Woodland HM126 - Mods started

[Darren Wright]

Thank you John. I did plan for some space to load saw dust on the back of the mill using the tractor.

Perhaps my use of the word slabs was incorrect, perhaps planks or boards. I may do some slabs, but will be for specific projects, mostly looking to do lumber and timbers.

There is a large door into the barn off the end of the mill, perhaps I need to rethink the placement to allow for some roll off from the rear to that door, rather than from the end of the mill. I do agree that minimal handling would be preferable.

I have been thinking about a log deck to stage some logs for the mill and not use the tractor for loading each. I’ll have to consider how/where the mill would be best located to do so. My first thought would be to rotate the mill parallel to the back of the barn on the far side of the concrete and load from the side facing away from the barn, and pull boards off the back of the mill.

 

[Darren Wright]

Today I worked on getting the rest of the lean-to cleared out and finding out what concrete I have to work with. This lean-to has been falling down since I’ve know my wife, so I’ve never seen it while it was standing.

I first got the rest of the tin removed, then started playing “pickup sticks”, with a crow bar.


A few hours later…


I’ve got a few piles to cut up for the wood boiler when it cools off around here.

 

[Darren Wright]

This pic shows the pad a little better. The main pad is 16’ x 28’, and the smaller part, to the left, is 8’ x 8’.


This pic shows the upper drive to the hay elevator.

 

[Ryan Mooney]

Model T wheels on the left in the first picture?

The pad looks like its in decent shape. I reckon you're going to have some adventures yet with rehabilitating the barn....

 

[Darren Wright]

Model T wheels on the left in the first picture?

The pad looks like its in decent shape. I reckon you're going to have some adventures yet with rehabilitating the barn....

Wheels are probably off his old Ford 9n tractor. I think he swapped them for some wider ones to help with it's front-end loader.

The barn is kind of sketchy in areas. I suspect I'll be cutting way more timbers to support it with, than ones to replacing here and there.

 

[Darren Wright]

I ordered some green wood sealer from Rockler this past week. I had seen several recommendations for it on the forestry forum and it looked to be half the price of Anchor Seal. If you order more than $40 you get free shipping from their website, so I ordered two gallons ($26 each).

Green Wood End Sealer - Select Option

Seal the ends to prevent checking in freshly cut green lumber.

www.rockler.com

I opened both boxes and one had a bit of a mess inside, the paper padding was soaked with the wax from the sealer. After pulling all the paper off, I found one of the bottles had a crack under the handle in the plastic bottle. The box, nor the bottle, showed any damage (other than the crack), so assume that the bottle was defective.


I sent some pics to Rockler, they are sending a new bottle out.

They didn't ask for the damaged one back. It may be a bit before I use it, so not sure how long it will last with the crack in the bottle. I'll clean off the wax and try to put some tape over the crack, and it may seal itself. I was planning to wash and cut up one of the tree roots I pulled out a while back to see if there is any usable gun stock material in it, so will probably use some of it on that for now, if so.

 

[Ted Calver]

I decant my Anchor Seal into empty and well rinsed laundry detergent bottles. Holds it nicely, and they have good pouring spouts that catch any overflow. Got one hanging around you could use to replace the cracked one?

 

[Darren Wright]

I decant my Anchor Seal into empty and well rinsed laundry detergent bottles. Holds it nicely, and they have good pouring spouts that catch any overflow. Got one hanging around you could use to replace the cracked one?

Yup, need to disinfect the RV tanks anyway, so that Clorox bottle should work.

 

[Darren Wright]

While waiting for my dev host to rebuild I probably could be learning some new fancy coding techniques...hmm...nah!

So, I drew up some plans for the platform for the mill to sit on. The base cross ties will be treated 6x6's, the upper rails will be treated 4x6's, capped with untreated 1x6's (to prevent early corrosion on the metal base of the mill).


I will add some cross supports between the upper rails, I mostly did this to lay out the location of the lower cross ties to make sure the log clamps and dog holes weren't blocked. I imported the drawing from woodland mills to verify their locations. The extra cross supports will support a toe board jack as well

I'll also extend the middle cross ties further out a few inches and build them up to lay planks on for rolling logs over from a log deck.

