Woo Hoo made my 1st cut!

[okie]

Well I made my first boards with my newly acquired sawmill and let me tell you I am tickled. It is a great sense of accomplishment that I would not be able to comprehend if I hadnt done it. I think my mill is a bit out of adjustment as the blade cut a little deep (about 1/8 or 1/16") on both the horizontal and vertical pass but I'll figgure that out, for now I am thrilled to have a mill. I dont have all the kinks worked out but I talked to a man named Doug from baileys and he was tremendously helpfull, he even sent me a pdf manual by e-mail but I need to get some ink before I can print it out. Thank you to all of yall that have been helpfull in choosing this mill and your advice.
I'll try some pictures of the first 2 boards, they are off of a little post oak log (9'' tip), took a 1x4 and 2x4 before the storm hit, will cut more tomorrow and may get some pics of the mill. I was impressed by how easily the mill cut through the oak.  Well I could'nt upload my photos, I'll try and figgure out how and give er another shot later

[DanG]

Good going, Okie!!  There's nothing like the feeling of those first few boards.

If ya need help with those pics, you have but to ask.  What kind of trouble are you having?

[okie]

Thanks DanG, I need to resize them, I have hp photosmart but it wont get the file size small enough.

[brdmkr]

Alright!  Oh, you are hooked now 8)



Okie, when you say you are cutting too deep by 1/8 or 1/16 what do you mean.  Do you mean that the board is 1/8 thicker than your settings?  Are you starting at the very top of your vertical scale each time you lower the rails?

Does the cut form a clean angle where the vertical cut meets the horizontal or does it look like one or both of the cuts went further than it should (in other words, did the horizontal cut extend past the vertical or did the vertical extend below the horizontal?)?

Before you start trying to adjust the mill, I would call Lucas for a manual.  They are just printed on regular printer paper, so it makes me think they could send you one as a PDF.  It is not that adjustments are difficult, but their illustrations of the process are very helpful.

[okie]

Mike, oh yeah I am hooked. I am afraid my wife thinks I lost my marbles, I walked around the house grinning like an idiot when the storm hit just waiting to go back out and cut some more ;D. I did get Doug from Baileys to send me a pdf manual (free of charge) great guy to talk to, I have done  a little business with them but I never expected the support I got from him having not bought the mill from them.
As far as the cut goes.... the horizontal cut cuts deeper than the vertical cut and vise-versa, the board comes off great and the horizontal cut being a hair too deep didnt hurt a thing as I just moved into it when making my next cut, but when I lower the rails for the next set of cuts there will be either a groove or a stair step where the vertical cut went too deep. Did that make any sense?? Nothing like a dimwit trying to explain something he knows nothing about :-[.
Thank you once again for your advice, I really need it.
Morgan

[Radar67]

Okie, with the price of ink, it may be more cost effective to take the pdf file to Office Depot or Kinkos and let them print it for you.

[ironstumper]

Okie,Once that sawdust gets in ur viens, It's all over...Congratulations! I too have a lucas. And, I purchased it used. Was tearing my hair out trying to figure why it wasn't cutting quite right...Until, I called Doug @ baileys and he sent me a manual.Those guys are very helpful.  It's pretty straight forward. Read it carefully.

[WildDog]

Hey Okie good on you, there's nothing like opening up a new log and turning out timber/lumber you would normally buy.

Hope I'm not putting you on a bum steer but your mill may be cutting ok, the horizontal cut is mean't to sit below the vertical creating a step up that as you mentioned is cut out on the following horizontal pass. This step is relatively small, we deal in metric down here but i would say 1/16 " to 1/8. When you check out the manual it recomends the blade tilts slighty this aleviates excess drag by not having the whole blade touching, you can determine this by the resulting tooth marks left...The manual will explain all.

 

[thecfarm]

Good for you.Enjoy yourself is what's it's all about.What's the plan for the mill?  The picture thing is a little hard,but it's all worth it.I had a hard time with it too,but get some help and it's no problem at all now. Some of yes use Xat.com to size our pictures,according to the tutorial.

[OneWithWood]

Okie, take a picture of all those who are dear to you.  You won't be seeing them for a while 

Sawdust gets another one  8) 8) 8) 8) 8)

[okie]

Okie, take a picture of all those who are dear to you.  You won't be seeing them for a while 

Sawdust gets another one  8) 8) 8) 8) 8)

Now that is funny.
thecfarm, I will be cutting lumber off my land to build a house with, I aim to build as cheaply as possible and come to buying a mill not counting my time as expense, and seeing as how I enjoyed cutting that little bit I am really glad I went this direction. My dad told me he wants to see how happy I am with the mill after I cut the last board for the house :-\.
Thanks for all the comments guys.
Morgan

[okie]

OK, 6 months later and I finally figured out how to post pics. Forgive one of them, the quality is poor due to me screwing it up trying to resize it on my hp photo software and not being smart enough to fix it. Have cut quite a bit more since these were taken. Gonna start a thread tracking our house project progress....I think it will be a long drawn out ordeal.

[Ianab]

Pics look OK.

Now make sure you save those first boards for something special. Even if they are just 'normal' boards, make them into something special so you can point to them in the future and say.. 'That was the first board I sawed'

Picture frame or a shelf for other 'treasures' maybe?

Ian

[woodmills1]

ditto on the first board thing.  I cut wormy denim pine and made a coffe table out of it and still get more comments about it than any other piece of furniture I have made.  Also keep the second and third boards, as I am just now selling some lumber I cut in my first year of woodmizer ownership

Nice start keep us posted.

[thecfarm]

Others have started threads about thier house or cabin building.It's interesting to read and see the process that is being made or not made at times.  :D  But that is all part of it. Looking forward to hearing what you are building,number of rooms,slab,foundation and so on and so on.Who else will be helping you?

[backwoods sawyer]

I agree with saving the first boards you cut to make something with. The first log that I milled was a Doug-fir. I made and sold several picnic tables out of that milling job, and I made this folding table. The table is made of five pieces, when the butterfly is removed, the table comes apart. I have taken this table everywhere that I have been, in the last 28 years. The table now holds my printer in my office.

I take this table with me to the school shop class every year and now there are many more just like it out there. The type of wood used to make the table is not important, what is important is the students having made their first piece of furniture along their wood working journey.

So how is the new mill working out for you now that you have had time to work out the bugs and play with it a bit?

[Meadows Miller]

Gday Okie

Congrats on the first boards there will be plenty more to come  ;D With your missus thinking you have lost your marbles dont worry your not the first and you definetly wont be the last mate ;) :D ;D how did she cope with the timber coming inside the house  ;D and what happens when you finish your new home and say I might go  fulltime sawmilling now  ;) :D ;D you should be right tho she let you get it in the first place   ;D :D :D
Keep thoes first few boards and make somthing nice  ;D I wish i had  :(

Reguards Chris

[okie]

Thanks Guys. I still have the first boards I cut in the house. I like that table, thats a pretty neat design. I wouldnt say I have the new mill completely figured out yet but I am tickled to death with it.