New Barn siding source?

Ned Bulken

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Lakeport NY and/or the nearest hotel
Anyone in the Central NY area know of a mill where I can pick up some nice roughsawn Hemlock? I've decided to go with that for board and batten styling on the new shop. I'm either going to stain it 'barn red' or a nice medium forest green, depending on the input from the Design Committee. The house is green, so guess what the 'Committee' is likely to say?
 
Ned,

I can't help you too much with the mill, however I know that a few years ago there was one in Arcade on Rt 39. Don't know too much about it, or even if it is still in business, but if you are in Arcade, it is almost across the street from McDonalds. :dunno:

As far as the color, i'm partial to a hunter/forest green.
 
The place is called Yansiks lumber. The are not in that location anymore, but a search will find them. If need to I can get there phone# for you.
 
The place is called Yansiks lumber. The are not in that location anymore, but a search will find them. If need to I can get there phone# for you.

Thanks Al!:thumb: I used to drive past it when I would be coming home from school on the weekends..... quite a few years back. I never stopped in, but that was before I was much in to woodworking.
 
upkeep

ned you must realize that your gonna have to stain or paint that barn every so often and that can get costly over time let alone having to watch out for the trim work... got board and batten on the house and garge and was looking at doing it on the shop but the idea of upkeep has got looking into other materials now.
 
ned you must realize that your gonna have to stain or paint that barn every so often and that can get costly over time let alone having to watch out for the trim work... got board and batten on the house and garge and was looking at doing it on the shop but the idea of upkeep has got looking into other materials now.

Larry, yep, I'm aware of the upkeep. this is a Barn, and to me a Barn should have board and batten siding. Besides, it won't be That much of a pain to re-paint/stain etc... it just won't be that BIG. Besides, I'm expecting it to be my starter shop, good for a few years at the most. I'll repaint when we're looking to sell, then it becomes the new owner's problem.

and having said that, I realize that it might become a selling point issue... more thought will be required on that. Hrmmmm. Right now I'm still leaning toward 'old school'. (with tyvek underneath)
 
I like board and batten siding so I think it is a good choice. I got board and batten siding on my shop, although it is Spruce instead of Hemlock. Now don't get me wrong there, I would have chosen Hemlock over Spruce any day, but I had some really nice Spruce trees that were easy to get to with my small tractor..so down they came. You can check out that woodlot harvest HERE if you wish.

Now my Grandfather just plain loved Hemlock. Build it out of Hemlock, he would always say, and this was from a guy that used to fell trees back in the day with an axe and crosscut saw. He knew what he was talking about. Hemlock is heavy, but resists rot pretty well and is very stout. Drive a nail in hemlock when its wet, then try and remove it after the wood dries. The wood will shatter before the nail is pulled out. It has real nail holding power.

As for Board and Batten siding, I think its a great choice for shops because it makes for nice sheathing, and should you ever decide to cover it, you have a slew of options and you can just cover it right up.

My Father-in-law and I just had a big argument on siding, and I got him so mad that he got up and left the table. I can hold my own in an argument, so when he said I was stupid for putting on cedar shingles instead of Vinyl, I made it known that I was not going to live in a plastic house. That put him in his place, but when I mentioned our dependence on foreign oil and plastic building products being a part of that problem, well I think that was what made him leave the table. Maybe its the woodworker in me, or maybe its the logger, but either way I just hate the latest trend of using plastic in building products. Maintaining wood siding like board and batten, cedar shingles or even log siding can be time consuming, but at the same time working around the house is very gratifying for me.
 
When can ya travis

get me 2000 bd ft of your hemlock in 1x10 deliverd to michigan????/ cuz i too like board and batten but after awhile it gets to eb pain stainun it and not gettin it one the facia and soffet!!! i havent completly decided to go plastic and you have some very good popints on the oil aspect of it... thought some of the cedar shingles but ckd with insurance that made the answer easy on that one they wernt thrilled with that idea but would for a large price.
 
2000 board feet, why sure if you lived a bit closer perhaps. That is only about four cords of Hemlock, so yeah I got plenty of it.:thumb:

Hemlock was often used for flooring by the old duffers. You often find it in the back rooms and bedrooms of older homes, at least here in Maine anyway. My wifes house, which is a Cape Cod style house in Tennants Harbor has Hemlock floors. I guess it held up pretty well and was easy and cheap to obtain back then.

Myself I used Hemlock in my house. I used it for framing material and never regretted it...well after it was put up anyway. Man is that wood HEAVY. I think that is why Spruce is so prevalent for framing lumber these days. Its light weight and comes in a lot bigger logs, and more in quantity to boot. Still, talk to the old timers and they will tell you, Hemlock is where its at.
 
Travis,
my old shop benches had hemlock legs, so I know I can get it locally. I have a line on several mills nearby that sell it, so I'll be shopping around a little in the next few weeks.
I'll have to save up a bit, but that's ok, the majority of the shop is here on the ground and Paid for!
 
