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Sawmill tool storage shed

Darren Wright

Darren Wright

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Springfield, Missouri
For my birthday my wife was obviously looking for new ways to punish or kill me.

She ordered a little storage shed she thought we may put up to move some garden tools out of the garage.
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Of course it came requiring assembly and it need to go on concrete or some form of a base. I picked up some materials and concrete blocks last week to make a base with skids, so that I can move the shed if need be. I built the base today. The extra floor joist is for it to add purchase on my front end loader forks.
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I actually plan to locate it over behind the barn to serve as storage for my sawmill blades, tools, fuel, maybe a chainsaw, and targets for our little shooting range back there.

I need to clear out the spot where it will go yet. I originally was thinking at the end of my mill, but may come out a bit from there to allow the front doors more space, will see though.
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I eventually want to build a cover over the entire sawmill, which is why I want the shed to be movable.

The pad is 89” x 64” just a bit bigger than the shed base. I’ll be flashing the edges to help keep moisture out.
 
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Strong winds will have that shed cartwheeling across the property if not anchored well. There are screw anchors available that can be installed and removed easily, making the moving job easier when you want it to move, but when in use they will keep the shed in place during most winds. It's best to install these anchors spaced for the platform and then set the platform/shed in place between them, followed by bolting/lag screwing them to the platform. The side walls of the shed need to be lag screwed to the platform well too.

Charley
 
It’s a hot, hot day. But the boy had to work in the sun for about an hour so far. There’s a nice breeze coming through the barn too.

This litype area used to be a parking area for the tractor, so found there was a nice bed of gravel down already. It didn’t take much to get all 9 blocks set and leveled.

I brought the deck in on the forks at an angle and slid it around to land on the block at the far end, then set some cinder blocks up for it to rest on to move the tractor.
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Turns out there was a pad for.supporting the old lean to under all the leaves, a bit hard to see in the pic.
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Assembly has gone pretty quickly, I’ll need a second set of hands to do a few panels, but got most of the sides done and ready to start the roof.
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Got the roof on and trimmed out.
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Bill Satko said:
I will be interested to hear how everything lines up when you complete bolting it together.
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The only part that I’ve had problems with happens to be the right size, but has none of the cut outs or holes in it.

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While I probably could call and get a new part, I’ve got an identical one to measure to make the two notches and drill the dozen missing holes.
 
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Jonathan Shively said:
Once that sawmill is up and running, no more prefab buildings will need to be purchased.
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Certainly one reason for getting the mill, but sometimes convenience over time wins. ;)

I still need to build a kiln or maybe just consider a container or two for it and storage of processed wood. We don’t have a lot of softwood on the property for building material, so my goal is to sell hardwoods and buy what I need for building, eventually. This is more my goals for retirement income when I will have more time to put towards it.

Given air drying takes a year or two, depending on thickness and such, I’m wanting to get some wood stickered this winter and start that process and keep it going. Obviously if I end up getting a commercial kiln some day, I can get product out much quicker, but not yet at that point in this journey.
 
Darren Wright said:
Yeah, I think we also get taxed on concrete pads even. Our front porch of our house appraises about as much as our garage does.
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Yeah, they tax anything that covers the earth around here. You see, they call that a rainwater runoff tax. We don't have sewers that handle the rainwater but that doesn't keep them from levying a tax on it. The way they look at it every drop of water that runs off the house roof, my shop roof, the driveway, sidewalks, and parking area has to be treated as storm runoff and they assess a charge. This tax is applied even though we have drainage ditches that carry the runoff into the ponds on the golf course and not a single drop of water enters the city sewer system.

Pretty soon I will expect a tax on the air we breathe. When they have all of our money they will find new things to tax.
 
I used my hand hole punch for the larger holes, then drilled the smaller ones. The cut-outs didn't need to be perfect, the factory cut-outs had some extra space in them.
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Got them installed on the larger door, will go back in an hour or so when the sun drops below the hill and I have some shade again. Here is the shed in relation to the saw mill.
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As some of you may remember there was a lean-to that was falling down that was over this concrete. I'm probably going to build another lean-to or stand alone cover over the entire area, including the new shed. I still need to auger holes and set posts for the log deck on the left side as well, which may be next on the list for this project.
 
After a bit of fussing and figuring out the braces on the doors (I had two parts in the wrong spot). They all got assembled and attached.
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It will keep a very, very, very honest thief out of it, but not much more. I'll probably put a bar across the double doors in the inside since I'll be using the side door mostly, and that is mostly to help pull the doors all the way shut. It really needs flat head screws on the hinges as it causes some binding with the round head screws they provided. I'll mostly be storing blades and a few hand tools for the mill, gas, and washer fluid (for lubrication of the blade).

The roof screws had a plastic washer for weather sealing. I'll probably pickup some smaller roofing screws with the butyl washers and replace them at some point. There are some gaps along the roof peak/base, and around the door jambs that wouldn't keep mice or mud daubers out, so I"ll be sealing those. The side vents don't have any screening either, so need to do something about that also.
 
Darren Wright said:
...Given air drying takes a year or two, depending on thickness and such, I’m wanting to get some wood stickered this winter and start that process and keep it going. Obviously if I end up getting a commercial kiln some day, I can get product out much quicker, but not yet at that point in this journey.
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Maybe give some thought about a solar kiln?
 
Jim DeLaney said:
Maybe give some thought about a solar kiln?
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Yeah, have been kicking that around.

Solar kiln in F360

I've been trying to learn F360 and also trying to make sense of the Virginia Tech solar kiln plans, so thought it would be a good opportunity to draw something. Can view it in the viewer here: https://a360.co/4dsJKkY
familywoodworking.org familywoodworking.org
 
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