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Milling Up Spruce For Lumber
The other day Jim told me he talks to the trees!! It might be time to make him an appointment 😉 Probably only a concern if he thinks they answer. Before we could start milling the hemlock and pine logs we got a few weeks ago, we had to mill the spruce we got earlier in the year.
Spruce logs -
Hemlock and Pine Logs Arrived
Why is it Jim is never home when an order of logs or something of that nature arrives? Not sure, but he missed all the excitement. We weren’t expecting them so soon, but sure enough, here they are.
Unloading the first 1/2 -
Porcupine from Hell
Let me start off by saying WE LOVE NATURE. Don’t have a problem with all the little critters, some are even cute from a distance. But we do have a problem when they start destroying our property. Like our latest porcupine from hell.
Porcupine chewed on plastic lattice -
Live Edge Floating Shelves
The weather this weekend meant working on indoor projects. So we decided to cross floating shelves off our list. A while back we picked out two live edge pine boards for this project. They had some drying to do since the kiln isn’t up and running yet.
Decorating the shelves. -
Local Church Sustains Wind Damage
This week we had another nor’easter storm blow through. We didn’t get any of the snow that was forecasted but the winds packed a punch. Our local church didn’t make it through the storm unscathed.
Fascia, header and soffit ripped from bldg -
Purpose of Moisture Meter Readings
The moisture content of materials plays a roll in woodworking, especially when your woodworking projects will be used indoors. Generally speaking, most woodworkers prefer their wood material to have a moisture content of about 8%. For furniture making, I can see the importance of that. For crafts however, I feel you can go with a higher moisture content.
sugar maple moisture content 14.0 -
Saw Mill Laser Installation
A laser beam allows a sawyer to see on the log where the blade will travel before starting the cut. This can be handy as it will save some time when cutting crooked logs or when you want specific features added to, or cut from, live edge slabs. Laser beam kits are available for many of the bigger, more expensive saw mills but for our small manual mill, no luck. Time to make up a DIY kit. Beam me up!
laser line -
Sugar Maple Cookies
I milled some of the smaller sugar maple limbs for live edge slabs. The limbs had a curve to them, so I cut them live edge to get the most I could from the limbs. The limbs were about 9-10 inches wide. (This post original aired Jul 07 2017 but has been updated (see bottom) as of Feb 15 2018.)
live edge sugar maple slabs. -
Sawmill jig for short logs
A beautiful afternoon it was to mill some blanks of wood on the sawmill. Things got off to a rough start.
Broken pull cord -
Sawmill drip tank
One of the basic components to sawmills is the drip tank, aka the lube tank. It provides water (or other mixture) that drips onto the blade while slicing through the wood. In essence, it lubricates and helps cool the blade; the lube makes it easier on the engine pulling the blade through the wood and the cooling helps keep the blade in better condition.
Don’t use wax based windshield washer fluid in cold temperatures.
