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August 02, 2002

Making Lumber with a Chainsaw


Much of the lumber we use around the farm is made locally, from trees that have fallen, or are dying.  Many of the Laurel trees have been damaged by years of cows walking on their roots; the root damage allows ants to get into the tree, which then develops a hole and eventually dies from the inside. Better to use the wood before that happens.

Also, it's amazing what size trees sometimes just fall spontaneously - note the size of the root pointing up from the log in the picture.

Boards are cut with the chainsaw. Straight lines for cutting are marked with a chalk line. Except, it's not exactly chalk that is used to mark the wood. We tried that, and it did not work at all. The chalk did not stay, was barely visible, and the reel with the line broke after one day.

So now we are using the "traditional" method again: The inside of D-cell batteries is mixed with black engine oil. Very nasty, but sometimes the local methods just work better.

Posted by rick at August 2, 2002 02:20 PM

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