The sun was shining, the temperature in the mid 20's, no wind, a great winter day in Minn. I went into the shed, and fired up my bobcat to warm it up, then grabbed my 044 to check the fluids. My trusty St. Bernard (Trooper) waited with anticipation, he knows the routine. I reached over and picked up a log chain, threw it into the bobcat bucket, with my saw, and off we went. Trooper leads the charge down the path, stopping and waiting for me to catch up every 10 seconds or so. Until he reached the Y in the trail, he's not sure if we are going left or right today. So he gives me the lead until I turn right, then Trooper pulls out and passed me up. I get to my firewood area where all of my cut wood is stacked, or on piles waiting to be split, or where I have dragged logs that need cutting. I stop the bobcat to get out to look around, Trooper keeps traveling down the trail through the woods until he is out of site. He has his own business to take care of back there, I guess.
With everything covered by a good two feet of snow, I find what I'am looking for. A nice, strait, ash log, 23 feet long, and about 18" diameter at the base. I have been saving this log since last winter when I felled the tree. It just looked too good to make firewood out of. I decided to take it to a saw mill and have it cut into lumber instead. So my mission for the day was to cut the log in 1/2 and drag it back to the house and load it in the back of my pickup. Now for the fun part, I brought my 044 to life for the first time since early Dec, before all of the snow put a end to my cutting season. I cut both ends of the log strait, found the center of the remaining log and let the sawdust fly. It didnt last long but it sure felt nice. I accomplished my mission and we headed for the sawmill, only 15 minutes from home.
My main purpose for the lumber is to use the boards to finish around the windows in my basement, and the sliding walkout door. I thought I would try ash, instead of oak. Nothing wrong with oak, but I thought I would try something different. I should get enough wide boards to wrap around two windows which have a deeper casement as they are on the block side of the basement wall. The boards for these two windows need to be about a foot wide, and it will be easier if they are made of one solid piece. The other windows and door will only require 4 inchers. I should have plenty of left over wood when I finished, if things go right, I'll take a stab at making some trim to match.
With everything covered by a good two feet of snow, I find what I'am looking for. A nice, strait, ash log, 23 feet long, and about 18" diameter at the base. I have been saving this log since last winter when I felled the tree. It just looked too good to make firewood out of. I decided to take it to a saw mill and have it cut into lumber instead. So my mission for the day was to cut the log in 1/2 and drag it back to the house and load it in the back of my pickup. Now for the fun part, I brought my 044 to life for the first time since early Dec, before all of the snow put a end to my cutting season. I cut both ends of the log strait, found the center of the remaining log and let the sawdust fly. It didnt last long but it sure felt nice. I accomplished my mission and we headed for the sawmill, only 15 minutes from home.
My main purpose for the lumber is to use the boards to finish around the windows in my basement, and the sliding walkout door. I thought I would try ash, instead of oak. Nothing wrong with oak, but I thought I would try something different. I should get enough wide boards to wrap around two windows which have a deeper casement as they are on the block side of the basement wall. The boards for these two windows need to be about a foot wide, and it will be easier if they are made of one solid piece. The other windows and door will only require 4 inchers. I should have plenty of left over wood when I finished, if things go right, I'll take a stab at making some trim to match.
