Whatcha Sawin' 2022 ??

[MattVT]

My partner and I have been working on our property in Vermont since March this year, and while the focus has been on getting utilities on-site, we had to clear about 350 trees in the process. We've been doing all this ourselves with limited mechanical assistance (just a small-ish 40hp tractor) so it's been slow going hard work, but also incredibly rewarding.

As we learned the hard way, felling trees is relatively quick, but the cleanup takes time! We limbed each one, bucked 17ft logs off where possible, ran everything else through the 6" PTO chipper on our tractor, and stacked the logs.



This is just one of our log piles, and while this one is mainly spruce and pine, behind it is another with some hard woods. The area we've been clearing is mainly spruce (about 40 years old but too dense, so not very large but arrow straight) but we also have some pine, birch, beech, maple (hard and soft) and cherry.

Finally, a couple of weeks ago, we were able to fire up our Woodland Mills HM126 which had been sitting almost unused since last year, and begin milling some lumber. We would have loved to have started sooner, and we know some of the lumber will have degraded, but priority decisions had to be made.



We've been milling every day for the past week or so, and have about another week to go before we need to wrap up for the season. Our focus has been getting the "infrastructure" set up and a workflow worked out so that when we're back in spring, we can hit the ground running.



We've created piles for different wood species and lengths, and are still trying to work out what to do with all the sawdust and slab offcuts (we already have far more firewood than we know what to do with!). In the foreground above is the base assembly of our solar kiln - we started it last year and while we haven't had time to get to it this year, it's a priority for us in spring next year.



Anyway, thought I'd share a quick update as I owe a lot of what we've been able to do so far to what I've learned from this community.

[Ed_K]

 There's a lot of maple sugar makers around you there in Vt. advertise the slabs for sale or free. Your land and work area looks great. How do you like the sawmill, my son is looking at the 126?

[firefighter ontheside]

What am I sawing?  Ants.  I'm sawing ants.  I've never seen so much ant damage or so many ants in one log.  This was a big cedar.  I got some nice boards out of the log, but also a lot of junk.  A taxidermist asked me to mill this for him.  He makes panels to mount deer out of cedar.  I asked if he ever uses anythign else and he said occasionally a guy will want walnut, but mostly cedar.


 

 

 

[doc henderson]

you might think it looks like junk, but some epoxy and that might be just the thing for some.  could prob incorporate the insects unless you are vegan.  
at first i thought you had a cnc router and were in process of carving a name or something.   :D
"so you say you like rustic"!

[WV Sawmiller]

   I sawed into a black cherry like that a few years back and even made a 5' live edge bench and was going to fill it with epoxy but after I calculated how much epoxy it was going to take I gave it to a friend to finish. I realized I'd never be able to sell it around here for what I'd have in it.

[Old Greenhorn]

Yeah, that's bad stuff. There must be money in it somewhere. :D :D :D
 I milled up some ERC about 5 weeks ago nd had similar results (but not THAT bad) and I just milled it out and sticker stacked it. My thought was the standard sizes would stack better and I wouldn't cut out the garbage until I knew what I was doing with it. If it had been RO or Maple most of that stuff would have got loped off and thrown in the boiler. BUT I have to fight and still get lucky to get my hands on that stuff, so I treat it like gold. I keep checking and it's down to 10-12% already. I have winter builds on my mind. ;D

 Those butt ugly pieces would take a LOT of epoxy to fill. But they would likely would look cool. The real question is: What can you make form them to draw a worthwhile price, and as Howard noted, can you draw that kind of money in your demographic?

[Walnut Beast]

I would keep it.  

 

  

[doc henderson]

never seen book matched ant tunnels! 8)

[firefighter ontheside]

Its all out there laying next to the mill carport.  I may save some of it after the ants have left.  I thought that first picture slab looked realy cool.  

[doc henderson]

It looks Arabic or like a pixel type camo for the military.  the red against a contrasting epoxy would be stunning... if you can afford it. 

[bigblockyeti]

I got some ERC from my parents place when a few trees were blown over early this year, it was decent sized but not huge and things were going great until ants started pouring out of it.  I'll happily take a chance on a suspect log that I think might have some neat figure inside.  I've learned that I have to keep some bug spray near by and RAID ain't gonna do it.  I mix my own now and keep it in a spray bottle.  If I were into a bunch of logs I knew probably had bugs, I'd mix up a couple gallons in a pressure sprayer and get them hosed down ahead of time and in process as needed.

[Old Greenhorn]

Tell you what Bill, if you decide to get rid of some of that really ate up stuff, send it to me. It can't weigh but a few ounces anyway. :D I try dumping some epoxy in and ship it to NYC for sale. :D ;D

 As far as the ants go, we have a system for that at the mill. We bring them up by the chicken coop and drop them on the ground for a few minutes. In seconds there are 40 chickens cleaning them out like sharks feeding on a whale carcass. Before you drop all the boards, the first ones are cleaned up and ready for re-stacking. It's a sustainable practice that helps the environment, feeds the livestock, supports my food supply (gotta have my morning eggs) and also provides entertainment. The downside is the chickens get excited when they hear the mill fire up. ;D

[tule peak timber]

I would keep it.  

 

  

great material for doors and gates.

[Brad_bb]

That first picture is a nice epoxy candidate.

[kelLOGg]

I sawed ants in cedar years ago and framed it and entered it in an art show at church. It went very fast.



 

[MattVT]

There's a lot of maple sugar makers around you there in Vt. advertise the slabs for sale or free. Your land and work area looks great. How do you like the sawmill, my son is looking at the 126?

Thanks Ed! We have a lot of sugar maples on our property too, but most are relatively young and a little too small to mill or tap for now, although we do have enough larger ones to tap for our own sugaring. We did a small-scale test on a few trees this year and are planning to scale up production to maybe a gallon or so next year.
Most of what we're milling is spruce (the area we're clearing for the house site is dominated by spruce) and the slabs are supposedly great for firewood for sugaring like you say - I'll have to ask around and see who needs what.
The sawmill is great, and so far it's been able to handle everything we've thrown at it...just! We put our largest ever log through on Monday - a 8.5ft pine that measured ~29" at the fat end. After removing the bark and giving it a light haircut in spots with the chainsaw, we managed to get it milled - gave us some beautiful lumber!
If I were buying again, I'd still strongly consider the HM126, although I may also look at the HM130 Max which supports their new powerhead and has electric start (my partner can't start the HM126 engine and it usually takes me a few attempts). In terms of engine, we opted for the 14hp over the 9.5hp and I'm very glad we did - that extra power is much appreciated! Overall, we're very happy with the HM126 so far.

[tule peak timber]

Love those ants and worms !

 

 

[Walnut Beast]

Always love to see your fine craftsmanship!! 

[terrifictimbersllc]

About six weeks ago I sawed an oak burl that had a bullfrog in it.

[firefighter ontheside]

Dang it Tom.  I didn't think of opening my coop which is right next to the mill.

Great ideas on the ant wood.  I will pick some of it up and set it aside to dry.

[doc henderson]

Is the bullfrog, ok? 



 

 

accidently welded a mouse that was living in the tongue of my log splitter.

[terrifictimbersllc]

Don't think you have to go so low on the MC of that mouse next time.

Yes, Jeremiah jumped out of the hole, landed underneath the sawmill, and hopped away.

[Magicman]

Frogs, mice, lizards, flying squirrels, snakes, plus the various insects.  8)

[doc henderson]

 

[tule peak timber]

Always love to see your fine craftsmanship!!

I'm not called the Wizard of crap for nothing  ;D