Finally got back out to cut some small logs.

[Kirk_Allen]

OK, For Christmas I am going to buy a new digital camera.  

I spent the whole day cutting 6/4 Oak until I got to this whopper of a Hickory



As you can see, we dont cut no small logs here ;D

I was hoping for some great crotch wood but turns out this log was just to tough to cut more than a 16" pass.  I have cut a LOT of hickory and none have been as hard as this one.  It is a Pig Nut and the grain on the boards I did get are absolutly beutiful. Unfortunatly, the camera I have just doesnt do the boards justice.  

I am cutting more 6/4 oak tomarrow and hope to get all my oak cut.  I managed to bang out 1000 bf today.  I plan on using most of it for decking the trailer.  I think I have enough cut to deck just over half of it right now.  Some of the logs I cut today were just a couple inches to short to use as decking on the trailer so I have to keep cutting!  

It was nice therapy to get out and cut all day today.  Took my mind off all the garbage going on.  

[Part_Timer]

Looks like fun 

Sorry I missed it


Tom

[Daren]

OK, For Christmas I am going to buy a new digital camera. 

Why wait, it is just round the corner and it looks like the one you have fogs up in this Illinois weather.

[ARKANSAWYER]

   Rigth after Christmas there should be some good deals. 

[Kirk_Allen]

Thats what I am hoping for Dave. 

I saved just under $100 bucks on a spindle sander for my wife by waiting until the 26th to place the order.  The nice part on that was the clerk is the one that gave me heads up on the sale starting that day. 

[Frank_Pender]

When should I expect it; sander to be delivered, Kirk.  Oh, by the way, hat kind did you get me for Christmas?

Does that sound better, Pigman?

I am sure he is trying to hide the fact he was buying the sander for me and not his wife or himself. : : : : : : :

[pigman]

I saved just under $100 bucks on a spindle sander for my wife

What kind did youg get me?

Something about that just doesn't sound right :
Yes Frank, sounds a lot better now. ;D

[Buzz-sawyer]

No Bob, its right , all right,
He also has 2-3 industrial planers, joiners bandsawz....all Caries : :

[Kirk_Allen]

Ok guys, lighten up.  It REALY is for my wife, Kerry.  She had it on here list of wants and then marked it off because they are fairly spendy.  Of course I got her everything on her list.  Especialy the sander as I think I could use it now and then ;D

[Kirk_Allen]

Now Buzz, those tools you mention are mine.  The Drill press is hers, as it was a gift for Christmas a few years ago.   ;D

[Bibbyman]

I sawed a "little" log this after noon.  Well I got started on it...  It was 36" on the little end, 44" on the butt end and 10' long.  The Stihl 044 w/26" bar for size compairason.



I knocked a lot of ugly fat off'n it's butt.



Then I worked an hour digging down 80 years of growth to find this 3/8" square nail.  It's at least 4" long because that's what I got pulled when it broke.  Yep, nipped the spike with the chainsaw.  >:(



This trick has been mentioned in the Fourm before.  Use at your own risk.  By putting, in this case, a 3x4 against the back supports and then lowering the back supports,  you can move the log a couple of inches to the left - giving more room for the right blade guide to clear.  There is a limit because if you move it too far, then the sawhead mast will not clear.



I noticed in your pictures Kirk that you had your loading arms up.  But you didn't mention why.  Well,  it may be worth mentioning that it's a good idea to keep your loading arms up when your turning big and odd shaped logs.  There is some chance that the turning arm my strike too far under and flip the log back off the mill.  This is exactly what happened here.  But I had the loading arms up and it only bumped gently over against them.  One other time I had a log this size fall onto the loading arms that were down about a foot.  If the mill hadn't been chained and anchored down,  it well could have turned it over.!!



Here is that spike hole again.  Note that there is a swirl starting to appear about two feet to the right and another two feet to the left.  Maybe I better get the detector out again.  Think?

[sandmar]

yeah Bibby,might give 'er another pass with the metal detector cause it do look suspicious............and I hate to hear that zzzzzzzingggg or screeeeeeeech,makes me say ugly things,and you know Santa is watching  ;)

Sandmar

[Kirk_Allen]

Bibby your right on about leaving the loading arms up on those whoppers.  Several times they have prevented big logs from rolling off.  Cant imagine what it would be like if it was down about a foot from the deck. Some of these beasts surly would set it on its side. 

[Daren]

Several times they have prevented big logs from rolling off.

Those are the ones that like to roll off, the big ones. I had one almost a twin to the one Bibbyman pictured. I couldn't do anything with it,but roll it with the skidsteer. I build my own stationary deck and it sets on the ground, just for that reason, so I can roll the bigger ones. My mill shed is on a little hill, the head of the mill goes in the shed at night and the track hangs out. I rolled that dude across the yard and up onto the track and she jumped my stops. Right down the hill across the road and stop in the ditch up against the business across the roads chain link fence. A total distance of only 75 feet, but I could only push it, up against the fence I was stuck. I had to swing one end, get under it with a strap and drag on it from the road until I could get behind it again. Oh, and of course I had a guy watching the whole time. He had stopped to watch by when he saw me rolling the log to the mill. 

