Wood Milling
Our 51 hp Cat diesel powered WoodMizer sawmill easily cuts through all of the types of wood available on the island. The largest tree we can mill is 36 inches in diameter and the longest wood we can cut is 21 feet.
Fir is a very desirable wood for structural use, whether milled into large timbers or 2 inch framing material. Fir also makes excellent siding, second only to cedar. Cedar is a joy to cut, colourful and aromatic; it can be used for siding, outdoor structural lumber or decorative slabs. Hemlock makes good interior framing material and alder makes good furniture and accent wood. Arbutus and yew are difficult woods to work with as they want to twist when drying, but both make beautiful slabs and accent wood.
When clearing property we first take down the trees near the proposed house site and set up the wood mill. We mill the trees, stack the lumber flat and separate the boards with spacers. We chip the branches, dead wood and the tailings from the mill into our dump truck and then dump the chips onto levelled areas under the trees.
We move from the house site to the property edges, dragging trees back to the mill as they come down. All the lumber is stacked beside the house site and covered from the sun to prevent cracking as it dries. Many timber frame and log buildings are built using fresh cut wood because of the difficulty of drying big timbers in a kiln and the length of time for air drying.
Moisture levels need to get below 14% before wood is enclosed in a wall. An excellent method is to build to an enclosed stage using green or semi-green lumber but with lots of ventilation to allow for the air flow necessary for drying.