From Logs to Lumber
Mike resumed working on the sauna build this past week. Next up on the list of to-do’s was milling wood to be used as interior wall cladding.
Last winter, a logging operation started right on the other side of our property border with the National Forest to the west, for the purposes of fire mitigation. After meeting with the crew leader of the cut over the summer, Mike arranged to have them deliver a few logs to us, which happened just a few weeks ago. The logs delivered were ones Mike had his eye on when we were on one of our frequent walkabouts to check out the ever-changing landscape of the active logging area. The ones he requested and we received are from standing dead ponderosa pine trees the loggers took out and debarked. Given the smaller size of them in comparison to the rest of the trees, and the fact that they were dead when cut down, it’s likely the loggers would’ve just left them behind, instead of loading them on the truck to cart off and sell. They don’t have much market value. So it’s especially nice that we are able to make good use of them here at EM. Not only are they local trees from our neck of the woods, but we are making it possible for them not to go to waste.
It’s these logs that Mike has been milling this past week. The first order of operations when it comes to making use of the logs to turn into lumber is to transport the logs to the sawmill. The logs are piled up on the side of the gravel road by our driveway. Since we don’t have any big machinery on hand, Mike uses a chainsaw to cut the logs into smaller sections and then drags them to the sawmill with chains attached to our ATV. This past week he crafted a simple metal sled to load the logs onto, so that when pulling them to the sawmill they wouldn’t dig into the wet ground and get all muddied up on the way, which worked really well.
Once the logs are at the mill, he either lifts them up by hand on the rails of the mill or, when they’re heavier, uses the winch that comes with the mill. The cuts go fairly swiftly once the log is in place. But it takes a lot of adjusting and readjusting of the saw blade depth to make sure you get the cuts you want. One of the logs wound up being pretty wet, which made it harder to cut. Apparently the mill is not a fan of wet wood. I gave Mike a second hand on Thursday, which I do once in a while. Our set up involved him milling and me sweeping off the sawdust from both sides of each board when they were done, then stacking them in a certain order. Yesterday we tag teamed re-stacking all of the fresh lumber with sticks of wood in between each layer, which helps the wood dry out without warping.
For the sauna, however, we plan to make use of the lumber pretty quickly, verses what we’ve done in the past which is to let the wood dry out for a few months. But Mike still has to insulate the building, so the wood will have a little time to dry out before he installs it. Every little bit helps. It’s also not as crucial that it dry out as much as we’ve needed it to before, based on what we’re using it for and how it’s being installed. Still, using this wood without drying it out for very long is definitely another one of our EM experiments, so we’ll see how it goes.
There’s a fair amount of work to do before the sauna is operational. The stove install alone with all the piping will take some time. The roof still needs to go on too. Based on my own timeline projections, I am guessing that in maybe a month we’ll be up and running. While there’s no rush, we are motivated to make regular use of the sauna in the thick of winter here.
The temperatures are dropping as fall starts turning towards winter. The season of deep rest will soon be upon us. And for this I am dearly grateful.
