Wooden What

I tested my skills a little this week and made up some wooden hinges for the chest and jewelery box .I had searched for wrought iron hinges but decided that I should try out wooden ones , as after reading one of my favourite books One Man's Wilderness Richard Proenneke. I always wanted to give wooden hinges a try after seeing the ones he made for his cabin. So here's my take on the wooden hinge, no pins yet they are just put together for the pictures:)

A New Day

I wake up early every morning quietly leave and try not to wake the house, anyway on my way to work . The sun was waking over the horizon a burning pool of light,giving us a touch of an indian summer for a few days .No red sky in the morning sailors warning this week.

I took a walk into the woods with owls hooting to each other and little birds singing in the new day. I thought to myself how lucky I am to see and hear these things on a daily basis. To look to the skies and see dawn in all its glory:)

A Little Tip

I have some small bits of spalted beech left from the chest that I have been making. So I cut them up for a little surprise jewelery box for all the jewels, Mrs Brian reckons I should buy for her.

This week I took a few pictures of stellite tipped saws that we use on the multi cut at work, these tips give a better finish on pickets and boards. And they also prolong the life of the saw blades as these hardened tips do most of the work, and they look neat in the pictures :)

Driving Me Bananas

I was set up to take the first slab off, but when I started the cut it pinched hard, slowing the bandsaw right down until, it was smoking with the fricton . But after thumping in a wedge it was free ,this happens now and then but todays problem log was a wind blown tree. How do I know this through many years of problem logs! The ends of the log won't reveal much if there's dirt and dust but when its clean and first cut this would be more apparent. When the first slab fall's away if its a wind blown tree a dark line of moisture will show up along one edge.

This line of moisture shows up when a tree is blown down in a storm, the downward side of the tree is still being fed by the roots .If this is left for a long time before being cut off at the stump, lots of tension starts building up along the underside of the tree. Which causes severe deviation when cutting.

Luckily this was a small log so not to much time was wasted, from sticks like this ,banana and corkscrew timber is likely to be cut . And yes I'm getting used to this new computer :)

Help

My old computer breathed his last breathe a week ago so I've been trying to grips with a new one :)

Setting Up

We had a mixed load of logs delivered this week Spruce and Douglas Fir so I stuck a few of the Douglas Fir on the log deck . The scent from this timber is very fruity when its freshly cut, a good Sawyer should know timbers their timbers by scent along with sight.
I was fortunate to be taught my trade by a knowledgeable old Sawyer ,we worked on an old band rack together all the setting up was by hand including rolling in the logs, now I work a band mill with set works .
The set works control the settings for the dimensions of the timber but I punch them in, the human element is still with us. Bigger sawmills now scan their logs, then the computer sets the sizes for cutting.
Back when I first started on the band rack the sawyer would ask me to draw on the end of the log the all the parts we would cut for timber and what would be waste. And this helps me to this day, to make sure we have low waste and higher recovery of timber from the raw materials (logs).
Here are are some shots of the Douglas Fir being cut,from the band mill to boards:)

Early Blaze

Lots of sanding on the Beech chest I've been working on this past weekend, and searching for some nice old style hinges. I found a few sites that supply the kind of thing im after so hopefully it will be finished soon.

And Here's a bit of this year's early autumn show from the supermarket carpark :)