[Kirk_Allen]

Thats how it always happens Daren.  I never hit a dog with the blade unless someone is standing there watching ;D

[sandmar]

Darin and Kirk,it's times like those that you pass the hat for entertainment tax  :  Of course,when something goes awry at the mill,first thing to do is look around real quick to see if anyone is watching,if not,it never happened  ;) Sort of a variation on the log falling in the woods making a sound when no one is around

Sandmar

[iain]

Daren you bet i would have stopped to watch ;)


  iain

[Daren]

iain, too bad you are so far way, you could come by Tuesday or Wed. I got a load of biggish ones today. I figure to be chasing run away logs in the near future.
I have a real nice one coming soon I hope. The guy who brought the logs today said he felled an oak for a guy 68" across and 14' to the first limb. He said it was out in a pasture too close to where he was building a shed. He said he charged $250 to drop it and walked away. The homeowner has let his buddies haul off dozens of truckloads of firewood from the limbs. The guy who felled it said just the log was laying there now and the guy wants it gone. As soon as another buddy gets his track hoe and trailer back in town we are going after it. The guy who felled it said it was a beautiful log. It is only 3 miles away I called the guy today and am going to go out this weekend and look at it.

[ARKANSAWYER]

   Sometimes the little ones will get away from you as well.  It really slows down production.




  But a good log dawg will help hold them down.

[Larry]

Hard to second guess Bibby but looks like that log has been laying around for 3 or 4 years.  Why would you let a nice looking log lay around for so long?  Looks like a pretty good RO sawlog.

[Bibbyman]

Not my log Larry. 

If it were up to me I'd let the bugs eat the things (have two more just as big and ugly w/metal).  The logger that delivers many of the logs to our place asked us if we'd saw a couple of big logs for him.  Sure, ok.  Oh yea, they have metal in them...

BTW,  his brother-in-law has a sawmill. Wonder why he hauled them 200 miles to our mill instead of having his brother-in-law saw them?   :D

Mary and I spent another couple of hours this morning digging metal out of two others and I took the one pictured off'n the mill and scanned it again.  Didn't find anything else - until I sawed into it again.  Hit two more small nails I guess was too small for my metal detector to pick up.  >:(

[Bibbyman]

We got a chance to saw another "small log" today. 



This little cottonwood baby is 20' long and 34" on the little end.  It's been on our lot for most of a year.  I rolled it around with the Terex and knocked the bark off'n it and trimmed a couple hundred pounds off'n the butt.  It was all the Terex wanted to lift.



Here son Gabe is getting ready to offbear a 2x10 split from a 2x20.  We haven't added up the BF but I suspect it'll be around 700.

[Larry]

Glad to see somebody else got to saw today besides me...boss let me quit at noon though.

Also extremly glad I'm not your off bearer...that little 2 X 10 probably weighed a few more pounds than I ever want to lift. :D ;D :D ;D

[Ironwood]

Kirk,

   Decking in hickory? you will burn up all your GVW on the deck. If'in your haulin logs forget the decking...???? Reid

[Kirk_Allen]

Reid, the decking is red oak.  I tried hauling a few without the decking and trying to get them rolled off the trailer was next to impossible.  The knots or bends in the log seem to catch on the corners of the support brasing making it a real pain. 

I finished decking it today!  Not to worried about GVW on this one anyway.  It will haul more than I can pull with my truck and it wont go more than 20-30 miles from home.....................until I get a new truck ;D

[Ironwood]

UNTIL I GET A NEW TRUCK???????????????

  Hey check it out Kirks gonna git a new truck!!! Reid

[Kirk_Allen]

Reid you are a funny man  :D :D :D :D :D :D

[FiremanEd]

Hey Kirk,

Check out the "mega cab" Dodge just released it.

http://www.dodge.com/ram_2500_3500/index.html
  ;D

Eddie  ;D ;D ;D

[Kirk_Allen]

Nice looking truck but once I added all the features I wanted it was in the 38K range.  Way to much for my blood. 

Spent the whole day cutting, took a load of pictures and wouldnt you know it, the stinking camera was set on macro for close ups and all my photos were so blury they were useless.  I AM GETTING A NEW CAMERA THIS WEEK!

I was cutting at my brothers place today.  We cut 3000 bf of 2x material in 8 hours.  Lets just say we were ROCKIN!   8) 8)

One Ash log provided 10 of the best looking 2x10x21 footers I have ever seen.  Every board was clear!  Got a few 2x8's and 6's and 4- 2x4's out of one beast. 

We filled my small 16' flat bed trailer three times.  Have to go back in the morning and finish stacking lumber. 

