Ripping lots of rough sawn 2x12s, good poor man's method

[wisconsitom]

Hey all, I'm dismantling a large deck down in the swamp at our old camp.  Built of locally sawn red pine, the thing has lasted pretty well but in last two years deteriorated badly.  I've got all the boards off and now am tackling the frame.  Joists are mostly bad wherever decking was in contact but rot goes down an inch or two... maybe up to three, give or take.  Twelve footers.

Any tips on setup to rip these down into 2x8s or so?  Pretty basic equip on hand at the moment,  no table saw.  Thanks

[WV Sawmiller]

   Do you have a sawmill? If so I'd look at using that.

   Have you every used a rip fence on a 7-1/4" circular saw? Other than chalking a line and free handing it the rip fence is about as basic as it gets.
Makita 164095-8 Rip Fence for Circular Saws, Black - Makita Circular Saw Guide - Amazon.com

This is an example. Most circular saws used to come with one. If not you should be able to order one. You just set the width and it runs along the straight edge. 

Good luck.

[rusticretreater]

If the joists are rotted, then the bottom of the decking is also rotted and wet.

You can either set them up and let them dry out, spraying some fungicide or bleach on the affected areas, or piece them up by cutting the rotted sections out.

But yeah, the only way to rip them is with the circular saw guide if you don't have a table saw.

[wisconsitom]

Deck boards are in junk pile.  Think I have 4 or 5 out of whole mess that were any good.  Only wondering about joists/box frame.

It's all 8/4 stuff.  I won't really know what I've got for sound wood til I get into it, though it seems clear there some potential there for lots of reusable.

BTW, live and learn.  We know the spot was wet but I learned that the way the cool air pools up down there  means besides all the moisture of being in a cedar swamp, heavy dew forms all over everything every evening.

I did some wood preservative on that deck for quite a few years, but in the end, it never had a chance.  Used to be fun though!  Thanks all 

[beenthere]

How do you plan to test your wood for "sound" wood?  I assume you mean for wood with structural integrity (strength).

Early stages of decay can happen that are not as visible as the late stages, but do affect the strength of the wood.

Search
"Strength loss in wood from decay"

And link to Forum thread:
Whatcha Sawin' ??? in Sawmills and Milling

[Don P]

All else being equal, just by geometry, a full cut 2x12 is 2.25 times stronger in bending than a 2x8. And then the 2x8 is compromised. An indoor non structural use would probably be a better second life for those joists.

[metalspinner]

@Don P 
I love how you can present math that makes sense to all of our projects. 

[wisconsitom]

Like I said, I won't really know what I've got in those 2x12s and so on until I get into them, later today as a matter of fact.  This is a demolition project.

Only items found suitable-by simple visual and manual inspection-may find their way into some low-demand application.  I won't be sending any of this material to the Forest Products Lab down in Madison, for analysis, nor do I intend to sell any to the county for bridge construction.  

Was looking for advice on ripping some stuff.

[mike_belben]

take a good sturdy pallet or two for a base and a table structure.  use some of your salvageable deck lumber to build a fence and structure to hold a chainsaw upright through the pallet.  im thinking some kinda cradle where you shove it up under and stick a dowel to wedge it into the thing so that its not much trouble to pull out for sharpening and fueling. 

  tape the handle interlock, rig a string and pivot lever to hit the throttle and tie it to your knee. make sure it throws chips down at the ground and not in your face. feed your boards in so that a fixed amount comes off every time and they all end up the same. there will be a pile of 1 pass, a pile of 2 pass and the rest kindling. 

[Corley5]

Put however many your saw bar will cut through in a pile, clamp them together, snap a line on the top one and rip them with your chainsaw.

[WV Sawmiller]

Mike,

   I've seen homemade table saws made using circular saws but I never saw one made using a chainsaw. I can envision how it could be done as I've seen bucking saws on logging shows made with chainsaw like chain and bars but I'd see a real good chance for this to be catastrophic if it goes wrong. I don't know how much experience the OP has in building jury rig equipment but I'd be real leery of someone building something as dangerous as a homemade table saw unless they were very experienced.

   Speaking from experience, using a factory table saw and a careless moment I still suffer from a table saw accident 21 months ago and am lucky not to have lost all four fingers off my hand. I could just imagine what a chainsaw would have done.


 

 

These are just the pix I feel appropriate for public viewing. There are others. :(

Corley,

   I'd suggest using something safer than a chainsaw for all ripping tasks.

[barbender]

Send the other pics to Magic😬😬

[beenthere]

Mike,

  I've seen homemade table saws made using circular saws but I never saw one made using a chainsaw. I can envision how it could be done as I've seen bucking saws on logging shows made with chainsaw like chain and bars but I'd see a real good chance for this to be catastrophic if it goes wrong. I don't know how much experience the OP has in building jury rig equipment but I'd be real leery of someone building something as dangerous as a homemade table saw unless they were very experienced.

