25 days ago
by lethentymill |
1 comment »
The “Island” is the land that accompanies Lethenty Mill. It stretches from its widest part at the Mill to its narrowest about half a mile up the Lochter Burn. It used to be very important to the Mill; water was collected in a long narrow channel leading to a dam near the Mill, and it could be released into a variety of channels under and around the Mill which were arranged to feed the water to the two water wheels or back into the water course (the Lochter) if the system was full and li...
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277 days ago
by Dorje |
21 comments »
Last step in the process (well not the last – but close to it – still have to get back over there and paint, or otherwise seal the endgrain, which hasn’t done much in the way of checking with all the freezing temps and the moisture we’ve been getting)
...I set up a level ‘foundation’ for the lumber stack. Made sure it was up off the ground and spaced the beams just under 2ft apart:.........Here’s a couple shots of the progress. My wife helped me h...
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284 days ago
by Dorje |
24 comments »
Here’s a little more ‘milling around’ for fun:........
This board turned out to have some really interesting spalting…........
And, upon closer examination:...........
One with our stacks:........
And our final parting shot! ........
This concludes the milling process. What a blessing it was to have Mike’s support in this process. I can thank LJ for that! And a HUGE thanks to Mike directly! That was a lot of fun last Wednesday. Just amazing what can come f...
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286 days ago
by Dorje |
15 comments »
At the end of this short video you’ll see me look up at Mike. If you listen closely you can hear the saw hit some more metal…....
....
At some point after the next few cuts we hit our 3rd and 4th nails within the same board:........
But, look what we have here!........
Here’s a shot of the “scene” at this point (there’s a few board feet of sawdust):........
We’ll finish up the sawing in the next installment…We uncovered a real gem just a bit ...
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288 days ago
by Dorje |
23 comments »
After the slabbing cut, we continued to cut the first half of the log. Here’s a short video of Mike on the saw…....
....
After a few cuts we hit a nail…pulled the saw out and cut from the other end…chipped a tooth but nothing really terrible; the chain was still relatively sharp, so we continued to cut!............
Here’s the spalting a bit closer up…it gets even better in the 2nd half!.......
....
A bookmatch shot for fun…........
MORE TO COME!....
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289 days ago
by Dorje |
15 comments »
On the same cold, crisp, gorgeous day in Sunny Seattle…the next thing we did was mount a 2×12x12 to the top of the 1st half of the maple log as a guide board to establish our first flat face from which we could continue to cut with just the chainsaw mill. The 2×12 had 2×2 runners screwed on to it to keep it flat and a wee bit more ridgid. One hooked over the edge, while the other was inset a few inches to “shim” the board to “level” it out (all ...
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290 days ago
by Dorje |
21 comments »
Well, today was the day that fellow LJ, Mike Lingenfelter, and I got to the milling of that maple log in the next door neighbor’s yard…
After talking the plan of attack out for awhile, we determined that we’d halve the 35-40” diameter log in two, prop ‘em up on edge to mill them. Our reason was simple: the saw, with the 36” bar and 36” milling attachment, would only give us around a 30” wide maximum cut. So, this log was just a bit too ...
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307 days ago
by Dorje |
13 comments »
Another step in the process: I was able to get out and pick up the saw, a Stihl 046, and the 36” Alaskan mill.
I may not realistically get to the cutting stage for another week or two, but the excitement has not passed. I’m looking forward to it…just need to find a whole day that I can take to work on this…and those are rare! I’m also working on a bed frame – so there’s gonna be some juggling of time and resources around here!
Also, I may loo...
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316 days ago
by Dorje |
18 comments »
The remainder of the maple came down today and I got a shot of the main trunk section that I plan to mill. It’s definitely going to be spalted throughout. This bole is 35-40” in diameter and the arborist was able to leave it intact from base to crotch! It’s 11’ long. It’s partially cracked on the side you can’t see and does have some splitting, so it probably won’t yield wide boards. I think it is sound enough to go through with this venture. Th...
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319 days ago
by Dorje |
22 comments »
Well, just some text at this point – but I can’t slow my heart rate down at the thought of what’s happening next door. A major maple – which looks like it may have some serious figure – is coming down. I’ve been offered the bole (the main trunk from the base to the crotch), which is about 10-12 feet long, and a couple sections of major limbs from the crotch up a ways. The arborist says he’ll need to cut the bole in two…I’d like it left ...
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