iDRY Vacuum Kilns

Sponsors:

Mission Impossible, and then we mill. Tighest spot you've gotten your mill into?

Started by Delawhere Jack, May 02, 2013, 05:22:48 PM

Previous topic - Next topic

0 Members and 1 Guest are viewing this topic.

Delawhere Jack

What's the most difficult location you've taken your mill?

My last two portable jobs have presented some serious challenges before the first log ever went on the mill. Last week I had to back up a very steep-narrow driveway, with a 4' deep culvert on either side  :o, and then back them mill onto the customers property and navigate a maze of trees. Hee Haul was in the process of getting a new engine, so I had to do it with my Jeep, which weighs only a little more than the mill..... :-\

Today I get to a job and the driveway goes downhill. Like double black diamond ski slope steep.....narrow too.... :o Then I've got to make a hard turn (backing up) to get the mill in position. I noticed at the bottom of the drive was a large pile of big rocks, and beyond that a 30' drop to a creek bed below. That did little to ease my thoughts of a runaway mill.

Both jobs turned out great....... the milling was the easiest part of the day!

POSTON WIDEHEAD

The older I get I wish my body could Re-Gen.

petefrom bearswamp

Took my old LT40 which Chuck White now has into the city of Cortland.
Had to trailer my ATV down there to get the mill into the back yard of the house.
Was presented with a very large Black cherry log and a couple of smaller ones too.
My friend and i had all we could do to roll the big one  onto the loader.
Surprisingly there was no hardware in the tree and I got some nice boards out of it.
Now my mill sits in it;s shed and doesn't move.
Kubota 8540 tractor, FEL bucket and forks, Farmi winch
Kubota 900 RTV
Polaris 570 Sportsman ATV
3 Huskies 1 gas Echo 1 cordless Echo vintage Homelite super xl12
57 acres of woodland

justallan1

Something that I've done on a couple of the trucks that I've owned is mound a tow ball on the front end. I've put a portable compressor places that you probably wouldn't want to try by backing it in.
Allan

barbender

If'n I do much more portable milling, I will be putting a receiver hitch on the front of my pickup like Allan mentioned. It is slick, I have one on the front of my ATV for moving stuff around the yard ;)
Too many irons in the fire

drobertson

 

  

 
one of the bigger jobs, over 1/4 million bd/ft of pine, good work, just did'nt last long enough,
only have a few chain saws I'm not suppose to use, but will at times, one dog Dolly, pretty good dog, just not sure what for yet,  working on getting the gardening back in order, and kinda thinking on maybe a small bbq bizz,  thinking about it,

Sawdust Lover


Nomad

     I've had to back a mill into several places too narrow to get my truck through without folding both rearview mirrors.  Twice I've had to gather enough manpower to move the mill into sawing position by hand.  Had to do the same thing to get it out too.
     A front mounted receiver is on my wish list, too!
Buying a hammer doesn't make you a carpenter
WoodMizer LT50HDD51-WR
Lucas DSM23-19

Tom the Sawyer

Mobile milling in urban/suburban areas can be challenging.  My truck with mill hitched up is 52' long, truck bed is 8' wide.  Turning from a 24' street into a 10' alley can be a challenge when there is a utility pole on the curb.   smiley_headscratch  Narrow drives with a culvert and ditches on both sides... ugh.  I too have unhitched in the street, turned the mill 90 degrees by hand and pushed it into a driveway.  Watch out for those sprinkler heads!   no_no

I have a demo that I have done twice where I enter the drive between a tree and a concrete filled post about 9' apart.  Then alongside a tall building wall for a hundred feet or so and into the milling area.  Disconnect the mill, move the truck, turn the mill 180°, set up and mill.  Move the mill as far back as possible, turn the truck around and hook up, drive back out the driveway - piece of cake !!  A level concrete surface and plenty of strong backs really helps.


 

I bought a front receiver for my F350 and it is a tremendous help.  About $250 installed.  Well worth the price.  smiley_lit_bulb   My wife wasn't fond of spotting me while hooking up before dawn some mornings and bought me an iBall Hitch camera.  Monitor plugs in to the dash 12v outlet, wireless camera runs on a 9v battery and has a magnetic base.  Not only is it great for 1-try hookups, I can put it on the mill and pull up dead center on a pile of logs or stick it on the mill head and see behind the mill when I am backing, and I don't aggravate my wife (well, less anyway).   smiley_thumbsup 



07 TK B-20, Custom log arch, 20' trailer w/log loading arch, F350 flatbed dually dump.  Piggy-back forklift.  LS tractor w/FEL, Bobcat S250 w/grapple, Stihl 025C 16", Husky 372XP 24/30" bars, Grizzly 20" planer, Nyle L200M DH kiln.
If you call and my wife says, "He's sawin logs", I ain't snoring.

PC-Urban-Sawyer

Quote from: Tom the Sawyer on May 03, 2013, 12:19:55 PM
... and I don't aggravate my wife (well, less anyway).   smiley_thumbsup

Tom,

I was about to say that if you'd learned how to avoid aggravating yoiur wife completely you could give lessons and be a rich man...

Course, if your wife is like mine, you fell like you're rich even when she is aggravated.  8)

Herb

Tom the Sawyer

07 TK B-20, Custom log arch, 20' trailer w/log loading arch, F350 flatbed dually dump.  Piggy-back forklift.  LS tractor w/FEL, Bobcat S250 w/grapple, Stihl 025C 16", Husky 372XP 24/30" bars, Grizzly 20" planer, Nyle L200M DH kiln.
If you call and my wife says, "He's sawin logs", I ain't snoring.

Magicman

I have sawed several jobs where I had to pull in for the loader to be next to the logs.  After sawing, we spun the sawmill around by hand so that I could hook up and pull out.

On a recent job it was very muddy and slick.


 
Here we used a backhoe to pull me and the sawmill into position.


 
After we finished there, a dozer was used to pull the sawmill to the second sawing site.
 
Knothole Sawmill, LLC     '98 Wood-Mizer LT40SuperHydraulic   WM Million BF Club Member   WM Pro Sawyer Network

It's Weird being the Same Age as Old People

Never allow your "need" to make money to exceed your "desire" to provide quality service.....The Magicman

Delawhere Jack


Thank You Sponsors!