Ned I feel your pain, but I also have the deepest respect for you. My first "shops" were bad...really bad. In fact there was a time when I built my custom wooden models by throwing the radial arm saw on the kitchen table and cut away like that (yeah I had an understanding wife). My next shops were not much better, a run down loggers camp that barely had enough power, and even a spare bedroom that spilled sawdust into the house all the time.

I saved up some money after a few years, and planned, planned, planned the entire time I was in these crappy places. When the time was right I began to build and stretched my budget as far as it would go. I harvested my own wood, sawed the logs into lumber and threw up a shop, although it was small. Someday I will add on to the shop, but I got to say, I did a lot of neat things in my shop to make it useful. Despite its small size, I am amazed really that I have not changed much around. It just works, and works well.

Its kind of funny because I just got a new Shops magazine from Wood in the mail and it is full of shops. The thing is, most are bigger than my house. Don't get me wrong, they are sweet, but I look at them and think two things. I will never have something that big and how in the living dog muck do they pay to heat those places!! :)

Hang in their my friend. With woodworkers we come in all shapes, sizes and budgets. Unfortunately my budget is small, but I am proud of my little shop, and proud to show you where the stumps are that made it. You'll get your shop, and big or small, you will be very proud of it.

I wish you the best of luck my friend...
 
Travis,
Thank you, I just hope it stands up when I'm done building it. ;)

It has been a long time coming, but it will be more than worth it in the end. I've learned a lot from my mentor John and all of my friends online, and while I'm still not 'ready'. I'm as prepared as I can be, and the budget allows for the build. SO, here we go!

One of these years I'll have to come down east and see those stumps, it sounds like a comfy shop!
 
yeah travis i have used some of those hem fir 2x's and understand the strength they offer.. up north they have a fair amount of it but thats there and not in my locale:rolleyes: maine is one place i havnt been to yet but sure would like to go there before i cant drive anymore:rolleyes: ,, maybe someday i could gather up steve ash and his better half and ttake one last road trip:D but it gonna happen this year i got to mant things to get done... even put fishun on the back burner this year:( but next year will be better... i am sure your shop will be just fine ned,, my first one was small and then i expanded to a bigger one and this one i am in the process of is the last one for me... and i have enjoyed every one i had.. like travis said you can make alot happen in small spaces.... shucks we all came from a small space and have grown up to what we are today:D
 
Yeah you will have to come on up sometime. There is a lot of stuff to see, and in keeping this restricted to woodworking, there are a lot of great places to visit with that theme in mind.

For instance the Maine Maritime Museum is a truly awesome place to visit. If you think building cabinets is tough, try building 5 masted ships with 12 inch curved beams. This place shows you how it was done 100 years ago and has a lot of the big equipment present there to show you.

Another great place to visit (not work :) ) is Lie Nielsen. They give shop tours to anyone and everyone. You also get 10% off when purchasing stuff at the store.

Liberty tool is great if you like old tools. They have everything there, and with 3 floors and tight quarters, it really is there, just plan on spending some time there because it can be overwhelming.

There are other places as well, like boat building schools, furniture making places like Windsor Chair in Lincolnville, and of course Lyman/Morse, where some of the best yachts in the world are constructed.

If you are into forestry you must visit Millinockette and take a trip up the Golden Road. There are miles and miles of harvested wood up there ready to be loaded onto train cars and made into paper. It really is something you must see to appreciate. Speaking of that, a tour of a papermill is a great idea too. If you have never seen a sheet of paper 24 feet wide and being produced at 45 miles per hour, that will blow your mind. These mills burn up 2500 cord of wood per day making this much paper.

Yeah Maine has a lot to offer the woodworker that is for sure, but the great part is, the antique stores, lighthouses and gift shops will keep the Mrs happy too.

allagroad.jpg
 
Travis,
Golden road, eh? That would be something to see for sure. Back when I was a fleet manager, I sent trucks all the way up to Fort Kent on a regular basis. I've been up to Auburn and Bangor myself, but only to swap trailers at the Wal*mart stores there.

One place I Must go before too long is Acadia National park. That will be a photo safari, and if I haven't sold it off, I'll even drag along my medium format camera and burn a few rolls of black and white on the beach.

How close to home was that Bull?
 
hi ned

give these guys a call , they are BLACK CREEK LUMBER .....
co. rte. 57 fulton ny 13069
315-592-9115 weekday operation and a little on saturday morning . i have heard that they do hemlock and have even seen some there b-4. but i havent been there in a long time.
 
hey pal

acadia national park is great lotsa picture taking opportunities!! but while your there, you'll have to get up real early one day , grab your camera and get to the top of cadillac mountain before 4 am and watch the sun come up. it was an awesome sight and i haven't forgoten it yet. you know how bad my brain is :p dont worry its not a bad climb , all on foot with no ropes or any of that, just uphill for about 1/2 mile. i think the summit is 2650 ft. IIRC
 
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