Whatcha Sawin' 2025 ??

[doc henderson]

Did a couple nice pine logs with Doc Hagley that had been down a few years.  had some build up on the blade, so at least I only had to relearn something I had forgotten.       I had hoped it was all dried out, but the center and knot areas were still wet and smelled like turpentine.  On the last cut the blade would not engage.  I called Matt at Timberking, and he told me it was prob. time to set the airgap on the electro-magnetic blade clutch.  I did that and found a loose connection where I had tapped into the wiring harness to open a solenoid on the lube tank.  cleaned it all up (I still have a slow leaking oil seal), checked the oil and belt tension.  put on another blade and ran a few great cuts to test.  Thanks Matt.

[doc henderson]

one mantle stock piece at 6 x 16 x 9.5 feet.  some live edge 2-inch stock above it on the left, and then some 4/4 on the right.  the final cut could not be made due to the blade clutch failure, now fixed, so one thicker piece.  @Cardiodoc 

[Magicman]

I moved this one to the Invoice Book this morning:


Total of 9 1/2 hours sawing yielding 3113bf of framing lumber and 6X6 timbers.

We have a line of storms coming through Sunday afternoon and low 20°'s mid week so I believe that my gitty-up-go will be busted.

[WV Sawmiller]

MM,

   Nice looking stack of framing lumber and beams. What is he going to use for siding?

[Magicman]

I asked the same question and he said "Hardie Board Siding".  He wanted Pine B&B but he does not have enough logs.

He has so much framing lumber that he is now considering building larger and I suspect that he will.

[SawyerTed]

Lynn, I can't help but be a little envious about those nice pine logs!  

Pine is common here but those nice clear big logs are rare.   

Nice!  

[Magicman]

I said from the beginning that these were some of the best SYP logs that I have ever sawed.  I wish that I could have displayed those 18' 2X12's and taken a picture.  Not the first knot in the entire log.  The other 18' log (pictured below) that I sawed into 6X6's was knotty on one side which is the normal. 

These were "yard trees" and not the exception, but rather the normal.  Look toward the left in the below picture (2) and the above picture (5) and you will see some standing trees equally as good.  There are probably over 100 like this in this neighborhood. 


This is one of the (2) 18' X 32" butt, 28" top logs.  My tailgunner is 6'2".  The weight calculator showed these logs @~4700lbs.  I did use the Magic Hook and log clamp to roll the log closer to the loader hinge as I raised the loader arms.  This trick greatly reduces the load on the loader hydraulics.

[Magicman]

I wish that I could have displayed those 18' 2X12's and taken a picture.

Since they were only 2 miles away I went back a took some pictures.  I also said that there were probably over 100 trees like that in his neighborhood.  I counted 74 before I got to his house, so yes, easily over 100. 


Heck, I have 8 in my front yard.  The picture is deceiving because the furtherst one in the center is 33" DBH.


The whack of 2X12's.


A closeup.  Purdy stuff and knot free.


Some of his framing lumber that I sawed last May/June.  I know, I was not too pleased to see the blue tarp but the lumber underneath looked OK.

[cutterboy]

Magic, that pine is absolutely beautiful. I rarely get clear boards from the white pine I saw. I hope he doesn't cover those 2x12s with a tarp.

Thanks for the pictures.

[Magicman]

That 18' log yielded 16, 2X12's (plus the 2X4's & 2X6's) and there was not a single knot in any of them.  That had to be the all time highest quality SYP log that I have ever sawn. 

The 2X12's will all be used for exposed ceiling joists in the "great room".  I love sawing for new homes.

[Hackeldam Wood Products]

Cutting some nice Pine. Not as nice as M.M. but decent. Still winter here and windy.

[barbender]

I haven't fired my mill up in a long time...maybe a couple of months! With the temps hovering around 0°, I have no plans to until it warms up a bit.

[Magicman]

I hear you on the cold sawing.  My next customer asked me this morning about next week and I told him that my git-up-go for next week is busted.  He was happy. 

[jpassardi]

I was milling more white pine into cants for a future timber frame today. Cold and windy here today also. 
Brought another batch of the sapwood flitches into the heated garage to be edged at night. 

[Old Greenhorn]

I know we have talked about this in years past, there's a good thread somewhere, but I'm curious Lyn, where do you draw your line at the working temp?
 I had a nice session at the mill today and the high for the day was about 28 with about 10mph wind. It wasn't bad until my foot finally got so cold I couldn't feel it. It was the temp, it's a medical issue I have. Other than that I would have kept going. If it was sunny, I would work a lot lower. Personally I don't think any order is important enough to work on at under 20°.  Unless it's just a pair of truck bed boards or something. and I have help.

[SawyerTed]

For this old sawyer, highs in the 40s are okay and it's not unusual to start 25-30 but we warm up pretty quickly normally.  Winter highs in 40s and 50s are typical. 

I will saw in colder as long as the wind chill isn't too bad.  Frozen logs are pretty rare here too.  Might have some this week and next.  

[Magicman]

I am with Ted 100%.  He described my situation perfectly. 

