Starting the Sawmill Shed

Yesterday we started preparing the area for the sawmill shed in earnest. Though the sawmill is "portable" it isn't something that you move constantly and since we are planning on milling lumber for the cabin and other structures over in Waterville it would seem to make sense to build a semipermanent base of operation which would keep us and the mill out of the weather. The plan is a 28x30 building with the 28 ft. sides open with no posts. The mill can cut logs up to 18 feet in length and we need space to move on either end. The hope is to have the mill about 5 feet in on one end. Drop the logs off outside on to a ramp, mill them and take the boards off on the other side which could then be stacked and removed via tractor from the other end. We hoping to set it up so that we can extend the sides out in the future for more wood stacking, either lumber or firewood.

Hopefully the shed will also give us a place to split wood, cut timber frame joints, etc. out of the weather.

Caroline worked on staining the back side of the shed which you can see in the background of the pictures while I did some tractor and chain saw work.



The idea is to flatten out the area next to the driveway so we have easy access to the sawmill shed. Unfortunately one of my backhoe hoses developed a leak so I was digging mostly with my bucket. Not a very efficient method.