The new sawmill

After we bought the house, we knew right away we were going to need a barn or garage. I've got too many tools and toys to keep or use in the house, and Shelley would like a place pot plants and raise seedlings. We quickly determined the existing barn was not going to fit the bill. We've been brainstorming for a while, trying to design a multipurpose outbuilding. That said, I didn't want it to cost much.

So why not build it ourselves, with lumber from our own woodlot! This was the perfect opportunity since we were having it logged. I simply paid the loggers, by the cord, to haul logs to my back yard. How do I make the them into usable lumber you ask? A bran new Toy!

Logs, fresh from our own property

Logosol M5

I bought a Logosol M5 sawmill. Logosol is a Swedish company that makes a lot of high-end, innovative wood sawing, planning, and shaping products. The M5 has been around a long time and is used all over the world. The idea is to take a powerful chainsaw, with a special ripping chain, mount it on an aluminum track, elevate the log to the appropriate measurements, and saw away. Whats great about this type of chainsaw mill, is there is no pushing. You winch/crank the saw through the wood; much easier on your back. Likewise, elevating the logs into place, small winches are used. You do however half to get the log up on the "Deck" some how, but its not as difficult as you would think. A little prep work before the logs arrive solves this problem, or you can build a log ladder. If the logs are REALLY big, you can actually turn the mill upside down, on top of log without moving it. The size log you can mill is only limited to how much guide rail you buy, the size bar and chain you have.

First Cut

Turning the log over

So far I'm having a bit of trouble getting things adjusted. By I'm confident I'll get it all figured out. More to come.

Barn Burning

Well, 9 months after I took it down, I'm finally able to clean up the mess!

It was taking a considerable amount of time trying to tear it apart with little fruit for my labors. While we were having our woodlot log, I asked my logger if he could pick out some of the nicer timbers with the excavator and pile up the rest. He charged me $80, which was well worth the time it would have taken me to clean it up by hand (several more weekends).

After the excavator separated and piled

This past weekend I took some diesel to her and set her ablaze. With the proper permits of course (unlike the demolition itself). The first pile took right off, the second pile burned into the night, but with much success. That night though we got our first winter rain and the "leftovers" wouldn't burn well the next day. So we have a couple little piles left to go. Hopefully this means little site cleanup in the spring, and I can dive right into building the barn.

Before

After

I spoke too soon!

Operation free heat hick-up! Chimney fire!


I came home from work one afternoon to see Shelley standing in the doorwaym with smoke billowing out, in tears. Apparently the elbow from the cook stove got red hot and  was pretty scary.

Luckily we are having our wood lot harvested, and the loggers saw the black smoke from the chimney and leaped into action. It just so happens they were volunteer firefighters too.

So once the stove pipes were all cleaned out we got to thinking. Is it a good idea to burn what we're burning? After a little further research I discovered that not only does all wood have the a proximate BTU per POUND, all wood produces about the same amount of creosote. There's a trick to this though... softwood CAN burn at a higher moisture content than hardwood, and is more tempting to burn before its properly seasoned. I think this is our problem.

We've decided to only burn only the dead standing trees I cut this past year, not the stuff that was still alive. I have heard larch takes quite a long time to dry. So hopefully, no more chimney fires.

As a byproduct of the timber harvest we've got about well over 15 cord of firewood, about half of it larch. Some of it I'll be sawing up into lumber with the new sawmill, but I think it will be ok to burn as long as we wait long enough. I need to get that split soon if we want to burn any of it next year.