The platform should build up the mill to about 18" or so to the top of the bunks, about knee height. Debating if I should add another set of 6x6's under the first layer.

 

[Darren Wright]

I decided with all the new found space in the garage that I’d go ahead and assemble the track sections today.

I used the cordless impact to quickly assemble all of the feet.


I got the first track section done.


Then just assembled the rest using some 2x4s for separators to assemble the other two on top.


I’ll use some moving dollies to move them to the door and take them to the barn on the tractor forks.

I have a couple weeks before I finish, but found I was missing 4 bolts, so emailed woodland to see if they can send them before I need them.

 

[Darren Wright]

Well, my wife wanted to hire a guy to come out and clear some trees and the brush around where the little house used to sit. We're planning to put a guest cabin in its place.

While he was here I had him quote taking down several trees on the back of the barn that are about 50' or so tall, half of which lean towards the barn. Three of the trees are right where I need to put in the log deck for the mill. So about 10 decent sized trees in total (10" - 12" trunks) and lots of brush. He quoted us $1300 for all.

He'll mostly chunk up the large parts of the trees, leave me several straight sections I may be able to mill, the rest I can cut up for firewood. He'll clean up the rest and chip it. I told him he could blow the chips on the hill side, but he said he'll take it as he gets about $250 a truck load of the chips for mulch in town.

 

[Vaughn McMillan]

Wow, $1300 sounds like a pretty good price to me. I think I paid about half that just to get a couple of large pine trees pruned (cleared of dead branches) about 15 years ago.

 

[Darren Wright]

Wow, $1300 sounds like a pretty good price to me. I think I paid about half that just to get a couple of large pine trees pruned (cleared of dead branches) about 15 years ago.

Yeah, I was expecting at least double that.

 

[Darren Wright]

We’ll a couple of before


And after

 

[Peter Rideout]

We’ll a couple of before
View attachment 122264View attachment 122265

And after
View attachment 122262 View attachment 122263

That’s looking good, Darren. I think it was a good move to get someone to clean that area up for you. It’s satisfying to do it yourself, but your time is probably better spent on tasks further up the priority list. Everywhere I look here there’s a mess or something needing attention after several years of distraction and travel away from home.
Remind me about the barn in these pictures. Is there a good old timber frame under the boards, worthy of preserving and restoring?

 

[Darren Wright]

It was nice to have someone actually show up and do the work. Seems like pulling teeth sometime to get some one out here.
The barn certainly needs some TLC. It has some floor joists needing sistered and a few areas of the sidewall supports need replacing. It sits up on a concrete foundation, which looks to be in decent shape. The barn was part of the reason to buy the mill, for cutting some replacement timbers.

 

[Darren Wright]

BTW, There were several 8" - 10" diameter logs of walnut, hackberry, and hickory. So sealed up the ends and will plan to saw some of it up on the mill once I get some stickers cut. I may end up stacking some of it up in the green house and using it as a temporary solar kiln since I have electricity to run fans. Thinking I may use some for xmas gifts and my box project for Toni's challenge.

 

[Darren Wright]

Today I built the support base, the slab isn’t too level, but it was close enough.


The sawmill base has levelers on it, so just leveled it out. I need to level it one last time before I drop the mill head on it, but its all tightened up and square to the string line.


I still need to square up the log stops and install the clamps too.

 

[Darren Wright]

We’ll the eagle has landed. I was able to land the back wheels first and pull the front over where it needed to go with a tag line.



I’ll loosen all the head bolts, shake it all down, and retighten everything next. I also need to adjust the cables, square up the log stops and install the clamps. Then add oil and gas.

 

[Peter Rideout]

We’ll the eagle has landed. I was able to land the back wheels first and pull the front over where it needed to go with a tag line.
View attachment 122350 View attachment 122349


I’ll loosen all the head bolts, shake it all down, and retighten everything next. I also need to adjust the cables, square up the log stops and install the clamps. Then add oil and gas.

Great progress.