The Family Mill ~ POBphotocontest New Round: WOOD

in #hive-150329last year

Fifteen years ago, as a family, we decided to buy the bandsaw mill that you see here.
It can cut logs up to a 36-inch diameter. Most of the wood we mill comes off of our property here in Upstate New York. Working with wood is one of my favorite hobbies. With the prices of lumber being off on the charts, thank goodness we are capable of producing our own lumber.
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The 25-horsepower Briggs and Stratton engine can handle anything that we can load onto the bed of the mill.

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Over the years we have milled thousands of board feet on all different species of wood. Here you see some of the wood we have cut, most of it being specialty lumber, including Spalted maple, Black Cherry, Black Walnut, Ambrosia Maple, and all different species of pine.

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Some of the wood I use for all types of projects. The cutting boards in this picture we sell at different craft shows. They go like hotcakes. The cutting boards are made from different species of wood which give them a very unique look. No two boards are ever exactly the same.

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Another item I bring to market are these handcrafted signs. Most of them have a live edge. Live edge lumber simply means that the wood is not produced with straight edges, but rather with the edges of the wood following the contour of the tree's outer edge.

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This sign says it all, and for those that have a dream follow up with it and it may just come true.

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That is one great machine that you have there big guy, and I see that you are very arty with the market stocks. Good luck in the contest.
!BEER

Hello my friend, we've been away for since Friday. Robin's brother passed away and we went back for the funeral services.
The mill is a great piece of machinery and has saved us lots of money over the past 15 years or so. Hopefully I'll be milling this week as the weather is supposed to be dry for the next week or so. Looking forward to milling, its been a while since I cranked it up.

Ah yes, I know about the funeral, and I hope that Robin is okay. We prayed and asked for strength for you guys, as it is always a very traumatic thing.
I can believe that the mill comes in very handy at times and also that it is a real money saver, as you can do so much with it. So, it sounds like your hips are good now and I hope to see a post about your milling action one of these days.

!PIZZA !LOL and !LUV

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You people made a very good decision 15yrs ago
I'm just glad that it is still in use
I like that!

The mill is like any other piece of machinery you have, Service it regularly and take good care of it and it will last a long time.

Yay! 🤗
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Excellent, I have two questions if you would be so kind as to answer me; I liked the cutting boards, what glue to use to join the different slats that make it up and in the end what finish do you give it so that it looks shiny and can be used in contact with food; from ane mano thank you!

Sorry for the late reply, we were away for the weekend.
Here are the two products that you I used for construction of the cutting boards.
The Tried and True is made from 100% Renewable, natural, food & skin contact safe ingredients. Just linseed oil & beeswax. No need for PPE or ventilation while using. Petrochemical Free, Heavy Metal Free.

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Thank you for your answer, very clear, now look for these products in my country...

I forgot to thank you for the reblog, thanks a lot, always greatly appreciated.

To you for taking the time to reply to me...

The equipment is really durable. 15 years ago been bought and still been used now

Great piece of equipment and like anything else, take good care of it and it will be around for a while.

That's also true. Maintenance is very key

Those cutting boards and signs are beautiful. Great work!

Thank you, they were fun to build and they also make wonderful gifts. Homemade gifts are both great to give and receive.

PIZZA!

$PIZZA slices delivered:
@papilloncharity(3/15) tipped @thebigsweed

Oooh, you have spalted maple!! So did my dad. He made some furniture out of the tree he'd cut down.
The Amana Colonies charges a king's ransom for furniture built from this intriguing wood, with the inky black squiggles that are actually damage to the tree -- "partly rotten and attacked by fungi," with "black lines that change unpredictably inside the wood."

We have some white pine filled with the squiggles of engravers, but no, we've never milled it. A derecho took down the towering pines we'd planted 20 years before, and we hauled away the carcasses of trees rather than do something with them (like buy our own mill).

The fir engraver causes significant mortality of mature and pole-size true fir trees, creating snags ranging in size from the largest host trees down to 10 cm (4 in) dbh. Colonized trees provide good woodpecker foraging habitat.

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Only one white pine was decimated by the engraver. The six towering pines taken down by the derecho had appeared to be healthy. They just snapped in half like pencils. Of course I cannot find photos now...
I could swear I had blogged about this ...

AWESOME:

With the prices of lumber being off on the charts, thank goodness we are capable of producing our own lumber.

It's nice knowing someone else who knows their stuff.

Spalted Maple goes for as much as $20/ board foot and higher.

Two years ago I sold 150 board feet to a cabinet builder and fetched a good penny and he was happy as ever to have only paid $800.00

Last year I felled two Sugar Maples and they have been exposed to the elements ever since, doing their magic. I hope to mill them next year.

With the way I keep picture files, finding a few out of the thousands on file can be maddening, you're not alone.

Thank goodness we don't have any problem with insects destroying the conifers in our region.
Woodpecker holes in dead pines we have plenty of them.

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I do love my trees.

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#LOVE all your comments today, and love your trees, and your resourcefulness, and your photos.
You're the best!!!!

Thanks for all of the love, it was fun sharing some of what happens at both of our locations. It seems like we have much in common.

We should stay in touch!

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Three years later, I still cannot walk to the river due to the massive, massive fallen trees blocking the way. Not a deer path in sight! Our dogs cannot straddle the trees, and there are SO MANY, and the Dept. of Natural Resources has totally abandoned all these acres. No more mowed pathways, no moving the debris blocking the old paths, but I have gone through with pruning sheers to hack a new path through raspberry thickets and all the little shrubberies.

So you found what you were looking for, that was pretty quick.

What a tangled web Mother Nature wove on that occasion.
It will take years for all of that wood to decay so it's a good thing you at least made a path to get to the wild berries. Wild berries are the bomb.

I used to work for a company that was in the wood business. They were in logging primarily, selling logs to Japanese buyers. The Japanese, though, would only buy straight, round and big diameter ones. That created a problem for the company with what to do with the logs unsold. So they put up a sawmill and a plywood factory to take care of these. I visited the mills every three months and was always fascinated with the work being done. I also love the smell of freshly cut timber. I always looked forward to my quarterly visits to the sawmill and plywood mill. We sold a lot of wood products from broom handles to wooden parquet tiles to plyboards to half moons which was a very popular material used for fences. We never sold cutting boards though that would have been a great product.

Thanks for sharing this post. I just went into nostalgia and into memory lane reliving the good old days 👍👍👍

That is the key to producing quality lumber, straight bolts that have a large diameter. Any wood that doesn't fit the bill, we use for firewood. I can totally understand your fascination with the place you mention. We have a few large milling outfits in our area that I buy stuff from now and then. Whenever I go there I'm captivated by the process.

I'm happy that this post brought back some fond memories of the good old days.