Tommy Bolin

These still exist, but are hard to find. This is a centerless ship auger. They drill as fast as you do, don't clog, like more modern bits, which seem to be wound too tightly to clear reliably in wet wood, or maybe because electric drills (operators) spin them too fast, dunno.
These were sold bare, the owner supplied his own handle. Dieter Schmid out of Germany, sells the modern version, but I believe they are like most current augers which typically have a spur and single cutting edge. Not nearly as easy to sharpen. This one rocks. Those multi-edged WoodOwls look pretty nice.
Fiberglass insulation is used to chink machined or tight fitting logs.

Early 70's, my dad bought a cabin on the south edge of the BobMarshall Wilderness, right on Arsenic Creek. The original part of the cabin was built in the 40's. The logs were very well fitted, and chinked with brick mortar. When I don't know. Obviously, after it had settled a bit. The logs and the mortar were oiled, with something called Val-Oil. Left a finish like heavy linseed oil.
My dad looked in vain trying to find the product, the empty 5gal cans were still around, but Chevron? had stopped making it sometime in the 60's.
We built a little dam up the creek about a 1/4mi., we stuck a pipe in to pressurize the cabin. Propane Servel fridge and lights, really sweet  wood/propane split two oven stove with a thermosiphon water coil for a hot water tank in the bathroom.
This was the place.

Well along those lines. When I was quite young my wife and I lived in a small shack out the end of JobCorps Road south of Ronan, right on the canal coming up from Mission to the south. The house was repurposed from a whole bunch of little shacks built to house workers when the Hungry Horse Dam was built. When the Tribe gave the houses to members, Steven Small Salmon lived on the ranch just up the hill, had put it on wheels, moved it down.
The house was skirted with a series of boxes, filled with sawdust from a local mill. Open to the weather, the sawdust held water and was decaying. Being young, ambitious and not all that smart, I decided to shovel off the rotting wood mulch on the west side and 'renovate' it. Not moving fast enough, my pipes were freezing by the end of October.

I'm not complaining, we have plans for the shreds, and that is what they are, shreds, not just dust.
You know how the internet is, people with no relevant practical experience, parroting an opinion like fact. Shrieking about saw shreds, a common complaint when touting the superiority of a bandsaw mill.

I have a Granberg set up with a 572XP Husqvarna and 28in. bar/rip chains. Works well. Can mill 16in+ spruce. I avoided the whole ladder/rail setup as being too costly, too restrictive on length/size and too bulky to pack in. I use a stringline setup and sliding 2x9 board on a series of nails leveled and set into the tree to make that all important first cut. I use a chalk line and smaller saw to square the timber. 10 inch SkilSaw to rip boards. I cut beams and posts for the garage addition as well as barn siding, milled some trees in place for a gate. I can carry that setup anywhere on this property and mill any tree I can fall.

I bought some dimensional lumber and plywood to frame the skid shack. When I looked at the cost, 2500CAD, and the time it would have taken to mill enough material to replace it, as well as the size of the next three projects, we decided to go ahead and purchase a sawmill.
I looked at a Woodland Mills band few years ago at Magard Tools in Prince George. Having talked to a two band owners, I didn't feel I wanted to spend the rest of my time sharpening little bandsaw teeth, nor was I impressed with the sturdiness of the blades, especially regards sand.  I did buy a Woodland 68 PTO limb chipper. Maurice has since sold the company, but the website is still up, https://logbuildingtools.ca/ and the new owner, Scott is excellent to deal with.

We bought a D&L Timbertech 816. They have been making these for about 20? yrs. Brunette Machinery, maker of industrial sawmill equipment in P.G., bought D&L few years ago and modified/streamlined the manufacture.
The flexibility of the mill was what appealed to me. Once I level off my timber, I can set up a series of rips, 1x3, 1x4 and siding widths, then slab them off after swinging the blade, until I get to the dimension of the beam/post I need to mill, like wise with the side slabs. Minimizes waste or extra hand ripping.
I can mill multiple sizes of material off the same timber, all without having to turn the work. I also skid my milling trees with the cat in the winter to minimize mud in the bark.

