Finally got my mill back!!! Time to set it up again.

[Piston]

I finally got my mill back!

After not having it since this spring, I'm finally ready to set it back up where it belongs  ;D
Prior to moving the mill, I had it setup in a not-so-great location on my property.  I didn't know anybetter when I first set it up, and the location I had chosen wasn't a very level spot, not to mention I didn't have a whole lot of room to manuever the tractor around. 

I wanted to clear a new spot for the mill, and had a decent spot in mind, but there was a good amount of stuff being stored there, things like back hoe buckets, old logs that are too far gone to mill, an old riding lawnmower that was broken down, you know, nice stuff  :D  Well I moved all that out of the way and got rid of some things (finally!)  Then I had to take down a few trees (firewood size, not big enough for sawlogs) and level off the area.

I started by taking the trees down, one by one.  I was operating the chainsaw and my dad was running my tractor.  I would cut the tree down, limb it, he'd go down one side of the tree scooping up the brush in the grapple, then the other side, and I'd buck the tree into stovelength pieces to be split later. 

Here are a few pics of the process....


  

  

  

  
It's a tight squeeze between some of those trees!  ;D  I might have to take that pine down before the mill comes off the trailer  ;)



Below are a few pics of my new-to-me stumpgrinder in action.  I've ground about 15 stumps so far and this time I figured I'd let my dad have some fun with it.  He was pretty impressed with how quickly the stumps dissapeared, and was having a good time.
 

  

  

 
He ground the 3 stumps about 12" below the ground level, then used the grapple like a bucket to 'backblade' the area smooth.  I was going to put the box blade on but he does a darn good job just by backblading. 


I usually have a few random pics thrown into my posts, so I'll continue the tradition  ;D  I know this yellow jacket doesn't look all that big, but it was the BIGGEST yellow jacket I've ever seen!  I bet it was 3 times the size of any other that I've seen.  Not only was this the first bee like this that I've witnessed, but about an hour after taking this picture, he (or she? how do you tell with bees?) was still around, and he must have been feeling a little bit frisky because I then witnessed a second HUGE bee, who flew over and proceeded to 'have his way' with the first bee (okay I guess this must mean that one was a she).......
I've seen some animals mate in the wild before, but this was my first experience witnessting yellow jackets on steroids doing the dirty!  :D
 

 


Okay so back to business.  Here is the little ole LT-15 on the trailer.  Before taking it off the trailer, (which is where it still rests) I leveled the bed sections and loaded a couple old logs on the mill.  I wanted to mill a few timbers that I can rest the mill on when I put it on the ground.  I want it to be a bit higher than it was before, I'm going to try about a foot, maybe foot and a half off the ground, and see if that makes my back ache a little less at the end of the day.   
 

 

In the pic below, you can see where we've leveled out a spot for the mill.  About 15'-20' to the right of the trailer is where I'll put it.  Then I'll be able to stack logs basically where the trailer is, I'll make up some log bunks in that location. 
 

 


I put these two old logs on the mill, and milled them into 6x8's to set the mill on.  It actually worked pretty well milling on the trailer.  Well, until I was walking on the other side of the mill to tighten the log dogs and caught my foot on the handle of one.  There I am thinking I'm taking another step, and then WAM!  I'm faceplanting into the dirt while my feet are still up on the trailer!  >:( :-[ 
Good thing I'm still young, just bounced right back up and looked around to see if anybody saw  :D
 

  

  

  

  

  

 


I did mill a 3rd log into the same dimensions, and I'll cut that one in half, and use the 3 timbers (1.5 on each side) to make a nice base.  I'll probably put them on top of some 6x6's going the opposite direction.  Does anyone have some good tips as far as what height I should shoot for?  Or just whatever is comfortable? 



Okay last pic until I can get back to the mill in a couple weeks and finish the setup, I ran out of time when the wife called for dinner being ready, and wasn't able to get anymore free time after that until going back to work.  (you guys were right, babies DO take up a lot of time :D)
This is the "before" pic (don't ask why I put the before pic at the end of the thread???) 
It's not a great pic, but this is where the mill was before it was moved to the other location.  You can see in the front of the mill is a bunch of old brush, trees, and old logs, so there was no room to stack boards at that end.  Then to the left of the mill that you can't see, it slopes downhill relatively soon outside the frame of the pic.  I'm excited to try the new spot, it will be nice to have some room to move around! 



