willow

Scott and Chad pulled two russian olive stumps out. We also picked up a black willow log and a tree of heaven stump.

The chinese elm stair treads are finally finished. We milled a set that are 3"x 10"x 3' wide. They are beautiful. It was a lot of fun and a good challenge trying to get as many as possible out of each log. We also milled a chunk of russian olive for Jonny Hymas to carve into sculptures. Katy is hauling the cut off sections that we will make into spoons, chopsticks etc. The block has some amazing grain. It is 5"x5"x 4' long.

Today was sunny and warm. What a gorgeous day. It was nice to work without being cold. We ware hoping that the nastiest part of winter is over. It feels like it. We picked up a large chinese elm and skidded it up on the trailer with the winch. The elm is for Karen's stair treads. Out at the mill we did some saw maintenance and katy did some more scraping on her elk hide. She is almost finished. Tomorrow we mill stairs!

hides

Katy worked on splitting her elk hide (removing the hair) with a draw knife. She is also working on some sheep hides that will have the wool on! Scott worked on the trailer and cleaning up around the mill, sorting wood, and other random projects.

floor

We went and looked at the floor that Derek and Cynde put down. It is a beetle kill engelman spruce floor that we milled for them back in the summer. It still has to be sanded and finished but it looks great so far.

truck

The throw-out bearing went out on the truck so we pulled the transmission (thanks Chris!) and put a new clutch in. Lots of fun. Now we are back to work. Look for pictures of the finished black walnut mantle soon. Also pics of Katy tanning a bunch of hides.. sheep, elk, and deer.

winch

We tested out the new winch set up on the trailer. it was so easy to move huge blocks of chestnut onto the trailer. we should be able to get to more trees alot faster. the trialer has lights and stuff and is legal now! We just dropped off the black walnut mantle and uprights and will post a before and after when eric installs them. Today we are working on a bunch of small projects, cutting boards, finishing the sink, a small burl platform, etc..