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Whatcha Sawin' 2024 ??

Started by Magicman, December 31, 2023, 05:14:39 PM

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richhiway

Been working on my workshop. We have had the nicest weather, it is called Indian Summer here. Going to be in the high seventies today.

Picked up a small load of free pine logs the other day. 

Got the rafters up, need to get the roof on before it snows!

Yesterday I fired up the mill and edged a batch of roof boards. I found it best to re edge the dry boards to the exact width to prevent gaps. 





Woodmizer LT 40
New Holland 35 hp tractor
Stihl Chainsaws
Ford 340 Backhoe

barbender

 Fluidpowerpro, it always amazes me how many more hardwood species grow in your area of Minnesota vs up here. We're not that far apart, but Walnut, Hickory, and even Butternut are not seen up here or are as rare as he's teeth.
Too many irons in the fire

fluidpowerpro

I was sawing near Mora so a little south of me, but not much.
Change is hard....
Especially when a jar full of it falls off the top shelf and hits your head!

Local wind direction is determined by how I park my mill.

Nebraska

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White Oak (Bur) pretty evening beautiful outside. Counting my blessings. Making some board and batten for the cabin. 

barbender

FPP, that area seems to be contiguous with the St. Croix valley and the hardwoods that grow in Wisconsin and SE MN, vs northern MN. The banana belt😊
Too many irons in the fire

Magicman

After about a month off, I cranked the sawmill back up this morning:


About 25 Cherry, plus White and Red Oak, all to be sawn into 1" lumber. 


I have not scaled today's sawing but it looks to be 1200 - 1500 bf. of 1X12, 10, 8, & 6.

There are 10 logs left which we will saw Monday.

Knothole Sawmill, LLC     '98 Wood-Mizer LT40SuperHydraulic   WM Million BF Club Member   WM Pro Sawyer Network

It's Weird being the Same Age as Old People

Never allow your "need" to make money to exceed your "desire" to provide quality service.....The Magicman

WV Sawmiller

    No pictures. It was full press court all day. I met a repeat customer 15 miles up the road and followed him to his pasture/woodlot. He had a bunch of red oak logs he wanted to use for fence boards so I sawed 5/4 X 6" X 16 logs all day. Towards the end of the day he dragged out a few 8, 10, 12 and 14' logs. Except for 2- 12' long 2X14 boards for walking on they were all 5/4 X 6" too. I put 8.2 hours on the engine, had to refill the gas tank for the first time in many jobs and sawed 1776 bf. I guess we sawed about 30 logs. We stopped at 6:30 pm when it got too dark to see the dials on my mill. I left the mill and will return about 1:00 pm tomorrow and hopefully finish the remaining logs plus a bunch of locust fence posts he wants split/sawed a flat edge on them.

    The customer's DIL and GS rode by on an ATV with their rifles and hunter orange. Today is part of a special antlerless season. We heard a shot while I was packing up so I suspect they had some luck. I will see tomorrow.
Howard Green
WM LT35HDG25(2015) , 2011 4WD F150 Ford Lariat PU, Kawasaki 650 ATV, Stihl 440 Chainsaw, homemade logging arch (w/custom built rear log dolly), JD 750 w/4' wide Bushhog brand FEL

Dad always said "You can shear a sheep a bunch of times but you can only skin him once

Nebraska

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Sawed an Ash log for my wife's coworker and her family. My job ran later than normal and we ran out of daylight. They wanted slabs for a table. I found a nail right away so I flipped the log and went the opposite direction. This was the last slab this morning. Delt with the nail in the daylight. They asked how much$,  i told her a haircut. She's also does hair part time and is my usual barber so I thought it a good trade.  ffsmiley

Larry

That first pic is a great one. I would put it on canvas for your memories.
Larry, making useful and beautiful things out of the most environmental friendly material on the planet.

