After the melt survey

Just had the family get together yesterday.  All went well except for poor Katherine not being able to attend due to a bad cold.

Anyway, weather has turned warm after a snowy and cold time last week.  Since Friday, temps have gone up to above 40F and 4 inches of snow melted off.  Strong thunderstorms and heavy rains have helped melt the snow and drench the place.  I snuck out between rain showers this morning to survey the farm.  Here are some pictures:

This is the front garden.  The radishes are still alive!  Amazing!

The big patch.  Radishes are in rough shape where I need them the most!  Oh well. 

Notice the erosion?  This is the big patch, just above the clay region.

More of the clay region in the big patch.  The erosion is more apparent here.

The bad region is very apparent in this picture of the big patch.

The 'pond'.  It's actually the old horse drinking hole.  It's finally got some water in it.

Just below the drinking hole.  Still not up to "stream" status.

Pawpaw patch.  Plenty of water here!

This is the lower end of the pawpaw patch.  Seems to be right over an underground stream.

The upper portion of the pawpaw patch.

The front patch, with the pawpaw patch in the background.

Front patch.  Notice the brussel sprout? (I think its a sprout - some kind of brassica).

Movie of the 'elderberry' stream.  It was dried up for past couple of months!

Here is a movie of the underground streams that form near the pawpaw patch and the apple orchard.

The walipini hole.  Holds water surprisingly well!

Bandsaw delivered

I spent most of Friday clearing a space for the bandsaw in the shop.  The lathe was placed a little too close to the doorway so it had to be moved back a bit.  I got some 3/4" black pipe (bought 3 10' pieces at Home Depot and had them cut each in half - so I have 6 5' pieces) and placed them on the floor to use as rollers for the heavy machines.  After cleaning the garage a bit i was able to use the tractor forks to help lift the lathe up onto the blackpipe rollers.  The forks couldn't lift the lathe really, but took enough weight off so that I could use a prybar to work the lathe pallet onto the pipes.

The UPS delivery guy finally got here about 4:30pm on Friday.  He had to call several times to get directions.  He pulled up out front with a full sized tractor trailer.  I took the tractor down to the road and used the forks to lift the bandsaw out of the truck and haul it back to the shop.  The bandsaw seems so small compared to the lathe and milling machine!  I had to move the forks in close together so that I could engage the bandsaw pallet.  Was a bit nervous moving the bandsaw on the forks since the bandsaw is so tall and thin.  I went very slow and didn't make any quick moves taking it from the road and into the shop.

Here is a picture of the bandsaw as it was Friday evening on the shop floor:

Ordered bandsaw and other stuff

I finally got the nerve to order the grizzly bandsaw today.  I bought it off of the grizzly site because they were cheaper and had what looks like a nice wheel base kit for it.

I spent considerable time outside today. Couldn't take this cabin fever any more!  I built a small fire brick version of a rocket heater near the wood pile and started it up.  I am surprised but the thing actually works fairly well.  I would have had to come back inside often to thaw my hands today because it was so cold, but the little fire place did the trick!  I think that if I put a heat deflector over it that I could then use it to heat the little plastic roofed greenhouse I got earlier this year.  After I got the fire going I went to work splitting wood.  I got several large pieces split.  I was keeping an eye out for wood that I could use to make a mallet.  I found a couple pieces that looked suitable and pit them aside until tonight.  After dinner I went out and started turning down one of the pieces to form the mallet head.  I used a technique that I saw on YouTube what a guy uses a router instead of the lathe tools to cut the wood.  I did try using the tools, but because I was turning the wood so that the grain was perpendicular to the rotation axis, the lathe tools were not doing very well.  The router was a little scary to use at first, but once I turned the cylinder down a bit, the lathe ran smoother and I calmed down.  Using the router was great!  It took smaller chips off and cut much more uniform than a larger tool would have.

I didn't take pix tonight, but will add pictures tomorrow when I can!

My Conclusions about my woodworking needs

I have been looking at these portable band-sawmills for years now and after LOTs of consideration and thinking, planning, etc. have come to these conclusions:

1. The chainsaw mills that I have (the mini-mill and the slabbing mill) are ok for what I want.  
2. The chainsaw mills waste a lot of wood and are far slower and harder to use than the band-sawmills, but I have concluded that I am only interested in making beams and cants from trees - not boards!
3. Bandsaw mills work well - but you would need to NEED lots of lumber to make them worthwhile.  I am not going to build a large compound or going into the wood-working business (or running a small lumber mill business).
4. I can probably get by with just the chainsaw-mills that I have for my lumber needs for fine wood IF I get a large-ish bandsaw.  I am looking at a grizzly right now.  Although this model doesn't have a foot brake.  I might get the next model up (with a foot brake).
5. In any case, no matter which mill approach I adopt, I will need a planer and a jointer to do fine wood work.  
6. I think I can get dad's old delta planer fixed up and running with a set of shelix blades - its fairly small planer but I don't plan on making massive pieces of furniture!   The shelix replacement is NOT cheap - about $450!
7. Tony Huffert has a Sunhill SM-204 8" jointer that I can get for $400!  It will need shelix blades as well.  Its model info: Sunhill SM-204 (note that sunhill company is gone and product is no longer supported).  However, there are shelix blades that I can use - for $350). Note that I have to pick up the jointer before Jan 7(?) with my trailer to get this deal from Tony.
8. Other plans I have are to buy all of dad's woodworking stuff from mom.  I have a list that I am making to make sure siblings are ok with the purchase.  The only thing that I really want is dad's planer.  everything else I either don't need or don't want.  Just getting the stuff out of the garage so that it doesn't get lost in the estate.  Also, I think I can get the auxiliary tools for a good price from her, which may save me some time in buying them piecemeal as I need them.