Poppy's 16x16 timber frame cabin

[poppy]

i would also say those berries are black raspberries. 

You are probably correct since the red canes would point to black raspberries as well.

I tend to call every berry that is black a blackberry.  I did the same thing last year when I picked some Due Berries to make cobbler. 

[Don_P]

We have alot of beech too, I'm removing about 98% of it. It is a nice wood although it has low value and is often hollow. It root suckers and soon excludes the other trees. Ours have beech bark disease which helps lower the quality more. I've been watching my folk's trees down near mushcreek and haven't seen it on them yet. It took me awhile after buying the land but I finally realized the beech were on the pasture side of an old fenceline. It is good grouse habitat. I've sawn a number in the past year, as well as through the years. There is a pretty fair amount of drying loss, look at the shrinkage numbers and you'll see why. It is in the hickory range for strength, self polishes and is a very pretty wood. Many wood planes were made from it as well as loom parts and things like tool handles and mallets. It is also excellent firewood.

I warned my wife out of some black raspberries the other day by a brush pile at the job... sure enough the excavator dipped in and turned up 4 copperheads, one came after the bucket repeatedly. When we looked him over it looks like they are shedding and he was probably blind right now. Wednesday he got into another batch of them. I worked slow today wearing heavy felt lined boots with weedeater and chainsaw in that order. The big score today was 4 gallons of blackheart cherries in about an hour. I could get to places last night's bear couldn't go out to 

[poppy]

Some cabin progress to report. 

Those of you following the thread about my 1957 ranch house rehab know that I have had some timbers milled to make supports for the load bearing walls that I have removed.

The last trip to the mill included some logs for the cabin.




Again using the method suggested by Don_P I loaded some logs to take to the Amish band saw mill.




Ready to unload the timbers at my "saw mill" site just below the cabin.




There was a small section of black walnut log left over from a previous run, so I decided to get some more yield out of it for future use inside the cabin.




The new timbers added to the bunch and ready to cover.  Now I'm trying to figure out how the Amish mill can make the cruck blades for me. 

[Redoverfarm]

Sounds like a job for an Alaskan Sawmill. 

[poppy]

Sounds like a job for an Alaskan Sawmill.

That was the original plan John, and I have the Alaskan mill, but my chainsaw is marginal at best when doing 8"x8" timbers, so it would be very very slow to try to cut a 12" slice in the bottom of the log for the cruck.

The plan is to cut enough off the sides of the log to allow it to fit the band saw mill.  I think it will work, but another problem is the length.  On my last run, the operator struggled with a 17' log and I need a little over 18' for the blades.   

Time will tell.

[MartyM]

Sounds like a good excuse to buy a bigger saw!   

You could try craigslist or  http://www.arboristsite.com/forumdisplay.php?f=62 and see if there are any Alaskan mill owners looking to help pay for there hobby.  I would come give you a hand but your a little to far to make it practical. 

[poppy]

Thanks for the link there Marty; interesting stuff. 

Yea, hindsight says I should have gotten a bigger saw, but I don't want to spend the money.  I can buy a lot of time on the Amish mill.  The last run only cost me $60.

I think I will save the saws for wood for the stove, plus I need to buy a power splitter.

[MartyM]

I dont see how a band mill could cut your cruck blades, I could be wrong them Amish are pretty crafty   If he comes up with some thing, get us some pics please!

[Don_P]

We had a couple of small white oak arches cut last week on a bandmill, it all depends on the throat width and sweep in the log. The backup plan might be scoring and hewing. A swinger can do any size you can get under it and cheaper to buy than a bandmill  

I'm limited to 17" total depth and have to take "rainbows" off, turn them around and put them back on the circle saw carriage. I tried just rolling one over and chocking it smile up for the second cut one time. That did not go well  

[poppy]

I thought you knew not to take short cuts there Don. 

This Wood Miser super hydraulic band mill has about a 30" throat and my cruck log doesn't have a really big sweep, but I will still have to trim the sides a little with the broad ax I think.  I need to run some string lines along the length and see if it will work.  Will keep you posted.

[Redoverfarm]

Poppy you may be able to do it with four different cuts by sawing 1/2 way flipping and get the rest of the same side then repeat for the other side.  I am sure you will get it figured out though.