I don't have all the nuances of the operation figured out yet, but so far output has been good. The mill came with a 23h.p. electric start Kohler, an extra 21in. carbide blade and an electric sharpener/jig. Also included the parts to assemble a carriage to move the mill across ground and set on rails, which I have not yet used.
An option was a jig that locks the blade in a number of canted positions to mill beveled siding or posts. They had a sale and threw in a really well made set of sliding log dogs to hold the work as well as the bevel.
I bought the smaller version not just because of costs, the mill was 3x a nice bandsaw mill, but because like your brother, I want to have the ability to mount this on a trailer, needed to fit between the fenderwells. His setup sounds really well thought out. I eventually want the mill palletized so I don't need a dedicated trailer to pull it into the woods. We have more than 6 mi. of road/fenceline/fireguard on this property and I'd like to mill some of the more inaccessible timber. I would likely walk the backhoe out to handle trees.
I used the shipping pallet to stage the sawmill thereby extending it's length capacity. I'm sure that's a nono.
Negatives.
The owner's book was very dated, and a bit vague. Obviously written stream of consciousness style by someone who has been building these things through all the iterations over the years. Some things overlooked. There is a good FBook forum for Timbertech owners, if that is your thing. I don't participate. Usage videos are posted online.
I dozed a temporary level area in my driveway for setup, road filled it. The rail system is pretty solid, but was short one leveling bar. Needs one at every joint in my opinion, as well as ends. I had to build something. I had hell over the winter with snow, freezing and thawing, keeping the rails level and mated just right to the pallet.  I'm okay for now with the location of my current setup, that was a question, so I am going to drill and pour some concrete piers, build a new permanent platform/shelter with a roof, make it all more stable, get it out of the weather.
This thing throws a lot of sawdust. the kerf is double that of a big bandsaw. The parrots will scream waste, but if you are milling dimensional lumber from 12-14in. logs, the difference is irrelevant. You cant save enough wood to make a difference. Milling siding from 18in. logs, you'd have a point, but that is not the typical usage. The flexibility to usefully mill the side slabs as you go, makes up for a lot of that anyhow, I believe.
Fuel usage seems decent, LiFePo4 battery, started up in cold January weather w/out trouble. Think the engine alternator is big enough to run a small LED work light setup, can't find much to complain about. Carbide tipped blade, very robust, durable. Nice unit.
Someone asked in another thread about running a mill off solar. D&L offers an electric version. Needs three-phase power which I have no current interest in. My offgrid capacity is too small. However, D&L told me when I asked, that a fella named Rob from Okanogan Solar was running one of their mills off of solar power. I bought a bunch of Canadian Solar panels from him two years ago, sharp guy, very nice. He does not have the time to spend fending off questions from forum groupies, but if an electric sawmill makes serious sense to you and you live in western Canada, D&L and Okanogan Solar can set you up.

https://timbertechnologies.com/

As far as the shack goes, thank you. Yes, having a tenon through, even if flush cut was not what I wanted. The dovetail has a bigger cross section and unless the tenon is housed as well, more resistance to twisting. No penetrations to the joint for water/rot to enter was my plan. I also framed the floor hanging over the skids for a drip edge and flashed the framing/floor with galvanized L metal, same idea.
I thought about insulating the floor, still waffling. Fixing to frame walls, looks like a no go. I would have to lift the platform and sheet the bottom with plywood to keep the packrats from destroying it later. Nothing else of all the ideas I have read makes sense.

Judith Browning wrote:

 I wouldn't pin my hopes on any 350 gal stop to fire  

I wasn't clear about that was IWe are looking at it for rain water storage for watering gardens not fire fighting..
I've wondered if there are portable pumps for those totes though that could be quickly moved from cube to cube for fires?

