UnPlugged

Just received the manual mortising machine.  Its late 1800's vintage and made for a small workshop or  furniture maker.   Creates a mortis using leverage from your foot, and looks like a drill press.  Has a three sided chisel.     Great machine for OwlCrest and plan on restoring it this winter.  Completely off the grid, human powered, green and mean!  Will keep updating this post with progress.

Shipped it from California, this thus the pallets and packaging.   Hope to have a video of it working soon.  

Machine Shed Design

This is the design of the machine shed made with a solid modeler OpenSCAD.  The beams are going to be the hardest part to saw as they will be 20' and 24'.

It has four open sides to easily get equipment in and out.  

The Sawyers

The Woodmizer mill has arrived, installed, and we cut our first lumber for OwlCrest.   We felled three hemlock trees with about 20 inch girth each.   We are saving the pine trees for the wood shop.   New hydraulic bucket worked great getting the logs in.  

Seth and Nick were here all day to help with the logging and milling.   A lot of work and two trees including the milling takes a full day.  Based upon the yield, I am guessing we need 15 - 18 trees for the equipment shed.   Today was a little slow as we had to learn both how to choke logs and use the sawmill.

The pile keeps growing!

June 19th, 2016. Another work day on the pile.  We can do about a tree a day between cutting, hauling, and sawing.   We are sawing 1 inch boards and 2x8x12' rafters.  Nick works for beer and a meal! 

October 19, 2016.  Have most of the main beams cut.  Moving them wet without the tractor is almost impossible.  Bigger beams weigh a few hundred pounds each.   Hopefully will loose majority of weight when dry. 

Oliver 550 New Bucket and Hydraulics

New Hydraulics

I had to reverse engineer the Oliver 550 Hydraulics to add a modern valve and bucket loader to my tractor.     It is a open circuit flow that requires constant circulation of the fluids.    I created the part with a solid modeler and had a machine shop tool it for me.   The  bottom hose is the source for the bucket loader and the middle is the return.    I added a second return that allowed a two way valve to work with one way cylinders, i.e. the when the cylinders are allowed to return to the closed position, it "pumps" fluids back into the reservoir instead of reversing the cylinder.

Refurbished Bucket Loader

Here is a picture of the bucket loader I purchased second hand for $300.

Great shape, but we had to re-fabricate the bucket.   I added the forks to allow us to pick rocks and roots easily without taking away the topsoil.   Seth an I put the loader framework this Spring with very few problems and and installed new washers and bolts.    Hydraulics worked first time and surprised myself more than it did Seth! 

New Trip Mechanism

I had to create a new trip mechanism for the bucket as older one rusted out.   Pull the ring and the bucket dumps.  To lock it back in place, you must place bucket on ground and back up.   Oh, well, a new set of cylinders for bucket next year! 

One half of the Crest is cleared.

November 2015.  Cleared half of the field at the crest of the land.  More than 50 stumps and as many big rocks.  Using a tractor with logs tied behind to level the field.  Too late to plant any grass, will do that in the Spring.   I have views in 3 directions, just have to choose what to clear and what to keep.  Also have a lot of Maple trees that I want to keep. 

Here is the tractor with two logs behind it to level the field. 

This is one of the stump piles. Its hard to see the scale, but the pile is bout 10 feet tall. 

Some Guiding Principles of OwlCrest

OwlCrest will be off the grid.  No internet connections, no electric wires, no televisions.  It is a place to be unencumbered by the complexities and interruptions of technology.   Whatever exists on OwlCrest will be used to create the transient fixtures of OwlCrest.   

"from the land unto the land" 

I want it to be a sustainable ecosystem.   Managed logging, managed resources and zero impact. Every time a resource is taken from the land, I want some thoughtful reflection on the consequences. Is it sustainable and how will it impact the future generations?  I want it to be available as it is for all future generations to come.   

There is no real beginning or end to OwlCrest.  The land was created billions of years ago and there is no predicting what it will become.   In my remaining time I am just going to work on the next project without any real plan.   My hope is someday there will be a workshops for woodworking, blacksmithing, pottery, cooking, sugaring, distilling, and any art that can be pursued from the land.   I hope to have a general lodge, and a few small cabins for artisans to retire to and an outdoor kitchen.  

I hope future custodians of the land will live by zero impact and sustainable practices.   This should be spirit that guides the land. 

OwlCrest - A Place To Be

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 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..... 

I had a heart attack when I was 53 years young and managed to survive simply because I was within 10 minutes of a hospital.  OwlCrest has given me tranquility and the hope to live what is remaining of my life in a state of just being.  No rushing for the next train, the next movie, a good seat at a restaurant, the next customer, or the next job.   I am sorry it took a heart attack to teach me to live in the moment.   My hope is that OwlCrest will be a place for generations that my family can live in the moment without the catalyst of a major life event.