Sawing with Everett

[yieldmap]

Since y'all have inspired me to pursue this lumber milling bug I seem to have, I thought I'd share some pictures of my first experience milling lumber.  I don't yet have a mill, but I am working with a local sawyer, Everett Miller.  He's one of these "old lumberjack" kind of guys; a ball to be around.  I'm learning quite a bit.

We set up right in front of the shed, close to everything we might need.  Great location for sudden thunderstorms!  Here's the mill: LT40 with lots of handy hydraulics.



After our first 4 hours, we had about 500 BF of Red Oak cut, with a little Ash mixed in.  Quite a few small logs, thus the low yield.  Here's the pile after day 1.

Thanks to Arkansawyer for the tip on using 4x4's as "pallets".  They work fine, and I can handle the stacks with the forklift rather than by hand. 8)


On our second night, we got rained out after 2 hours of good cutting, about 350 BF of Red Oak (the lumberjack also calls it Crimson Oak?)  Look at this stuff: no knots, beautiful grain... ;D


Another thing that amazed me...after 850 BF of cutting, the minimal amount of sawdust.  There not kidding with the "Mizer" part, are they?


Enough for now.  I'll post more after the rains leave us alone long enough to cut.  Plan is to hit it again tonight.

You busy, Perry?  It'll be nice and cool!!

[Gilman]

Great pic's! Thanks for posting them.

[Tom]

There is nothing more satisfying than a day of sawing .......less it's the good supper and cool bed sheets that night.  :D

[Bibbyman]

That's the way it happens.  Get some logs, got a mill, put in some sweat into it and ... you get lumber.  Looks like you done good.

Speaking of sweat.  I think the heat index was over 100 today.  We started sawing before 7:30 this morning. It's 7:40 and we just got into the house.  I let Mary take a shower before getting supper on the table.  Yea,  we're gettin' soft.  Got a window AC unit in the bedroom.

[yieldmap]

Another 7 hours into it and here's most of the pile...about 1750 BF total.  We're a little over half done.


FWIW, the beautifully turquoise painted ends were the work of $1 worth of mis-mixed Latex Outdoor paint from Sears, and 2 hours of my life.  They worked pretty well, as there is very little end checking if any, so far.  Should I expect more in the future?

So, does this nasty looking stuff go straight to the firebox?


I had one Elm log that had spalted a little bit.  We got about 50 BF out of it.

Seriously though, how does one know if a log has spalted "too much" and the lumber is too rotten?

Thanks,
yieldmap

[Buzz-sawyer]

With red elm it is a matter of soundnes...I have had some on the edge...and some fine in the same log look it over , Is it punky or soft....thats the tell...

[yieldmap]

One more night at it, 630 BF more.  Tonight, we quartersawed the big log, about 24" at the small end.  Here we're working on the second quarter.  Not bad QS wood, but not the best I've seen.  Interesting how a really nice looking log on the outside can have knots in the cant, while a really ugly one can be beautiful.


Here's a shot of the last cut before a square cant.


We edge all the flitch boards before stacking them.  Here's how we've been edging them.  Stack them all up, then start with the tallest board and work your way down.


And finally, the Master at his Trade.


We have 19 logs left, should finish up tonight.  8 evenings worth of sawing and I think I'm hooked.  Lots of work, though.

[iain]

if you cant dig your nails into the spalt its ok
if you can it can still be ok if its for panels held in frames
haveing said that i do use so pretty ropey stull if the figure is there and the job will allow