Here's a walkthrough and discussion of my saw shed, followed by some construction photos. Post your questions in the comments and I'll try to answer them. Thanks for watching!
Nicely done. An additional requirement I have is to install a center wooden beam over the sawmill on witch I will fix a steel H beam that will be used as an overhead crane with 2 chain blocks on rollers. My woodlot is mostly mature hard maple and other hard woods with logs of 20, 25 and 30 inch in diameter. They are way too heavy to be handled manually and rotated with a cant-hook. I am also planning to extend the overhead crane over the log pile located just after the sawmill such that I can bring the logs in with the overhead crane, removing the need to use the tractor. It is an interesting design challenge as I also need to be able to build it alone. Thank you for sharing your experience, it certainly helped me in my thought process and helps me to muster the courage to start building mine. 🙂 -- Also enjoyed your other video on beam sizing. Quite helpful.
Great job on that shed. That sled base is awesome. That was the first thing that caught my eye on the first video of yours that I watched. Again, you did a great job on the shed and thanks for for sharing. John.
Great build and and great video. It’s given me some very good info for sure on designing a cover for my track. I’m going to have to go with at least a 6/12 or more on my pitch for our snow load in my neck of the woods. We can’t put gutters on anything up here as they would get ripped off of the building first big snow. Liked, commented, and Subscribed👍🏻👍🏻👍🏻
Excellent shed and more than excellent explanation of the design!! I think it needs a back wall. Even if the wind was blowing into the front it would be diminished because it can't go through. Art from Ohio
Well, that is the side that the mill sprays sawdust on, and it's a *LOT* of sawdust, so it's good to leave that side open. Some people use a diverter and bucket but for the volume of sawing I do, it doesn't make sense. You could certainly close in the front though. The other issue to worry about is exhaust fumes and airflow. I visited someone that put their mill inside a closed barn, and it was a real problem. They really needed an exhaust fan and makeup air.
Great setup. Starting the lay out for my mill shed and you gave me some good ideas. New to your channel. we love all things milling. My mill is arriving in two weeks. I have to get the base for it ready and built. Thanks. Tony & Joanie @ Creekside Maples Homestead
Thanks for sharing. I think another video showing/explaining the base for the mill itself would be a good add to your sawmill series. Thanks again for your time.
Nice channel and vids, looking forward to watching the others. If you flowed your gutter into a rain barrel with a spigot, you’d have a constant source of water for the tank on your mill. Looks like a woodland mills? I get my HM126 here any day now and can’t wait. Probably do something very similar to what you did for the sawmill shed, it looks great.
Great ! I just requested this video on one of your other vids.. lmao. Guess I coulda done a little digging, eh? Gotta 150 acres in Eastern KY... Time to start building! Appreciate the vid!
Great looking sawmill shack you've constructed there. As for your gutters and the pine trees, I would suggest installing some gutter screens over them to keep the bulk of the leaves and pine needles out of the gutters. It will save you from having to clean them out. Do you plan on building a log deck on the front side of your sawmill shack to store several logs at once and make it easier to roll the logs onto the mill?
Enjoyed this, learned good stuff. Recently I severed my right hand wrist flexor tendons and nerve stuff trying to catch a roof metal that was falling off during an install. Wear gloves with cuffs , tig welding gloves and a fire hose jacket or carhartt to protect your neck. Please be careful with metal roofing. I have done multiple metal roofs and dont get careless. Not having wrist flexors sucks. Since my accident I've heard multiple stories that has turned my stomach. I'm grateful my injury was not worse. Treat metal roofing like razor blades.
I'm about to start preparing to build my first structure from my woodlands mill and plan to build something very similar to this. Very nicely done. Thanks for the great video showing some of the details.
Love Love Love the structure/building. The only thing I would have done differently would be I would have made it longer. I like a lot of space plus if you ever get a new longer model or simply want to put an extender on it, you would have the room.
Nice work. Concerning the span across the front, there was enough vertical space to fabricate in place a truss from manageable lengths of your own lumber that would have been at least as strong as the lvl's.
you can also truss your opening. i think it is called a scissors truss or x truss. It both supports and hangs . You can also cut the span with your braces up high out of the way. Nice buildings.i asume it faces south. You can hang tarps in the back to keep out snow. All the snow will dump toward the back. pine for framing is not that great, but...If its what u have..
