Oct
27
2015

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Milling Trees into Lumber with a Wood Mizer

by Going Slowly

Over the past few years, we've amassed quite a collection of felled trees.

Tyler Chainsawing Tyler Felling a Tree Excavator Picking up Tree Tyler Driving an Excavator Tara Felling Tree Bob Making Back Cut On Tree Dan Felling Tree

Tyler's Note: Having recently taken a chainsaw safety course for loggers, almost every one of these photos scares the crap out of me. There are crazy unsafe practices in nearly all of them!


...most of which are piled up on the clearing in front of our house:

Shlomy & Britney Goofing Around w/ Peavys Shlomy & Britney Goofing Around w/ Peavys

This afternoon, our neighbor Dave brought his Wood Mizer to our land. Over the next few days, we're going to saw all of our logs into beams for timber framing!

Ed & Dave Milling Beams Ed Wood Mizer Cutting Maple Tree Dave Cutting Maple Tree w/ Wood Mizer Tyler & Ed Dave Running Wood Mizer Cutting Maple Timber w/ Wood Mizer

We're so excited—these are the bones-to-be for many a future structure!

Dave Cutting Maple Tree w/ Wood Mizer Dave Cutting Cherry Tree w/ Wood Mizer
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5 comments

The Woodmizer is pretty much the coolest toy around. We had one come to our house several weeks ago to saw up some big old beams from a 1792 house, and watching it made me feel like a kid on kool-aid. Seriously. I loved it. It was amazing. And I'm so glad you two found your way to one as well, because as far as unnecessary toys go, this one takes the cake for awesomeness.
Posted by SavvyChristine on December 8th, 2015 at 6:41 PM
That's awesome Christine, what are you using the beams for? Also, a Wood-Mizer is a totally necessary toy!
Posted by Tyler on December 8th, 2015 at 11:35 PM
Haha, I would love a wood-mizer. The guy we hired told us it cost him $20,000 to purchase, so it's unnecessary for us -- for now. :) We sawed up the beams into smaller beams which will be support our sleeping loft and be visible from below, and then some 2x6 boards that we'll use to make our front door. Anything that's left we'll intersperse throughout the house as much as possible. The wood is beautiful! I'm looking forward to seeing how you use yours.
Posted by SavvyChristine on December 9th, 2015 at 7:43 AM
Do you have to age the wood to use for timber framing?
Posted by Joy on December 10th, 2015 at 7:57 PM
Hey Joy,

Typically not. Tara and I cut the beams for our house while the wood was wet. The beams dried for about two years before we raised the frame, but we could have raised it right away, too. It's my understanding that wet wood is a lot easier to work with chisels--apart from that I don't think there is any concern one way or the other.
Posted by Tyler on December 12th, 2015 at 5:50 PM