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My timber frame build

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

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Ljohnsaw

Update 9/28-30/20:

I spent 9/22, 9/24, 9/28 & 9/29 working on the cedar logs.  If OGH wants to run the numbers through his app to get the BF, but here is what I got from the toolbox (doubling 16' numbers to get 33'):

1) 41/42 -16'6"       1280
2) 28/33 - 16'6"        584
3) 25/33 16'6"          462
4) 19/27 16'6"          260
5) 20/26 33'             600
6) 18/28 33'             464
7) 21/20 33'             642
8 ) 17/25 33'             410

Total of 4,702 bd-ft

and to round out the load, one 21/30 33' Ponderosa at 642 bf ft

I worked on logs 6,7 & 8 over the 4 days.  

Starting with log 7, I was not too happy with my purchase.  The pine I bought before are really nice logs.  This new logger kept touting how great his cedar was (old growth, nothing better, yada yada) it should have raised some red flags.  Anyhow, the first log must have been a top log - lots of big branch knots at the top end.  Out of a 33' log, I got one 5x18x13' beam free of knots (usable length but not ideal) and a handful of 1x boards with lots of knots.  A check/split (from dropping the tree?) wasted a lot of wood.  Not off to a good start.  

Log 6 was up next and I got a full 33' beam, two 16½' beams (from the butt end) and a lot of 1x18x12' boards.  Once they dry, I will resaw them down to 1x10s.  I didn't want to do it green as I would expect them to crook when they dry.   A pretty good yield - much better.

Log 8 was interesting.  I made it a point that I didn't want anything less than 20" SED, yet I got two.  :-\  This one had both blue and orange spray paint on it.  I'm assuming the blue is a cut tree?  The orange was on this big nail and a few feet below it was this big spike I found when bibbying (note the chainsaw nick) and the two little nails for a sign?


 
Quick scan around the log and no others.  So I thought...  Once I opened the other sides, I started slicing off 1x material to get down to my beam(s).  Deep in, I found more so the grand total:


 
All the while, yellow jackets keep checking out my water drip and the bark area as I cut.  Initially I thought they were looking for water.  Then I see them crawling in grub holes.  They finally found what they were looking for:


   When I got closer they would fly away.  They were pulling out the bark beetle grubs!  So out of this log, I got two 32' beams and a dozen 1x boards.  Grand total of 1,580 bd-ft, scaled at 1,510 or so.

The remaining 33' log has a bit of crook (and knots) at the top end so a full beam is unlikely.  Three of the 16'6" logs look real good.  The giant 16'6" log will be a big problem.  I will have to bibby off a bit to fit on my mill.  

What I think this logger did was take all the mill rejects and sell them for top dollar to me.  I don't think I'll be using him in the future.
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

Updates for 10/3-10/4 and 10/7-10/8:

My son had an overnight camp that I dropped him off at on Saturday morning, 10/3.  That gave me the afternoon and part of Sunday morning to get something done.  I put up this log and milled it up:


 
The mill is maxed out in height (the black diagonal braces are touching the grey guide blocks on the head.  I milled some boards out of the slab cut off the top.  I ended up making FOUR 5x18x16' beams and a ~3" x 18" center board with a crack in it.  Also a lot of 1x wall boards.  As I was finishing up this log, I noticed some sparks coming from the v-belt pulley that was rubbing on the frame uprights.  Not good.

So this last Wednesday I did some maintenance/housekeeping.  I moved the drive wheel about 1/2" to the left and had to make an allowance in the idle wheel tensioning setup so I could loosen it enough to get a blade on.  Also replaced a couple radiator hose elbows on the SkyTrak that developed some leaks.  Also and the SkyTrak, the exhaust shoots straight down and stirs up a ton of dust when I drive around.  So I put a 90° elbow to shoot out the back - a lot cleaner air now!

Thursday morning, I put on another log (cut down to 27'6") to try and get a long beam.  The top end was bent and slightly small so I had my doubts.  I managed to get a stack of 1x boards (I still need to edge) and TWO 5x18 beams.  Its amazing that this was the worst looking log but got the most out of it.  There is a little bit of wane on the bottom at the very end but that will be in the cantilevered section of the deck.  My sister came up to help mid-morning.  After we moved all the beams aside, I sighted down the rails and had her crank the different jacks up and down to get the tracks dead flat again.  Then, one after another, reloaded trimmed, flipped and trimmed them all to size and dead straight.  My property is far from flat so the only place to put these were up on the sills.