Heck, steel may have been best for me too -- normally I have access to leftover I-beams or can find something at a scrap yard, but this time around, no luck finding one long enough when I needed it.
Excellent video! Beautiful looking building! Even with 18” overhang all around, the building looks too narrow!!! Didn’t catch the size of the building, but it looks like the sawyer doesn’t have enough coverage on a windy day to keep the rain off him! Maybe u don’t saw on a rainy windy day!! Just my thoughts
Maybe I missed it. Just curious how tall your front posts are out of the ground vs the back post. I really like the build and the channel. Great content. Thanks
Jack, sorry another question, I’m going to use a flat Pratt truss to span the distance. Did you notch the post to accept the beam then apply the flat plate plus through bolts?
I did all that, but only used plates because I had them cut already (was intending to use a large pine beam sitting on top of the posts until I realized it would be too heavy). The LVLs were thinner, and really just needed the notching and through bolts. For most other projects like that, I just notch the post and through bolt. 1/2" bolts generally work well for this.
Most of my projects are built with green lumber. For the projects that require seasoned lumber, I store the lumber in a garage with a dehumidifier for 6-12 months until the desired moisture content is reached.
Great set up. I just bought myself the same mill. Where did you buy the Diamond gusset plates that joint the 6x6 posts. Or did you buy a full plate and cut them and spray painted. Are they steel.
Yes I had grabbed a couple big sheets of steel diamond plate at the scrap yard many years ago and decided to use some of it for the gusset plates rather than buy new flat plate stock. Diamond plate is harder to cut and drill but I already had it so I used it. Paint is brush-on rustoleum oil enamel.
I'm getting a mill in Feb, just wondering how your sawmill shed is fairing regarding the use of green lumber? What if anything would you do different? Thanks for the video- mills shed looks great.
Here's another video where I revisited the project after 8 months: ru-vid.com/video/%D0%B2%D0%B8%D0%B4%D0%B5%D0%BE-fioVE_omSEE.html Short take is that it all worked out well, no issues.
Hello, Thank you for your explanation. I'm going to build a very similar shed. I have a question about it and hope you read these comments, You mentioned you planned to mill a 25' beam at 6" by 14" for the snowload in your area. I've been looking everywhere but dont know how to find out what size beam I need to make for the front of my shed. Mine will be 22 ft long but I live in British Columbia, I'm assuming I'll need about a 6"/14" pine beam like you mentioned but want to be sure. Thanks
Start with your local snow loads and work out how much weight would be on the roof, then divide by half for the portion carried by the front beam. There are beam calculations and tables that can tell you how to size the beam based on a distributed load over the span with two end supports. You will take into account the material and construction of the beam. I had run the calculations for southern yellow pine and LVL beams to get sizing. Basically, you want the stress in the beam to be lower than the safe stress limits for the material and construction. I normally size for 25 psf snow loads for this area, tidewater Virginia. You can also add in the material weight, but for a metal roof it tends to be much lower than even a modest snow load.
Jack, using a lot of your suggestions for our sawmill shed. Many thanks. You said that the front span was 2 LVL’s, what were the width of each and depth? How held together?
@@waynepettipas895 The LVLs are about 2" wide each and about 12-13" tall. Don't remember exactly, but they are standard sized. Two of them are sistered to each other with 12D framing nails shot every 12" top and bottom, then cross-bolted to the posts on the ends. That is for a 25PSF snow load over about 270 sq.ft of roof area and 25' span in front. Adjust as needed for other local snow loads.
Did you have to get a building permit and also have to get engineered plans - I live in Northern Ontario and want to build a sled like yours but don't see how I can use rough cut without the prints?? Is there a way around these regulations?
In my county in Virginia USA, anything under 256 sq.ft. does not need a permit. So I do a lot of buildings that are right under that limit. Saves a lot of hassle. I still build them to code but I don't need inspections or permits. If you want to use ungraded lumber on a larger structure, it will need to be inspected and/or a structural engineer will need to sign the plans. This might be feasible for posts and beams where you can oversize in order to give extra margin against wood defects. But for framing lumber (you could have hundreds/thousands of individual pieces) it would be a chore. Some states have exemptions if the lumber comes off the same property as the structure. Some states have exemptions for farm structures. Some states will allow you to hire an inspector to grade the lumber. It's very different from state to state. Best to inquire in your locality and see what the options are.
