Daddy, where do shingles come from?

The boys and I went out to the shingle mill in Trenary yesterday. I asked them as we were loading up what kind of saw they used and they eagerly gave us a tour. They slide 16" or 24" logs on a carriage over a rust-brown circular blade which is about 40" across. The shingles fall onto a conveyor which takes them up to another cutting device which cuts them to width. The waste is baled and sold for archery targets or other uses.

We bought the cheaper shingles, both for the price and the character knots. I don't like the uneven bottoms, though, so today I spent an hour trying different methods of cutting them square. The chainsaw wins again. When the shingles are snug in their bales you can go right down the edge of them. Chainsaws, albeit noisy, are the closest you can get to a real light saber, as far as I know.

Our to-do list before next week's party is still something of a Goliath, but we're just going to keep whipping stones up there and know that this event is not going to be what we think it is. It's going to be just what it is.