 

 
I need 7 full length beams.  I got 5 so the remaining 6 half-beams will lapped to make up the missing 2 (2 half-beams extra).  The one short beam that looks to be too tall is actually resting on an anchor bolt holding the sill.  The closest beam is a little thick and will be placed as the 3rd and will support the stairs that will go down on the camera's right.  The remaining 5 beams will be flush with the right support wall to provide head room on the stairs.

Monday, all the beams will be taken down and trimmed to final length, the short ones will have the laps cut into them, one at a time.  It looks like the center sill is just a tad high so I will plane down as necessary where the beams will be sitting.  I will put a piece of 6" Fortiflex rubber flashing on the sills where the beams cross and screw them down with one diagonal 12" timber screw, per the plans.  Then on Tuesday, put Fortiflex down the top of the beams where the boards will sit and load up all the 4x10 boards.  Since the boards will be held down from the bottom (no screw hole in the top), I'm hoping these boards will last a LONG time.
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

It's nice to see you making some progress.  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 10/12-14/2020:

Slight change of plans.  First, I made a timber wrench to help out setting up the beams for the deck.




But, I forgot to load it in my truck... ::)  So I will recut the notch for 8" beams.  

I spent Tuesday finishing up a dozen jacket boards trimming them into 1x10s and then pulling down all the beams to cut to length.  Four half-beams needed lap joints cut in one end of each.  I also discovered that the center sill was cut 1/2" thicker than the outside ones.  So I trimmed out a notch for each beam.  Very tight space to stack/store the beams!



 

 

Wednesday my sister came up for the day to help.  I positioned the SkyTrak and had her, after a short training session, adjust the beams in/out, left/right.  No major mishaps! ;)  I secured the beams to the sills with the one required 12" x 3/8" GRK screw at each crossing.  I need to bring up my big DeWalt impact gun to drive a few stubborn one all the way in that my 1/2" drill could not finish driving.  But, they really hold well!  I was surprised.



 
The extra long sills will be trimmed off at 6" past the last beam.  I will install 6x6 cedar railing posts on each with an additional post between.  That won't happen until I set up my bents as this will be used as a building platform.

As a side note, I was using my new-to-me Onan generator to power my saw and drill.  I made up a very long remote start/stop switch so neither of us had to run to start or stop it.  So nice!  But, that generator sure likes to drink!

Didn't get the floor boards up, but another day and the 600 brackets with 2,400 screws will be installed.  Well, maybe 2 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.

Ljohnsaw

Update 10/16-17/20:

Went back up Friday and trimmed the front 4 beams to length.  Not sure how but they ended up 1"
too long.  So I had to use my big Makita 16" beam saw.  I was cutting down vertically - the weight of this monster saw worked to my advantage but wore me out!  Then I put on the Fortiflash.


 
Here is the stack of deck boards:


 
Ended Friday with half the boards laid out:


 
and moved the remainder over so I can lay out the rest in the morning.

 
I started Saturday out laying out the rest of the deck boards and lining up the first board.  My sister showed up mid-morning and we got to work!  All the boards are attached with these brackets and we were done by late-afternoon:


 
Hard to make out but the beam on the right is the front one and I did not want brackets showing so I put them all on the inside

 
All the boards trimmed up:


 
I have all the boards attached to the front 6 beams.  I need to push the back beam upright and then attach it to the deck boards to hold it in place.


 
There is a small hill south of the cabin site - standing up there looking down.  The box truck on the right is the one behind my sawmill:


 
Next up is to put the final 3 boards on the right (over the rocks, behind the tree) and the boards that will make up the stair landing on the left as well as the fascia boards to close up the ends.
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.

firefighter ontheside

Its looking good John.  Is this deck going to be under a roof and what is it all built with?   WRC?
Woodmizer LT15
Kubota Grand L4200
Stihl 025, MS261 and MS362
2017 F350 Diesel 4WD
Kawasaki Mule 4010
1998 Dodge 3500 Flatbed

Ljohnsaw

No, uncovered.  Looking back over my engineer's notes for the snow load calc, he used 415 lb/sq-ft.  That's why the beams are 18" (my original pick) by 5" over the 11' span and spaced 22" OC.  I wanted substantial boards so I went with 4x material.  The wood is Incense Cedar and is very rot resistant in my observations of felled old wood.  This is on the south side were the prevailing winds come from so I don't expect there to be huge accumulations.  Worst single event was 10' of snow in 2 days followed by 13" of rain a couple of years back.  Generally, it is a foot or two per storm and very high winds blowing it into drifts on the lee side.  Average yearly accumulation is 12'.
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 10/21/20:

Fit the remaining 3 boards on the east side of the deck and cut up boards to make 4 short (54") planks for the stair landing.  Then trimmed the back side of all the boards.  About 12' x 29' with a 54"x46" landing on the right.  Looking south:



Looking west:



Getting closer to the tree tops!  I think my phone camera lens is getting a bit scratched...


