The Opening Face

[Magicman]

I realize that we all have different sawing/business profiles and markets but I consider my opening face as the most important cut that I make on any log.  The opening face determines the position of every other face opening and ultimately my saw through.

After I load a log, I turn it and give it a good visual looking for foreign stuff as well as what may be good about the log.  After turning my opening face up, I determine my targets within that log which may or may not be marked with my crayon.  Since piths are generally off-center, I level the log....not the pith.


Targets are set and the opening face has been opened.  (The camera angle is screwy.)


After turning the first time, I will saw down to the width of my intended cants. (Again, camera angle.)

After the third face opening and the log has been split into my targeted cants, I add my side support extensions before making this final turn.


The final turn is made and the extensions prevent the top cant from spilling over the side supports.


Another view of this final turn.



The final turn has been safely made.



The extensions are removed and the side supports are completely lowered for the saw through.

There was a swell on this end so the first pass was 3 slabs.

[WV Sawmiller]

   I like the description and pictures but I am usually sawing single boards/cants instead of multiple cants so I do a similar technique and in some cases my cant may only be squared in the middle with rounding on one or both sides and the first couple of flitches on each side of the cant require edging. This allows me to get some extra wide boards out of the middle if that is what the customer wants.

[barbender]

"The Opening Face" would make a great title for a sawing opinion column by Magicman😊

[Jeff]

I'd be willing to publish that here! 

[Magicman]

but I am usually sawing single boards/cants instead of multiple cants

Me too Howard.  This was just a perfect example for multiple cants with a nice top end log and the proper cut list.  Actually this was the 4th log on this job where I could do this so I finally decided to take pictures.  A video would have been nice. 

It was also a perfect example to show the side support extensions which also are very valuable when turning large, knotty, and mis-shaped logs. 

[WV Sawmiller]

Lynn,

   It is also a good example of how to keep your off-bearers really humping to keep up! 

[KWood255]

Nice work MM! I like your extra side support idea. Looks like that LT40 has seen a ton of use. How many hours on it total now?

[Magicman]

That LT40 had sawn over one million bf before I bought it so it's over 4 million now.  It is wearing it's 4th engine and hour meter so the sawmill should have somewhere in the neighborhood of 20K hours on it. 

Any and all upgrades that Wood-Mizer has added, I have ordered and done the same.  It's on it's second and final Setworks because that vintage of Setworks is no longer supported.  If/when it dies I will have to go with either Accuset2 or a Mikron aftermarket unit.

[caveman]

Good logs make good lumber.  You have a lot of good logs to saw.  Sometimes I feel like we are trying to get butter from a duck with the stuff folks bring us.  We've been buying logs lately.  The logs I go pick up are a lot better than the ones they are delivering.  We are paying for the logs and delivery.  I'll scale the last two loads delivered tomorrow and I'll probably hurt some feelings due to heart rot and big knots.

This afternoon John and I sawed some cypress for a repeat customer.  We pulled these logs out of the pond on Monday afternoon, after the hickory custom sawing.  some of these have been in there for years and the wood looks and saws like it would if we sawed it the day it was cut down.  It does take a little effort to extract them.




Our wimpy dust collector kept up with the dry logs but quickly plugged up while sawing the ones extracted from the pond.  I do love sawing cypress.  

Red oak and pine tomorrow.

[Southside]

Kyle that is beautiful lumber.  We have a house that was sided with Cypres when it was built in 1991, when we were looking it over before buying it I realized that ain't SYP clapboard.  It needs paint, but the wood is absolutely perfect and looks like it was sawn today.  

[Magicman]

I agree about the joy of sawing Cypress because of the beauty of the wood grain. 
 

It is amazing, but the sawdust is "clingy" and will clog the sawdust chute.

Today's Cypress is a "catch 22" situation.  Some folks think that they can put it up untreated/unsealed and it will last forever.  Splash-up or any wood that is exposed to constant moisture will rot.

[NewYankeeSawmill]

Jeeze Louise! You must be prescient.... Thanks for sharing and taking the time to post some pics! Us rookies need the simple stuff explained like we're 5th graders. 

I cut up 2 logs yesterday and just couldn't get a clear 'vision' of what I wanted to do with them sitting on the mill. After 20 minutes of pretending I knew what I was thinking, I said "just open it up and see what you got!"

I can usually identify a 'bad' area on a log that's going to need to come off, or maybe just truing up one-side of the log gives me that initial cut.... But you're absolutely right the 'opening face' is so important. And looking at a log I do not have the ability to 'see' the cant or finished boards. Once I get into a log and see some grain, and where else I needed to knock off edges, I am better able to decide how to saw up the cant. However looking at a round (crooked) log w/o having a cut-list from a customer it's hard to know what to do? You can make anything out of the log, but what's the best way to use THIS particular log (if you don't have a customer telling you what they want)?

I've been watching some of @YellowHammer 's videos which are quite helpful, but then I load a log and stand there at the mill and... crickets. I have 2 (alleged) walnut logs I'm holding off on, because... dunno What to do with them!

Thanks again for sharing the pics and the thought process as it progressed. I've started sawing logs one way, and switched to a different layout after my 2nd cut and can see the 2 perpendicular sides.

- K

[trimguy]

Magicman, you don't have any issues, excessive bow or twist out of your center boards with the pith not centered ? I know you saw mostly framing lumber, not grade Lumber. I just wonder if I'm wasting time on that step ?

[Magicman]

I make absolutely no attempt to pith center anything on the saw through and the center boards are of no concern.  Some may tend to bow so sticker them with the bow up and they will be OK.  I very seldom  have boards with crook.  Yes, I am sawing framing lumber so bow is easily dealt with during construction.


As seen here, the center two 2X4's may bow.  The top one upward and the lower one downward.  Just sticker them accordingly. 

I always have a cut list so my decision is how to utilize the next log on the deck.  I always establish a target rather than just start sawing.  I think of it as a roadmap.  I know where I am and where the destinations is.  My target establishes the route that I will take to reach that destination.

I have no concern whatsoever about how much time I spend sawing a customer's logs.  This mindset allows me to use the crayon when necessary to level the log and to make a few marks outlining my target.

I often have customers to remark how the blade hit a red mark that had been made prior to turning a log a couple of times.  Those red mark hits are visible in a couple of the pictures above.  To me it was nothing unusual, I just hit my target.

[WV Sawmiller]

MM,

  IRT the Roadmap comment I am sure you also find when you open a log sometimes there are "detour" signs because of new information that you find when you get inside and you just have to adjust accordingly  

[Magicman]

Well I had to search IRT to find out whether I had done a bad thing!! 

Yes, on rare occasions I may have to make an adjustment and maybe make side lumber or a different width from one cant, etc.

I am happy with Lemonade.