Timberrrrrrrrrrrrrr

Top of the self-sufficiency challenge list is replacing the caved in roof.  My plan is to rebuild using the timberframe construction technique.  This is basically done using large squared off timbers, usually six to eight inches square, connected together by some form of mortise and tenon joinery and wooden pegs.  Not satisfied with the attempt to wrestle large timbers into place to form a solid frame for the building, I have also decided to mill my own timbers from logs I harvested  from the property. Call me crazy on any given day and you won't get any argument from me.  Milling logs into the timbers the way I'm doing it is one of the crazier projects I have attempted since we got here.

I am doing what is called chainsaw milling.  You clamp your chainsaw into a kind of jig that rides along the log taking a slice off one side.  Do it four times and you have a timber.  Sounds easy when you say it fast like that...anything but.  Chainsaw milling has to be one of the most frustrating jobs on the planet. 

What I had was a chainsaw and some trees.  How hard could it be?   Well, I won't go into felling, limbing and hauling logs out of the bush.  I didn't know it at the time but that was actually the most pleasant part of the job of milling timbers.  To do that I went and bought an Alaskan chainsaw mill, attached my chainsaw and attacked a docile looking maple log.  Well, that log fought me every inch of the way. It was eight feet long and I think it took me about an hour to get that saw through one slice of that log. 

There was obviously something wrong with my technique so I did some research about chainsaw milling and discovered that there is way more to this job than is obvious to the casual observer.  My 40 cc Poulan 'Wild Thing' was wild but way too small; the Alaskan mill was good for milling boards but not so good for timbers; even the chain on the saw was wrong.  So, I did what any homestead challenger would do...I bought more tools.  I found an antique McCullough Pro 10-10 55 cc chainsaw that I managed to fix enough to make it run, put a ripping chain on it and clamped my new Mini-Mill to the bar and I was good to go.

Actually, to say that the go was good would not be the case.  Everything about chainsaw milling is hard.  The chain has to be sharpened very precisely at certain angles and degrees and it dulls fast.  The oiler on the Mac didn't work when the saw was upside down, as it must be in the Mini-Mill, so I had to stop regularly to lower it and do it manually.  Logs must be raised off the ground so the chain doesn't hit the dirt but they are very heavy and no matter what you manage to lift them onto will still be in the way of the saw at some point.  When the slab falls off the side you are cutting it falls on your leg. You breath carbon monoxide and sawdust.  And if all that doesn't get me some sympathy, it is now black fly season.

How do I deal with such adversity?  You guessed it...I bought another tool.  This time a used Husqvarna 61 chainsaw.  It doesn't help alleviate the frustration and suffering I experience while milling except that it is faster so the pain is shorter. 

I am determined to mill all the timbers I need no matter what but I am really looking forward to the joinery part. The pictures in the book make it look so peaceful and contemplative.  I'm sure it must be, but then I thought milling would be fun.