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« Last post by Ianab on Today at 04:16:04 AM »
Nothing exciting here, been using the mill to bust windthrown pine into firewood. I figure I can load logs on the mill with a tractor, break them down into 4x4s easily enough, then chainsaw those to firewood lengths. No more work than cutting rings and pushing them into a wood splitter anyway. Anyway, this log was in the stack. It was so ugly I just had to see what was inside.  To gnarly to roll up a ramp, so chained it up and loaded that way.  Not looking much better.   Inside? A nice mix of loose knots, loosely held together by bark and pitch pockets.  Most of it ended up on the firewood stack, but I did flip the log over and saved a 3" live edge slab with a LOT of character. Next log was a nice straight ~30" pine. I opened it up and thought "This is too good for firewood".  So that got sawn into some nice straight 2X6s. Maybe make a base for the live edge slab, and donate it to Taylor's school class. They like the natural wood stuff for the new classrooms.
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« Last post by Ianab on Today at 03:49:01 AM »
Still smouldering. Probably needs to be left to go out so the ash can be turfed out, then fired up again. Plenty of scrap wood in the background. I'm busting the big pine logs up for firewood, and the brush needs to be burnt someplace, so may as well be on the stumps. 
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« Last post by Ianab on Today at 03:39:21 AM »
Removing dead / dying / unwanted trees and vines is a sensible start, and is going to open up the forest to more light and air, and that tends to dry things out. I'd tend to leave the leaf litter to rot naturally, as that's your nutrients and compost for the new growth that is going to start as the canopy is opened up. Understanding the dynamics of a particular forest gets complicated. Climate, soil, tree species etc, so there is no One SIze Fits all, especially when you also consider what the owners aims are. Aesthetics / wildlife / timber / conservation are all valid things to manage for, and will have different strategies. Maybe start IDing the different species, and deciding which trees are "keepers", usually the best ones (species / form / size). Take out the smaller suppressed trees that are soon going to be smothered and die anyway. And some forests are just naturally swampy, just by the nature of the climate / terrain / soil. The trees that grow there are adapted to those conditions. The Bottomless Swamp of Doom surrounded by an impenetrable mess of vines is one of our local natural forest types.
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« Last post by george99 on Today at 02:12:08 AM »
Hey guys I'm an infrequent lurker looking for some general advice with buying land and starting to plan a cabin build.
Destination: central maine.
Some of the land parcels I've seen online have been cut down to nothing, some just thinned, but this seems rarer. My ideal plot would be a mix of cleared and good amounts of sustainable trees for fuel and building. I originally discounted the idea of these overcut parcels but I'm land greedy and wondered if I could plant some sort of fast growing trees. Part of the land purchase would be to develop tree growth, do some planting and have the option to make some money harvesting when or if it's sold down the line.
Any comments on the above are appreciated, especially setting me straight about these overcut bargain parcels.
As far as the build, it's going to be just one person so I have to be creative and use proper tools and jigs for hauling and lifting. It's narrowed down to log cabin or some sort of pole structure skinned with board and batten. I like the idea of green wood building. I'd like to do as much of it as possible without help and call in contractors/helpers as needed. For either type of build it's going to just be a rectangle ~1000 s.f. +/-300 , single level, and high ceilings. Pole building affords easy high ceiling, not so sure about log cabin though, maybe a gambrel roof?
I just started trying to get a very rough budget going after reading 'how to build a log cabin' by rob winters. He had an estimate of 61 logs for an 800s.f. log cabin. Raw pine are 300-400$ in maine?
I guess that means I have to look seriously at felling these myself. No idea about what time frame is involved with a noob felling 80 trees.
I'll have a decent 4x4 for hauling logs on the property, probably will purchase a portable mill for planks, and a tractor/lift. No idea about prices on tractors.
Don't want to reinvent the wheel, so if I see any decent pole barns that could be rehabbed without major surgery I'd jump on one. I would love to timber frame but it would take too long to learn.
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Been trying to let it dry up, rains for 2x days, then 1/2 a day of sun. Finishing cleaning up my last header.  My 440 sits at the shop, may have to go hammer out wood this week for our mill, 5-10k sticks behind every week and it hasnt let up.  Got my 1st big order going the other day, I'm shocked at what basic stuff I've had that's sold, pre-mixed saw fuel goes pretty good. 
