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How short can you saw?

Started by DR_Buck, September 20, 2004, 07:53:24 PM

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DR_Buck

I have a customer looking to have short logs milled.  Most less than 2 or 3 ft.  She's kind of an opportunist looking to cash in on some walnut she salvaged from firewood I think.   Wants to sell it on eBay.

As a part time sawyer, I'm not interested in dealing with short stuff like that.  Even if I did the Bibbyman mod to to my manual clamps it would be a pain.

So... question is, what kind of mill can saw short stuff the easiest?   I told her someone with a large size vertical band saw might be able to do it.
Been there, done that.   Never got caught [/b]
Retired and not doing much anymore and still not getting caught

Fla._Deadheader

  We can saw 12" long stuff if we want to. We have a bandmill.

  Doubt if I would bother with it. She would have to have deep pockets for us to even consider it.

  All ya need is a few boards to span the log stops and the bunks to lay the chunks on. The clamp will hold the chunk fast against the boards.
All truth passes through three stages:
   First, it is ridiculed;
   Second, it is violently opposed; and
   Third, it is accepted as self-evident.

-- Arthur Schopenhauer (1788-1860)

Buzz-sawyer

maybe a shingle mill attachment.....thats about all I could see doin it......the question is , why do it :D :D
    HEAR THAT BLADE SING!

Tom

Any bandmill with close dogs, close bunks and a way to get the log onto the mill can do it.  I'm most familiar with Wood Mizer's ability but I'm sure the others could as well.

Nobody is going to be anxious to do it becaue it's a pain in the rear, all work little money.

The lady best be prepared to spend some effort drying the wood too.  Short stuff like that isn't going to allow much end splitting or errant degrade.  One knot would just about wipe out the value of a 2 foot board.

I think, if she does find someone to saw it, that bowl blanks and pen blanks would be her best market.   Try to find a sawmill that can break it down and use a shop bandsaw to produce the wanted material.

Ianab

I'd recommend a chainsaw  :D
But seriously you could freehand cut the stuff into managable sizes and then break it down with a shop bandsaw. I assume she doesn't have TONS of the stuff?

ian
Weekend warrior, Peterson JP test pilot, Dolmar 7900 and Stihl MS310 saws and  the usual collection of power tools :)

leweee

Tom ....nice  addition in the lower right corner ;D  yah that short stuff is a p.i.t.a. :o  Do it for myself ....but no money in it . ::)
just another beaver with a chainsaw &  it's never so bad that it couldn't get worse.

steveo_1

Buck why not just charge by the hour, if the customer really wants it milled up,make it worth your while,but just let them know its not gonna be cheap.
got wood?

Bibbyman

Here is a "quick attach" fence Va-Sawyer has built for his Wood-Mizer to handle specialty cuts and short chunks.



Here is a link to his post on the topic...
Usefull sawmill mods - Va-Sawyer's post.


We do this kind of thing from time to time by placing a 1x4 against the back supports.  Sometimes a 2x2 or what ever it takes.  Sometimes we saw right through the temporary back supports.

On short chunks like you describe,  we've laid a board flat across the bed rails because the chunks were too short to span the distance between the rails.

If you were going to do a lot of them,  AND the money is there,  then I've seen large vertical bandsaws with a back fence that would make pretty quick work of it.  But you'd need to split, quarter, or square them out somehow to have faces to work from.
Wood-Mizer LT40HDE25 Super 25hp 3ph with Command Control and Accuset.
Sawing since '94

Arthur

should get her to take the logs to the Sun Belt Expo in October and see how can do it for her.  She should be able to get it done for nothing just to see which manufacture can mill stuff that small.

If our 4" swinger is ready for the show I would have a go for her for nowt.

 ;D

Bibbyman

We were helping WM at the Small Farm Show in Columbia, MO a couple of years back when a guy asked if they could saw a couple of short chunks into bowl blanks.  He talked like he was interested in buying a mill. They said sure, bring 'em on down.  Later on, here he shows up with a dump truck load of butted off walnut chunks! :o  

They sawed a couple on the LT15 to show him it could be done.  He didn't hang around long after that.

