Whatcha Sawin' 2019 ???

[Peter Drouin]

Found a big lag bole in this log.

 

When I cut with a hole in the log like this,  I set the whole on a 45° Of a face I want.



Trying to save all the wood from that log.

[mart]

I spent a couple days this week cleaning up my yard and milling a few logs. I sawed a couple nice birch, a pair of 16 foot spruces for 2x6s and several cottonwood for roof sheathing for my shed extension. The cottonwood sure had some nice color.

With my two week on/two week off schedule I don't get as much time on the mill as I'd like. Here's a couple of pictures. The first is my sawmill tractor. A 1951 Clark tug tractor that someone added a blade and forklift to sometime before I got it.



 

That cottonwood can have some nice color. The stack is quite a bit higher now and I still have three 12' logs left to mill.


 

[Magicman]

I went this morning and looked at an upcoming job.  The customer is still bringing logs out and they will all be moved to the sawing site.


 
This is 7 of what will be about 20 mostly White Oak logs which will be sawn 2" for three ply crane/construction mats.

This job is only 9 miles from home.  ;D

We are sorta drying out and folks are starting to get serious about sawing. 

[WLC]

I spent a couple days this week cleaning up my yard and milling a few logs. I sawed a couple nice birch, a pair of 16 foot spruces for 2x6s and several cottonwood for roof sheathing for my shed extension. The cottonwood sure had some nice color.

With my two week on/two week off schedule I don't get as much time on the mill as I'd like. Here's a couple of pictures. The first is my sawmill tractor. A 1951 Clark tug tractor that someone added a blade and forklift to sometime before I got it.



 

That cottonwood can have some nice color. The stack is quite a bit higher now and I still have three 12' logs left to mill.

Hey Marty!!  That cottonwood sure is nice looking.  Bet it would make some beautiful paneling.  Your yard is much clearer than where my mill is sitting.  I started clearing the snow around mine yesterday.  Maybe I'll finish it up this afternoon.  

[mart]

WLC,

We should get together for some coffee. I'll send a PM.

Cottonwood does make nice paneling. I did about 1000 square feet for a friend's cabin. They love it. I'm experimenting with it as roof sheeting this year. As long as it stays dry it holds up well. The logs came from a friends work site last fall. Just had to take the trailer over and he loaded them for me. I'm also using cotton wood 6x10s for the beams in my extension. It will be covered open storage for the tractor and some lumber. Next is a saw shed and an extension on the garage.

[alan gage]

I went this morning and looked at an upcoming job.  The customer is still bringing logs out and they will all be moved to the sawing site.


 
This is 7 of what will be about 20 mostly White Oak logs which will be sawn 2" for three ply crane/construction mats.

Either some of those 'logs' are way too small for 2x material or the big logs are REALLY big.
Alan

[Busysawyer]

Some of the more interesting things I've been sawing lately. 

 

 

 

 

 

 

[Magicman]

That is some very interesting sawing BS.

Either some of those 'logs' are way too small for 2x material or the big logs are REALLY big.

You can see six of the seven 14"+ logs on the lower right of the whack.  The butt log is pushing 24".  He has 4 maybe 6 trees still standing that will come down.  Afterwards he will level a spot for sawing and move all of the saw logs there.  Since he has brought it out, I'm sure that the small stuff will be firewood.  This is a land clearing project and all of the stumps are being excavated.

[Ljohnsaw]

A 1951 Clark tug tractor that someone added a blade and forklift to sometime before I got it.

That looks great.  There have been a couple tugs for sale near me and I'm tempted.  I need a tractor but a tug looks like it would do better on my hills with a lower center of gravity.  How well does it push dirt with that blade?  And the fork lift, works well?

[mart]

A 1951 Clark tug tractor that someone added a blade and forklift to sometime before I got it.

That looks great.  There have been a couple tugs for sale near me and I'm tempted.  I need a tractor but a tug looks like it would do better on my hills with a lower center of gravity.  How well does it push dirt with that blade?  And the fork lift, works well?

It does pretty well with pushing dirt. It can put down pressure on the blade so it works pretty well for back blading. It does much better now with pushing snow since I put new tractor tires on it. It had the old military knobbies which were really smoothies as the knobs were about wore off.
I'm not happy yet with the forklift. I think I'll move it to the front and set it up to switch between the blade and the forklift by pulling a couple pins and using quick connect hydraulic fittings. I may need to look at a higher pressure or volume pump as the forks run a lot slower with weight on them. It also will pick the front end up if I try to pick up a heavy log or stack of lumber.
My sawing buddy thinks the front end is too light for the forklift but for no more than it travels, my lot is only an acre, it would last me many years I'm sure. It's not like I'd be running it hours a day with a lot of weight on the forks. I'm open to suggestions.

[thecfarm]

Never heard of them tugs,nor seen one.

[doc henderson]

My neighbor Jim had a ERC tree split in the wind, he had it taken down and then called and asked if I wanted it.  they cut it short, and several branches were sheared by the stress.  My question is about the golden honey like stuff at a junction of the bark and sapwood.  Is it technically sap or pitch or none of the above.  @GeneWengert-WoodDoc 



 



 

this tree was just cut yesterday and there are several cracks, and am concerned they may travel the length of the log.
It was free from Jim 4 doors down, I try to not turn down folks so they will continue to call and give me free stuff.

[jimparamedic]

all depends who you ask. But I say sap until its cooked then its pitch.

[mart]

Never heard of them tugs,nor seen one.

They were, and still are used to move aircraft. Mine originally was out on the Elmendorf Airforce base.

