Building a Sawmill Shed

[FeltzE]

I am considering building a sawmill shed and would be interested in everyones input. DO's as well as DONT's

I will be housing a portable sawmill and portable edger using them "under shelter" supported by an unloader truck and backhoe with forks.

Thanks in advance

Eric

[GarryW]

I'm thinking about building for the mill too! I'm thinking that it should be around 30 by 12. That should be long enough for the mill. I was going to use 8x8 or 12x12 for posts and 6x8s for the beams. But I am not too sure about the height. I was thinking around 8 or 10 feet. I want to make sure that I get good air circulation.

garry

[Bibbyman]

We built a saw shed back in 95.  It is 20'x40'.  It has 12' openings on the 20' ends and 20' openings on the 40' sides.  I graveled the drive up to the 12' openings and under the mill area.  This way I could drive in and unhook or hook up and drive out.  A sawmill drive through.  

The 20' openings on the sides allow for log loading on the front and slabs out the back.  We can park a truck or trailer on either end to offbear directly off the mill.

I built workbenches and shelves along the walls on one end.  On the other end,  I built a bench for guests to set in a safe place to watch us saw.  (The mill was quite an attraction the first few years.  A lot of neighbors just came over to watch it saw and then would come back with guests to see it saw.)  In the other corner, we have a workbench and a refrigerator.

The shed is wired with lights up under the roof and plug-ins all around for fans, electric chainsaw, drills, etc.  We have floodlights off the ends for unloading logs at night.  

The wall height is 12'.  It's this high so the door headers are high enough to run my tractor under.  Also,  it's nice to have this height to be able to flip an 8' board end for end and not hit a truss.

We added a 15x16 shed roof off each 20' end.  We now have an edger under one end and can park the Dodge under the other or the tractor in the winter.



Here is a picture of the frontside.


Here is a picture of the backside.


Here are a some of the old tools I've collected to decorate the inside.


Keeping cool and having plenty to drink is important in the summer time.

Here is another link to more pictures that include our mill house.

http://www.cartogra.com/home/ViewMyAlbum.asp?coll_id=885556

This shed worked well for a couple of years until we got the edger and quit doing mobile sawing.  We should have insulated under the tin so we wouldn't have the condensation rain we get about every morning when the sun hits the roof.

Now we'd like to have a much larger building, fully insulated and closeable so we can saw in comfort in high wind or cold weather.

[Frank_Pender]

The one building I have built is 50' long by 20' wide.  The inside height is 18' to the bottom of the ceiling joist.  The front door is 30' wide x 18' high.  I made a major mistake when I built this building.   I should have made is at least 24' wide perhaps even 30', reason being that I have installed a swing trim saw and workbench area that is very inportant in time saving issues.  Oversizing may cost a few sheckles up front, but in the end you will find that it is money well spent.  Really consider you height.  You speak of air flow, that allows for it.  I also installed two additional doors, one at each end of the building.  They are 9' high by 10' feet wide.  One door is used for the retruning lumber to be placed on offbearing tables on the outside of the building.   The other is simple entlry and exit with a size of 9' high by 10' wide.   The best of furtune  in you building venture.

[Noble_Ma]

I can't imagine what your barns look like if 20 X 40 or 50 is a shed.  I guess that makes the barn I'm going to build a small shed!  

Great pictures by the way Bibbyman.  It looks like you have a great setup.

[Bibbyman]

Well,  it may not be a shed by Webster's definition but I tend to call any building that's designed to cover a sawmill a shed.  I've seen a number of mills ran right out in the open and some where the shelter really only knocked off the sun a few hours during the day.  

The initial 20'x40' building cost us about $1,000 - $500 for metal for the roof and the rest for wiring, nails, etc.  Of course, we sawed out all the lumber and built our own truss and built it ourselves.

I think it was a reasonably investment to be able to saw in relative comfort and to keep your equipment out of the elements.

You think our sawshed looks posh,  take a look at Electric-Al's!

BTFsawmill

[ElectricAl]

Bibbyman,

We plan on sawing for another 40 years, and we want to be comfortable doing it.

