Pam and I purchased just under 5 acres in the spring of 2003 and the logs were delivered 9/2003. The kit was purchased from Wilderness Log Homes in May. They worked really well with us to get the logs by September and we are very pleased with the results we got. This is a half log construction home.

On July 17th 2006 we finished staining the west side of the house. So far we have all of the railing done for the south deck and the logs on the east side. We are hoping to have all of the staining completed before late fall. The process is rather long just to get the logs ready for stain. First the logs are sprayed with a solution that is applied with a garden sprayer. This solution sits on the logs for 15 minutes then we use a pressure washer set to 500 psi to rinse the logs off. After the logs are dry we then go over the logs with an Osborn Buffing brush or a 4 inch hand sander to take the fuzz off the logs. The logs cannot sit any longer than 30 days before the first application of stain is applied. If you wait any longer than 30 days a recleaning and buffing/sanding is needed.

We choose Sikkens Log and Siding stain to apply to the logs and rough cut cedar. This particular product requires two coats. Many products require 3. I can't image having to do 3 coats as I think we will be lucky to get the home done in one season with only two coats.

We will be adding content to this section as we complete more of the staining.

Several years ago I meet Will Lane on the Hobart Welding Forum. Will and I realized we lived within 15 miles of each other and started to spend time working in my shop or his on the weekends. One of the many projects we worked on was his upgrades to his 6" horizontal band saw. Another project that Will and I worked on together was a bucket that I attached to my JD X475 Garden Tractor. Here is a link to the article that Farm Show Magazine did on it. Scoop bucket.

I bought both the mill and lathe from Whole Sale Tools in Detroit about 5 years ago. I started with the mini-lathe from HF only to graduate up to the HF 9 x 20 serveral months later. Then after another serveral months I realized I had the bug bad and upgraded to the Mill and Lathe you see now.

I have the Shooting Star Dro on the Lathe and the Shumatec 350DRO that I built on the mill.

Click this link to see more photos of projects

One of the first projects was digging the pond. You can just make it out to the right of this picture. This area is low and always collects all of the run off from our slopes. Eventually I will trench in a drain to the lower part of our property and dry this area up. In the center of the picture you can see where I used a subsoiler to break up the hard clay so I could plant pheasant forever nesting mix. All of the land on this level of our property had to have this done.

MORE COMING SOON

Wildlife