[ben2go]

Peel them and use a power planer?Just tossing out so long shot ideas.

[poppy]

Thanks for all of your suggestions for sawing the cruck log, but I may have the solution.  I took some measurements on the log and here are the results.


If you look closely you should be able to see the red string line that roughly follows the finished shape of the cruck blades.  So by trimming the high spots in 3 locations along the length I can get the overall width down to about 24" and that will allow plenty of room on the band saw mill.

The only issue remains the length and I need to visit the mill to confirm the maximum length that will fit.  I'm not interested in making a cut and then turning the log end for end.




While I was out there taking measurements, I gave a trial run on using the broad ax to trim the high spots.

Then as I reported earilier there was an 8" maple on my neighbor's land that the loggers "topped" and left to die.  My neighbor had given me permission to salvage what I could from the logging operation so I cut it and moved it in 2 logs to the staging area.



And they came two by two.  The right most logs are from the 8" maple which I may use to replace the bad timber from the last run.

The others are red oak logs that I had staged at my chain saw mill.  They will probably end up as 3" x 5" timbers for bracing.  I have another "Y" log that I may try to turn into table legs.  More on that later.

[poppy]

It's later, so here's some more on the "Y" log which is also red oak.


This was a standing dead tree that I cut down in '08.  I plan to get a couple of 4x4's plus....



This is called a pant leg or crotch cut I think.  I'm thinking of making them a pair of table legs or a funky table top or???  Any suggestions?

And believe it or not, this cut was kind of a trial run for the cruck log cut later.  BTW, the mill will take a 20' log, so I am good to go.   



A full load outside the Amish mill.



It doesn't look like a full load anymore, but I got a bunch of good boards and timbers for both the cabin and the house rehab.  The mill operator worked by himself for 1 1/2 hours and only charged me 75 bucks this time.   



Just down the hill from my mill near the property line I noticed this downed 7" cedar left by the loggers next door.  It is on my list to salvage, probably for porch posts. 

[ben2go]

That's some nice wood you got outta those logs.The first thing I thought, when I saw those crotch cuts, was picnic style dining table.They're popular in my area,in rustic homes and country homes.

[Barry Broome]

Got any new pics?

[poppy]

Weasel, thanks for the interest.  I probably won't have any new pics until the ground either gets frozen enough or dry enough to drag the cruck log out of the woods to the trailer loading area.  That will prompt another trip to the Amish bandsaw mill.

There probably won't be any real serious work on the cabin until my house rehab project gets far enough along for the kids and grandkids to feel comfortable in it.  I'm guessing another 18 months to 2 years.

[poppy]

No direct work on the cabin, but since I was at the back of the property cutting firewood for the chateau, it seemed like a good time to do a little bucking on the cruck log.

[ben2go]

Any progress on the cabin?

[poppy]

No, no progress on the cabin.  I haven't done any actual framing since Dec. 15, 2009.  Only some timber sawing has been done as already documented.

I do have a large maple that a storm took down that I need to buck and take to the Amish sawmill.

[Redoverfarm]

Poppy I found a cruck tree for you.  It is about the 4th picture here  http://countryplans.com/smf/index.php?topic=3613.msg149316#msg149316

[poppy]

Poppy I found a cruck tree for you.

Thanks John, but I would call it crocked.    But 

[lavarock]

Just skimmed the whole post.  Fantastic all the way around.  Hats off to loads of great deals on salvaged items!  Thumbs up for the timber milling and building.......... Opening those logs is like looking for gold!  Really look forward to your contuned progress on a totally one off project. 

[poppy]

No progress to report on this build, but after John posted in General about aluminum termite guards and potential corrosion, I reviewed my build to remind myself that I had used 30# felt between the aluminum and pressure treated posts.

I should have some progress to report later when I get back out there to take some more trees to the Amish bandsaw mill.  There's the white oak log for the cruck blades, a blown down maple, and a standing dead red oak that needs to come down.

Will keep you posted.  In the mean time here's a pic just because I know you all like pics. 



Ah, the joys of living in a small town; I can just drive my tractor from property to property.

[Redoverfarm]

Poppy good to have you back again even if it is for a visit.     Just like most things in life hindsight is 20/20 (at least in my life).  I really posted that for new builders as others have or might have neglected to think of this.  Hows the rehab coming along?