Getting the lumber ready for winter projects

This actually got started during the 25th weekend as a project for some of the guys in the shop and all who have read this blog know how I like projects in the shop.

A few weeks back Marlys and I had moved the sawmill outside and set it up in a semi-permanent location. We use to set it up as needed, but that chewed up a lot of time, so it tended not get used that much. Since this change, I have sawn wood every couple of weeks.

Knowing that some of the invitees shared my interest in wood and knowing that they were coming from locales that didn't offer the Ponderosa beetle-kill stained varieties around here I offered up some of the slabs in the shop. These would need to be re-sawn to rough widths.

My nephew John had also joined us by Friday and since the younger crowd was still 24 hours out I volunteered him as the mill assistant. This meant replacing a blade (when I screwed it up), tension it, moving the lumber, and running the mill head on a few swipes.

He would also go on to fame in the repair of the patio umbrella later that day. In that, action he moved from natures materials to the fabrication of a joint using UHMW (ultra-high molecular weight) plastic (Teflon). The strength of the new joint resulted in a down-stream failure of another joint on Sunday. The umbrella has since been retired.

The wood targeted for sawdust donations on this day had been from beetle-kill trees taken down at Pinon Rock in 2005. The wood had been "seasoning" in the shop since then. Bill, the recipient of said slabs of course picked the best stuff from the stack. Little did he know that I have two more trees to be taken down this Fall that will replenish the stock.

Since it was going to be his wood, he would need to run the mill as I wanted no blame for any errors. That wood is now another non-native species residing in La Porte, Minnesota.

Last weekend I re-sawed just about all of the remaining house scrap pieces, the Cedar will be going into the office work surfaces and the slabbed 15" glulam cutoffs in to an as to be identified project.

You can also see in this picture the Ponderosa that is destined for the continuing bedroom set project. The first chapter was last winter's headboard build. This pile will become the side tables to the bed and with the participation of some pieces from the new Ponderosa mentioned above will become the long dresser, Marlys has deemed appropriate for her stuff.

This pile will be added to this coming weekend by the load of 100 4'x8' sheets of 1/2"OSB that is in transit (Caulfield Cartage) to be used in finishing the walls and ceiling of the shop.

I have been looking for the best price for OSB, since the light fixture purchase, thinking that it would save allot of work doing both at once. I had resigned to putting in the lights this Fall, and at $6-$8 a sheet from a lumberyard, waiting on the liner until next year sometime.

Friday night I stumbled on to this OSB at my favorite store...Craigslist. It was used for floor protection during a re-model of a Middle School in Westminster (Denver Metro). The General Contractor was selling it off since the project was done. It looked good in the picture and the price was in my range at $3 a sheet.

When I picked it up on Tuesday the site manager said that since I was the first to buy I had my pick of the bundles (60 sheet packs). He pointed to a group of four and said those were brand new and had not been used...I of course selected those.

His picture on CL had been of the used ones (which I appreciated), he even got a material lift and a couple of guys from the crew to load the truck.

I wouldn't know until I got home how big the load actually was.

The stack reached a few inches above the truck cab and the F450 actually had a little squat to it. Finally, a load worthy of the new truck.

My 1" wide straps used to secure it seemed pretty underwhelming and a stop at Lowes to pick up some that were up to the task was the first stop. Of course a thunderstorm moved through as I rescued the load. It was a pretty wet, dusty, dirty and sweaty guy in polo shirt and khakis that went into MacDonald's to get a cone and a Diet Coke for the drive across town.

I called Marlys (up at PR) about a half a dozen times during the drive commenting on the load, the truck and where I would put it back in Parker until driving back to PR on Thursday night. The truck handled the load amazingly well. I was real impressed. My MPG only dropped to 14.1, but I am waiting for the slog up in to the mountains.

Once in front of the TV, I googled the weight of a 1/2" 4'x8' sheet of OSB. The answer was 53lbs. So the load weighted 5300# or over 2 1/2 tons.