Sawing for width with the least amount of handling.

[Rafterman]

Hey everyone, I really enjoy the forum, thank you to all the posters it's always great to google a sawmill question and see this forum pop up.

A buddy of mine asked if I could do 700 1x5 boards (fence rails). I was wondering the best way to approach this sawing on a manual mill. Right now I saw the worst face or the "horns", flip 180, take another cut. Then roll 90 up against the dogs. Eventually ending up with a square (ish) cant of random dimensions. Then I either start taking 1" boards of the total width, or I try and make a plan for the dimensional lumber I'd like. If the boards start lifting off I'll roll the cant, I also try and keep the pith in a single board if I can.

As much as I like stacking up wide boards that's not what he needs. I don't know if I should be chunking off 5" slabs then sawing those, cutting my cant into 5" wide pieces, or doing a lot of flipping my cant and edging the wide ones on the mill.

Does anyone know how I should go about this? I feel like I'm in for a lot of rolling the cant and/or wasting wood.

I'm probably going to turn him down, I don't know if I can cut 700 of them in a reasonable time frame.

[Iwawoodwork]

A lot depends on your saw and how automated it is. I just finished a 200 piece 1x10x10 and that took longer than I realized it would, will not do any amount of 1x again for others as I am just a hobby sawyer and don't want to to be tied to the saw that long again.   I also  have support equipment that makes log handling easier.

[Southside]

Can you source smaller logs?  An 8" log would give you a 5" cant with minimum waste. 

[moodnacreek]

Without a gang saw or run around system sawing small is a loser most times. If I have to do 2x4 or 4x4 with just a sawmill and edger I want big logs that I can cant at 4", flop some back on the log deck and some on the scissors table at the edger. Some go through the edger and most get stacked on the mill and sawn to width. I also saw some 3/4x 4 for the apple farmers and there is no $ in this but it is all jacket boards edged and mostly done when sawing trailer planks. I used to try to saw small stuff from small logs like everyone thinks but this is a waste of time in my case.

[Larry]

Doesn't sound like a job I would like with a manual mill.  Small logs will take forever, big logs are hard to turn.

From the ancient past on my first manual mill.  It did have a carriage feed and power up/down so that went a little faster.  The next sweet spot on log size is around 21".  Might get 40 or 50 fence boards out of a log that size without a lot of edging.


To turn all the cants together I put a strap around them and lifted with the FEL on the tractor.  It can be a struggle with a cant hook.

Sorta looks like I was sawing 5/4 X 6" white oak.  Notice how the pith is perfectly centered in one board.......at least in the picture.  Now I wonder how far off I was on the other end. :D :D

[terrifictimbersllc]

Exactly like Larry says. I was going to write about needing 3 cants and logs about 20" but I'll do something else instead.  :D

[Chuck White]

Agreed, that's the only way to cut that many multiples!  

[moodnacreek]

Well you can't do that with a circle sawmill.