[WV Sawmiller]

   Happy St. Patrick's Day. Fishing buddy GD #3 is 7 today. Sold my first wood off Craigslist today to a lady. Most expensive board I have sold to date - $430 + WV sales tax. 43 bf, live edge 10' long 9/4 walnut slab I had milled March 15 of last year. First piece of that tree to sell and now I have recouped my sawing/slabbing cost and most (part?) of my transport 40 miles over and back. Now if I can sell the rest I will be in the black on that log. If this turns out as we hope I suspect she will be back for more.


 One of the walnut 9/4 slabs. Air dried one year complete with water marks.


 Couple more. Range from 42 -57 bf


 Used to 5X8 trailer to display. Broke down the stack using the tractor and fel to display each board. A little time consuming but paid off this time.

Then I move a 4' ash curved butt to saw for benches. Put several together to circle and face in to a firepit or outward from a tree .


 Big flare for short piece.


 Sawed 8/4 LE slabs for primitive mortise & tenon benches. Most are about 14" wide on small end and 18" or so large end.

Then I sawed a 6' 9-10 inch ash log into a 6X6 for crib blocks (Not shown) and then sawed an ugly 6' walnut crotch. I needed Nathan here to advise and help.


 While trimming/Bibbying to fit between the blade guide that limb stub sticking up yielded 6-7 real pretty 4/4 craft ovals from about 16-30 inches long.


 Then got 10-8/4 6' long LE slabs. Some Black ants from a knothole but the wood was solid and about 16" average. That is a size I can use to make benches or woodworkers like them. Over 160 bf out of that ugly crotch.

[Banjo picker]

@mart did that cottonwood smell as good as it looked? 🐷 banjo

[mart]

@mart did that cottonwood smell as good as it looked? 🐷 banjo

I've always heard that cottonwood stinks when sawed but maybe Alaska cottonwood is different. Little to no smell really.

[Banjo picker]

Must be different down south.  I cut some last week and it smelled like a hog pen.  It did make nice lumber, I also remember it being very wet wood.  Banjo 

[doc henderson]

elm can smell like urine, not sure if it is ammonia.  We call it "pith elm" and it will even make you hands smell for hours if handling it.  Oak has kind of a bad smell.  Cottonwood has not struck me as too bad a smell.  On the ERC, if it is sap i would expect it from the "sapwood".  It is sticky and you cannot hardly get it off you hands.  It is really at the cambium area.  We talk about setting pitch so I assume it would be pitch before it is heated to "set the pitch"  and maybe the terms are used interchangeably.

[alan gage]

Cottonwood gets confusing. Most of us are sawing Eastern Cottonwood (Populus deltoides). As you get West/Northwest I believe the term cottonwood gets applied to another species. 

I didn't find cottonwood to smell too bad on the mill but certainly does when cutting in the shop after it's dry. 

This link shows the different species, and explains the differences, that seem to alternately be called cottonwood and poplar: https://www.wood-database.com/wood-articles/poplar-cottonwood-and-aspen-whats-what/

Alan

[tule peak timber]

English walnut orchard trees today. Really tasty stuff...

 

 

[WV Sawmiller]

  One thing that helped me sell a big walnut slab yesterday was having a piece of "craft wood" that was natural on one side but had been planed and a couple of coats of tung oil on the other. I was able to place it next to the walnut slab and show the customer a before and after to show her what the slab would look like after finished/sanded smooth and tung oil added. it helped close the deal.


 Before - rough sawed next to the slab she was interested in


 After - shows how the wood should look when finished. That was a big question answered.

  A couple gave me a truck load of red oak logs a few months back. Of course it cost me a couple hundred dollars to get them transported. All the guy asked was 2- 1X8X8 boards. I cut the two smallest logs a few weeks ago but was not happy with the finished boards to pay my debt due to cracks, splits, knots, etc. Today I sawed a 12'9" log into an 8' log and a 4' one. I sawed the 8' into 4/4 and the 4' one into LE 8/4 for benches or such. I pulled the best 2 - 1X10's to take to the guy in a few days.


 6 small diameter logs. Already sawed 2 shortest ones.


 6 largest logs. One on front is 18' long. I pulled the 3rd logs back


 Bucked it to 8' & 4'. Lot of flare on the butt log


 4/4 boards.Most are 1X10's. Not shown are 4 - 8/4 slabs About 80 bf total in what was the original 12' log.

[Jim_Rogers]

Whatcha sawin' 2019?

Red oak:



 

Those that have seen my posts before will know what these are.

Jim Rogers

[WV Sawmiller]

   If I guess trailer decking would I win a prize?

  I sawed some RO yesterday and went out and sanded a 4' LE 8/4 slab on one side and put a coat of tung oil on it. Boy is that some pretty wood! I have 4 of those slabs and will take them to my contact who does the Lichtenburg processing in a couple of weeks when the flea markets open around here again. He told me oak does well with that. I was thinking to make Mortise and Tenon benches out of them.


 Lichtenberg on a wild cherry bench. RO is supposed to work even better so I am waiting to see how this turns out.

[SawyerTed]

 

 Sawing has taken a back seat to a persistent case of veritgo.  Ten days I didn't dare even move the truck in the yard.  Saturday I felt better so I thought I'd clean up around the log yard and haul firewood logs/cut offs from cutting logs to length for the sawmill.

Well that didn't turn out good!  Here are my fingers after 4 days of healing.  A log rolled and mashed my middle two fingers against the standard on the truck.  I really had thought I'd forgotten my inappropriate vocabulary until that moment.  After my buddy who was there helped with some first aid, he said, "I've never heard those words put together in such a creative and meaningful way."  And he served in the infantry....  Yes those are self installed drains in my fingernails.  

The vertigo is better at least.  Spend 8 hours milling today, 120 pine 1x4x16' for battens and 30 2x8x10" for the top boards on a fleet of dump trucks.  Have 20 more to cut tomorrow.  Need to complete an order for 4x6x8' white oak tomorrow as well.