I suspect he wanted the milk without buying the cow.. ;)
Wood-Mizer LT40HDE25 Super 25hp 3ph with Command Control and Accuset.
Sawing since '94

Brian_Bailey

Here's how I go about cutting shorties  :).




WMLT40HDG35, Nyle L-150 DH Kiln, now all I need is some logs and someone to do the work :)

Fred

I used to saw short chunks on the circular mill by sliding one headblock closer...  Now I have a 6 foot belsaw carraige that when i get set up will saw 2 foot stuff. For now I dont saw that short on the bandmill.
                   Fred
Baker 18M
Woodmaster 718 Planer/ molder

rvrdivr

I cut up some 3ft cedar this past weekend that I salvaged from the road side. It was a real pain but I got it cut. Now that I see the way y'all are doing it, it would have been much easier.  ::)
Always learning thanks to you all and this forum! Thanks! ;)

Brian

rebocardo

I have a home built procut chain saw mill that is pretty handy for cutting short 31" pieces. I use C clamps to hold things six inches and narrower against the dogs. Though I rarely bother since I call pieces that small "firewood" :-D and the saw has a tendency to pull the wood to the side and off the platform.

Small stuff I want to save I usually freehand them with a 28" bar by laying the bar length wise on the wood and slicing them that way. It goes quickly, though I imagine on her pieces it is not going to leave much wood afterwards. Sounds like she found a tree cut up and put to the curb.

She probably does not have a chainsaw big enough to run a 28-36" bar. So, to help her I would use a big bar to cut it into square firewood size chunks and maybe cut that with a bandsaw or table saw. Using a chainsaw you should be able to cut 2" wide slices from her chunks.

Fla._Deadheader

  Brian Bailey showed what I was 'splainin. ;D ;D
All truth passes through three stages:
   First, it is ridiculed;
   Second, it is violently opposed; and
   Third, it is accepted as self-evident.

-- Arthur Schopenhauer (1788-1860)

Quartlow

You realize I had to go measure mine just to see, On my breezewood a 13 inche piece will lay across the bunks, since i have manual dogs that are made right on the bunk I think I could get away with that.

I think her best market is bowl turners though, 12X12X4 chunks. and sell em green. All she has to do is seal them up good. Anchorseal or pariffan.
Breezewood 24 inch mill
Have a wooderful day!!

rbarshaw

When I built my bandmill I put two bunks and dogs 22" apart so I could do stuff like that if'in I had to.
Been doing so much with so little for so long I can now do anything with nothing, except help from y'all!
By the way rbarshaw is short for Robert Barshaw.
My Second Mill Is Shopbuilt 64HP,37" wheels, still a work in progress.

Tom_Averwater

I've cut short pieces by nailing them to a piece of 2 x 10 with 16 sinkers .Clamp the 2 x on the bunks and then saw it thru and thru.         Tom
He who dies with the most toys wins .

Tom

Might work OK, but, I shudder when I get a nail or screw close to my sawmill. :D

DanG

I built a movable bunk for my mill. I can get pretty close to 1 foot before the lever on the dogs start to interfere.  I can make about as much footage per hour on short fat stuff as I can on long skinny stuff.
"I don't feel like an old man.  I feel like a young man who has something wrong with him."  Dick Cavett
"Beat not thy sword into a plowshare, rather beat the sword of thine enemy into a plowshare."

Furby

I took a scrap piece of plywood, screwed a scrap piece of 1x on one side and the end (short screws  ;) ). Two screws holds the whole thing to the bed. Cut a notch in the plywood for the clamp and can cut as short as I want. Once the 1x got cut down, I just use different size "shims" to brace the round log. Works pretty good, but there is sometimes just a little movement, but not bad. ::)

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