# Table I built on my favorite trail



## mountainguyed67

Took two days. Base logs are 17" diameter by 7' long,risers are 12" diameter by 3' long and bench & table planks are 12" diameter by 10' long. Trail is very remote and this is done instead of hauling something in.

Lakecamp. Lake.











Edit: My pictures were gone, so I put them back.


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## graybear13

Nice! What kind of wood is that? Down here in the south, the wood weevils would have that eat up in six months time.:msp_angry:


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## mountainguyed67

graybear13 said:


> Nice! What kind of wood is that? Down here in the south, the wood weevils would have that eat up in six months time.:msp_angry:



They last decades up there. There are termites,but they seem to leave the tables alone. 

The wood is Lodgepole Pine,doesn't grow below 6,500 ft. This table is at 9240 ft. Best picture I could find of the trees.


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## mountainguyed67

Repaired tables after trees fell on them.











From another campground on the same trail.


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## samdweezel05

That's fantastic. We live at 140 feet above sea level, lol.


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## mountainguyed67

samdweezel05 said:


> That's fantastic. We live at 140 feet above sea level, lol.



Will build more when opportunity presents. It's a lot of work,but I enjoy it and I use them too. 

Thanks.


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## mountainguyed67

graybear13 said:


> wood weevils would have that eat up in six months time.:msp_angry:



These things? I'm guessing we don't have them.


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## samdweezel05

mountainguyed67 said:


> Will build more when opportunity presents. It's a lot of work,but I enjoy it and I use them too.
> 
> Thanks.



I enjoy it too.


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## mountainguyed67

Cool!

I don't have an attachment,just do it freehand. I've had people suggest that I get one. Do you have more pics on here?


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## graybear13

Down here on the mudflat we call Mississippi,we have about any kind of bug that is known to man. Theyeat wood,people,plants,and sometimes,I suspect ,cars. The highest point in the state is around 275 ft and the humidity runs from 50% to 100%. Moisture and bugs won't let wood lay on the ground long! That sure is a cool looking place where your table is located. I notice you guys have some serious 4WDs, as we do here, but ours are for mud.Lol!


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## graybear13

I bought on of those mini mills from Baileys and found it was an awful lot of sugar for a dime! The thing will work the snot out of you, but it does make slabs and boards.


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## mountainguyed67

graybear13 said:


> That sure is a cool looking place where your table is located.
> 
> I notice you guys have some serious 4WDs, as we do here, but ours are for mud.Lol!



The trail is very special and we're lucky to have it.




You "need" a pretty serious 4WD to get to where the tables are. Breakage is common,leaf spring,drag link,tie rod,steering arm,pitman arm,steering box,u joint,axle,drive shaft,u bolts,locking hub,track bar,ring & pinnion,etc.


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## mountainguyed67

More


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## graybear13

Jeez! You guys call THAT, a trail? Sounds like you guys have the same problems as we do with 4wds. I heard once upon a time that 4wd was the Indian word for "throw money at it" !


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## mountainguyed67

graybear13 said:


> Jeez! You guys call THAT, a trail? Sounds like you guys have the same problems as we do with 4wds. I heard once upon a time that 4wd was the Indian word for "throw money at it" !



It's rated 10 in difficulty on a scale of 1 to 10(Northbound),9 Southbound. You're surprised at the appearance of our trail,not what you're used to I'm sure. I love it,33 miles long and very isolated,the average travel time is about 20 hours.


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## graybear13

Ya gotta understand, fireant hills are about the tallest things around here and rocks are what we put on our roads. By the same token, you guys don't have to deal with mud, year round! Neat place you guys have to play on.


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## mountainguyed67

I've built 4 more since posting this, here's me ripping a log.

https://m.youtube.com/watch?feature=youtu.be&v=ogSCFkRq2gk
https://m.youtube.com/watch?feature=youtu.be&v=0TOy70rA4bM

https://m.youtube.com/watch?feature=youtu.be&v=SPYicqcLt3I


This was last year at East Lake.












This one was in early October, had lots of help this time.
Thompson Lake.


















https://m.youtube.com/watch?feature=youtu.be&v=M7-9fOBV9Js
https://m.youtube.com/watch?feature=youtu.be&v=C6gaJR5aEhU


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## GrassGuerilla

Your video is "private" and won't play.

Edit: it's working now. And nice job fixing the thread!


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## mountainguyed67

GrassGuerilla said:


> Your video is "private" and won't play.



Oops! Which one?


