Winter sawing tips - or things I had to learn over the hard way.

[Mike_Barcaskey]

crtreedude, get them priorities straight!
man's got to have a day off now and then to drown some worms  8)

[Jeff]

I'm askin for a freak ice Storm to hit Costa Rica for Christmas, followed by 6 inches of snow and 40 mile an hour winds. Thats all I want from Santa.

[crtreedude]

 :D :D :D :D :D :D :D


Just in time for Harold!

Hey Jeff - you saw the snowman I sent you didn't you?

[Fla._Deadheader]

No problema, Señor. Fred has lots of scrap wood and I DID bring matches.  ;) ;D ;D ;D

[crtreedude]

Mike,

No doubt about - my Christmas gift this year (besides Harold to pester) is a new peacock bass pound!  8)

From what I have seen - peacock bass are brutal on topwater lures. Mean, strong and vicious. Boy will we have fun!

[Bibbyman]

cr/FDH  get a room...

[Mike_Barcaskey]

crtreedude,
from some of those fishing shows I've seen, those peacocks HATE topwaters with a vengence. just unbelieveable.
The closest I have come is an accidental oscar caught in the canals around West Palm Beach
them things seemed more vicous than the largemouth bass. I have heard that there are some peacocks been released in the wild below Miami. I'd like to drive down and try to find em.

[crtreedude]

I am sorry Bibbyman - I was getting frostbite just reading your posts!

I will behave, or at least try!

[Brucer]

More tips ....

• If you have to climb on the mill for routine maintenance, put a few strips of adhesive-backed silicone tape on the frame where you need to stand.
• Use an old spray bottle (e.g., Windex) filled with windshield wiper fluid to wash frozen sawdust off seized parts such as blade guide rollers. Fluid penetrates, thaws, and then washes the stuff away.
• Fire a shot of WD-40 into your ignition switch before the cold weather hits. It'll drive out any moisture from the lock and prevent more from accumulating.
• Start the engine and leave it running for 10 minutes before moving the carriage. You want to the battery before you move it with any kind of jerking motion. Otherwise you'll be knocking deposits off the battery plates, they'll accumulate in the bottom of the battery, and eventually short it out.
• Put wooden shims under all your outriggers before the ground freezes -- then you won't be prying up great clods of earth when you try to move the mill.
• Even if you've got windshield wiper anti-freeze in your blade lube, disconnect the feeder hose from the lube tank at the end of the day. It'll drain out before the temperature drops overnight and you won't have to worry about slush in the line.
• Keep all your wood covered with tarps if they're outdoors -- logs, flitches, cants. Nothing like a little compacted snow to throw your wood off square -- nothing like a lot of snow scraping to slow you down.
• Work slow and steady -- for safety and to avoid working up a sweat. Quit if you're feeling cold, and have a hot drink (your choice ;D) as soon as you get inside. This will get your core temperature up quickly and reduce the chance of succumbing to a virus.

'Course it doesn't hurt to have someone to stoke up the fire and make that hot drink for you just as you're about to come in  ;D ;D.

[Mike_Barcaskey]

as I am getting ready to head out and take down 2 large Norway spruce this chainsaw tip came to mind. I put my bar oil in pancake syrup squeeze bottles in the winter. that way they can set on the dashboard of the truck and warm up before I have to fill the saws.

[Bibbyman]

Oh yea,

Add...

Don't leave mud on the forks of your loader at the end of the day.  It tends to freeze solid over night.  Also,  don't park the loader and rest the forks on the ground.  If the ground is wet or it rains or snows and then freezes, it'll pull up a big hunk of sod the next morning.  Or even -- won't pull up at all! 

Don't ask me how I know...   :

[Tony_T]

If you're too cold you're not working hard enough!!!

[Minnesota_boy]

If you're too cold you're not working hard enough!!!

I've found that the sawmill won't keep up with me when I'm working hard enough to keep warm at -20F.  I keep tripping circuit breakers on the feed or up-down and then I have to slow down and then I get cold.  :(

[Ron Wenrich]

I did some work for a Amish mill one winter.  He had just started out in the business .  He had a loader with steel wheels.  He found out that you shouldn't park you loader in the mud.     Tends to freeze fast.   :D

[dail_h]

   What a life,gettin to bounce around all day in freezing weather ona loader with steel wheels on frozen ground. Oh boy ,sign me up for that,NOT!!!

[FiremanEd]

Woody had a tough week this past week. Let's just say that compressed air and 20degree high's just don't mix. And when most everything on the 300 uses compressed air to some extent that makes for a bad morning. We had 2 driers in the air line from the compressor and there was still enough moisture getting by to freeze up the little selinoid valves.