For those that are wondering, our saw shop is 40 X 40 X 16, with a 18' X 14' overhead door. The shop is insulated, with radiant floor heat and lots of lights. The heat is supplied from a Heatmor outdoor wood burner.
We also have a dust blower hooked to the saw and edger.
The entire building is 40 X 80 X16 with radiant heat. The other half is for retail sales and office.

It boils down to your priorities, as to where one spends their money.  For us we have a $500 pickup and a $40,000 saw shop. Other guys have a $40,000 pickup and a $500 shed.

Here is a shot of Linda running her Morgan Edger.



Here is a shot of a Pine log our logger brought in. I asked if he needed some money to go buy some new glasses.
( nice job bucking to a merchantable length )






ElectricAl

[Kevin]

Hey,
There`s way too much humidity in that room.   :D

[Linda]

Kevin,

You might be on to something there........

Maybe we need to put our logs on sticks too?  :D :D :D


Linda

[Bibbyman]

Linda, Al,

I think that pine log qualifies for the UGLY LOG post!  I've had customers bring me logs like that and want 2x12 floor joist out of them!

[woodman]

I think the Indians could make some  bows with it.

[Jeff]

Al and Linda, How do you handle the clean up of debree that falls from log handling within your building? Is that part of the cleanup a purely manual task or do you have some sort of removal system that you can push stuff into?

[JoeyLowe]

Hey Al & Linda:

That's a great looking shop!  I like your statement on priorities.  That rings true.  You mentioned that some of your space is "retail"  Mind showing a pic of that?  Who is your market? Woodworkers?

I agree with Kevin that the humidity probably played a factor with that pine log! ;D

[smwwoody]

Bibbyman
what size and type of timber is your door header made of?

[Bibbyman]

It's probably overkill but it's two sycamore 2"x12" 20' long.   There are 6x6s that brace them about 1/3 way. The posts are 6x6s and they are 20' center to center so the opening is 19'-6".  Normally that's plenty of room to get 16'rs in.  18' starts to get a bit tight.  

This weekend we sawed some that were 20'-6".  We can get them in by approaching at an angle and getting one end past the door opening and then swinging to that side to get the other side past.  We've got a few 22'6" logs we'll have to saw somehow.  I think I can still angle them in but if not,  I'll pull them in.

[ElectricAl]

Jeff,

Good question on the clean up.
We have a dust blower that gets 90% of the dust. But the 10% and bark/mud/ants get scooped up by hand.
We had thought about a floor trough chain drag but it was getting complicated with the radaint floor heat. Oh well.

We built a dump box 4' wide and 5' long and 4' high to scoop into. It has fork pockets for the fork lift and we just added a mount plate for our new JD skid loader. The skid loader has hydraulic quick attach. That means you just pull up and flip a switch in the cab and your hooked up. The older loader made you get out of the cab to lock on the attachments. It's real nice going from forks to a bucket to the dumpbox without getting out.





Joey,

Our retail customers are from the beginner to cabinet shops with 3-4 employees.

Sales are roughly 70% Northern Red Oak, 10% Quarter sawn White Oak, and 20% everything else.
Wide and clear both faces sells first.
1 and 2 Common are a challenge to sell around here.

The Arkansawyer has a different market, his guys like the lumber with character, not those plain jane boards.

****Demographics****








The show room is 20' X 40' X 16'  with a 14'h x 18'w door.
Heated and well lit. White walls help make the lumber look brighter. We skip plane all our lumber.
Our big advantage over the competition is: we will let the customer sort. We charge a little more, but it is worth it to them not getting hung with a bunch of trash.


We custom saw, custom dry, and retail.

Keeps Linda and I busy. ;D

An more questions?
If you don't ask you may not learn :P


ElectricAl

[Linda]

Kevin,

Whew, I wasn't sure if Al would ever get out of my way so I could post!

Every time I walked by to see if he was done, he pulled up the bent pine photo with your comment about the humidity we would both crack up laughing!