 
I just need to install the 2" 'fascia' boards on the east and west ends of the beams and trim the sill boards to their final length.  I've pre-installed all the GA-1's to mount the fascia boards.  Out of the 600 GA-1's I purchased, I have 65 63 left over.  Screws came in boxes of 500, so I bought 2,500.  I have about 350 300 left.
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.

firefighter ontheside

Woodmizer LT15
Kubota Grand L4200
Stihl 025, MS261 and MS362
2017 F350 Diesel 4WD
Kawasaki Mule 4010
1998 Dodge 3500 Flatbed

Ljohnsaw

Update 10/23/2020:

I have one of those Jackson contractor wheelbarrows, the blue metal ones.  For some reason, I left it where it wasn't supposed to be.  So there was a showdown between my 23K lb SkyTrak and a 30 lb wheelbarrow.  Well, the wheelbarrow took a pretty good hit and got a little bit bent, but it took out the SkyTrak...  As I pulled forward (still didn't know I hit it), the steering was sluggish and wanted to return to neutral.  I leaned out and looked over the front, nothing strange.  Looked to the rear and oil everywhere.  The wheelbarrow hit a small hydraulic T in the steering ram circuit and cracked it at the threads. ::)

So that was an hour or so trying to find a part up there in the middle of nowhere.

The plan for the day was to take down a big stack of cedar 1x's to get to the pair of 2x18's at the bottom to close up the beam ends on the porch.  That pile in there:


 
I did have an undersized beam ( 4-3/8 x 18 ) sitting out so, to save time, I just decided to split that on the mill and put those up.  Nice to have a helping hand working again ;)


 

 

But I still de-stacked/flat-stacked the cedar.  I have 6 1x8's, 43 1x10's and 20-25 1x18's (some with splits and lots of knots).  I'll rip them down into pairs of 1x8's or salvage a 1x10.  I'll do that next trip up and band/tarp them for next year.
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

10/29/2020:

Back at it on Thursday.  I had a 16.5' x 28" log sliced up into cants - 3@8x12 and 2@6x24.  Left one as a 8x12 and reduced the other two into 8x8s.  The 6x24s were turned into ten 4x6s that I cut in half (8') for brace stock.  Lost a couple due to wain.  Will lose a few more due to some big knots.  Also had a pair of 2x8s from side wood.  So 704 bd-ft of usable product from one log.  When cutting one of the 6x24s down, I was rolling one 4x6 and it took a weird bounce and smacked my right ring finger tip.  Ouch, swelled up like cartoon hammer-smacked thumb!  Still swollen and hard today and a bit purple.

I finished up my Mare & Colt saw horse pair and put them up on my new deck (only open, flat place to work).  Put the three posts up there and laid out the 8x12 and cut the four brace pockets.  Also opened up my timber wrench to fit 8" timbers.  Wow, makes easy work rotating, no marks and the timber doesn't get out of control like a cant hook as they tumble.


 

 
Just have to cut the tenons on each end after cutting to length.
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

You might put up some temp handrails. Would hate to hear you fell off that deck.

Ljohnsaw

Yeah, thought about that.  I'd have to do just corner posts and a cable with a quick-disconnect.  Need the center to be open to fork up the posts and beams.  Its only a 10' drop to moon dust ;)
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 11/11/2020:
We had a couple little cold storms blow through.  The CalTrans traffic cameras were down so I couldn't see how much was coming down or what the totals were.  The weather guys were saying about 6" further up the hill from me.  I wanted to cut a beam and try and get the bottom half of a bent up.  Here's what I was greeted with this morning when I got there:


 There was 3-4" on the ground and it was 24° at 7:30 am.  I brought my little trailer up to bring my mill head home for the winter/rebuild but couldn't load it because I couldn't move the SkyTrak.  So, I left it up there and took my flatbed home at noon time after I packed away some other things for the winter.

Predicting a little more snow this weekend and then rain Thanksgiving week.  Maybe I'll have another chance to work this year.
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 11/20/2020:

I went up on the 20th with high hopes and a Plan B.  The weather had been warm (down here) and LOTS of rain up there.  Apparently, after the tail end of the rain storm, the temp dropped and it snowed a little (2"?) and froze as lumpy ice on the road.  Drive-able for my truck not so for my SkyTrac.


 
Plan B was to burn my slab stacks.  Was 4 pallets stacked up to 7' high.  Melted all the snow around there!


 
While sitting there, eating my lunch, saw some movement...


 


 He just froze and watched as I snapped a few pictures.

