Wednesday, December 26, 2012

Sept 2012, Slice and Dice

Late posting of previous work: With the help of my bro n law, Jim we got the next kayak out of Chequamegon forest (actually, the family's north forty section of the Chequamegon National Forest). Jim brought up his new four wheeler and that worked quite well to get the two smaller Cedars out of the tall trees but the big log, destined to be the next kayak was a little more than she could handle.

We used a come-a-long to slowly drag the log from where she was laying for the last year. We put small rollers under the log for easier rolling and used 3-4 chains to lash trees to hook the come a long to. We had to drag the log 100 yards to get to the point where we could reach the chains with the old Toyota pickup. It took two runs with the Toyota to get the log up from behind the shit house to the top of the lawn. We dragged the log under a tall Maple, lifted one end with the come a long and backed the boat trailer under the log. My 17 ft fiberglass Four Winns weighs quite a bit so it's trailer should have been able to handle it quite well but I was still very nervous. I was sweating it during every one of the 245 miles back to Mpls.

I was pretty proud to use my own chain saw lumber mill to make Jan's kayak but I was determined to not waste so much wood this time. I went onto the WoodMizer web site and also did a Craig's List search for people who owned band saw lumber mills. I found one guy who called me after I had the tree already cut up and said that his minimum was $210 and would charge $0.50/mile from St. Cloud. I found two other guys who could not handle a 25 ft log but the guy who did the cutting only charged me $49 for the whole log. I gave him a good tip.

The WoodMizer was gas powered and computer controlled. It took the WoodMizer only 35 seconds to cut the 22 ft length and it barely left any saw dust! I had him cut the boards a full 1 inch to leave some room for plaining but it cut so smooth the boards hardly need any it. If you are interested, leave me a note and I'll gladly give you his details. He can bring the saw mill to your site to do the plaining.

The kayak is now under my shed roof, sitting on blocks with wood strips separating the planks. I hope to start work on my last boat next August.



QOD: From the book: Tour de France by Graham Watson: About a week after my return to England, I was going smoothly  at a fair pace to the top of Highgate West Hill, that evil little pimple whose gradient sprang to mind in the first ramp of l’Alpe d’Huez, when a paunchy, oldish man on the far pavement yells: “Push harder on the pedals.” No hint of a smile or cheer of encouragement. In France they shout – pedestrians or cyclists, it make no difference – Allez’ Courage!

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