Siding

In a previous post we mentioned our cedar siding. Well, after discovering that the western red cedar plywood is on backorder for 3 months and that "true" cedar board & battens are insanely expensive, we are exploring other options. We are seriously thinking about using white oak from the property for siding and putting the boards up green, just as they did in the old days. We weren’t too wild about using cedar that's trucked all the way across the country anyway. We already have a good number of dead and felled oak trees on the property and there's also a big cost advantage going this route. So we called our Woodmizer friend Matthew to check out his availability. Then we found out more bad news, Matthew sold his mill. Sigh. Now we are searching locally for someone else who might have a portable Woodmizer and are even, dare we say, thinking about buying our own sawmill.

Yesterday we took an inventory of possible oak trees to use. There is a huge oak that came down during the 2004 tornado. It lies just down the hill from Holmes and Linda's house. We carefully sawed into it and soon discovered that about half (20 ft) of the massive log was rotten. The other section appeared to be in great shape. Our plan was to put the 2 "good" 10-ft sections on Sam's home-made cart, then haul it up to the field. The sequence of events went something like this:Cutting the first 20 foot section to see if it's any good to use.No good. It's rotten, although it had really pretty fungi on it. The poor bobcat pushed, but was unable to lift the massive section out of the way. So much for putting the sections on the cart. Cutting into the other 20 foot section. Checking (and smelling) the oak. The section looked great and smelled awesome too. It seemed like every gnat in Loudoun County was swarming around us and it's surprising they didn't end up in any of the photos. So now it's time to figure out the sawmill dilemma. More on that later...