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Tom goes on a road trip!

Started by scsmith42, March 26, 2014, 06:22:18 PM

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scsmith42

A very good customer has been after me to come over and saw up a whack of oak logs that he had harvested from his new homestead.  A couple of weeks ago the stars lined up, and Tom went on his first road trip!  Fortunately it was only about 15 minutes from my farm, so when I had to run back home to grab some spare parts (Tom's guide rollers were a bit crotchety and decided to be difficult... was probably my fault because I wasn't wearing my red shirt that day!) it wasn't too bad of an interruption.

By the time that we finished, 10,200 bd ft of red and white oak were stacked and stickered, and a few more glitches were ironed out.  All in all it was an enjoyable few days respite milling away from the farm.




 



 
Peterson 10" WPF with 65' of track
Smith - Gallagher dedicated slabber
Tom's 3638D Baker band mill
and a mix of log handling heavy equipment.

WellandportRob

Nice work Tom.  Looks like a decent size job.  How do you like the Baker?
2016 Wood-Mizer LT40HG 35 , Alaskan MKIII 60", Chev Duramax, Anderson logging trailer. Lucas DSM 23-19.

ladylake

 Looks good, how about some more pics and info on that Baker.  Hours, reliability, bf per hour as it's nice to see other mills.  Steve
Timberking B20  18000  hours +  Case75xt grapple + forks+8" snow bucket + dirt bucket   770 Oliver   Lots(too many) of chainsaws, Like the Echo saws and the Stihl and Husky     W5  Case loader   1  trailers  Wright sharpener     Suffolk  setter Volvo MCT125c skid loader

Nomad

     Glad to see that saw finally back on the road and making some serious sawdust! ;D
Buying a hammer doesn't make you a carpenter
WoodMizer LT50HDD51-WR
Lucas DSM23-19

goose63

Tom that's some serious saw dust  ;D 8) 8)
goose
if you find your self in a deep hole stop digging
saw logs all day what do you get lots of lumber and a day older
thank you to all the vets

Peter Drouin

A&P saw Mill LLC.
45' of Wood Mizer, cutting since 1987.
License NH softwood grader.

drobertson

You Betcha!  seen a Baker this past week. The ole boy never heard of FForum.  he was in the middle of nowhere, sawing out major stacks.  Baker makes a great mill.
only have a few chain saws I'm not suppose to use, but will at times, one dog Dolly, pretty good dog, just not sure what for yet,  working on getting the gardening back in order, and kinda thinking on maybe a small bbq bizz,  thinking about it,

scsmith42

Quote from: ladylake on March 26, 2014, 06:28:51 PM
Looks good, how about some more pics and info on that Baker.  Hours, reliability, bf per hour as it's nice to see other mills.  Steve


Quote from: WellandportRob on March 26, 2014, 06:27:37 PM
Nice work Tom.  Looks like a decent size job.  How do you like the Baker?


Re the Baker, it's been an interesting learning experience.  Here is a post that provides some information about it's history:

https://forestryforum.com/board/index.php/topic,70363.0.html

Running a band mill is a new experience for me because my other mills are a Peterson WPF swing blade, and a home built dedicated slabber.  It is certainly different from a swing blade....

What I like about it is that it is heavy duty, long, accurate and with hydraulic controls.  I have been running 1-1/4" bands but am thinking seriously about changing to 1-1/2" bands, as I don't feel that I'm using all of the torque available to move the blade through the cut.

What I don't like about it is the time involved with setting it up and breaking it down.  It's probably very well suited for a stationary application, but the leveling system (especially the ones in-between the axle's) is an incredible pain to set up.  Gael tells me that Tom (the mill's original owner) was also "underwhelmed" by the time and hassle involved with setting it up.  Once it's set up though it's a joy to use.

I have around 200 hours on it now (it had 103 hours on it when I became it's new steward), and the main thing that I had to do was replace a lot of the hydraulic components due to the time that it sat unattended (and uncovered) in the Florida weather.  He seems to consume around 3/4 to 1 gallon of diesel fuel per hour of operation.

The biggest improvement that I would ask Baker to make is to offer a hydraulic screw jack option for the middle leveling jacks (in between the axle's).  This would significantly reduce the time required to set the mill up and break it down.  The new ones have a 65 hp Cummins engine, which has to be a joy to use.  Tom has a 38 HP Kubota which should be very dependable.  I understand that the newer mills feature faster hydraulics, which should prove beneficial to experienced operators.  All in all it's a great mill.
Peterson 10" WPF with 65' of track
Smith - Gallagher dedicated slabber
Tom's 3638D Baker band mill
and a mix of log handling heavy equipment.

Peter Drouin

The Baker mills are nice and well made. That mill will last for years. 8) 8) 8)
A&P saw Mill LLC.
45' of Wood Mizer, cutting since 1987.
License NH softwood grader.

Magicman

Thanks for documenting this new adventure with Tom.   :)


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