Hey, Trailmaker!

Sounds like a good time. I wish I could be there. Missoula is just 9 hours down I-90.
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That old fella in the photo earned that honor by volunteering more days than anyone else in building this bridge. He really knows his stuff. And he can still do it.

Reminds me of a remodel job at a church I did about 15 years ago. I ran the project with volunteer labor from the church - mostly retired fellas. My best 5 workers had a combined total of 7 bypass surgeries. Best crew I ever had! They'd actually fight over who got to do the hardest dirtiest job. You just can't beat volunteers. They truly have their heart in it.
 
yeah, were pretty excited about going... ive never been to anything like it before, so if nothing else, it'll be an interesting experiance...
 
Have really enjoyed this thread. Square_Peg please pass on my best wishes to the 'Old Timer' from one stranger to another.
I respect that guy just from what you have posted. I shared your post with my wife and we both agreed the gold (painted spike) was so cool.

Bear...Your upcoming event sounds just like the rendezvous of the 'Mountain Men' of time past. Hope you both have a great time and we look forward to hearing about it.

regards...Frank
 
your right frank, the 'gold' spike is very cool...

and thanks, i'll let you fellows know how it goes...:)
 
Fantastic story and pics. What a legacy the 81 year old is leaving. There are many bridges like this one but shorter in Alaska. Volunteers help on some of those trails also.

Howard
 
Alaskan chain saw mill. That's a Stihl with a 56" bar.

The log is prepared by screwing a plank down to it, shimmed perfectly flat as a guide for the saw. We use 3" screws and set the depth of the saw for 3-1/4".

There's an auxiliary handle at the tip of the chainsaw bar. It takes to people to operate it. That tank sticking up in the air is an auxiliary oiler. The chainsaw's built in oiler is insufficient for 112" of chain.

The rack attached to the saw rides on the plank screwed to the log. The plank is only used for the first cut. Subsequent cuts ride on the flat surface produced by the first cut.

Alaskan_chain_saw_mill.jpg
 
Making a bench. A volunteer is chiselling these logs flat. We'll set a large cedar plank across the 3 logs when he's finished. We could have just stood them on end but they look cooler this way. Plus it's fun to hack on a big ol' hunk of wood.
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I wish we had more cedar around here. Cedar is cool wood.

I've run an alaskan chainsaw mill just like that. My grandpa has one, and he's made many, many planks for various projects. Pretty awesome contraptions.
 
Square_peg said:
It's very soft wood but it's naturally rot resistant. That's why it's used for roofing shingles and siding and such. This bridge is predicted to last 50-70 years.
Click to expand...

I love cedar. For a couple of years during college I had a business doing fence, deck, pergola, etc installs. For those that wanted cedar fences with wood posts, I always tried to steer them into cedar posts instead of pressure treat. Rarely would people go for it. Not only do they look better, but I think they last pretty much just as long and are less prone to warping which pressure treat is really bad about. Not to mention the nastiness that's in that treated wood. If you think that pressure treated wood is totally benign (which many do) then why is it recommended that you collect and discard ALL sawdust from working pressure treated wood???
 
Really nice work Square. I'm a trailworker in NH but rarely get to work on bridges and nothing like this. Thanks for sharing.
 
I've been doing some more chainsaw mill work lately. We're making some 9"x9"x15' timbers for use in a kiosk. This is the smaller size mill with one power head and one oiler. The timbers we're using are 14" to 16" in diameter and 16' long.

Chainsaw_mill1.jpg



My partner and I cut the third side of one of our timbers.

Chainsaw_mill2.JPG
 
Peg,
This is a great read. The photos are awesome. Thank you.

Reminds me of my favorite trail/bridge to Laird Hot Springs in B.C.. Beautiful trail and scenery that ends in a glorious soak in a hot spring right smack dab in the middle of the woods. If any of you are ever driving the ALCAN swing on into the campground there and go for a hike/soak. Well worth it.
 
Nice job, Peg. My grandpa has a big alaskan saw mill like that. Pretty fun stuff.
 
I've been working with a Washington Trails Association youth group this past week. Great bunch of kids. I love instilling a sense of stewardship for our local natural areas and trails in young folks. Along with the kids are a few adult volunteers, some young, some old. The WTA group leader the past few days has been a young gal, 25 years old, from the east coast who has been an avid trail builder for several years. One of the adults is crosscut saw guru. We did a bunch of cutting yesterday. He's helping another volunteer brush up on her saw skills so she can get recertified. That guy is also a crazy good good trail digger and axeman.

Anyway yesterday I'd been out scouting the next piece of trail to work on and as I returned to the work area I see a Pulaski flying high and hear the thunks of it hitting wood. THUNK! THUNK! THUNK! I'm thinking to myself, man that guy is an animal with an axe. Then I turn the corner and see that the axeman is our 25 year group leader! This gal is going to town on some fallen cedar. Swingin' an axe like a pro!
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So I start talking to her about axes this morning. Turns out she went thru two summers of trail building classes back in New Hampshire. First summer they start out by learning axes. Each students gets a single bit axe which they have to keep by their side all summer long. The learn how to sharpen it, re-hang it and care for it. She tells me that they had to keep their axes within 24" of them all summer long - including bringing it into their tents at night.

I pulled my nice German-made hatchet out of my pack to show it to her (I've posted pics here before). So she glances at the bit and immediately puts an educated eye on the hang of the thing. She lined up the handle with the bit and gave it close scrutiny before giving it an approving nod. Then she flips the haft over and eyeballs the grain! I loved it. This gal totally knew what to look for in an axe. She is one hard-core trail building junkie. :D
 
Here's a few pictures from this weeks work. Here the kids are carrying split cedar rails that we'll use on a short turnpike. We use 'sweet hooks' or log carriers to move the rails.

Split_rails-sweet_hooks.JPG



These rails really aren't all that heavy but moving them this way is easy for the kids and helps them build team spirit.

Sweet-hooks.JPG



Once set and staked in place with rebar the cedar rails support a crushed rock turnpike.

Turnpike.jpg
 
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