I hate that I didnt get pics that came out because one of the logs was a 9 foot spalted maple that was absolutly awesome.  I cut the outer 4 sections into 3" bowl blanks and the rest into 4/4 x 10" wide. 

Going to sleep good tonight! 

[Corley5]

I saw one a them Mega Cabs last night at the restaurant we took my parents to for dinner.  First one I'd ever seen.  It was all decked out with offroad lights, fancy rims and tires, a big ol' Warn winch and grill guard and Cummins engine.  Quite a machine but it in its present life it's just a BIG SUV.  It was pulling a 4 place snowmobile trailer.

[Ironwood]

Kirk,

  I would love to see the Spault photos. What kinda truck? C6500?

[Bibbyman]

Cottonwood update.



Mary figured we got 817BF out of this little log.

[getoverit]

Bibbyman, you got any closeup pic's of that wood?

Cottonwood grows down here, but as far as I know it isnt a common wood type, but more of a shade tree. I just wondered if the wood was more decorative, was good for cabinets, flooring, or ??

I think cottonwood is a really fast growing tree (correct me if I'm wrong) and if so it would have large growth rings and on the soft side.

[Bibbyman]

Loaded it on the truck yestereday afternoon and waved goodby to it.   A picture wouldn't show you much but an egg shell color.  As is, there is not much figure or feature to look at.  It's a soft wood only used around here for framing and pallet wood. 

It is indeed a fast growing tree.  We had one sprout up in our yard after we built our house in 82.  About 98 we had to cut it to pull the deep well pump.  It made two 12' logs - the butt cut about 16" on the little end the second about 12" as I remember.

The growth rings on this one was around 3/4" a year.  This log we just sawed, laid around the lot all last summer and sprouted again.  It had shoots coming off it 3' tall before a dry spell finally got it.

[GF]

I have been messing with some Cottonwood myself.  I cut some and dried it and ran it through the moulder with the k pattern base moulding profile.   Gave some to a friend to trim out a door, he said it painted real nice.  I need to try some to see if it will split using a air finish nailer.  I only have about 80 or so 10-12' logs that are 20" to 38" across laying in the yard.  Guess the price was right they cut them down and loaded them on a trailer for me, since there is a burn ban on they were glad to get rid of them.
Not sure what I am actually going to do with them yet.

[Bibbyman]

Cottonwood makes great general construction lumber.  I'd use it like soft pine.  But that's me.

We had one big tree that made 5 10' cuts.  We sawed it out 1-3/4" thick and as wide as we could.  THen sticked and covered it out in the logyard.  A year or so later a guy came by needing lumber to build an addition onto his house.  He wanted to keep everything store bought sizes so he could mix lumber and use standard doors, windows, etc.  So we took the wide now dry boards and put them back on the mill and ripped them 1/8" over size then ran them through the planer to get them exact in width.  He was very pleased. 

[Larry]

Besides great construction lumber it is also an excellent replacement for plywood sub-floors, and sheathing...especially when plywood prices venture into the stratosphere and you have a supply of free logs.  I dry a load of 4/4 sometimes and use it for all kinds of shelving and hidden furniture parts.  I've heard complaints about it warping but they are unfounded if sawn, and dried correctly.  Sometimes it does have a problem with the fuzzies when ran through a planer.  I can pretty much tell when a board is going to fuzz anymore...but don't need to worry about it since I got the Byrd Shelix head for the planer.  And it definitely stinks when machined.

GF, it will grey stain or sticker stain if dried to slowly.

[Kirk_Allen]

Hey Larry, got any contact info for that Byrd helix head for planers.  I sure would like to put one on my 15" delta planer and my jointer.

[Larry]

Kirk, right here.

http://www.byrdtool.com/

When I got my head this spring they were maybe 6 weeks behind on orders.

[Bibbyman]

Yea,  every time I take a drive down the Missouri River bottom I think about all the cottonwood that's standing along the river, streams that run into it and anywhere there's not corn planted.  It does not bring anything at the sawmills and no one cuts it.  I was told one farmer cut some and piled it by the highway and contacted a sawmill to see if they'd buy it.  I can't remember the price but what they were willing to pay wouldn't cover the cost of hauling it.

[GF]

Here is a picture of some of that K-pattern base from cottonwood I made.

[Ironwood]

Kirk,

  1. Still waiting for spaulted maple pics.

  2. Before you go buy Bryd heads, lets talk equipment choices. I just located a 16" Oliver #166 jointer for a buddie. It was prime for a retrofit head, Ball bearing with a "cap head". Great machine.......any money invested will be returned when he resells someday. He got it for $1200. Bryd head $1200= $2400. He could easily get that for it at anytime. Before you drop cash make sure the unit is worth the investment. They are 6-8 weeks out currently. Shelix. Call me.

                      REID

[getoverit]

Thats some really purdy cottonwood GF ! I dont think I have ever seen amy milled before, but from what I see I wont turn down any free sawlogs of cottonwood!

THANKS for the great pic!