There's an old saying "it’s not what you know, but who you know". Well in the course of building our hand-hewn log dairy barn we have learned that we know a lot of the right kind of people. One of these awesome families helped us out, once again, with our project.
We are eager to finish the barn this year and at least get it closed in. Kit fell a tree in February and used the oxen to haul the huge thing to the sawmill site. Once the road was dry enough for our friend’s sawmill to drive down it in April we started turning the big tree into lumber for our barn doors.
After talking about it together we decided to turn the event into a family affair. We called and invited our neighbor’s entire family up for the day. We planned for a crowd lunch and set the date in April.
The boys were excited about having their friends over for the day even if it meant work.
The day finally arrived, and the men and boys headed down the hill to get set up for milling, while the women and some of the girls stayed at the house and got the food ready to serve for lunch.
The men got the first log on the mill and things started rolling along. Kirk’s LT-50 band mill devoured the logs with ease.
It's amazing how fast this boy can work with a girl working beside him!
JW1, PW, and one of the girls hauled the slab wood away from the sawmill.
Kit and Mark were in charge of hauling the finished lumber and stacking it in a pile.
MJW and JW1 also helped with the stacking.
Next, the two eldest boys, CW and his friend, both 12 years old, were put in charge of hauling the lumber from where it was being cut next to our pond, up the hill and into the shop where they stacked it into a neat stickered pile.
They loaded the wood on the ox sled. We estimated they were hauling about 100 board feet every time they made a trip to the shop.
Next, the boys used some small binders and made sure the load was secure before starting up the hill.
Giving the oxen a breather at the top of the hill; the boys might be taking one too!
Making another trip up, this one had an extra 35 pounds on board as I told CW to take TW to the top and get him a drink of water.
The younger crew busied themselves at the creek.
We saved the two largest logs for last.
Kirk and his mill handled this 32-inch diameter log with easy professionalism. His mill can actually process much larger logs than this one.
They made short work of turning it into a huge square beam. Just look at that heartwood!
And 933 board feet later - can't wait to turn these boards into doors!
Thanks Kirk and Tiaya Johnson for a job well done!