What a riot!!!!!! :D :D :D :D :D

Linda

[Noble_Ma]

This isn't a sawing shed but a shed I built to air dry my lumber.  Ya, that's me hiding behind that 4X4 post.  I'm wasting away to nothing. :D  My son is a great apprentise but he needs to work on his photo composition!!!!!   :-/  As usual, I think I should have built it bigger!  The boss has a firm hold on the purse strings so this is what I could "afford" to build. :-[


 

[woodbeard]

Bibbyman, have you used sycamore much in building? I have access to some large trunks of it but have heard it twists a lot. Think it might work ok for timber framing?
Thanks,
George

[Bibbyman]

Woodbeard,

I'm often asked about the use of sycamore for farm framing lumber.  I think it works great - if you keep in mind shrinkage and stress.  Sycamore is very wet when sawn but dries quickly.  The logs tend to have a lot of stress so it's best to use the straightest logs possible.  We generally turn the log on each cut to keep the cant bow to a minimum.  

Two ways to go with the lumber.  Use it as soon as it comes off the mill. Or stack and stick it and put it under a lot of weight right off the mill.  It'll sure curl on you if you leave it unrestrained.  

The advantage of using it right off the mill (my preference) is that you can still drive a nail in it and it's still somewhat pliable.  After it dries,  driving a nail in it is almost impossible.  Pulling a nail from sycamore IS impossible!  If you dry the lumber first,  figure on drilling all the nail holes and using soap or oil on the nails.  If it dries bent,  it's likely to stay bent as it tends to be very stiff.

Advantages to using sycamore:

It's very strong and shock resistant when dry.  Would make great workbench tops.

Nails hold extremely well and do not rust because it does not have acid like oak.   Ol'timers used sycamore for nailers under their shingle and later tin roofs because it would "hold a nail".  

Good clear long logs are cheap and easy to come by in an area where it grows.  

Some have the notion that sycamore will rot away in no time.  This is not true if it's kept off the ground and dry.  I've been told it can be used exposed to weather as long as the water will drain away as in the case of siding.

Some have the notion that sycamore will "twist up".  That's true if it's not nailed into place right away or stacked with a lot of weight on it.  But once it's in place it's there to stay.





The framing for the headers,  truss and perlins on my sawshed built in 95 came from two sycamore trees.  

I have no experiance using sycamore for post and beam construction.  I'd think the percent srinkage may be a problme.

[Don P]

I used sycamore for some of the rafters and the infeed side header on my sawshed...one of the first big trees I sawed so I'm sure every possible error was made. The header is still straight and true, as are most of the rafters. Two of them, and of course they are side by side crowned in opposite directions as they dried. It left a real funky whoopee in the roof, I guess not enough restraint in drying and probably if I looked at them, off center sawing. Other than that it has held up well. I used black locust for the posts. It's been up since '95 and I never got 'round to fascia so the rafter tails get wetted pretty often but dry easily...no rot yet.

[OneWithWood]

Speaking of types of wood used -
I am contemplating using Big Tooth Aspen for my rafters and purlins on the saw house I hope to begin building in the spring.  I have been told that aspen will hold a nail and never let go - sounds like just the thing for a metal roof. I will probably use Tulip and Yellow Poplar for the headers and side it all with Sassafrass.  The posts will be treated units from the lumber yard.
I could use some advice on sawing techniques for these woods.  Many of the aspens have some bow in the boles.  Is it best to build green or air dry for a period of time.  My kiln will not be functional until I install it inside the sawhouse (it is a DH kiln)
Thanks in advance for the advice.

[woodbeard]

Use it green! It will take a nail better, and when it dries and shrinks around the nails, like you say, it wont let them go. Havent had any experience with aspen, but I've used Carolina poplar or eastern cottonwood which is related. The boards I didn't use twisted and cracked when they dried, but the ones I used green for purlins were fine. Get it all nailed down when it's green, and it will stay in place!
Thanks folks for the info on sycamore, looking forward to getting into it!
George

[Bibbyman]

Mary has been sawing off and on for the past couple of weeks on this barn.  It's 40'x60' main part with 20'x60' shed on one side.  The posts are ERC and rest is mostly sycamore.

[Tom]

My customers would be crying in their beer to see that ERC used as poles. :D