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Full tree is great when it doesnt rain for 80 out of 93 days, ruts I need an excavator to fix. I've got a pile of my own wood bought, got approached to go cut for a buyer making fairly good money, supposedly doing a big cut for a solar farm semi-local. The timing wasnt right on that big processor I looked at last yr and honestly at 11'4" wide it was way to big. I've only ever seen 1x 4roller around here, from what I see the parts are around, but will it handle a steady diet of 16-20" hardwood and hemlock ? Sitting at Pat's in the UP, same engine as my 425, about 7k hrs.   Strictly to walk behind the buncher, go cut for 2-3 days, process and have the forwarder follow me. Are the 4 rollers that hard on hoses ? Down the road is the 2 roller conversion worth it ? Ponsse took this in on trade, said it's very clean and just over 6k hours. H8 head which I dont have a clue about ? Will a dangle walk away from that 4 roller ? More money than I want to spend but wondering if it's worth it. Hows ponsse for parts ? 
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All our lead blowers and also polishing wheels used solenoid controlled air blasts for shaking the junk out of the pleat. Lead and polishing dust/abrasive/glue turn to rock so im sure itll work for wood chip and dust. Nylon lines to nozzles, and parker 110AC valves on timers.. Maybe every 15mins a one second bang of air hit them. Worked pretty fair
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Glad you came through ok. Sorry for your damage.
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« Last post by Brucer on Today at 12:07:47 AM »
If you saw cants, make sure they are FOHC. Otherwise you will get serious surface checking as they dry.
For softwoods, allow about 1 year per inch of thickness for the cant to dry. I confirmed that figure when a customer asked me to resaw some cants that he had me cut for him 2 years earlier.
I've read that the figure for hardwoods is 2 years per inch of thickness, but I've had no personal experience.
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« Last post by Brucer on Yesterday at 11:57:16 PM »
I added 12' to my mill (6' at a time ) and learned a few things. - take your time setting it up and getting it aligned. - the legs aren't adjustable. You will need shims -- cut a bunch before you add the extension. - I like to place a longer, thicker board under the legs and set the shims on top of those. - Once the extensions are installed and leveled, align the mill to the extensions. - Saw with the small end facing you so you -- that's the end where the toeboards are  . - The long logs will sag in the middle when one end is up on the toeboard (a lot more than you might think  ). - You will need assistance loading longer logs. I set up a temporary log deck.  It's a lot faster to load several logs with the FEL than to put them on the mill one at a time. On the other hand, you will have to have an easy way to get the finished timbers off. And the slabs. For every foot of log over 20' I added $0.06 per BF to my price. When the log was over 26', I bumped the per-BF-price up another $0.50. The extended price gets applied to the entire timber, not just the overlength part. If this seems excessive, remember that you'll have a lot more material handling to do. If you're sawing timbers, you'll also get a higher proportion of lower value side lumber. Remember, this is a product that isn't easy to find. Make sure your customers have figured out how they're going to transport the stuff. You don't want to be sitting around on a loader waiting while they figure it out.
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Any idea what happened to bend the axle?
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50:1 as long as I am using high quality oil rated for 50:1. What is that, about 2.6oz to a gallon.
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« Last post by OffGrid973 on Yesterday at 11:54:24 PM »
I can’t even imagine how cold a shower you need to take with no shirt and those socks. Not even worrying about poison ivy but walnut, Cherry and many other Hardwoods make me burn if I go straight to a hot shower without a cold full rinse. Not even a hard hat can help that 
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« Last post by barbender on Yesterday at 11:48:31 PM »
Thanks for the update on the mystery. Gad you got it figured out👍
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« Last post by ljohnsaw on Yesterday at 11:43:39 PM »
@Magicman 's hook is what you are looking for!
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My insurance inspections are a major undertaking, and are very much like the formal safety audits at work. We fall in the middle for a business and as we have grown our insurance inspections have grown also. Mine aren’t a formality, on my initial inspection I was given a check list a dozen pages long with initials where the items were inspected and a few weeks to fix the gigs or no insurance.
Every year, I get inspected, I can set my calendar by it.
Let’s see....our insurance requires us to do a lot of things. Pages and pages. Here are a few highlights.
Certified electrical inspector contractor as well as one time county electrical inspection to make sure we were in code.
Mandatory yearly inspections with the County Fire Marshall. Yearly reviews and updated Certificates of Occupancy for workplace, posted evacuation plans (seriously, with a building that has one wall of nothing but huge doors, the evacuation plan is to “run to the light”, emergency lighting, Exit signs, fire extinguishers, first aid kits, no extension cords, emergency contact numbers posted, etc.