Hope some of you enjoyed the pics, I know sometimes when I can't get my sawdust fix I end up perousing the forum for pics of what I'd rather be doing.  ;D

[TimGA]

Great job !  That looks like that will work well for you. Nice equipment makes life so much easier, don't be in such a hurry and use your back instead of it, don't ask how I know.Great picture's.   Tim

[thecfarm]

You have some nice stuff to work with. I had to haul my trees,limbs and all to a brush pile and limb them out there. Than move the tree into a pile. Than go back and push up the brush. I had to wait for the stumps to rot too. But those red oak ones don't rot too well. I cleared out an area for mine too. But I just had trees to cut.Looks like a nice area. An area that size on my land would have 2-3 big rocks sticking up. I would have your mill about a foot high. I think that is how high mine is. This is measured from the bed. I would suggest pressure treated. Just so it will last longer and may stay level longer too. I set my mill up so I can see visitors coming towards me too. Looks you have that on a slight hill. I would put the mill on the down hill side and dig down to make it level on the up hill side and put a couple logs there to put your logs on to.Just like you said. I put my logs just about far enough apart to drive through. I use a piece of flat ¼ x4" metal that I lay onto the log bunk and sawmill than roll the log onto the mill. I had to haul some gravel in to make mine the way I wanted it. If you have a better idea  6 months or a year down the road about setting your mill up ,do it. It's a lot easier to have it set up the way you want. Trees can be a bother to work around too. Looks good. We use to have chickens,they are gone now. I took over the chicken coop to put my blades into. The good blades are on the right,the dull ones on the left. This building is about 6 foot square. Kinda big just for blades,but it works. And it's only 50 feet from the mill instead of 200 like the garage is. That is my sawmill shed.

[bandmiller2]

Piston,I'll be the one to ask,tell us more about that spiffy stump grinder.What does it use for teeth,will it traverse side to side without moving the tractor.Frank C.

[Chuck White]

Looks like you have a good thing going there, Piston!

[Piston]

Thanks for the comments guys  ;D

Frank,
The stump grinder is made by a company called Shaver, it is the SC50 model, here are the specs http://www.shavermfg.com/stump-grinders

It works really well, but would work even better on a bigger tractor.  It is rated for PTO hp of 35-100 and I'm on the low end of that at 39.  I have to take it really slow when grinding a large stump.  I've ground some large ones but it takes time.
The teeth are carbide tipped teeth.  They are super expensive, about $54 a piece (25 of them total) from the manufacturer, however, I was able to find them 'refurbished' for $13 a piece.  They work just as good as the new ones.  ;D

I know your not too far away from me, so if you ever need any stumps ground, I'd be happy to help you out. 

Cfarm,
Thanks for the info and tips, especially about diggin into the hillside a little.  The land is mostly level except on the far end of it that you see in the pic, but it does slope a bit like you said.  I was also thinking of getting a couple yards of gravel to put under the mill.  I was going to put some plastic underneath the gravel for a vapor barrier, do you think that is a good idea or not neccessary? 

I do have some very helpful equipment and attachments, however, it wasn't overnight that I got them.  Everything I bought has been used, but in good condition.  I take a long time to find implements and took a long time to find my tractor, I searched a while and waited for a good 'deal' to come along.  I'd love a new tractor a bit larger but I'll wait until I'm financially ready for that, probably not till retirement  :D

As a side note, the backhoe is my fathers.  We have a general understanding that each of us have open access and use of whatever we both own.  It works well for us because we both operate the equipment similarly and don't blame each other if something happens to break.  My dad is very good at running equipment.  I forgot to mention in my original post that I had a good time working with him on this little project, we had some good father/son quality time  ;)

[Riggs]

Great post Piston, I am lucky enough to get to work with my Dad from time to time as well, it's just a good feeling. Nice looking place you've got there, keep the pics coming.

On a side note, the "yellow jacket on steroids" is what we call a news bee. They are completely harmless.

[clww]

Great pictures and post!
As Riggs wrote, that is a Yellow Jacket imposter. It's a very large fly that has changed through evolution to disguise itself as a predator. The ones I have seen on our property love the sap from freshly split oak firewood.
Good luck with your milling!

[Magicman]

Looking good with your total timber harvesting procedure.   

[thecfarm]

I would not use plastic. But that ground fabric would work good. This is kinda of a woven plastic.lets the water through but not the gravel. Probaly don't need it. Not like you going to have a 5 ton truck on your sawmill every day.
I also sawed 2 sides off my logs for my log bunks. The same way you did to put them under the mill. They just roll easier this way. No knots sticking up. I keep a good size piece of a short slab to keep between me and the log I am rolling too. Just in case something happens the log won't roll over me or maybe give me enough time to get out of the way. Have fun.

[caveman]

The "yellow jacket" looks a lot like a cicada killer to me.  I see them often this time of year and in the summer.  They live in the ground and after they sting a cicada, they drag them under ground and I beleive they lay their eggs inside the cicada and the larva eat the cicada from the inside out. Your equipment and mill site are impressive.
Caveman

[Sawdust Lover]

The mill is really nice and your site looks great. But the stump grinder is awesome!

