Stock preparation for chairbuilding extravaganza

The summer holiday is upon us with all that it means = not too much time for woodworking. Next time I get home from the ship the plan is to have a chairbuilding extracaganza meeting, where a couple of woodworkers will try to make a Welsh stick chair.
The meeting is going to be held at my place, and I am going to supply the elm for the seat blanks.

This means that for once I actually have a purpose for sawing with the mulesaw.

going through 24" of old elm isn't easy, so one plank takes more than 1 hour to saw. Yesterday I had to rearrange the motor for the mulesaw, because the flat belts kept slipping. Now I have made the setup, so there is no clutch between the electric motor and the saw, but still it is not a fast saw.
The good thing is, that the surface looks nice, and the board is flat.

Compare the size of the log to the standard barrel next to it.

Close up of the saw blade.

A look from the outfeed side.

Hay slide

I arrived home Friday, and one of the points on the "Honey do list" was to make some sort of arrangement to move the bales of hay to the hay loft.
The bales are a bit bulky and not super light, and the stairs leading to the hay loft are narrow and steep.

Asger really liked the idea of putting in some sort of machinery to facilitate the moving of the bales. He had seen that we had an old hand cranked winch in the barn, so he asked if we could use that one.
We decided for a system with a small door leading directly to the hay loft, and a slide for the bales to guide them, and the winch to haul them up.

We screwed on a couple of battens to hold the boards in place while we sawed out the door. Then we cut a little bit of every side of the door to make certain it wouldn't bind.
Asger helped sawing out the boards that were to be fixed on the front of the door to make it close tight.
We found some old hinges that were fine for the project, and all in all it went smoothly.

The winch is not really a winch, but an old clothes roller that had the top roller removed. So there is no locking mechanism but since the weight of a bale is not that high, it will be OK. It will also not be directly hoisted, but more pulled up the slide.

Tomorrow I'll go to town and buy a sheet of masonite to use for the slide.

The stable before the job.

A hole for the door.

Asger mounting some boards.

The finished door and the proud worker.