Signed off annual fire drills. The inspector asked one of my employees if we actually conducted fire drills.
Yearly Infrared Circuit Survey, with temperature reports of all major circuits and breakers required by the insurance company or immediate drop of policy. I get the TVA to do it, as they have an office and inspectors set up just to it. They say lots of insurance companies now require it.
Annual inspection of kilns.
Annual inspection of retail sales building for workplace hazards.
Yearly on site financial audit with a guy in a three piece suit.
Required to take a hot work permit class since I have welding equipment.
Was required to redeed the 5 acres I do business on.
Was required to enclose all my fluorescent tubes in protective plastic sleeves. With one building having 40 tubes, we are gradually moving to LEDs as we replace them.
Housekeeping, housekeeping, housekeeping. Flammable materials in cabinets, garbage cans emptied on schedule, required to clean up showroom weekly.
One a year the checklist is confirmed by the inspector and he signs off on it. As a reward I get to continue to send them my massive premiums checks.
The list goes on. My inspector is as sharp as a tack, nice guy, but he’s seen it all. One time I had left my electrical box door open. He spotted it and made me close it immedialty after he had checked for sawdust. He wanted to know why it was open. He then checked the labels on the circuit breakers to make sure they correct.
If anybody has insurance for primary and secondary lumber processing, retail sales and storefront insurance from another carrier, I’m interested. My company is good, but they don’t play around.
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« Last post by D L Bahler on Yesterday at 11:19:43 PM »
Yeah, I'm just trying to get my information all lined up so when I sit down with the architect, we'll need to do as little as possible.
The F-1 will be ICF walls, which should be about 4-hour fire rating.
I'll have to look into my options for engineering the floor above. Right now it's just modeled with 6x12 bearing beams supporting common 2x12 joists
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I know I've seen a picture, but I'll be darned if I can find it.
Milling some 38" dia 35' logs on my LX450 works amazingly well. Turning the suckers... not so much. The chain turner and clamp won't even touch them. So, I have some hand dogs that I pound into the log, wrap a chain around them, then hook the chain to my telehandler. As I retract the boom, the log rolls. Once I whack a bunch off the normal turner works fine. The way I'm securing the chain is sketch at best.
I'm pretty sure I've seen photos of a bit or clamp that pounds into a log, with a clevis to hook a chain to. Am I dreaming or does the tool exist. I'd prefer to just buy it, but I'm not averse to making a few in the shop. Finding the time is the tough part.
Thanks,
Stu
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A grain vac will have an airlock under the cyclone . I t has a set of vanes that are rotated , incoming waste is dropped into the first V as it rotates another set opens and the first set turns down to the opening on the bottom the waste falls out without pressure or vac . Also think of a rotating door setup , you walk into a cylinder behind a door and push as the door behind follows you and then you exit as you get to the inner opening. Google air lock .
Check into a heat exchanger . You might have to make one up yourself that would work for wood dust and with the larger opening needed it would not be as effective as one on a furnace . but what the heck if you could get the incoming air 20 to 40 degrees warmer that would help.
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I'll assume you're planning on stationary milling, or you're a glutton for punishment. I added an extension to my Woodmizer LX450 and it works very well, but it's bolted to the concrete and leveled like a CNC laser cutting machine, so the bed it very accurate. I added 3 toe rollers to my extension. Not so much to help level the logs, although I do use them for that, I use them more to roll cant's back and forth on the bed. Next time, I'd make split rollers. Sometimes you want to stockpile boards on the rear of the deck, and roll beams back and forth. With a single roller, you get stuck, so all you can do is go up and down if stuff is parked in the rear section. The extension is the easy part. You'll need a longer log deck, and easy way to handle the big heavy logs, and the beams you remove that are finished. I found the biggest PITA with long logs is getting them loaded close enough to the dragback end of the mill, that you can drag stuff back off the mill without hitting the ground or coming up short of my rollcase on the off feed end. I've ordered up a set of powered toe rollers from Woodmizer, and that will help that issue. Of course the single chain turner I have works great on 20' logs, but sucks on 40' logs. I need to add another one, but for now I simply parbuckle them with the telhandler. Then you'll need and extra log clamp to help position and clamp things, extra stops... the list seems endless. Good Luck. 
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