OwlCrest - A Journey To Reconnect: October 2021

Why OwlCrest

OwlCrest is 40 acres of granite laden beautiful woods atop a mountain in Brattelboro, Vermont. I purchased the land with the intent of making it a retreat where my children, families, and their families could re-connect with the most primitive elements of life. OwlCrest is a place to discover our hidden talents and pursue dreams without complexity or judgement. OwlCrest is a place just to be.....

At dusk, if you sit quietly long enough at the crest of the land and listen, you will hear the rhythms of the forest. Owls calling out their names and asking who else is there. I'm here and who are you? We are just a visitor here, a temporary custodian of something that will soon be forgotten. I lived and worked here once. It was my privilege.

Sunday, October 3, 2021

Sill is on and Carrying Beam Up!

Seth and I put a double plated pressure treated sill and carrying beam up this weekend.

Our Logging Equipment

The mill houses the the woodmizer, planer, and tractor. Its a 24' by 16' cantilevered design to hold up the roof using 4 10" posts. .

This is an Oliver 550 where we reverse engineered the hydraulics and made a tap (prototyped using 3d printing) so we could attach a log grapple to the bucket. It works a little better than we had expected.

This is the woodmizer sawmill. We can sut up to 21' foot log lengths.

This is the planer, the blades are out and new belts being created (out of Pennsylvania). It was created at the height of mechanical engineering.

This is what makes this planer special, it has a track roller consisting of sections that weight 50 lbs each. It can plane a 27" by 27" beam that reaquires this type of friction to push it through.