You said there was 2 LVL beams across the front, were they both 25' long and span the entire width, or do they overlap somehow ? Also you never mentioned the base for the mill. Is it just sitting on the ground or are the legs into the ground the same as the building ?
Yes, two LVLs, each 1.75"x11.875" and 25' long. They are sistered up with 12D nails every 12". The mill base pokes down into the ground about 18" -- I wanted to get the bottom of the legs below the frost line here.
Thank you for answering my questions and sharing. You have a very well built and attractive shed for your mill that will last as long as you need to. It looks great.
Your Woodlands Mill looks like a fine machine. I bought a Norwood HD36 so I could mill bigger dia. logs and it has the ability to add things down the road, like hydraulics or power lift saw head. I am an engineer ,like you, although retired, so I could build whatever components I wanted as well. I made a log load/Turner for my mill. I use a tractor to load logs on a homemade log deck then roll them on the mill either with cant hook or the loader. I could load logs on to the mill with the loader if I didn't want to use the tractor with a set of ramps. I will try attach a picture so if you are interested in one you can build it.
Haven't been able to attach a pic. Since I can't, I'll tell you. I used an electric winch mounted to a cherry picker (like you use to pull an engine)that will pivot so you can move it out of the way. I bought a replacement hook for a cant hook or peavey and attached it to the cable with a small clevis so I could easily remove it from the hook on the cable if I wanted to use the winch to load a log by parbuckeling and using ramps. Pictures would have helped. I have pics just can't get them to attach.
The back center post didn't look like it was treated. What kind of wood did you use for the back center post? Did you place it in cement like the others?
Unfortunately they can't use ungraded lumber without a big hassle. It's doable for beams but would be a chore for framing lumber. Too bad, because the lumber I saw is better quality than you can buy.
@@Lumber_Jack spray it with some Thompsons water seal every year or two. No need to get too fancy haha Beautiful home for your mill though! Awesome job
I always thought it best to use gravel instead of concrete around your posts in the ground so they could drain off water and dissipate moisture better. I fine job in any respect.
Definitely gravel is great to use in soil that drains and will keep the post hole dry. But in our clay soil, it won't add any benefit, since the clay makes the post hole like a bucket and it will hold water if you use gravel or a porous fill. Concrete (being denser than clay) will at least act like a plug in the hole and displace the water.
@@Lumber_Jack Unless I'm expecting a large side load, I don't get burying wood into wet soil. I use a Sonotube or similar and embed a metal bracket into the top of the curing concrete column.
@@johnsdsl I agree in general. But for a pole barn, you usually want the posts down deep for resistance to wind loads. The resisting moment provided by this mounting method, together with proper wall bracing, is key to handling wind loads and preventing the structure from folding over. Sometimes, the weak link will be the soil's ability to resist the motion, so that is the next thing to consider.
You can shift it back and forth on the mill bed (which is 19'), but it's a tedious process. I was planning to use my Alaskan mill, since it make short work of large pine beams and I could cut it on site where the tree fell. Much easier overall.
@@Lumber_Jack Ok thanks. That seems like a quite daunting task either way. I would be hard pressed to find a guide rail for the first cut with an alaskan mill. I've got a 50' extension ladder but still, I would need every last mm of its capacity. I'm commenting because I'm in the process of planning a shed of my own. Any thoughts on laminating such a large beam?
@@Lumber_Jack Thinking about something similar but with a removable center post on the front that I could place on a concrete pier that is level to the ground, just in the winter to handle the snow load.
Thanks for the drawings I ordered a 130 max three weeks ago it’ll probably be a little higher. I was just wondering how high the roof would have to be to clear the measuring stick
No but it's a fairly standard pole barn, so not complicated to design. Biggest thing to work out is the size beam needed for the front span, and that will be dependent on your local snow loads. I covered beam spec/design in another video.
Not with the two LVL beams in there -- they have about 130% of the stiffness required for the span for our snow loads. That won't sag in anyone's lifetime.