We now have a homebrew alcohol evaporator. We couldn't find a comercial one that would flow 25cfm so we made one. My brother doesn't even want to come out to the mill house, he's 'afraid it's gonna blow'. It's basically a huge trap with a gallon of airbrake antifreeze that all the air passes through. It appears to be working. I'll post some  pics next week as Santa (Me) is giving myself a new digital camara...  where is that ups truck anyway???

Eddie

[Qweaver]

I bought a lightly used LT15 this spring to saw wood for a small summer home in W.Va.   I sawed for several weeks and had enough wood to build a shed for the saw and for drying wood and an addition to another building but not enough to build the house.  It was a great summer for working outside...very little rain but a little hot.   Now it's winter and I should be back in Texas, but I'm here freezing my butt off and getting not enough done!  I was born and raised in W.Va. but have lived most of my adult life in warm climates and this winter has shown me that that was a good choice!!!  I hate the cold!

Everything takes twice as long to do.  I'm mainly cutting yellow poplar and any other wood that I damage as the trees fall.   If I saw the logs as soon as I cut them they are not frozen, but if I leave them overnight they are.  Then the saw dust freezes and they freeze together, ect.   I also worry that they are not going to do much drying during freezing weather.  I guess I'll know next summer.

[Coon]

Qweaver just be patient with the drying over winter.  You will be surprized at how much they actually dry out as winter air tends to be dry.  Don't be surprised if the wood you saw now is almost dry to specs by spring break-up.

[leweee]

Freeze Dried Kanadian Lumber[/color][/size] 8) 8) 8)

Only in Kanadr you say.....Pitty :D :D :D

And if it ain't froze to the ground ....it ain't winter

and if it ain't winter it's 9 month's of poor sledden ;D

[sawguy21]

leewee has got it :D :D :D :D :D :D

[Bibbyman]

This is NOT the way to leave your loading arms in the winter.  There is a good chance the gunk around the cylinders will freeze and when you start to use the loading arms, the little hydraulic fuse fittings at the lower connection on the cylinder will break off.   We've talked about this before but I had my camera out at he mill today and thought it a good topic to add here.



I dug out all the gunk from around the lower fitting before I reised the loading arms to clean out the rest.

P.S.  Watch out for frozen ruts.  It's not only a lot rougher to mover over with a loader and such,  they can throw the load around that could cause an accident or brakage.

[treedog]

My mill is gasoline but most of the equipment I operate on my cow-calf operation are deisel.  Have been around them all my life- do know a little- lotta the learning notta by choice, by the saving of the dollar bill $$ :. I had a wonderful thing happen about a week ago; ADVISE ON STARTING A COLD DEISEL MOTOR.   First instinct was listen but probably for null (some of us have a prob with advice, because we know it all, we think- well, for me anyway ;D. Doing most all solo, easy rut to get in-Dang to get out of). Anyway, was told after sawing on the starter for about ten seconds and the motor doesn't start, wait about 25 second- on the second try after motor turning over give about 3/4 throttle and back to lower fuel setting and she will lite.  I have to crank 2 different tractor daily & tried this procedure after hearing it, and it really works.  Lord only knows the ware and tear I've been putting on my starters and wiring by keeping the thottle about 1/3 open tring to start a cold motor.  Don't advise high rpm start up though, after she lites keep rpms just above an idle to get her slick with oil and a few btu's in it- high rpm's on cold start can do a lot of damage. Also, cold hydrolic oil is thick as maple syrup- exercise all hydrolics before putting them to work.  Will help prevent busting seals, hoses, fittings, exc... Just running it through the motions a few times "dry" will heat up the oil and pump and let you know if theres a pre-existing proplem- if we LOOK . Merry CHRISTmas to ALL! ;)
Treedog

[Bibbyman]

Ah! Yes!  New winter,  new problems.

Mary and I went out to saw today as the sun came out and the temperature got up to the mid-30's. 

First thing out of the chute was that the edger feed belt would not come on.  Turned out it had tripped the breaker on the starter switch.  But the cause was that the belt had frozen down even though it was well under roof.  Just the moisture and frost, etc. was enough to stick it.



I had loaded the deck before all this started in hopes it wouldn't be this bad or I could get some sawing done before it got bad.  Didn't happen.  So these logs have been on the deck for a week.

We sawed the log on the mill and then loaded the next log.  Then I noted Mary was over there rolling the logs forward with her LogRite mill special.  The logs under the roof would roll but those outside covered with ice were stuck.  She used a splitting maul to break them apart and then the 60" LogRite to get them broke from the deck.

She then took a chisel and hammer to the ice that had filled the chain channel.  She must have worked at it a half hour before we got enough of the chain cleared so the hydraulics could pull them.

[woodmills1]

that ice sure gums up the works, just a little will stop things completley.  I sometimes get it on the top of the mill rail and the head won't move at all.  Luckely we had a melt the day before yesterday and I scraped and cleaned everything, just in time for 9 inches of white stuff yesterday.

[MikeH]

Good job Mary!  smiley_chop