A helicopter and a portable sawmill can move mountains. Ask Kurt Blaser! He wanted to build a rustico – a rustic Italian-style house – in the Tessin Alps. To realize his plan, Kurt Blaser just needed a portable sawmill, which he had flown by helicopter up to Monte Colmo, above Loco, in the Onsernone Valley in Tessin, Switzerland.
”First of all, I cleared the surrounding trees, and it made me think about the chestnut and birch wood that resulted,” says Blaser about the first steps towards his new rustico. A few years earlier he had restored a similar ”Tessin house” and had bought chestnut beams, which he had to have flown up the mountain by helicopter. This time he wanted to use local wood.
”I heard from my power saw dealer that Logosol had a machine that was suitable for my unusual project,” remembers Blaser. Without any hesitation he ordered an M7, since its functionality had quickly impressed him. He picked up his new machine himself in Bad Saulgau, the German Logosol branch, and was also taught how to use it.
The M7 was transported up the mountain in its packaging by helicopter. ”It only took me a day to assemble the M7, which somehow reminded me of IKEA,” grins Blaser, talking about his new Swedish purchase. As well as the M7, he had also ordered a Logosol jack to lift the massive logs.
”Without it, I would never been able to get the trees onto the saw, because chestnut is very heavy,” says Blaser.
Kurt Blaser is sure the M7’s 2200 lb load capacity was fully taken advantage of while the rustico was being built. Transporting the heavy chestnut logs from where they were felled nearby was an additional problem that had to be solved. The 50 yard distance to the M7 was finally achieved the traditional way: with lifting gear and his daughter’s horse. Finally, it was time to make the first trial cuts. The trees on the mountain do not grow as straight as one might wish. ”Sometimes the first cut was straight, but on the second cut the wood warped so badly there were differences of almost an Inch,” explains Blaser.
Finally he managed to cut the 12” x 12” chestnut ridge beam and all the 10” x 10” lintels for the doors and windows, which were then built into the house. He also managed to save material: with the M7, he was able to cut the rafters to size from existing old beams.
Now, the enthusiastic rustico builder, who cannot stop working with his M7, has bought an old walking excavator he can use to lift the wood onto the M7 – a great relief for everyone involved, including the horse.
”It’s so fun and very satisfying to use wood you have felled yourself to build your own house. I have never regretted buying the M7,” says Blaser, now that the work is finished. He will be able to enjoy his new home for a long time, since this type of rustico built from chestnut usually lasts for several centuries.
