We have a small property (6 acres) on the Driftwood River near where we live (Monteith). We have slowly been clearing it in preparation for building a cottage/home. I've been cutting Tamarack logs into 4/4 lumber to be used for the flooring, and since yesterday was the first really nice day that we've had since the snow melted off my log pile, we decided to do some cutting. It went so well and the weather was so nice that we did it again today

1) This is a cargo container disguised as a portable garage:



2) This is our pile of logs to saw - it contains White Spruce, Tamarack and a bit of Poplar and Birch:



3) The pile was added to quite hastily last fall, so a bit of sorting is needed:



4) Loading the mill is easy when you have a machine to do the heavy lifting - no sore backs allowed! :



5) The fun part - watching the boards come off the mill. Tamarack is beautiful wood, with a grain and machining characteristics similar to Ash.



And that was my afternoon - I hope you enjoyed it - I did!

cheers

John

Yesterday, I mowed the lawn.



Yes, my mower looks like this, only a lot newer. Small lawn.

Its all a matter of perspective.

It is good that there is a wood similar to Ash. We are loosing all of our Ash in Michigan,
and I don't see the problem stopping here

Nothing wrong with that type of mower! It's well known among lawn and garden people that a reel mower, properly sharpened is one of the best mowers to use. The scissor action of the reel against the bed knife slices the grass instead of tearing it, and it's the tearing action of the typical dull rotary mower blade that causes the dead brown tips on the blades of grass. Properly adjusted and lubed, those reel mowers are easy to use and are not only environmentally friendly, but give you a decent workout as well.

cheers

John

I moved here from the Ottawa Ontario region a couple of years ago. Ottawa is one of the quarantined regions for the Emerald Ash borer. I read a report in the news recently that said that Ottawa will lose approx 30,000 (yup....30k) Ash trees. They're expecting to harvest some 750,000 (yup...750k) board feet of Ash lumber when they start recycling the logs from the harvested trees. I did some portable milling work in the Ottawa area before I moved, and the restrictions on the movement of Ash wood were amazingly tough ... and rightly so! The guys who enforced the regulations were tough-nuts, hardcore regulation followers! Made that jerk who moderates the classifieds here look like a pussycat

John

John;
Is that wood fairly hard. Is the grain tight. I would like to build a guitar out of some of it. Could you post a photo of the grain.
Dan

Dan,

I'll get you a photo, but I can tell you that once it's properly dried, Tamarack is very hard. Having said that, I looked up the comparison to Ash on the Janka Hardness scale, and Tamarack rates very low on it compared to Ash, but I do know that once dried, you can't easily drive a nail in Tamarack. You usually have to drill first. You probably already know that hard-body electric guitars commonly use Ash for the body, so I don;t see why you couldn't use the Tamarack.

cheers

John

Edit : the grain in an older Tamarack around here is quite tight. We've had warmer years recently, so the annual growth rings closer to the sapwood are wider then the ones from 20 or 30 years ago.

Neat and interesting. Our family cabin in northern Wisconsin has a complete split-log Tamarack exterior, and then was completely sprayed with creosote - thing is still in perfect condition after 75+ years. Not many Tamarack's left in that geographic area anymore though, and the ones that are still there often look quite sickly. I swear they can't take the acid rain problems over the past many decades...

I can easily believe that your cabin will stand, rot-free for many more decades. Tamarack is suppose to compare with Black Locust and all the Cedars for rot resistance - quite high! It must look pretty neat - a 75 year old log face cottage would have a real charm.


cheers

John

Yesterday, I watched the gardeners mow the lawns.


Isn't it though!

Looks like you had a beautiful day to enjoy the great out doors! Enjoy!!

Lynn

Now ids morj ii klm jof tttt , Darn cell phone