We need to insure our customers understand the importance of our craft.

cutterboy

Magic, I'm glad to see you're back sawing. It makes me feel good to see someone older than me still at it.  :wink_2:


Nebraska, I agree with Larry.
To underestimate old men and old machines is the folly of youth. Frank C.

Magicman

Thanks cutter.  After travel/setup and shooting a couple of bulls, we started sawing @ 9:00, took a full hour for lunch, and called it quitting time @ 3:00, so only 5 hours of sawing. 

We will have a retired law officer helping tomorrow so we wanted enough logs (10) to give him a workout.

Friday and Saturday of this week, I will saw another Oak job for a repeat customer.  That gives me 5 jobs to saw before the end of the year.  I looked at a nice SYP framing lumber job this week, but we decided to hold it until January.  It is only 14 logs but the butt logs are all above 30", two 36".  Fun times.
Knothole Sawmill, LLC     '98 Wood-Mizer LT40SuperHydraulic   WM Million BF Club Member   WM Pro Sawyer Network

It's Weird being the Same Age as Old People

Never allow your "need" to make money to exceed your "desire" to provide quality service.....The Magicman

WV Sawmiller

    I went back at 1:00 pm to finish to job I started yesterday. Still no pictures and no wasted time getting right to work on arrival. I sawed 4-6 small RO logs into 5/4 X 6" fence boards then started sawing locust fence posts for the customer. No set sizes. He just wanted to increase the number of posts he got from his trees/logs and a square surface to nail fence to. I did the posts on my hourly rate.

   One of the posts had a hole in the end and when I rolled it on the mill a mouse ran out then back in. I could not get him to come out so I sawed his roof off. He did jump out and escaped so any closet PETA members can calm down. 

    We had a scare when the 75 t/o customer was helping his son carry a heavy post off the mill and stumbled and fell and looked to hit his head on a log on the tractor forks. He got up and did not seem to be hurt. I can't afford to have good customers get hurt 0 especially before I get paid. He is a nice guy and it scared both me and his son.

    I sawed till dark then packed up, hooked up the mill, stopped at the customer's house on the way out and got paid. He does have a few logs and a handful of posts at his house I will return to saw in the next few weeks.

   I am nearly 8 hours past the regular 50 hour service so that is the priority for tomorrow. I have never been that far past the regular maintenance and have another job scheduled Wed/Thurs of this week.

    On a political note times must not be as bad as we have been hearing because I did see 2 possums (Hoover Hogs) on the way home and did not even stop to try to catch either of them. ffcheesy

   I saw a nice 8 point buck 1/4 mile from my customers house and if he was not in rut he was practicing for when the rut does get here.
Howard Green
WM LT35HDG25(2015) , 2011 4WD F150 Ford Lariat PU, Kawasaki 650 ATV, Stihl 440 Chainsaw, homemade logging arch (w/custom built rear log dolly), JD 750 w/4' wide Bushhog brand FEL

Dad always said "You can shear a sheep a bunch of times but you can only skin him once

Wlmedley

I've never heard a possum called a Hoover Hog .That's a good one I'll have to remember. I've got a fellow needing a little board and batten siding and had a couple maple logs on my deck and he said they would be fine as he stains the wood pretty dark and they would match up with poplar close enough. Got around 130 bf out of two logs but that's not going to be enough.Will need another 140 bf so I guess I'll try and find a poplar that's not to hard to get to. I've already sold him 1500 bf back in the summer and he seemed happy with it.Cut this 3/4" thick as requested. He's 75 years old and he said it would be a little easier to work with. I agree that it is easier to carry over to the shed and stack.
Bill Medley WM 126-14hp , Husky372xp ,MF1020 ,Homemade log arch,GMC2500,Oregon log splitter,Honda Pioneer 700,Kabota 1700

cutterboy



A couple days ago I finished sawing up the maple logs I logged a while back. I did something different this time. I have a big demand for clear red maple but very little for #2s. I sawed one inch flitches off the first face till I hit knots then flipped and did the same for the other three faces. This left me with a lot of flitches to edge but all clear lumber. So that left a cant on the mill that I quartered into whatever it gave me, (3x3s-4x4s or whatever) and put them aside to cut up for firewood.










