South Fork Sawmill

[Rick_Marty]

OK,
Got the CAD (that’s cardboard assisted design) program working to get the layout relationship of the track to the spar tree, boom and donkey to make sure this will actually work.

Jumping ahead a bit, the table construction is finished, the spar tree and tail trees are set and the fill is all installed.

To set the spar and tail trees holes were drilled through the 2 by blocking below and screws used to tighten the trees as they dried out. Normally the guy wires would go from the spar tree to stumps 4-5 feet above the ground but I had to use much taller “stumps” to anchor the guy wires so that the trains could pass underneath. The block in the center will be used to anchor the lines coming back to the donkey drums so that things are easily removable.

Track all in and ballasted ready for the next steps.

[David_Marconi_FOGCH (David Marconi CHHNNG)]

Rick, your CAD made a great start for my day.

[Rooster]

I agree Hollywood !!!
I also love the tree mounting idea and was hoping to see (CAD) toilet paper and paper towel tubes as mock ups.

[Rick_Marty]

A little progress.

The 4 guy lines are installed from the top of the spar tree to the anchor points on the snub off trees. They are hard to se in this photo, they are 1/16 th SS cable stained with red primer. Everything came out pretty tight and strong, we will see if it remains that way.

The top of the spar tree. I used small screw eyes and a cut down PVC ring for the upper anchor points.

Developed a scale drawing of the Heel Boom to figure out all the detail locations. I think the boom is going to have to be weighted to hold the cables tight. Maybe some added lead inserts, hmmmm.

If I ever get all these damn trees trimmed and the brush hauled off maybe I can get this project rolling.
Thanks for taking a look.

[ctown2 (Craig Townsend)]

Is this something that you’ll keep our over the winter?

[Rick_Marty]

Craig,
The Spar, boom, and rigging will stay out, the donkey will be put away.

[Rick_Marty]

Building the boom.

Most but not all booms were built from logs not squared timbers, however using squared timbers makes it a lot easier in the model. I’m always up for easier .

I first cut the 7/8ths side timbers from Sugar Pine and located the positions for the cross timbers. I then built up my Dado blade stack to cut the 7/8th dados but when I placed it on the saw spindle I only had room for about 2 threads on the holding nut.

Now I’m not the most cautious guy in the world sometimes but even I wasn’t going to spin 5 pounds of stacked blades at 10,000 RPM with only 2 threads holding them in place. so back to the old fashioned way, multiple cuts and wood chisels.

I placed a shim on the one end so that the cross timbers would be 90 degrees to the angled side timbers, made my cuts and cleaned everything up with chisels and rasps.

Figured out the lengths needed for the cross members, cut the Spar Tree saddle in the back one and glued everything up.

It’s coming along.+

[Rick_Marty]

Guess it is time to catch up a little here.

I drilled 5/8ths pockets in the bottom of the boom and filled them with lead shot to add weight so that the cables would look tighter when strung.

Next I used a small gouge to simulate the hand broad ax hewing of the beams.

All the bolting plates were made from lead sheet to add more weight to the boom.

The boom after being distressed and stained.

Next the rigging, that ought to be fun.

[Neil_Wiggins]

Love the lead shot idea Rick. Scale rope and wire is hard to get to look right if it’s not taut.

Cheers
N

[Hines (Bill)]

Rick,
The South Fork Sawmill has been bothering the back of my mind for a while now. Are the owners by any chance related to J.R & Sue-Ellen Ewing?

[Rick_Marty]

No, not at all. Add letters for fluff.

[Rick_Marty]

The boom completed and ready to hang.

Top view

Bottom view

In place and ready for rigging.

getting close to finished.

[Cliff_Jennings]

Looks beautiful Rick.

How do you paint your hardware?

[Rooster]

That’s awesome!
So how long after it’s installed do we get to catch it on fire so we can send your fire train out?

[Rick_Marty]

Cliff,
Look here.

ARTICLE: WEATHERING for the look of OLD IRON

  During the Build Challenge this year several members asked about the weathering on by Heel Boom Loader build and Jim asked for an SBS article to show what I did to get this finish.  So here is a description of what I used and how I used it to get the results that I ended up with.  You may or may not care for the colors I chose for the base coats or the rust so if you try this method feel free to change to any colors you want.     [image] I like the RUST-OLEUM  brand of automotive primers…

and here

ARTICLE: WEATHERING for the look of OLD IRON Part 2

  The second half of this step by step on aging iron machinery is about to start so grab a (insert favorite beverage) and we will get started.     [image]I know that most of this picture is a little fuzzy but you can see my point on the near fender.  The Krylon Matte has been sprayed on and let dry at least a day.  You can see the surface looks slightly “rough”; this gives the “tooth” for the weathering coats that I mentioned earlier.     [image]The Brown Oxide craft paint is applied in a…

[Rick_Marty]

Dave,
lets hope that doesn’t happen, I would hate to have to build another one.
But the fire train is always on stand-by in the Summer time.

[Rick_Marty]

OK, Project all finished.
I couldn’t resist setting up the scene to get a feel for how it will look when we are running.

[Pete_Lassen]

Looks great!!! Will be a nice photo op !!!

[Rick_Marty]

Thanks Pete, we thought so too. I have added a few more details since these photos were taken.

[Rick_Marty]

Added the firewood cutting area with the Jin Pole log handler.
Next the water reserve tank or tanks.