On Thanksgiving day, I was looking on CraigsList Farm and found this!  Glad I brought the flat bed down the hill.


 

 
An old stainless steel dairy farm milk "silo".  It is 6' in diameter and was originally 6' tall but someone added another 28" or so making it 8'4".  I calculate that out as ~1,800 gallons.  With that capacity and the amount of time we will probably spend at the cabin over the winter, I shouldn't have to run the well pump when below freezing - though I probably could as very little pipe is above ground (~3' at the well head).  

I am in the process of cleaning it up.  The white paint on the outside is flaking off (will remove all).  I pulled the lid and there was about 1/2 gallon of dust/dirt along with three dead paper wasp nests.  They probably got started in the spring and then got cooked in the summer. ;D  Inside, the bottom 1/3 or so has/had a layer of white, hard residue - like calicum - on the walls that is chipping off fairly easy.  One of the 6 legs was cut off flush with the bottom that I need to replace.  I will sand down the angle iron legs and rings to repaint them silver to match/blend in.  This will be stored in "the pit" at the back of my basement.
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 12/8/2020:

After a couple weeks of unseasonably warm weather down here, I figured the snow should be gone up at my property.  Right at the freeway exit there was snow on the side of the road :-\  My camera wasn't working first thing so I couldn't get a before picture.  There was still a 2" layer of crunchy, icey snow.  So I spread my burn pile ashes to give traction and hopefully some solar gain when the sun hits it later in the day.

Well, a nice plan but here is just after 12:00


 
Two little windows of sun poking through the trees.  I did, however, manage to drive on it with the SkyTrak and completed some final winterizing.  Even was able to trim a 8x12x12' down to a 8x10.
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.

samandothers

Glad you were able to do your winter prep chores.  Nice find on the tank!

Ljohnsaw

Update 12/11/2020:

I spent the last week cleaning up and painting the tank (just the black angle iron on the lid, the legs and the two silver angle iron rings - the rest is stainless steel).  A big storm was predicted to move in yesterday (Saturday) and today so I went up with my fishing buddy to move my tank up before I couldn't.  Still no snow melt during the week despite a warming trend.  We went up Friday and now I'm fully winterized.  Here is the tank stuffed in along with all my other toys.


 
As we were leaving around 2 pm on Friday, there were some flakes floating down.  Saturday gave a little snow (couple inches) but today it dumped all day and expected to continue through the night.  Probably a foot at my place.
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 3/10/21:
Haven't trekked up the hill in quite some time.  Lots of little snow storms.  Had one blow through today.  This is the hill a bit lower than my property.  Snow accumulated all the way down to 2,500'.



 One year ago (3/15/20) it looked like this.


The News just said the ski resort just above my property got 30" of snow so far this week.  That means I got at least half that much.
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 5/14/2021:

I've been working through the winter (when not helping my buddy with his rental repairs) on my sawmill.  I did a total rebuild of the head and a little on the carriage that you can see here: Sawmill update

I went up on Thursday with my cement mixer and temporary staircase on my flatbed trailer.  The goal for the day was to get the water working, reinstall the pump in the bath house, replace the seat on the SkyTrak, make a pad for my camping trailer and unpack all the stuff stored under the deck.

I started on the water system.  Last fall I was filling gallon jugs to have this spring just in case I couldn't get the pump going right away.  Well, I forgot to open the drain when I was done so a little freeze damage.  I cut the left end off so I could unscrew everything.  It split from one end to the other.


 I didn't have one needed fitting and no glue so I just pieced what I had together (semi-jamb fit) and that allowed me to fill my 330 gallon tank in just over 2 hours.  I was able to hook up everything in the bath house without any issues :)

I got one of those warehouse rolling stair things for free.  It was a damaged unit, held together with that special OSHA approved strapping tape.  I took off the tower part that was badly mangled and saved the stairs and railing.  I reassembled the railing and used the SkyTrak to install and it works pretty well for a temporary access to the deck/first floor.

Next up was the seat.  I got it off but no match up with the new seat.  So I headed home to butcher the old seat to use as a mounting adapter for the new seat.

Back with glue and needed fitting today to finish the well hookup and install the seat.  The well is now good.  The seat slider doesn't work (too tight) but a lot more comfortable and won't be getting a wet rear from the exposed foam on the old one after rains.  I decided to pull the new water tank out from under the deck.  A little finagling with the SkyTrak and I got it out and set up out of the way.


Comparing to the ladder, its about 12' tall.

So on to making a trailer pad for my pop up trailer (My neighbors that let me use their cabin that last few years sold and moved to Oregon).  After about an hour of popping rocks, leveling and rolling, I got it to a point I'm happy.

