Here I am helping the sawyer cut up the logs into boards. It was very dirty work, especially when things got wet and rainy. The hemlock sawdust in particular stained my T-shirts into a reddish brown tie-die. The logs are rolled manually from the stack onto a hydrolic lift on the side of the saw (shown here). The log is then hoisted onto the trailer. The sawyer then moves the blade down the length of log, slicing off first the bark, then one board at a time. I then removed the boards and stacked them. The shown log here is ash, which will go into the steps of the staircase. Ash is among the toughest of the hardwoods, and good for stairs and flooring. We may also use it for countertops, although Willy (timber framer and cabinet maker) might need to special order some to get the dimensions he needs.
It was a grinding, hard lifting and exhausting, but the sight of stacked boards at the end of the day was worth it. The hemlock was particularly water laden and heavy as lead. The biggest boards. shown here, were a few 2''x12" board, 17 feet in length, and we nearly killed ourselves stacking it. It was also a challenge fitting them into the trailer for transport to the driers. The plan is to dry them, plane and sand them nicely, then have the sawyer cut them into tongue and groove planks that fit together snugly. They will make for nice plank flooring on the second floor of the timber frame, while the opposite side will act as a nice plank ceiling for the bedroom and mezzanine area. They will also act to solidify the structure of the frame one they are fitted together (the frame will be overbuilt by a large margin. Also shown here are some shorter planks, some 4x4 posts to hold up porch roofs, and some 1'' black cherry (the cherry, of course, is on the top).
We cut most of the hemlock into 1 1/2'' x 6" planks of varying lengths. The lesser quality boards went into the southern porch, but most will eventually go into siding. These will be cut into
triangular ship-lap boards these don't need to be dried. We still hven't decided whether to let them weather naturally (into a grey barnlike finish) or to protect the wood with varathane an retain the wooden color.
Here I am helping the sawyer cut up the logs into boards. It was very dirty work, especially when things got wet and rainy. The hemlock sawdust in particular stained my T-shirts into a reddish brown tie-die. The logs are rolled manually from the stack onto a hydrolic lift on the side of the saw (shown here). The log is then hoisted onto the trailer. The sawyer then moves the blade down the length of log, slicing off first the bark, then one board at a time. I then removed the boards and stacked them. The shown log here is ash, which will go into the steps of the staircase. Ash is among the toughest of the hardwoods, and good for stairs and flooring. We may also use it for countertops, although Willy (timber framer and cabinet maker) might need to special order some to get the dimensions he needs.
It was a grinding, hard lifting and exhausting, but the sight of stacked boards at the end of the day was worth it. The hemlock was particularly water laden and heavy as lead. The biggest boards. shown here, were a few 2''x12" board, 17 feet in length, and we nearly killed ourselves stacking it. It was also a challenge fitting them into the trailer for transport to the driers. The plan is to dry them, plane and sand them nicely, then have the sawyer cut them into tongue and groove planks that fit together snugly. They will make for nice plank flooring on the second floor of the timber frame, while the opposite side will act as a nice plank ceiling for the bedroom and mezzanine area. They will also act to solidify the structure of the frame one they are fitted together (the frame will be overbuilt by a large margin. Also shown here are some shorter planks, some 4x4 posts to hold up porch roofs, and some 1'' black cherry (the cherry, of course, is on the top).
We cut most of the hemlock into 1 1/2'' x 6" planks of varying lengths. The lesser quality boards went into the southern porch, but most will eventually go into siding. These will be cut into triangular ship-lap boards these don't need to be dried. We still hven't decided whether to let them weather naturally (into a grey barnlike finish) or to protect the wood with varathane an retain the wooden color.
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