have been easier to paint the boards as it was being built. I also put a lot of time in scraping bark off the siding boards, next time I'll peel it off the logs when fresh cut.
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In closing a dedication to a hunter friend of mine:

While I was building this, I received sad news that my good friend Dick had passed away at the ripe old age of 94. I took this pic when he was "only" 88, and he was showing me his new crossbow he was going hunting with. He was active right up until the end. He'd call me up out of the blue and want to pack the woodshed at his hunting cabin full of firewood for winter, (I think he had 10 years worth of firewood in there).
I'd also help do maintenance on his tractor, as he'd always be working on trails, foodplots, and put up blinds throughout his hunting land. He also was a professional photographer, skilled woodworker, and raised a fine family. He did more with only 1 eye and 1 hand, then many men do with 2. 
His memory was heavy on my mind, and I'm sure he's smiling down.
In this time of year when the leaves fall, the hunters head for the woods, and the big bucks go chasing after doe's.
Just another day... chasing the sawdust dream.

[Wlmedley]

Great building and great story. I've built a couple small buildings and it takes a lot longer than you would think.Didn't make a lot on either one but really enjoyed building them.

[Peter Drouin]

 Looks good.

[Stephen1]

Great hunting shed! and Tribute to your friend.....chasing the sawdust dream!

[PAmizerman]

Things have been slow here as well. I'm always looking for ideas to bring in a lil extra cash so I built a few blinds as well. It's crazy how much time and material is in one these little things. 

[Resonator]

Still chasin'...

Things seem to be getting better, business definitely picked up in the last month. Even saw a rainbow behind my mill a couple weeks back (did check, no pot of gold though).

Also another day while sawing I saw the sun was shining through the pine. (That's gotta be a good sign). 


Sold the whole stack of black cherry I cut earlier this year. (1st pic is fresh sawn, 2nd is dried), It air dried to around 13%, the customer will dry it more. Stayed pretty flat too, with weight on top and 5 rows of stickers. Little bit of checking on the ends, but still could trim it to make full 8' boards.

Have had a bunch of people interested in the custom hunting blind I built to sell. One guy that stopped was a young man with a family that couldn't afford it, but asked if I could build one to fit within his budget. We discussed some numbers, and I built a 5' x 6' the same design as the natural edge sided one, only this time with board and batten. Here the walls are up using 1x10 white pine boards I had in stock. This went up WAY faster than hand selecting individual natural edge boards, and scraping the bark off.

One way to save cost I used overstock - discount steel panels from the local big box store. Customer didn't mind that the colors don't match.

On the inside I built the same style drop down windows, but only one on the front and one on the back. The end wall I built 2 small wood frame glass windows, that slide in a boxed track made from 1x material. The size worked out that when the windows are slid completely open, they just about fit behind the wall. No latches on these, just metal grab handles, and a couple wood blocks to fit in the track to block them shut.

Finished blind #3. Over the 1 x 10's I put 2" battens centered over board edges. I cut these from wide pine boards on the mill, trying to avoid large knots that could break apart a 2" board. No paint or stain to save cost, customer will do this on their dime and on their time.
On the natural edge blind I noticed moisture around the back window after a hard rain, so I made changes when I built this one. I added weather stripping to the widows, and extend the steel roof overhang to 4" at the back, to kick the water away from the wall.
Loaded up and going to it's new home. Customer was happy, and I told his wife and kid maybe next time I should build them a playhouse.

Winter has arrived here, cold temps mean I'll probably be doing more logging and selling firewood then sawmilling, will see how it goes. Just another day... chasing the sawdust dream.