Now it's time to saw some white pine.

  Keep on sawing.....Cutter
To underestimate old men and old machines is the folly of youth. Frank C.

Magicman

Knothole Sawmill, LLC     '98 Wood-Mizer LT40SuperHydraulic   WM Million BF Club Member   WM Pro Sawyer Network

It's Weird being the Same Age as Old People

Never allow your "need" to make money to exceed your "desire" to provide quality service.....The Magicman

barbender

You're sawing for grade, cutter! 

That center cant might sell well for blocking in your area.
Too many irons in the fire

Magicman

We finished this Oak job today with two RRQS, and two WRQS which my customer prefers because all of the lumber is of consistent width and with no beveled edges.

Don't bother looking for WRQS because I invented that name: Wane Roll Quarter Saw. 


Wane is left on the 4 corners allowing the widest possible QS boards.  Here 5 boards are taken from the center and the top and bottom only had rays on one side.


We actually took 6 QS boards from these two cants leaving the 4 wane corners that the customer will use for table legs.  They are rift sawn which he prefers for legs.


Including one SYP log that was sawn entirely into stickers.  This job yielded 2831bf and the customer added a $226 tip.  ffsmiley

My next scheduled job is Friday & Saturday.
Knothole Sawmill, LLC     '98 Wood-Mizer LT40SuperHydraulic   WM Million BF Club Member   WM Pro Sawyer Network

It's Weird being the Same Age as Old People

Never allow your "need" to make money to exceed your "desire" to provide quality service.....The Magicman

cutterboy

Two weeks ago when I was sawing white birch there were two logs with ugly seams in them. Maybe a lighting strike? Anyway I didn't hold out much hope for good lumber from them but I was curious to see what was inside.







I got three boards like this one from that log..very dark in color. You can't see it in the picture but the board has many tiny cracks running up and down and thru it. I didn't saw the 2nd log because I wasn't happy with the lumber from the first log. I didn't get good lumber but I did satisfy my curiosity as to what was in the log.


  Keep on sawing.....Cutter
To underestimate old men and old machines is the folly of youth. Frank C.

Nebraska

Looks like good lumber for interior shelving, it's pretty. 

WV Sawmiller

    I met a several times repeat customer 17 miles away to saw his logs. IMG_4178.JPG
    The logs on the left stack are Red Spruce and some oversized white pine logs that required a lot of gunbarreling/resizing.
IMG_4179.JPG

IMG_4180.JPG
    The guy has a tree house up on top of a mountain and the best view of almost any  customer I have sawed  for. Here is the view. I can probably see SouthSide over 100 miles away down in Virginia from up here. IMG_4181.JPG    His house (Cabin?) is built up in 4 trees (One is ash and he has to treat the tree to keep it safe from EAB) and it is full of items built from our first sawing job. The bar under the house is from wide live edge slabs we sawed on my first trip as well as his his counters and several benches and such
IMG_4182.JPG
    He even provides his own log dogs. The larger male was there on my earlier trips. The little female (Twoey) is a new addition.

    He and his helper were the best help I have had in many jobs. I never had to wait on a slab or board to be removed or wait on a new log to be loaded on the lowered arms. And I never had to tell them what to do.

    They did decide to stop about 4 pm after we'd sawed about 2/3 of the whack of logs. The really small logs on the right are locust poles that will just require a skim cut to put a flat spot on each side. We did not tally yet but I sawed 6.3 hours on the engine and probably have 1200 or so bf. One big WP scaled 170 bf on the 1/4" scale but re turned 300 bf of 4/4 boards. IMG_4183.JPG
    This is the only customer I have ever sawed for who has Red Spruce which I understand are/were a native species to WV.