Since we've derailed this thread a bit.
One of the primary functions of the cubes I keep around my place is fire. Obviously seasonal only, we lose them from Nov.-Apr. when snow is on the ground.
We had a forest fire roll right up to our property in 2018. The Forest Service took a hands off approach for the first two weeks, so the work of cutting the guard in our area, which goes right along the edge of our property,  was done by the local ranchers/loggers. My bulldozer was out there, but the bulk of the work was done by much heavier equipment. D7/D8, big processors and Ponsses
Once the line was established and held, we maintained and mopped up the fire. I had to get certified as basic wildland fire fighter by Ministry of Forests, and have been out on two local fires since.
This is my firetruck and my work pack. The welder is for remote power and field repair. I have two of these cubes next to the house and two more up the hill by garage filled, three in reserve. We use them to water gardens/yard and monitor burn piles. I have a small 12V RV type pump on it's own micro grid for those purposes. 40psi/4GPM or so. The pump is separate from the house power because a battery bank/inverter seems a likely place for a fire to start. I keep 200ft. of 1 1/2in. firehose and 200 ft of garden hose, coiled close by.
The Honda pump will empty that 275gal. in <7 mins. wide open. You can flat out murder any fire you start on your own property in that time frame.
Provided of course, you are awake and monitoring your fire fun.
We use these cubes on fireline mop up with layflat 3/4in. canvas hose for ease of use and water conservation.
I have an 24V battery/inverter on it's own microgrid, powering a deep well pump I keep out in the lake that will fill these cubes or run the firehose line for about 25min. more. The Honda pump can be carried to any of the cubes on this property easily. As I said in my skid shack tool thread, my opinion is, if you live remote, you are criminally negligent if you do not have the means to fight any fire you start. Our fire department is at least an hour away if the booster and cell phone are working. RCMP, 2hrs.

....and vermin proof.

Appreciate the apple/storage advice. My wife cooks with both our legacy apples, very good.
We have a bunch of volunteers, near the trees. Our plan after gifting a couple to willing neighbors, is to replant some way out back on Crown Land, give the bears a distraction and some happiness not derived from our yard.
Whatever I build for cellar/ice storage will be north facing, shaded, and earth bermed.

Judith Browning wrote:here's a better photo showing proportions
It's 6'6" tall with a foot print of 30"x 50"....

Three times (almost) as tall as it is wide. Little different.
My grandmother lived in Northridge near the epicenter of the 1971 Sylmar earthquake at that time. We visited shortly after, I remember the destruction.
She tied her grandfather clock to the wall with some bright, thick yarn Opa Holger had screwed into the wood walls of their home, likewise her cupboard doors and dishrails.
Tie a metal strap around the container, bolt it to  the house.
You have about 3000lbs of water/container. Sandy soil has a bearing of at least 2000lbs/sq.ft., provided it is relatively undisturbed and not saturated. Pallets are about 4x4ft. So, 3000lbs. distributed (somewhat unequally) over 16 sq.ft. is about 180lbs./sq.ft.
Scrape ground minimally, enough to level it, double the wood on the top of a pallet to spread the load, and be on your way.

Beast of a container, btw, I'm envious,

I would suggest not overthinking/engineering this. Level the ground where you want it to be, sand the base for extra support if you wish, then use an oak pallet as a platform. Should be plenty of them in your neck of the woods. There is nothing fragile about this unit whatsoever, self supporting.
Any failure will not be even remotely catastrophic, no tumbling tank. If it starts to lean, simply drain it, relevel the ground.
I have two IBCs side by side to store lakewater,stacked on three pallets each to get the drain valve up where I can make use of them. They are leaning a bit after five years because they are right under the eaves, catching lots of water/runoff, so the ground has a bit of saturation at times, especially after winter.
They are due for a proper footing as I intend to close them in, extend their useful season.

Appreciate the compliments. Buried those joints under floor, so you are the only ones that will ever see them.
Wanted something that couldn't be pulled apart dragging this thing around with the cat, but didn't have much exposure to water and rot, no cheating with steel.

Jeff Lindsey wrote:Also, that's a hell of a mallet.

Another old timer's tool, 'native' to this place. Like swinging a fire hydrant with a handle that short. I like it.

Jay Angler wrote:...In my dreams, I could see you digging a cold cellar and then moving your skiddable structure over top...

Well, to be honest, I was dreaming of a mini version of Sarah Conner's apocalyptic weapons stash from Terminator 2.
Your idea might be better.  We'll see. Hard to frame after the fact, so it is there.
What do you do now to store apples? I know about nothing. Our legacy orchard is crabapples, prolific, bright red, really sour, excellent canned. We also have a small tree Lil'B calls a 'transparent'. Tasty, light colored, bruises very easily, does not keep well. Bears have wrecked those trees more than once over the last few decades. We planted a red/green sort that is just starting to produce. Like to store as much of all of them as we can.
Electric refrigeration, not an option. There is a small log structure rotting into a north facing hill behind the garage, think Andy used it as a lake ice refrigerator box. Building either dry(er) root cellar or ice box there, not sure which. Need produce storage.