Ever get a log that...?

[redbeard]

 

This is the spuce log that gave me a hard time, there were no signs of distressed or compression on the ends but i spent some time with it kept wacking off the ends untill it was a 8' then gave up and finished it off into firewood. The other dozen spruce logs went fine, First log that i could not mill.

[Okrafarmer]

Well it's good to know, as I start in on this, that there are times and logs when it just doesn't go right, so that when it happens to me I'll know, it may not be "just me." ;D

[Left Coast Chris]

In the early 80's I worked as a fabricator on the construction of a co-gen power plant at a sawmill on Prince of Whales Island on the panhandle of Alaska.  I did do a bit of millwright work on the sawmill but was not around the ins and outs of daily operation.   They had a head rig with a large band saw that flew through the spruce and hemlock.  Cants were primarilly produced and I never saw any miss cuts or heard of any problems.   They were mostly old growth and mostly clear.  They sold the cants to Yamaha guitar and other Japanese insturment makers.  The logs were rarely under 30 inches with many over 48.   They did produce alot of chips and sold them also.  Since they were looking for clear instrument grade cants I suspect logs with knots went into the hog for chips.  I also noticed the logs had very little taper.  Beautiful wood.

[Okrafarmer]

Yes, down in the panhandle they have some very nice large diameter timber. I was referring more to what they have, say, from Anchorage on north. The prime lumber wood seemed to be spruce, along with aspens, cottonwoods, white birch, tamarack, and-- not much else over 8" in diameter.

[Coon]

Hey, thats all we got for wood around these parts is spruce, aspen, birch, tammarack and a bit of cottonwood.  When sawing out spruce we use a good bit of set.  The majority of the time the band is removed before it becomes dull.  Sruce is the devil for knocing the set out.  At times you can get away with just resetting the teeth without sharpening. 

We have been known to take a log off the mill and turn it end for end and put back on the mill. We always try to saw from the small end.  Slabbing thick also helps a bit as the tensions seem to be more towards the outsides of the log.  If we get a sizeable log that has tension we often will cant it and leave to dry a while.  The cants are sawn a bit oversized to the lumber that we want sawn out of that particular piece.  When sawing to get this cant we flip after every single cut and box the heart.  The lumber usually ends up sawn to thicker beams and/or boards.

Brad.

[Okrafarmer]

Good to know, Brad! Where I live the only spruces are either up on mountain tops or growing where somebody planted them in their yard. I guess I won't be too eager to work with them!

[barbender]

I've sawn some nice boards out of white spruce, it's the stuff with a lot of large knots that has given me trouble. I was still able to saw it though, just have to slow down. The times I ran into a log I couldn't saw it was a blade problem (see my thread on dead standing red oak)