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Straight Line Rip Saw vs. Edger

Started by stanmillnc, May 17, 2022, 07:49:14 AM

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stanmillnc

I'm considering buying a SLR to improve the quality of my lumber. Right now I'm either selling "off the mill" edges, or just edging after drying on my LT40, which isn't ideal. I can skip plane prior to edging, so I thought perhaps the SLR would be more beneficial than a traditional edger? My understanding is that a SLR is for edging planed lumber and I couldn't run rough milled lumber through this type of machine? What are the pros / cons of the SLR vs. Edger? 

YellowHammer

I have both.  An edger is for fast edging both sides up to 3" thick, but not perfectly straight.  The boards do not qualify as true S4S because an edger will leave a little roughness, but it does a good job.  My edger is a custom build by Baker, it does rough green as well as kiln dried planed.  An edger puts a much better edge than a sawmill, but not close to an SLR.    

A SLR does one edge at a time, and they are sold by length of guaranteed glue line, perfectly straight and clean, much better surface than all but the best table saw.  For example mine is a guaranteed 8 foot glue line, others are 12 foot, etc.  They are very fast, but since they only do one edge at a time, not as fast as an edger.  Both our edger and SLR use lasers and auto feed.

We use our SLR much more than our edger for high value wood, and conversely, we use the edger for low value wood.  A SLR should be considered a scalpel and the edger a Ginsu.

Both have about the same HP.

   
YellowHammerisms:

Take steps to save steps.

If it won't roll, its not a log; it's still a tree.  Sawmills cut logs, not trees.

Kiln drying wood: When the cookies are burned, they're burned, and you can't fix them.

Sawing is fun for the first couple million boards.

Be smarter than the sawdust

Don P

I was going to mention, the glueline edge is a bonus for other value added.

scsmith42

Well presented by Robert above. We use the edger for most things, including making moulder blanks. The SLR is for selling finished lumber.

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.

longtime lurker

I've got a big SLR and it's a good thing. But in all honesty I'd be better off with an edger for what I use it for which is mostly for  straightening sprung boards as preparation to passing through the moulder, or when ripping for grade.

The SLR does a great job but an edger would do a good enough job three or four times faster. Not every edge needs to be glue line quality and my customers are nearly all builders or cabinet shops who either don't need a perfect edge or have the capacity to make it themselves.

Because of the time factor there is a cost to those perfect edges, and depending on your market it may be a cost you can't recoup.
The quickest way to make a million dollars with a sawmill is to start with two million.

YellowHammer

A twin blade edger is at least 3 times faster than a single blade SLR, as both requires the board to be fed once, whereas an SLR needs to have the boards returned, then refed to straighten the other side.  So three "passes" of the board for an SLR and only 1 pass with a twin blade edger.

For selling lumber to cabinet makers or furniture builders, as well as when we purchase wholesale lumber from commercial sellers, the SLR process is only used to edge 1 side, not both, expecting most purchasers to have a table saw and rip fence.  So it is sold as SLS1Edge.

That reduces the machining back down to a single pass to get the speed back up, so it eliminates the multiple pass issue, and provides a single glue line edge boards which the customer will rip to their desired width anyway.

Both have their uses.  


YellowHammerisms:

Take steps to save steps.

If it won't roll, its not a log; it's still a tree.  Sawmills cut logs, not trees.

Kiln drying wood: When the cookies are burned, they're burned, and you can't fix them.

Sawing is fun for the first couple million boards.

Be smarter than the sawdust

teakwood

Quote from: YellowHammer on May 22, 2022, 07:18:49 AMand provides a single glue line edge boards which the customer will rip to their desired width anyway.


can you guys rip such a board into smaller boards and the glueline edge stays straight?  if i have one glueline edge on lets say a 6"  teak board, if i take more than 1" off it needs to go back to the jointer to reface the glueline edge because the board most certainly goes banana
National Stihl Timbersports Champion Costa Rica 2018

moodnacreek

Traditional board edgers have inserted tooth saws that have few teeth. The work is very rough and straight enough most times in green lumber. Sometimes you can re edge a dry board depending on the species but often it will tear out grain and if dry hard wood fed fast it may vibrate a curved cut.

YellowHammer

Quote from: teakwood on May 22, 2022, 09:59:44 AM
Quote from: YellowHammer on May 22, 2022, 07:18:49 AMand provides a single glue line edge boards which the customer will rip to their desired width anyway.


can you guys rip such a board into smaller boards and the glueline edge stays straight?  if i have one glueline edge on lets say a 6"  teak board, if i take more than 1" off it needs to go back to the jointer to reface the glueline edge because the board most certainly goes banana
Yes, it's rare for most of our KD hardwood species to banana, even ripping it very heavily.  Occasionally things start to move a lot, but not generally.
YellowHammerisms:

Take steps to save steps.

If it won't roll, its not a log; it's still a tree.  Sawmills cut logs, not trees.

Kiln drying wood: When the cookies are burned, they're burned, and you can't fix them.

Sawing is fun for the first couple million boards.

Be smarter than the sawdust

Larry

I never have that problem.




When I do a house most of the time the the casing rips for the moulder stay pretty straight cause its a little wider.  Cabinets use narrower strips for face frames, and rails/stiles.  That's were crook starts showing up.  Every job has bad boys so I start by a wood sort to pick out the clear straight grain stuff.

Does it matter?  A lot of times no on cabinet work.  Crook is not noticeable in short rails.  Carcases and intermediate stiles will pull small crook out without problem in the face frames.  Most stiles need to be perfectly straight so the wood gets sorted again as to its final home.

In the picture that strip probably got used for a hidden part in the cabinet or maybe kindling.

Larry, making useful and beautiful things out of the most environmental friendly material on the planet.

We need to insure our customers understand the importance of our craft.

YellowHammer

Wow, where did that wood come from?  What is its history?  It looks like red oak?  Who kiln dried it?  How long was the board?  It appears to be similar to the residual stress from some commercial high speed kiln drying outfits I've seen.   

I almost never see it that bad, and we rip a lot of boards.  I'd have to burn that one.  
YellowHammerisms:

Take steps to save steps.

If it won't roll, its not a log; it's still a tree.  Sawmills cut logs, not trees.

Kiln drying wood: When the cookies are burned, they're burned, and you can't fix them.

Sawing is fun for the first couple million boards.

Be smarter than the sawdust

Larry

Red oak I dried in the DH kiln.  The only reason I took the picture was the extreme warp.  I think the most I've ever seen.  Didn't figure out why and the other boards from the same tree behaved well.

Most of the time if warp shows up it might be 1/2" in 10' and that doesn't show often.

Larry, making useful and beautiful things out of the most environmental friendly material on the planet.

We need to insure our customers understand the importance of our craft.

boardmaker

That's some pretty wicked sidebend.
I would have never guessed you got that out of a DH kiln.

Did you rip any other boards from that same log?  Did you find ridiculous sidebend in some of those too?

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