# Wood shed update, now with siding (also some milling pics)



## DiscoInferno (Aug 6, 2011)

So last year I built a woodshed using balsam fir timbers from my property in MI, the thread and pics are here:
https://www.hearth.com/econtent/index.php/forums/viewthread/57996/P0/
This year's task was to side it.  I had initially planned to get rough-sawn boards from a local sawmill, but now that I have a chainsaw mill I decided to do it myself.  My initial thought was cedar or hemlock, but I don't have any cedar and my hemlocks are all healthy.  The power company did cut down a big maple (red, I think) that had died near the power lines, so I started milling that.  It was around 22" diameter, and I'm milling with the Granberg "small log" mill with a 24" bar on a Husky 359.  In other words, slow.  Here's a terrible cell-phone shot of the first few slabs:
https://lh6.googleusercontent.com/-...AAAAAAAAok/deWHicIYqqA/s800/071301_125100.jpg
The slabs are 3/4" thick except at the ends, where they get progressively more lopsided.  Without using rails on each cut I really don't know how to avoid that, the mill tends to dive down once the leading edge of the frame passes the end of the log.  Here I cut an extra 8" or so to be trimmed later.  Here's the log reassembled for no good reason other than the photo:
https://lh6.googleusercontent.com/-IRdslGCQjZM/TjzoxHvN9JI/AAAAAAAAAoo/xJX-2iz4VtM/s800/p7144093.jpg
You can see it has a hook, the tree was a leaner and there's lots of tension wood.  We'll see how warped it all gets after a year of drying.
After further processing (snapped a line and freehand circular saw), I have siding from 5"-9" wide or so:
https://lh5.googleusercontent.com/-L3aAwGqmMJM/TjzozJN8gMI/AAAAAAAAAo0/xZUJXuGivwA/s800/p7274149.jpg

After I finished that log, one of my neighbors said I could have the big hemlock the power company had cut down on her property.  About 24" diameter, but *so* much easier to mill than the maple.  Must have cut twice as fast.  Here's the first log, sliced into 7/8" slabs and reassembled:
https://lh5.googleusercontent.com/-IC1FbzoOnvU/TjzoxsQ-K1I/AAAAAAAAAos/UtUzUOVAtvk/s800/p7274147.jpg
and here it is ripped into boards:
https://lh4.googleusercontent.com/-1Bqpe5yHf2Q/TjzoyWO-w_I/AAAAAAAAAow/Yotf9rLVTWw/s800/p7314152.jpg
All the freehand ripping with the circular saw can be tedious, but on the upside I can salvage most of the wood even with several shake lines (notorious in hemlock).

Finally, up goes the siding.  I used the maple for the sides and hemlock for the back.  It's an odd combo, but I'm an odd person.  (And I didn't feel like milling another hemlock log when I had all the maple already cut.)  Here's the front:
https://lh3.googleusercontent.com/-PTNRY_xkl5E/Tjzo1mIIpgI/AAAAAAAAApA/Z7JCCkbIEP0/s800/p8054161.jpg
and here's the back:
https://lh4.googleusercontent.com/-77Yt2GDJEj0/Tjzo4scpMnI/AAAAAAAAApQ/CHzbJgGWqJY/s800/p8054171.jpg
https://lh4.googleusercontent.com/-ZDleBh-IvH8/Tjzo5Zz2f0I/AAAAAAAAApU/RKLkoyMxUmI/s800/p8054174.jpg
I thought about some sort of battens for the corner joints, but ultimately just left them naked.  The board widths were pretty much chosen at random, with a 3/4" gap between boards for airflow.  There was a breeze off the lake today that I could feel flowing right through the back, should work well for seasoning.

So the shed's basically done now, except I plan to paint that bright galvanized flashing, either green or brown.  I figured I'd let it weather a while to help the paint stick.  I had planned to spend more time filling the shed this year, and I will get some more in there before I leave, but most of the standing dead trees are still standing so I'm not in a hurry.  I have leftover milled maple and hemlock and a little yellow birch that I will stack in the empty half, and I'll probably mill some more of the maple too.


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## maxed_out (Aug 6, 2011)

nice job and nice pics.  You should have pretty of dry wood for a long time.


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## TreePointer (Aug 6, 2011)

Love the look.  I don't do my own milling, but building with your own boards has to be very satisfying.


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## raybonz (Aug 6, 2011)

Excellent job and interesting pics! Your shelter looks rustic and strong! Very nice job..

Ray


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## PapaDave (Aug 6, 2011)

Great shots disco. I really like the "reassembled" pics. 
The shed looks good, and now the wood is better protected against the elements.


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## SolarAndWood (Aug 6, 2011)

Looks great.  It is interesting to see that you don't need a 120cc saw and a thousand dollar mill to make some useful material.


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## oldspark (Aug 6, 2011)

I dont know what it is about it but I can look at buildings like that all day long, nice job should serve you well.


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## Stax (Aug 6, 2011)

Awesome job man!  That's one impressive wood shed.  Wish I could make one like that.


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## shawneyboy (Aug 6, 2011)

Nice job,  should serve you for a long time.

shawn


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## GordonShumway (Aug 6, 2011)

That is a really nice looking wood shed. I love the rustic look.


