Cut all of my Ash yesterday..

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197
Location
Northern Lower Michigan/Troll
:( Had to cut my Ash trees down yesterday. They were hit with Emerald Ash Borers, and if I don't harvest them now they will be no good. Shame, I love ash, it is my favorite domestic.

Today we will saw them, they have to be cut fast or they become useless because of splits. I should get about a 1000 BF. I will get to run a sawmill however, something I have never done. Excited about that. Its a 1905 Corley converted to electric. The 60" blade does command respect, especially out in the open like it is. Should be fun......
 
Well I survived it. Chad ran the mill and I offloaded. I thought I wanted to run the mill, and he would have let me but there is a lot to learn before you run the mill I can see, and it is a little intimidating because the consequences of a mistake can be large. So I humped slabs and boards. It was a blast. Way faster than a band mill. He kept me humping, and I could see the grin on his face when he got me a little behind.

Finished it up have a 1000 feet of 4/4, and I threw over anything I did not like the looks of. Been a rough two days for an old beat up carpenter.

And yes, my ash is dragging....;)
 
That is a nice haul. Too bad you had to take it because of the bugs. Ash really is a beautiful wood and nice to work. Did you get any pics of the sawing operation? Those big blades really do keep you humping.
 
What Mill were you guys running? My friend has an Lt 40 Woodmiser with all the bells and whistles. It does a nice job. I was in the market for a Swing mill for a while but my friend offered me all the mill time I want if I spend time sawing for him. I had settled on a Peterson mill but that may never happen.
 
What Mill were you guys running? My friend has an Lt 40 Woodmiser with all the bells and whistles. It does a nice job. I was in the market for a Swing mill for a while but my friend offered me all the mill time I want if I spend time sawing for him. I had settled on a Peterson mill but that may never happen.

You just thought you wanted a Peterson. Check this out. Its on my if I win the lottery list.....

http://www.turb-o-saw.com/

The Mill was the first Corley mill built in 1905, a circle mill. I would rather have offloaded a band mill, but we would still be there today sawing.

Have to go down and get it ready to put in the kiln today, Chad is making me restack and sticker one pile. Stickers are not close enough to the ends.
 
Got it all restacked and sorted by size, ready for the kiln. I decided that a sawmill is no place for an old man.......:(

We will let it air dry until the weather warms up, takes less wood to heat up the kiln that way. Moisture was down to 22.5% average fresh cut, so they were not pulling sap up, EAB had them dead.

Next I will mill it into flooring. This is kind of cool for me. I have had my wood cut and processed but this is the first time I have followed it all the way through the process personally, from cutting the logs to finishing the flooring in our new house.
 
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