Sawmill Barn

[catvet]

I've been keeping a blog of my sawmill barn construction over the last several months.

http://northvermont.Blogspot.com

A bit of history. We have 57 acres about 20 miles from our home in Vermont. Last Feb I got a Timber King portable sawmill to make use of the trees on the property and to work on doing some building on the property. I've never built anything before so it should be an interesting challenge.

After moving the sawmill to the property I realized we probably wouldn't really be moving it around very much and that a building would make it much nicer for milling in lousy weather, be it winter cold, or summer sun.

I looked around and decided to go with the Socket Sytem setup since I figured I could use lumber that I milled from the property.

Settled on a 26' x 36' size. Pretty much the rest is in the blog. Used my Kubota B7800 for leveling the site and partway through convinced my wife an L39 would be a good thing to get.

You will need to go through the archives to see previous months work. The blog is arranged from most recent on back.

Any suggestions or comments appreciated. The next steps are to figure out how to close it in. I'm thinking about using large polycarbonate panels (4' x 8') for windows figuring at about $70 a piece they would be a lot cheaper than glass and are supposedly pretty much unbreakable. I'm looking for a lot of light and some wind protection. One of these panels would take up most of the space between a bent.

I need to keep the gable ends open for moving the logs, and lumber in and out, that's a major reason I went with a structure that didn't have an interior posts. Looking for a way to put a loft in. I'm planning on a wood floor over the crushed stone. I'm thinking vapor barrier and then a 2 x 6 frame directly on the vapor barrier with 2 by boards on top of that. I'm planning on the "joists" being 2 feet on center. I figure with the joists directly on the ground they won't deflect at all. The sawmill weighs about 1000 lbs and there might be a 2000 lb log on top of it. Also if I get the whole floor decked out in wood the tractor (at 8000 lbs) would be on it. Sometimes the tractor would be carrying one of those 2000 lb logs.

There is a bit of other stuff in the blog also. Hopefully interesting to some.

 

[EddieWalker]

Jerry,

You sure have been busy!!!

The goats look like fun, and your land is amazing, but what I really enjoyed was the work you've done on your barn. It looks like you've been doing it all your life and take pride in what you do.

Thanks for sharing,
Eddie

 

[bones1]

catvet, very nice blog and links. I spent about an hour there.You got it going on.

 

[schmism]

TimberKing | Serving American Sawyers Since 1929

and which one do you have?
how much did it cost?
how much do you use it?
personal use only?
cutting for friends neighbors, adds in the paper?

 

[1bush2hog]

Catvet -

Would you mind elaborating on your choice and usage of the Socket Systems?

I like the concept but have been unable to find any information regarding wind sheer ratings of this system. I see where you have added cross bracing. Was this designed in by the company, you, or someone else? I thought part of the concept of the socket systems connectors was that it eliminated the need for cross bracing.

Regardless, you have a nice looking project going there - keep up the good work on the project and your blog. Thanks for sharing.

 

[scott_vt]

Afternoon Jerry,
Nice job on the Blog ! Interesting !

The polycarbonate is strong as you say, the only problem with polycarbonate is that it scratches very easily ! With that said, when you go to clean those panels you will need to take extra care ! Just a suggestion, I use this stuff at work and its great stuff, but has some drawbacks.

Nice job and keep us posted !

 

[catvet]

Eddie,

Thanks for the feedback. I'm impatient with my projects but am trying to take our time and enjoy the process. My major requirement for this year was to get the sawmill under cover for the winter. It looks like we've managed to accomplish that.

 

[catvet]

Schmism,

I have the Timber King 1220. The least expensive model and completely manual. I paid $8000 for the mill a 6 foot extension (I can cut up to 18' logs) and transport package. Also got 6 extra blades at time of sale. A big reason I went with Timber King was that they were offering 6 months with no payments.

I mill only for our own projects. If a neighbor came by and wanted something milled I would be happy to help as long as they understood that I don't really know what I'm doing.

So far we've cut the wood for the barn, a goat shed and a few logs of maple and oak which my wife Caroline has used for making benches and such.

 

[catvet]

1bush2hog,

I picked the socket system mostly on the fact that I could get the 26' open span that I wanted. I looked at snow load but not wind shear. Must admit I don't know anything about wind shear so I didn't know to ask. My major concern with wind is that one of the near by pines will decide to fall on the building. I'm sure they will wait until I'm done with the building to fall on it.

I would think Roger at Socket Systems could help with your wind shear questions.

You are correct as to cross bracing and the Socket system. They don't say you need cross bracing if you have walls on the building. I was thinking of leaving the building open on the sides, at least to begin with, so they recommended Y bracing. I didn't like the way they recommended doing it because it would interfere with siding in the future so my brother came up with the cross bracing idea. They are 1/8" x 1" flat stock and I should be able to fit things over them if so desired. I'm also going to go with some 1/2" x 2 stock on the gable ends just because they look really open and I'm scared without having the building experience.

 

[catvet]

Scotty,

Thanks for the polycarbonate feedback. I probably should be concerned about scratching but more concerned with the cost factor and breaking. I figure if I can get light into the building, have a bit of insulation and wind blocking and have it much sturdier than glass it will make me happy.

Do you use large sheets in your work? I'm going crazy with the shipping charges on this stuff. The panels themselves aren't horrible in price but then they charge $7-10 a foot for packing. So for a couple of panels to try out you are looking at a hefty shipping charge relative to product cost.

 

[scott_vt]

Mornin Jerry,
When we get the panels shipped to us they come in 4' x 4' size. But we are building protype office machines/ equipment and traditionaly only use smaller sizes. We can shear it up to 1/4" and then we quite often use double sided sticky tape to afix it to our surface plates on our CNC millers to create whatever shapes our needed.

Were you planing on using 1/8" thick stock and make your own frames ?

 

[catvet]

Scotty,

Thanks for the info. Just to make sure we are talking the same sort of product I'm looking at the twin walled poly carbonate sheets as shown in the link below.

http://www.suntuf.com/images/PDFs/SUNLITE-multiwall-polycarbonate.pdf
or
10MM Twin-Wall Polycarbonate 4' x 8' sheet

The numbers I see on these are like 8, 10 and 12 mm. I'm assuming that is the thickness of each of the walls. If my math is correct 1/4" would be like 60mm. I'm thinking you are working with solid sheets.

I am planning on building my own frames and routing out rabbats for the sheets to fit in. I might go with 1/2 round across the sheets to give it that divided look.

 

[Defective]

1/4" = 6 mm

Judging by the description I see there, the thickness is overall. So, the 10 mm product is about 3/8" thick including both surfaces and the airspace.

 

[catvet]

Defective,

Never said my math was good. Thanks for the calculations.

 

[Defective]

no problem...

I live in a metric country next door to a non-metric country. This means I spend at least half of my productive time scratching my head , trying to figure out why my tools seem to have trouble fitting my materials. Then I sit down, have a coffee, pet the dog and look at the tools and materials. Next, I think up excuses to hide my stupidity as I carry on with the other tools.