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## Backwoods Savage (Aug 6, 2011)

Disco, that was a lot of work and the end result is great. I'll bet that breeze off the lake felt great too. Somehow it always feels better in the summer than it does in the winter. lol


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## golfandwoodnut (Aug 6, 2011)

Nice job, it will be neat to tell people you made your own lumber.  I am making some lumber myself and not sure what I am going to do with it yet.  I am having a small barn built now so I forsee some inside walls and workbench's etc.


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## thewoodlands (Aug 6, 2011)

Nice job on the milling and wood shed, we just started milling some white pine for our planned cabin/shed.

zap


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## wood-fan-atic (Aug 7, 2011)

SWEET....nice job, bro


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## GordonShumway (Aug 7, 2011)

Will you need to use a sealer on your milled wood, or does it weather pretty well like it is?


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## bogydave (Aug 7, 2011)

Very nice.
Good job!


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## DiscoInferno (Aug 7, 2011)

GordonShumway said:
			
		

> Will you need to use a sealer on your milled wood, or does it weather pretty well like it is?



My preference is to not have to do anything to it, but it remains to be seen if that's a viable option.  I figured I'd have to wait a year for it to dry before I could seal/stain it anyway, and I'll evaluate it then.  My parents have had mildew problems with untreated siding, and their shed is out in the open.  The back of my shed won't see much sun because of the woods, but it's also not going to be wet very often.  The maple already has some mildew from not stickering it immediately plus a fair bit of spalting from being dead for a while; it's going to be a bit of a science experiment comparing the two species over time.


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## Woody Stover (Aug 7, 2011)

Very nice! I really like the substantial look of that timber frame.


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## firefighterjake (Aug 8, 2011)

Nice looking woodshed.


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## smokinj (Aug 8, 2011)

Any Pic's of your mill set up? Got to love using your own wood to protect your own wood. ;-)


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## DiscoInferno (Aug 12, 2011)

smokinjay said:
			
		

> Any Pic's of your mill set up? Got to love using your own wood to protect your own wood. ;-)



Here's pretty much the whole shebang.  Husky 359 with a 24" bar I got on sale at Baileys a while back for $35 I think with a chain.  Granberg "small log" mill, which I seem to mostly use for 20"+ diameter logs that are by no means small.  And the Grandberg slabbing brackets with 2"x4"x10' rails, seen here with some more of the spalted mapled cut up.  The spalting hasn't made it all the way through yet, so I'm going to leave some for next year.  I'm hauling it across the road and down the driveway in a Ford Freestyle.  

I also have a $15 vertical sawing attachment from HF (the "lumber maker") that rides along a 2x4, but I've never actually used it yet.

Edit: I'm using Woodland Pro ripping chain, which is full-comp semi-chisel, and hand filling.


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## flyingvranch (Aug 12, 2011)

That's a nice job that you've done with the milled siding. I built my shed last year doing the same thing. I kept the live edge on the boards because I liked the look I suppose. My slabs were cut out of yellow pine a little over 1" thick. I just nailed them up green after cutting and they have dried nicely in the hot Texas sun this year. I always mill out any dead pines that I find on my ranch. I hate to see wood go to waste, especially since it's so darned expensive to buy. I just use a Stihl MS361 and a simple chainsaw milling attachment. Runs through that soft pine like butter and makes a fairly nice finish too.
Great job on your shed and I hope it serves you well!


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## smokinj (Aug 12, 2011)

DiscoInferno said:
			
		

> smokinjay said:
> 
> 
> 
> ...



Making really good use of it.....Looks like more people will catch on to what your doing!   If dont they should extra trigger time cheap enough and nice stuff to boot. Awesome.


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## DiscoInferno (Aug 12, 2011)

flyingvranch said:
			
		

> That's a nice job that you've done with the milled siding. I built my shed last year doing the same thing. I kept the live edge on the boards because I liked the look I suppose.



I'm a fan of live edges also, and I really like how you got a good fit by using successive slices.  In this case I was working with wide boards that all needed to be ripped in half, and I was cutting around ring shake also in the hemlock.  But there are still some live edges and corners poking through here and there.


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## jackofalltrades (Aug 12, 2011)

That looks real good man! I need something just like that and have everything to do it except the determination to get it done right now. Maybe when it cools off some I will jump on it. I will go back and look at your pics more this Fall and that will inspire me to get mine done.


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## raybonz (Aug 12, 2011)

flyingvranch said:
			
		

> That's a nice job that you've done with the milled siding. I built my shed last year doing the same thing. I kept the live edge on the boards because I liked the look I suppose. My slabs were cut out of yellow pine a little over 1" thick. I just nailed them up green after cutting and they have dried nicely in the hot Texas sun this year. I always mill out any dead pines that I find on my ranch. I hate to see wood go to waste, especially since it's so darned expensive to buy. I just use a Stihl MS361 and a simple chainsaw milling attachment. Runs through that soft pine like butter and makes a fairly nice finish too.
> Great job on your shed and I hope it serves you well!



Gotta say that is a nice wood shelter and even better wood stacks!

Ray


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## Backwoods Savage (Aug 12, 2011)

Disco, if you go there in February or March, you might have to dig down through the snow to find that wood shed. lol  I'm reminded of one time we sold a house and we had a small lp tank. The new owners wanted to know how much lp was in the tank. I had my oldest son dig down so we could see how full the tank was. lol Then after they moved in they had a problem because every time they came home their 2 dogs were always sitting on the peak of the roof of the house. It was easy as the snow went up to the eaves with no problem. Such is northern MI.


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