[Piston]

Great pictures and post!
As Riggs wrote, that is a Yellow Jacket imposter. It's a very large fly that has changed through evolution to disguise itself as a predator. The ones I have seen on our property love the sap from freshly split oak firewood.
Good luck with your milling!

No kidding really? I've never heard of something like that.  I wish I knew earlier, you probably would have gotten a kick out of seeing me run away from this guy like a scared little school girl  :D  That would explain why it was hanging out all the time, that insect thing was around for hours, and it WAS spending a lot of time on the freshly cut red oak.  Learn something new everyday.  ;) Thanks.

I have tons of pics of the stump grinder.  It really is fun to operate.  I bought it used from someone out in western MA for quite a deal.  I figured I could use this with all the land clearing I'll be doing on my land in NH but like anything, I found I end up using it a lot more than I thought I would, even around here.  I've even had people ask me to do some work for them, but I haven't actually done any jobs yet.  I wanna get really proficient with it first. 

I'll post a few more pics.  There are also some at this thread http://www.tractorbynet.com/forums/attachments/256960-geinding-some-stumps.html (am I allowed to post links?) If not, type this into google (Geinding some stumps site:www.tractorbynet.com) - I mispelled grinding in the thread title so that's how it comes up  :D  Some of the stumps I ground in that thread were pretty small, and one I probably could have ripped out by hand  :D but you'll get the idea. 

[Piston]

Here are some more pics. 



  
This stump in the above pic, was just to the left of the trailer in the below pic, nice and flat now!




  

  

  

  

  

  

  

  

  

  

 

[POSTON WIDEHEAD]

DanG thing got my attention!  :D  How often do ya have to feed it? 

[Piston]

DanG thing got my attention!  :D  How often do ya have to feed it? 

The operator has to be fed more often than IT!   :D

[Peter Drouin]

HI Piston why don;t you use the backhoe to dig out the stumps ?

[Piston]

Hey Peter,
Well, I used to. 

A while back I was clearing some land up behind my house to fence in an area for the dogs.  I cut the trees down (large pines) and dug up the stumps.  I didn't realize just how HUGE some of those root balls were. 

We used to have a big dynahoe which was about 20k lbs heavier than the 410 and that is what I used to dig those stumps.  I spent a long time digging out the stumps, and when I was done, I had large holes I needed to fill in, huge stumps that I couldn't burn, and still needed to move the stumps around.  I ended up digging large holes and burying those stumps.  In some cases, after I got the stumps out of the hole, I'd just dig out the same hole some more, then drop the stump BACK in the hole I just took it out of, and bury it below ground.  This now seems like a pretty stupid idea.  :D  With the stump grinder, I could have ground them down a foot below grade and call it a day.  ;D

The only reason I will dig a large stump up anymore, is if I am putting a basement in it's spot!  OR, if I feel like playing with the backhoe (I'm working on building a thumb for it and may just test it out on stumps) ;D

For the smaller trees, I usually just push them over with my tractor and the root ball comes right up with it, well, for the pines anyways. 
The root balls on some of those oaks end up very large as you know, so I make quite a mess when digging them up.  Typically if a tree is large enough, or rootball deep enough, to where I can't push it over with the tractor, it ends up being large enough to make quite a mess if I were to use the backhoe.  I grind those stumps.

The stump grinder can grind a good size stump sometimes faster than I can dig it out (actually, the majority of time).  Not only that, but all I'm left with is woodchips.  I used some of these woodchips between my raised bed gardens.

I cleared some trees on my land in NH this past spring, this was before I had the stump grinder.  I now have  quite a large pile of stumps that I will have to do something with, and I'm not sure how I'll handle them yet.  One thing is for sure though, I will have to move that pile of stumps at least one more time.  If I had ground them down, they'd be gone forever. 

So I guess to answer your question in a long winded way....
It is easier and quicker for me to grind them rather than dig them. 
I do less damage to the yard/land with the lightweight tractor (doesn't matter in the woods of course)
I don't ever have to handle the stump, no burning, burying, rotting or hauling away.
It is faster.
It is mobile, I can bring it with me to my land in NH and with the grapple on the front, and stump grinder on the back, I can completely remove many trees in a very short amount of time.  I can't trailer the backhoe up there.  (I will get it hauled in the spring though and keep it up there for the spring/summer/fall)

There are quite a few more advantages that I didn't realize before I started using this. 

However, there are some obvious disadvantages as well.  If you are clearing land for a horse pasture, I don't believe you can leave any portion of the stump, so it won't eventually rot and cause a sink hole.
Large trees with huge stumps, will eventually rot underground and cause a depression in the earth, that may have to be filled in with more dirt (as in a lawn area or something) 
The teeth are expensive, and in rocky soil, I will chip them.  If the soil is really really rocky it may not be worthwile.  Obviously we have pretty rocky soil, but I haven't much of a problem yet.  I do have two chipped teeth after the 15 or so stumps I've ground, and those couple my dad did. 