  Speaking from experience, using a factory table saw and a careless moment I still suffer from a table saw accident 21 months ago and am lucky not to have lost all four fingers off my hand. I could just imagine what a chainsaw would have done.


 

 

These are just the pix I feel appropriate for public viewing. There are others. :(

Corley,

  I'd suggest using something safer than a chainsaw for all ripping tasks.

You learned the hard way to NEVER wear gloves when feeding a table saw. Pulls the whole hand into the blade. 
Witnessed the same thing when helping a carpenter rip on a large table saw.

[Corley5]

  Clamped and on a sturdy surface is as safe or safer than most any other cobbled together ripping apparatus :
  I suggest some people stay away from table saws

[mike_belben]

Butt we applaud the open belt buzz saws.  

Im not gonna get to picking and choosing or arguing about it.  All things that cut wood and metal cut flesh too.  Dont feed your flesh into any of them. Be paranoid about all of them.  Guards and interlocks dont dimish the flesh eating prowess, they just encourage complacence.

How do i have all my flesh? I fear all spinning things the entire time they are spinning. Constantly imaginings ways they may eat or enter my body.

[WV Sawmiller]

Mike,

   Absolutely correct on the gloves. I was wearing them because at the time I experiencing a contact dermatitis of some kind that caused my hands and feet to crack and bleed so I could not handle the wood without them. My dermatologist introduced me to Dupixant after several other treatments failed and he calls me his miracle patient for the speed and completeness that it has worked for me. 

   As bad as a table saw is you must remember a chain saw has lots bigger teeth and eats bigger bites of flesh a lot faster. :D

[Kodiakmac]

When I cut 2 inch softwood planks with my chainsaw mill I just use a chalk line and my DW circular saw to cut the planks into 4" 6" 8" etc widths.  I dont have a lot to do at one time and it's quicker and easier for me than setting up my table saw.  Works fine for me.  

[Nebraska]

A Haddon Lumber maker  clamped to the bar riding a 2x6 would work similarly as Corley suggested. Pretty safely too.

[Big_eddy]

I've never seen used joists that did not contain at least some broken off or left screws or nails. Circular saw with a carbide blade. Wouldn't be going anywhere near with a chainsaw or bandsaw.

[47sawdust]

This might sound wacky. Why not turn the joist rot side down and use them as they are?
 Assuming the ends are good.After all we are talking shade tree engineering here, not going to the lab in Madison.

[beenthere]

47sawdust
You want the strength on the tension side which is down in a joist. 
As you suggest, not so good. As well, not much compression strength in wood with even a low percentage of decay. 

[wisconsitom]

Thanks all.  Deck came down yesterday.  Actually fun with tractor forks!  Material in joists is what I expected, ranging from straight to junk pile to some with just
 small rot pockets where deck boards laid over.

Think I'll just figger out some fence/clamp arrangement and possibly end up with some 2x6s etc.  We're going to build a composting outhouse based on one we already have down the hill.  That one has lumber from same original cut list as used as interior framing.  Depends really if I get enough to do all, otherwise go with store bought.

[Don P]

We've been getting ready for an engineer to come in next week and grade a house framing package. We could rip up to the 20'ers with a table and fence arrangement on the swingblade. There's 17 2x12's at 26'. I'll try snapping a line on one, skilsaw, scribe a parallel line then circ saw, but I doubt I'll be happy. 

The 20's are straight, with some scraps and screws I'll make a long heavy fence to ride the saw outboard side against, on mine it's a 1.5" offset from that fence to the blade. I doubt I'll have to clamp it, we about turned over the 15" planer in an oops moment. For smaller wood a "shooting board" is common but a 7-1/4" saw has a 2-1/4" depth of cut. It would probably take an 8" saw to go through roughsawn with that setup. I've used a straight piece of steel as a long fence for the skillsaw as well.

[wisconsitom]

Thanks Don.  I'm gonna have to skilsaw it, but think it'll work.  Got some steel laying around.

Do I want a different blade for ripping?

[Don P]

 I should do better but I run whatever is on it and when it won't cut grab another. I've been using 24 tooth Diablo's lately. For used wood I don't use new blades and wear glasses. For old joists I drop in more than the length of the flooring nails and keep you out of the plane of the blade. If there is nice trim or whatever hiding in the old framing we tear out of a house and replace, I've gotten enough to make some accent they can point to. There's a few chestnut rusty nail wonders leaning up in the shop I'll recover enough for.. some little box or something, for 3 days labor  :D.

[Don P]

We planed and final ripped those 26'ers Friday. I ended up just snapping a line on the convex side and using a skilsaw... and a shiny new Diablo blade to take off the belly. I then screwed together, basically a short draftsman's T square, the blade was 11 1/4" long. I slid it down the freshly ripped straight edge and scribed a parallel line, then skilsawed that. Not glue line perfect but this will be fine for framing, it all depends on the use.



 

 
I sent the donor of these trees a thank you note that night, sweet!