Today's project

We’ve got about one hundred 8 to 12-ft sections of white pine and a portable sawmill at the father-in-law’s today.

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Awesome! What are we building?!

munchy wrote:

Awesome! What are we building?!

Right now there are no plans to build anything. This is my father-in-law’s response to having to go to the lumber yard to buy some 2x6s this summer. He’s owned his own sawmill in the past so hasn’t bought lumber in years. He was offended by the prices so he’s vowed to have lumber on hand to make sure that never happens again.

James Holst wrote:

We’ve got about one hundred 8 to 12-ft sections of white pine and a portable sawmill at the father-in-law’s today.

James,
Good thing your FIL has a fine upstanding SIL to carry, stack and sticker. You will be ready for a break by days end. Keep your fingers away from that blade.

Huntindave wrote:

James Holst wrote:

We’ve got about one hundred 8 to 12-ft sections of white pine and a portable sawmill at the father-in-law’s today.

James,
Good thing your FIL has a fine upstanding SIL to carry, stack and sticker. You will be ready for a break by days end. Keep your fingers away from that blade.

Son-in-law brought help too. PJ said he wanted to go fishing this weekend. Told him we had some chores to do first.

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I’d volunteer to help just for the smell alone.

I like that picture and the setting. Love the piny woods. Looks like up north.

SuperDave1959 wrote:

I’d volunteer to help just for the smell alone.

So you’re saying you want to sniff James?

James Holst wrote:

He was offended by the prices

Oh I hear ya on that! I built a 600sqft deck with all 2x12s this summer. Just the treated lumber was around $5k. You don’t even want to ask about the PVC decking and aluminum railing.

munchy wrote:

<div class=”d4p-bbt-quote-title”>SuperDave1959 wrote:</div>
I’d volunteer to help just for the smell alone.

So you’re saying you want to sniff James?

LMAO!

We are just finished up a big renovation of our lower level and I can attest to the insane price of wood currently. We bought our lumber just before the prices skyrocketed.

We always had a shed on the farm full of home sawn lumber…..unfortunately we had to use oak as the pigs would destroy anything else…had to drill every hole it was so hard.

So what is the stronger smell? The fresh cut pine or James fish hands.

suzuki wrote:

I like that picture and the setting. Love the piny woods. Looks like up north.

Just south of Duluth. Beautiful area for sure!

Here’s the fruits of our labor.

A couple hundred 8-10 foot 2 x 4. About the same number of 10 – 12 foot 2 x 6 and 2 x 8. And a bunch of 1×6 I didn’t care to count. We got about 60% of the pile done today. The plan is to finish the rest off mid afternoon then thank PJ for his help by going fishing for the weekend.

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you mean you have a life besides fishing? gasp at the thought

Had a Woodmizer for about 6 years when I first retired. Did alot of woodworking at the time, and wanted it for some part time income also. The income part went right out the window right away, was doable, but I enjoyed being retired too much. It was fun though, and rewarding, but the amount of friends that would show up and expect me to give them free wood and or free sawing got old fast. When sawing up wood, they were nowhere to be found to help, but once wood was all sawn and stickered, they conveniently not only had time to stop over and want free wood, but they always seemed to want the wood in the middle of a stack. Sold that saw after about 6 years, but still miss it at times. It was a very rewarding pass time.

Beautiful !!
For the life of me I couldn’t spot the bottle of Scotch??
For medicinal purpose of course after a labor intensive day.

Iowaboy1 wrote:

Beautiful !!
For the life of me I couldn’t spot the bottle of Scotch??
For medicinal purpose of course after a labor intensive day.

I saved the adult beverages for once we got the saw turned off and the cleanup done. I do plan to spend some time relaxing around the fireplace tonight with a glass of monkey shoulder on ice.

Thanks for the memories that were brought back
James,my grandfather ran a sawmill that cut every board and fence post
Around the area many years ago.
We cut wood with a buzzsaw with a 40 inch blade for years, nothing like that sound on a calm cold winter day.
Hope you can pass that on to your younger generation.

James Holst wrote:

I saved the adult beverages for once we got the saw turned off and the cleanup done. I do plan to spend some time relaxing around the fireplace tonight with a glass of monkey shoulder on ice.

Certainly that defines “drinking responsibly”…

Since this thread was “lumberjack” related, thought I could relate…sort of?

A somewhat fat old man (me) unloaded a pick up truck full of firewood and toted it up a flight of stairs and stacked it outside the door of my homestead nest.

I know the comparison is small, almost laughable but the older one becomes the more you find what was once no big deal can become a miracle.

I don’t know what a glass of “monkey shoulder” is, but now that I’m safe inside…the fire will be lit as the IPA is consumed like a “real” lumberjack.

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Not to hi jack the thread here… But the “green box” next to the stack of firewood… do you still use that? It seems to be out and handy.

James, I’m envisioning a lot of waste. Does that just become firewood?

jbg1219 wrote:

Not to hi jack the thread here… But the “green box” next to the stack of firewood… do you still use that? It seems to be out and handy.

Yes, that’s what us old fat men still use.

Sharp eye of you to notice that though, if you’d like to have it it’s all yours…free of cost. Seriously, PM me if interested.

It’s not functional anymore best I know, would be display/mancave collectible.

I’m posting another pic since that isn’t available in a PM.

Sorry James for this sideshow, resume the lumberjack updates now that this is out of the way.

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“A glass of “monkey shoulder”
https://www.monkeyshoulder.com/

Looks like a lot of old-fashioned work when work use to be fun.

James, have you ever tried to do an all-in cost analysis to see what those board feet cost to produce? I know it’s probably not all about the money but i’m curious if it makes sense economics-wise.

SuperDave1959 wrote:

James, I’m envisioning a lot of waste. Does that just become firewood?

Campfire wood and sauna wood. And yes, there’s a LOT of waste.

Snap wrote:

Looks like a lot of old-fashioned work when work use to be fun.

James, have you ever tried to do an all-in cost analysis to see what those board feet cost to produce? I know it’s probably not all about the money but i’m curious if it makes sense economics-wise.

I haven’t but my FIL figured it out yesterday and he came to $1.60 for each 8′ – 2X4, including costs for the sawyer. This does not count his or my labor. Since I essentially work for an extra strip of bacon at breakfast I’d say I’m cheap.

We’ve become very efficient dropping, limbing and sectioning a big white pine. We can do two trees per day, including cleanup. Each tree yields 3-4 good saw logs with the rest used to heat the house. The FILs property experienced a severe blow down event last year in November and we’ve been hard at cleanup ever since.

SuperDave1959 wrote:

I’d volunteer to help just for the smell alone.

That fresh cut pine smell is awesome. We refer to it as lumberjack cologne. Love it!

Impressive!