Sawmill move

The sawmill has been stored over at a friends place for the past year. Friday I went to pick it up. It is about 20' long and weighs around 1400 pounds. I brought along some 20' poles and a come along to raise one end...

Then backed the trailer under it.

Then rolled the sawhead forward to tip it onto the trailer.

I used the tractor to unload it. 

Here are the 24x40 shop slab and wall framing materials. I am using 2x6x10 studs on 24" centers.

Everything is very icy right now. The slab is very slippery. I picked up a pair of Yaktrax which are metal grippers that attach to your shoes with elastic bands. They work great and were well worth the money.

Bridge Project

Here is my latest project. Someone in York needed their driveway bridge replaced and he agreed to hire me to do it for him. The removal of the old bridge was probably the trickiest part. It was 25' long and weighed about 10,000 pounds. I built temporary supports at midspan so that it could be cut in half with a chainsaw and then lifted out with a crane in two pieces. Then I used a rented backhoe to dismantle it all.

One bridge abutment was still good so I left that one alone. The other was replaced with a new spread footing.

A few days later the crane came back to set the beams. My helper in the picture below is Paul Coulston. He works where I do and coincidentally is from Scottsboro, AL.

This was fun to build and provided most of the money needed to build the slab for our new garage. The slab should be poured next week.

Stump stove, mystery tool and cabin progress

It was a damp and dreary day at the mining claim yesterday, a good day for a fire. I put up a tarp and made a stump stove when I got there. It is just a section of log with a hole drilled in the end (I used a chainsaw) and an intersecting hole from the side. 

 Once you get a fire going inside, it draws air through the side hole and the center hole acts like a chimney. I had some trouble starting it and will need to find a faster way for next time but once it gets going it doesn't smoke much and doesn't need much tending. It burned for at least 5 hours.

Shadow was wet and shivering so I spoiled her and covered her with a coat.

 The fire kept Oreo entertained the whole time. He chases smoke and flames and singes all of his whiskers off in the process.

Not sure what this is. I found it leaning against a tree. It is about 7 feet log, one long edge is straight and the other tapers which makes the ends of the board narrower than the middle. It was made of two boards laminated together with nails. There looks to be hand hole in the middle. 

One more weekend left to work on the cabin. I hope to start a garage at the new place in York this fall and also want to get some hunting in. Yes, a new house in York is also on the list. Hopefully will start it in about a year.