I still prefer to push small trees over when I don't care about making a mess.  When I bring the backhoe to my land in NH, I'll push over many trees, and use the tractor/grapple to move and pile them.  I don't care if I make a mess up there at this point. 

[Piston]

Peter,
I've been meaning to ask you, how long of a log can you mill with your setup?  Have I ever told you that I'm jealous of your tractor?  :D 
Do you have rear remotes on your tractor?  What model is that?

[thecfarm]

You are lucky in the rock department. I am clearing a little land each year. Not much this year. I'm getting too far ahead of myself and not keeping up,mowing,with what I have cleared. I try to cut my stumps down as low to the ground as I can,so I can mow right over them. Hard on the bar and chain. The white pine are harder to cut lower than the hard woods. They seem to grow higher and have more roots up higher on the stumps,making a bigger stump. But if I was to dig out a stump I would get one stump and 20 rocks to get rid of. Don't say dig deeper,I would keep finding rocks. The hardwood ones will rot away in about 5-8 years. I can really just forget about them. They just disappear. Accept for the red oak stumps. They last forever it seems. I try not to cut many of those. These are my wildlife trees. The pine stumps I can get out in just about the same time frame,5-8 years or so. The roots will rot off and I can just about go up to them with my loader and out they come. I am in the process of filling in beside the driveway down by the road. Drops off about 3 feet at first. That's where the pine stumps are going,than dirt on top. Yes,they will rot,someday,and I'll have to add more dirt.But I can see the rocks in the pine stumps. If I had a stump grinder I would not dare to go much below the ground here. I'm in the process of trying to get an old oak stump out now. I can only get at it from 2 sides. One side has 2 big rocks and the other side is not my land.It is not going to well. I need a back hoe. I find out too a dug up stump will seem to last forever out of the ground too. That is a good set up you have in getting rid of your stumps. I spent an hour digging up a red oak stump the other day. Than I have a hole to fill in.

[Piston]

On one of the stumps I was grinding, I was down probably 6" or so and started grinding on a rock.  It was embedded into the stump itself.  I stopped grinding at that depth and didn't keep going.  I looked at the rock and it was all gauged out from the grinder.  I looked at my teeth and they were fine  ???

If the stump is so large that I have to reposition the tractor, I will start from the back if I can, that way if I come across a rock it will throw it out the back, whereas if I start from the front, it seems like when I come across a rock it will get tossed around a little, hitting the teeth multiple times before getting thrown out the back.  I've certainly hit some rocks, but I avoid any that I see, and I do look first.  If there are a lot of rocks around the base of the tree I try to push them away with the grapple first, or just by hand if they're small.  Rocks and stumpgrinders don't mix that's for sure.  I do have two chipped teeth already but I think that is pretty good considering that I know I've hit rocks way more than twice  :D

Cfarm,
Did you buy a new tractor?  I thought you had a smaller Deere before?  Or am I thinking of someone else?

[thecfarm]

A JD???  Man that almost as bad as saying I like g...s.  :D  I did have a small Kubota,a BX series,18hp for the wife to mow with,about 7 acres. I have a 40hp NH that I play with. We got rid of the Kubota and brought a 30hp NH for her to mow with. We have her tractor and mine tractor.Or big tractor and small tractor as we call them. The only time I really get on the small one is when I blow snow with it. She does not like me to get on it much. She see all the stuff that I have done to the big one and don't let me get to close to hers. We wax her tractor and wash it too.

[Piston]

A JD???  Man that almost as bad as saying I like g...s.  :D 

:D :D :D
Sorry for the insult.  ;D 
For some reason I thought you had a smaller Deere, then I looked in your sig and saw your NH.  Okay, well, glad that's all straightened out, I can get some rest now.   :D

[thecfarm]

It's all in fun. Rest now you are going to need it. Raining here now,so that keeps me inside. You may also want to put a layer of sawdust in between you log bunks too. So if an end of a short logs falls inside it won't get dirt on it. I have a bunch of small pieces of cedar in between mine from the place up the road when they was open.

[Peter Drouin]

Peter,
I've been meaning to ask you, how long of a log can you mill with your setup?  Have I ever told you that I'm jealous of your tractor?  :D 
Do you have rear remotes on your tractor?  What model is that?

Hi piston, I can cut 45', yes the JD has rear remotes 4  model 5410 80 horse. you know most of us in NH that have land more then 5 ac have a stump dump for all things that you don;t want to look at :D I have one, all stumps and brush wood junk, just find a place on your land out of the way that will be a dump forever. and when you have your house there you can put all your leaves there , start a much pile ,when you rake your lon or cut your fire wood, a place to make a mess out of sight :D