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## GrassGuerilla

All working now...


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## mountainguyed67

GrassGuerilla said:


> All working now...



This has happened before and I found the settings "were" set at public already. What took me so long is I couldn't remember how to get to my video list "with" the edit up in the corner, I could get to my list, but didn't have an edit option to click on. I found I had to search video manager youtube, then click the link to get to the right page. 

Urrgh!


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## mountainguyed67

Didn't drill pilot holes on this one, no cracking/splitting.


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## mountainguyed67

This one goes with the ripping videos.




Coyote Lake.








So that's all five tables I've built so far, more next year I'm sure. The table is a copy of the ones at Ershim Lake built by the Forest Service, the dimensions are as follows.

Base logs...17" across by 7' long.
Bench...12" across by 10' feet long.
Risers...12" across by 3' long.
Table top...12" across by 10' long.

On the early ones I ripped the top of the base logs, and top and bottom of the risers, then cut a flat spot on the bottom of the benches and table tops (like the Forest Service did). Coyote was the first one I didn't do that on, because I was by myself and it was wearing me out. It's 56 feet of ripping if you do it the Forest Service way, 30 feet of ripping if you do it the way the last three were done. Plus, cutting out the flat sections on the bottom of the benches and table tops is time consuming too.

On the ripping cuts I use a 36" bar on the chain saw, and keep most of it in the cut at an angle. This keeps the cut straighter, if you used a bar that just reaches straight across the log you would have a lot of wiggling. Or even worse, if the bar doesn't reach across perpendicular, you have nose marks and mis matched cuts.


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## mountainguyed67

GrassGuerilla said:


> nice job fixing the thread!



Thanks, wasn't doing any good with all the pictures missing. I didn't remember what all the pictures were, just chose some. 

Put in a few more since you posted this.


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## Wannabe123

Well those are freakin' sweet. Sure do look stout enough.


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## mountainguyed67

Thanks, should last at least 30 years.


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## mountainguyed67

Another one I helped the horsemen build last year, can’t drive to where this is, and had to bring the logs over by hand. That’s why the base logs are cut in half, then repositioned together. They finished the table top logs themselves. Ran out of time, then they went back in when I couldn’t.


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## Huskybill

Need some good marine varnish.


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## mountainguyed67

Built number 8 last weekend, number 7 I didn’t get pictures of. That was a few years ago. 

This was done hastily, we were running out of time. I had help.


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## Jeff Lary

That is a lot of hard work but they came out great!


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## mountainguyed67

Thanks.


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## Husky Man

Dayum, if you're free handing them, My hat is off to you, you're a much better sawyer than I

Good looking tables, how much time do you have in each one roughly?

Do you get to enjoy the Beautiful surroundings while you're there I Hope?


Doug


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## mountainguyed67

I can only get a straight cut if the tree is straight.

The Thompson table was 2-1/2 hours, record time. Lots of help, and the logs were close enough to be hand carried back to camp. The first one took a couple days, with two of us dragging them back with a Jeep. Plus we did more ripping on that one. I’ve done some myself in two days. 

They’ve mostly been done on 3-8 day trips.


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## mountainguyed67

My first table got cut up and dispersed, because it was in an endangered frog area. The biologist said it would attract people to camp there.


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## mountainguyed67

Table number nine built last weekend, after subtracting the removed one. All but one of these logs was sawn with an Alaskan mill.


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## mountainguyed67

Table ten, also built last weekend. This one was ripped freehand with a 36” bar, so it’s almost noodling. Straighter cut that way.


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## mountainguyed67

Here you can see the Alaskan mill the other guy used. I made three cuts in the time he took to make two, his cuts are straighter though.


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## Marine5068

mountainguyed67 said:


> More


Cool.
Looks like "bead lock" territory.
Nice Cherokee


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## ArtB

Ya ever have yahoos build a fire _on top _of one of your tables? 
Have seen jerks do that in the WA cascades when they get into a campground when snow is still 2 ft deep.


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## mountainguyed67

ArtB said:


> Ya ever have yahoos build a fire _on top _of one of your tables?
> Have seen jerks do that in the WA cascades when they get into a campground when snow is still 2 ft deep.



No, these trails don’t open until the snow is gone.

I’ve camped in the snow down lower, it never occurred to us to build a fire on a table. We dig out the fire ring.


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## shortys7777

Very cool stuff and it looks like a great place to hangout on the weekend. What saw are you using?


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## mountainguyed67

MS461


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