Here is Sid felling an oak tree that died at Paul's place in Becida. His helper there is his 90 pound pal, Jericho.
Here's the downed tree a couple minutes later. I have a lot of experience cutting up trees, but for some reason, I had a bit of trouble on this one correctly reading the pressures binding the branches. One branch kinda slapped my face when I cut through it, as if it didn't appreciate being chopped off, and another pinched my chainsaw bar so I got Sid's saw temporarily stuck in the wood. Oopsie! Luckily there was a tractor on hand and Sid was able to lift the pressure off so I could pull the saw out of the bind and finish the job. It took a few hours of working with heavy logs to get my confidence up, but then I got really comfortable working around the mill. I bought a hard hat today just in case I run into any more trouble in the woods or during construction. In the past, I've had quite a knack for getting bonked on the head. The upside: I scored a really good deal on the hard hat; six bucks for a brand new one at a used junk store!
Here's Sid moving the oak logs with the Bobcat.
This is Constable Bob running the band sawmill. He used to own this very rig, and now Sid is borrowing it from the guy to whom Bob sold it.
Sid and Constable Bob standing next to some of the milled logs to be used in Sid's cabin walls.
These two guys were really fun to work with. They are truly good ol' boys and if I didn't fit in with them, they sure made me feel like I did. At first the mill was having a minor electrical malfunction, and among the three of us, we were able to bypass the problem using a pair of jumper cables. We got that saw runnin' like a scalded dog in no time. They definitely know their way around working logs and I can learn so much just by watching them. Fortunately, they wanted me to help too and were very generous with giving me tips and instructions. Sid joked around that I would be tested later on the names of the tools we were using. He correctly predicted that this tool would become my favorite. It's called a pickaroon and is surprisingly useful in handling and moving heavy logs. It's basically just a hook at the end of a long ax handle. Both Sid and the Constable swear they'll make a logger of me yet and tell me if I like Minnesota now, "Just wait till huntin' season!"
Here is a stack of some of the finished boards we milled. Mainly, Sid was going for wall logs and purlins (roof supports similar to rafters, except they run parallel to the ridge instead of perpendicular) but some of the logs were too small and became one inch thick boards.
Sid running the mill
Here's me on the sawmill pretending I'm milling, but I was just posing. Maybe I'll mill some of my own lumber eventually! You may doubt it, but this mullet look I'm sporting keeps the biting deer flies and searing sunburn off my neck.
Throughout the day and a half of milling activities, I was kept well fed. I had lunch at Joel and Dustin's place both days and they're always up for rich conversation. We got to swap stories and I enjoyed hearing about their exciting trials as missionaries in Asia; from aggressive outcast monkeys to cars flying off cliffs, to cultural differences in medical care. If they ever invite you over to eat, don't pass it up for you'd surely miss out on some delicious food!
Sid had me over for locally raised pig in the evening and for breakfast. Roast and bacon suited me just fine with potatoes and onions on the side. Dining with Sid is a lot like camping. We sat in folding chairs on his roofless floor, looking out a glassless window through the trees toward his bird feeder full of squirrels and beyond to the beaver lodge in his pond. He told stories of trapping over 10 beavers last year and explained if you shoot one crow ("They're so danged noisy in the mornin'!") the others catch on and clear out for quite a while. He also explained when the bald eagle we saw yesterday is around, the rest of the birds vacate the area. I think my favorite tale of his was about the wood ducks that live in the tree by the pond. He said the mom when she came home would fly at full speed of around thirty miles per hour straight into a hole in the trunk of the tree where her ducklings were nesting. How I would love to be a fly on the wall inside that nest when she makes her entrance! Sid has been present when the ducklings fledge the nest and said they just plop right out and head straight for the pond with momma.
Milled logs to stack into the walls (not unlike Lincoln Logs!).
One of the most exciting parts of the milling experience was when Bob informed me I could use popple trees for lumber if I liked. I've come to find out specifically (from Joel) that the popple trees growing on my lot are mostly quaking aspen. It's kind of funny I didn't figure that out on my own; I've worked in the woods a lot and know very well what quaking aspen look like. I've seen thousands of them and they are rather distinct. I think here they grow much taller than I'm used to and having always heard them called popple trees kind of threw me off. The ones on my lot are very mature and therefore will begin to die off soon, so cutting a couple down to use might be a great idea. There is a possibility I may be able to use the borrowed sawmill to cut my main ridge beam for the house and a couple other load bearing supports that require large dimensional lumber as well. That could save me some cash as well as add character, beauty and meaning to my cabin since I would be putting my labor and local wood harvest into the structure. Now I better hurry up and finish my house plans so I can determine exactly what size to make the boards in case the opportunity arises!
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