So, a couple of weeks back Brian and I got around to milling up those logs we dragged out of the Nehalem River last winter. Brian is getting ready to build himself a cabin, so most of the lumber stayed with him, but I did keep some nice clear spruce for planking a dinghy that I hope to build one of these days. Unfortunately, somebody stole the other raft of nice cedar that we had tied up in the river; when Brian set out to move it to the boat ramp the night before I got there, all he found was a couple of pieces of rope, cut short, hanging at the side of the river where our logs had been. Those were the nicest of all the cedar we had, too. Grrr…..


cutting cedar

When we got to the huge log, we couldn’t load it onto the mill in one piece, so we set up to rip it lengthwise with the chainsaws first. Brian wanted to try out the big Husqvarna 372, so once I got the cut started, I handed off the saw to him. Here he is, handing me a small piece of metal that he saw laying on top of the log. “Hey, is this part of your saw?” he asked. I took it from him and looked at it while he kept cutting. In another moment, just as I recognized it as a piece of a needle bearing, the saw made a horrible clanking noise, and started throwing sparks everywhere. Brian shut it off, and I found that the clutch had flown to pieces, taking out the bar oil pump on its way out.


"hey, is this part of your saw?"

We finished the cut with Brian’s smaller Stihl; fortunately the cut was already more that halfway through the thickness of the log. My Husky is currently at the shop in Longview, awaiting repairs…

Here’s Brian, pretending to have ripped this mighty log with a 14″ Echo tree service saw.


mighty log slayer


Brian and big log

Wherever there is fresh lumber being sawn, you will soon find a host of various insects, attracted by the strong smell of wood. This is some kind of bark beetle, which there were several dozen of all over this log as I cut it up.


beetle

The last log in the stack got made into big beams for Brian’s cabin, which neither one of us was very excited about lifting and carrying to the stack at that point. I loaded up the little bit of clears that I kept and headed home. Brian is probably in the middle of building his cabin right now. Next up for me is the task of building Alice a Greenland style kayak. I just started tonight, and will be posting pictures and comments soon.


growth rings


alder lumber

After many many weeks of no movement, I finally got the mill all put back together this week. I changed out the big drive side bearing, new up and down chains, new lumber scale and pointer, cleaned up the blade guides and put all new adjustment hardware on them.

I still have a little welding to do before it is all back in service, but after several hundred dollars and many hours of work later, I am making boards again. These boards are alder, from some logs I brought home from a neighbor’s house. Next stop is Brian’s shop, to mill up the logs we pulled out of the river this winter.


guide adjustments


blade guide

And now for something completely different…


milling cedar

Since 1995, one of my jobs has been as a custom sawyer, milling lumber for clients in Washington, Oregon and Northern California. After I started kayaking, I stopped doing as much sawmilling work, but have been getting back into it lately.

In 1995, after selling my house in Portland, OR, I bought a brand new Woodmizer sawmill, and for about seven years I used that first mill to make most of my living. In 2002, I sold that original mill and bought a used 1996 model with hydraulic log loading and handling features, something I should have gotten with the first one, but I had no idea at that point what I was getting into. I think those 7 years of manual log handling probably took about 7 years off of my lifespan in excessive wear and tear on my body. I do still have all of my fingers, though, and both eyes, so I guess I’m doing all right so far.


bandsaw blade

The Woodmizer is a horizontally arranged bandsaw, powered by a gasoline engine. The log is loaded onto the carriage, and the sawhead moves back and forth taking slices off of the wood. The whole thing is built onto a trailer axle, so it is very portable. I have set this mill up in some unbelievable places, including in no parking zones in the city more than once.

I have milled everything from veneers and small strips for laminating up to large beams up to almost 30′ long. I have milled pretty much every kind of softwood that grows on the West Coast, and lots of different hardwoods including alder, fruit trees, black locust, madrone and several kinds of oaks and maples. Wood that I’ve milled has been made into sheds, custom homes, barns, corrals, kayaks and other boats, fine furniture and cabinetry.


blade guide

Over the years I have been involved in a variety of building projects by way of supplying the custom milled lumber. Lately I have been thinking of tracking down some of those building projects and going to visit them. A book, perhaps?


pergola at Krist's

This week I am milling up some Port Orford and Western Red Cedar for a neighbor to finish his pergola project. The PO cedar came from some landscaping trees near his house that blew over earlier in the year, and the red cedar was removed by the PUD to protect the power lines.


cedar