Mostly cut firewood and saw logs for my Hud-Son sawmill when needed

[Gus1957]

I'm 68 and have been using a chainsaw since I was 14 when I bought my 1st a - Poulan - 18" bar from a local dealer. Don't remember the model. Never felt it had enough power and flooding / carb problems. Next saw was the Stihl 041 that cut a enough pine logs that my father and I built his retirement log cabin.

Fortunately I live next to my InLaws 50 acre woodlot along with ours so have plenty of trees for firewood and saw logs.

I boiught extra tracks for my Hud-Son Oscar Pro 330 and needed a beam to support the old 2nd story hayloft 25' cross beams. Beam is pine 12' x 13" x 42'.
Fun struggle moving it around. 1st the tree was skidding out when the ground was frozen. Getting it onto the sawmill track with cribbing and jacks utilizing multiple lifts and flips. Getting it in place inside the barn used 2 tractors .

It's great to be retired and have time .

If I would have had this equipment when I was younger could have gotten more done.

 

[hunting1]

Nice! Jealous of that mill. Great looking beam there

 

[Gus1957]

I keep the mill head inside the barn when not in use. I cut pieces of angle iron to make bridge pieces to be able to roll out the head onto the main track.

With this set up abled me to cut the long beam. It would have been cost prohibitive to have a long log tucked to a mill and back.

 

[Alan]

@Gus1957, I’ve moved this part of the intro to a better location so everyone can check out this awesome post. The intro is still intact.

 

[LogLife]

I really like the big pine beam and that Oscar Pro setup. Moving all that stuff around tractors seems like a lot of work. You're lucky to have all that wood and the tools, it sounds like a good way to spend your retirement

 

[Gus1957]

Good thing about having your own mill is just cutting open the logs and see what you find in different grain patterns. You can cut short pieces and if nothing is interesting just use it for firewood.

I never saw Elm boards as a youngster except for scaffolding planks on mason scaffolding because they bend and don't snap under the weight.

But they have some beautiful colors and grain patterns inside. I've read that Elm is an excellent wood for wooden axle hubs as they hold grease / animal fat for lubrication and with long intertwined grain patterns hold up to stress for a longer period.

 

[Alan]

Agree, the coolest part of having your own mill is that you can just pop logs open and check out what’s hiding in there.