 

 And its close to the bath house.  But, pulling away I heard a leak and then started to see hydraulic fluid spraying in the engine next to me.  This section of my dirt road should stay dust-free for a while!

 I pulled the short hose and ran it down the hill to drop off at the hydraulic shop.  Will be ready Monday first thing.
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 6/2/2021:

I went back up with the hydraulic hose on Wednesday, 5/23 and used the SkyTrak to get the trailer into its pad.


 
And then popped it up on Friday, 5/29.


 I planned to stay up for two nights.
I had gathered two pieces of one cedar tree and rescued a section of another cedar tree out of the campground's dump.


 

 Early Saturday morning, I realized I left all my sawmill blades at home, Doohh!  So a quick hour home and hour back.  A short while after I got back, my Niece's husband (Justin) arrived to mill all the cedar up into 2x4's and 1x4's for a fencing project at his place.

This was the trial run of my rebuilt mill.  Had a few issues that I documented here: Another Sawmill Build

But, was successful in finishing up the logs by Sunday lunchtime.  I had planned on milling a big cross beam from one of my Ponderosa logs sitting since last fall but a needed repair on the mill prevented that.  Since I had a spotter, I decided to take down a few of the dead firs now threatening my cabin.  I had once thought they would make good beams but my milling/drying experience with fir changed my mind.  You could smell the fermentation going on in these logs once I started cutting.  They all fell where I wanted with the top third of the most uphill log exploding when it hit the ground.  Pretty rotted out.


 

 
Justin did a great job of piling the branches in the burn pile almost as fast as I was trimming them off.  Now I just have to wait until December or January when they lift the burn ban :-\
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

It is so good to see you back on the hill again.  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

firefighter ontheside

I'm looking forward to some big progress this summer, John.
Woodmizer LT15
Kubota Grand L4200
Stihl 025, MS261 and MS362
2017 F350 Diesel 4WD
Kawasaki Mule 4010
1998 Dodge 3500 Flatbed

Ljohnsaw

Update 6/17/2021:

Went up today with the redone mill lift system - upgraded from 1/2" to 3/4" ACME rods and the chain path to keep it from hopping sprocket teeth.  I had the butt end of one of the cedars and used it as a test.  I decided to cut it thick and made 4 slabs ranging from 3" to 4-¼" thick.  The first two are book matched and have a very interesting grain pattern.  It looks like the sapling got bent over 90° and didn't spring back.  The tree continued to grow and righted itself encapsulating this bit of history.


 

 

 

 I'm going to try and sell these green on CraigsList.  If they don't go, they should dry out over the summer and I'll make some coffee tables or mantels.  It was 96° at 9pm and now down to 87 at 11:30. :-\  Who needs a kiln with weather like this!
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: 6/19/2021 - 7/18/2021

Last October, I finished up the posts for the "north" bent first floor but November 11th snow put a stop to the work.  The guy I got a load of cedar from (ALL full of iron) also included one nice Ponderosa pine.  Back on June 19th, I milled that up for the 8x16x24' beam for that bent.  Turns out, that tree also had a lot of metal :(  But, was successful in getting the beam.  I had to put all the brace and joist pockets in and then place it up on the cabin first floor joists.


 

 

 Three large nails near the center of the log.

 
Cut the end off and ended up being my new landing/steps into my bath house.  Got to make lemonade, right?


 
I went up July 9 to drop my son off and a 9 day camp and lined up the three post and one beam and a bunch of braces for the first bent.  I had help show up 7/10 where we test fit posts with braces and then assembled the bent, raised it up with the SkyTrak and put it in place.


 

 
Had a little issue with the north-west post sitting down so persuaded it with the SkyTrak.


 
Went to assemble the second bent on Sunday but discovered I put some brace pockets in the wrong place :-\  On the first bent, I miss-placed the 5x8 loft joist pockets by 1/2".  Not a big deal so I combined the first bent beam with the second to keep the joist in line, switching back and forth between the pages.  I used the bottom brace measurements from the first beam on the second. ::)

So during the week fixed that and cut some more braces.


 
I had help 7/17 (three of us in total) and raised the second bent.  Lessons learned from the first go made this bent go up a bit faster.  Sunday morning two of us trimmed up three of the nine 5x9x11' joists to fit in the joist pockets between these bents for the loft.


 

 
I have a total of 38 pockets to cut for the joists so I cheated a bit with power tools.  I made this jig and used my router to cut the 1½" deep pockets in three passes.


 

 Just a little cleanup squaring the corners and cutting the final pocket depth of 8".

On track to have bent three (of five) up this coming weekend.
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.

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