    After I loaded up I went home, unloaded, stocked up on more blades and grabbed a quck shower and change of clothes I took my wife back for her to see the location and get some pictures. The customer's mom was on her SXS ahead of us and we had to stop and pick up her dog to keep it safe. We unload the pooch at the treehouse so it could see her friends. My wife took pictures and got the grand tour of the house. She found out my helper was married to our lawyer who was a former student of my wife and who also showed up while we were there.

  We stayed till nearly dark then stopped and picked up a recently widowed friend and took hm to dinner with us and back (He doesn't drive due to vision issues) so we had a log but enjoyable day.

  I'll go bacl tomorrow and finish the remaining logs.


Howard Green
WM LT35HDG25(2015) , 2011 4WD F150 Ford Lariat PU, Kawasaki 650 ATV, Stihl 440 Chainsaw, homemade logging arch (w/custom built rear log dolly), JD 750 w/4' wide Bushhog brand FEL

Dad always said "You can shear a sheep a bunch of times but you can only skin him once

Magicman

Very nice Howard.....very nice !!! 
Knothole Sawmill, LLC     '98 Wood-Mizer LT40SuperHydraulic   WM Million BF Club Member   WM Pro Sawyer Network

It's Weird being the Same Age as Old People

Never allow your "need" to make money to exceed your "desire" to provide quality service.....The Magicman

SawyerTed

That's the beauty of this addiction business we get to meet new people and many become friends.  

As MM says - very nice!
Woodmizer LT50, WM BMS 250, WM BMT 250, Kubota MX5100, IH McCormick Farmall 140, Husqvarna 372XP, Husqvarna 455 Rancher

cutterboy

Howard, sounds like a perfect day to me. Saw some lumber, make some money, meet old friends, make new friends, go out to eat with a friend. You have to treasure days like that.
To underestimate old men and old machines is the folly of youth. Frank C.

Nebraska

A great day indeed.  ffsmiley

doc henderson

Well too much work makes doc a dull boy.  20 twelve hour shifts this month.  Transition to a hospital owned group.  lost 4 full time docs in the transition.  I have been taking up the slack.  finally had a chance to have a mental health day of sawing.  did some for @Cardiodoc and the owner of sandhill brew pub.  



pretty nice burr oak log... or so it seems.  It is Halloween and there was a fright lurking in this innocent appearing log.  



made it to the end with just a dip at the nails.  slowed down to finish out and changed blades.


some nice quarter sawn 16.5-inch side boards (per customer request) 4/4.



you see the dip.  I did not see the nails initially due to the top wood left on to saw on though.  also, no end stain.



nest was this ugly son of a gun.  not too big around but full capacity for the mill in two dimensions.  about 15 feet long.  had to trim nubs (still a tree).  customer wanted some slabs.  asked for 2 inch but I made them 2.5 inches. He wanted me to trim a flat side on the back, but he would have lost more than he realized.  he wanted two slabs from near the center. so, I made a center one to contain the pith 3 inches, with 2.5 inch slabs to either side.  I could have still trimmed on the mill but after he saw them, he agreed.  He may cut them in the middle lengthwise to relieve some of the bend.  



the pith was contained at the far end and the branch to the left and exposed and sawn through in the branch to the right.  now you can really see the bend in the middle.  in the whole log, it seemed much more like a gentle curve.  
:uhoh: :thumbsup: :wink_2: ffcheesy



This customer considers any tree off their land, to be sentimental.  so, I sawed all the flitches into boards, and he can use them for sticker or burn them.  whatever he likes.

OK back to work today.  was up against a 36-hour shift, but a colleague stepped up to cover a 6-hour break in the middle.   :crazy_eyessmilie: whiteflag_smiley taz-smiley :twitch2: :stunned: fiddle-smiley headscratch
Timber king 2000, 277c track loader, PJ 32 foot gooseneck, 1976 F700 state dump truck, JD 850 tractor.  2007 Chevy 3500HD dually, home built log splitter 18 horse 28 gpm with 5 inch cylinder and 32 inch split range with conveyor powered by a 12 volt tarp motor

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