I have sawed when the morning temperature was 18°.  It probably warmed up into the 30's but we were under a hill with no wind and it wasn't too bad.

This week we will have low-mid 20's morning temps and warming into the low 40's, but next week we will be 10 degrees warmer so why not wait?  

I am not in a contest nor a race and I do not want to win.  I just want to cross the finish line.

[Old Greenhorn]

Well, I guess we are all on pretty much the same page then, but you fellas are a bit south of me with more moderating temps. Yes in the fall or spring when it is 20 or a bit under but forecast to hit 40 or more, I have no issues. But today, and for the previous couples of days and the coming week or so our temps are pretty flat. Today this low was 25 and the high was 28, not much of a gain there.
 Yes, the wind has a big effect, but I am extremely blessed that our mill sits at the bottom of a 40' cliff that is on the west side. We have a prevailing west wind, so it can be blowing 15-20 mph out of the west and it is dead calm at the mill (wind wise). Bit if the wind swings, my whole day changes, like it did yesterday with a north wind.
 But I am not in a race either. I do have stuff that needs milling for others to do their jobs. I just now got off the phone with bill, he needs new top boards on his 750 dump truck this week. Old wood and poor loader operators have done them in. I need dimensions of course, but somehow I will fit them in regardless of the weather because he needs them. I just need to find the right log.
 I will say that regardless of need or urgency I do hit a temp where I say 'no'. But even a 15° day with bright sun and no wind can be joyful to work in. It's just short for me because of that dang foot issue I have.

[doc henderson]

for me it depends on the nature and importance of the event/job.  I have done extreme cold.  today I could warm up anytime I wanted.  working tonight, and with low temps, ice and wind hope to not be too busy.  barring catastrophic emergency.

[doc henderson]

my work environment in this blizzard will be at 70 degrees all night.  all roads out of hutch are closed and north of here to Nebraska.

[Magicman]

It would be very rare indeed when I would be sawing against a deadline.  I only saw customer's logs into their cut list, so it would also be rare when the customer is not on site when I am sawing. 

Cut list are very often changed on the fly, for example, I sawed 6X6's on last week's job.  The customer simply had more logs and thus the potential for an excess of 2X6's so he decided to add a timber frame on his front entrance and will probably do the same on the back.  I also highly suspect that I will be back sawing wall paneling.

[doc henderson]

Back in your EMS and scouting days, you went no matter the temperature with the exception maybe in scouts.  

[Magicman]

Back when I was working for the "Ma Bell" man, weather did not matter. 

Now I ain't and now it does.  I have paid my dues.

[Old Greenhorn]

EMS and fire, yeah, no matter what, people were depending on us and there were some hairy times just 'getting there'.  Believe it or not, in Scouting we were even more anal because it was 'optional'. If we planned it, we went. I recall a February camping trip and there was a heavy active snowstorm goin on the Saturday we drove up. What should have been a 2.5 hour drive turned into 5+ hours and we had chains on all the vehicles. It was -20 at night an 5° highs during the daytime. We had one of the best weekends I can ever recall camping in tents. We skied all day in clear crisp blue skies. the snow was all powder and deep enough to help insulate the tents from the winds we had.
Now to be fair, there were some scouting trips that if I had known how they would go, I might have thought twice about. I have spent some memorably miserable cold nights trying to sleep in poor situations, but nobody died, and I still have those memories. I recall one night backpacking in January. We had 'temporarily gotten confused' and were forced to camp in the middle of nowhere on the side of some mountain. I had ropes around my sleeping bag to keep me from sliding down the hill. We made dinner fast and as soon as it got dark we all got into our sleeping bags because that was the warmest place to be. But it was probably about 7:30pm. So we are all in our bags just biding our time until the sun comes up so we can 'get right'. Morale was pretty low as one might guess, terrible campsite, if it was even that, cold, and a 20mph wind. To kill time we are chatting back and forth from our bags. One of the older guys maybe 17 or so, is trying to cheer the rest of us up and he remembers that Billy has a Birthday coming up. "Hey Billy" he says "isn't you birthday coming up soon?" "yeah" saya Billy in a depressed mood, "It's Today". The older guy, all upbeat says "Hey! Happy birthday man! Sorry I didn't realize it was today or we would have got you something for the trail. So what did you get for your birthday?!" Billy, in a low voice muttered "Lost". As depressed as we all were, that just broke everyone up.
Yeah, if we planned it, we went.

-------------------

Lyn, I hear you and I have the same attitude. I used to "HAVE" to do that to feed the kids. Now I don't. I was remarking to Pat tonight during dinner that I have not been sick in bed since I retired and that is entirely because all those working years I had to go to work and for a lot of years I had no sick day. No work, no pay, and we had bills, so I went. And I paid for that with some serious viruses, flu, and such that could take me out for a week or more. Now when I feel something coming on, I just back off and it goes away, and then I resume life. I loose a couple of days, but no medical issues or doctors vests. Well maybe except a little help form a good friend across the country.

[SawyerTed]

Being in education for the duration of my career, snow days were a thing, still are but back then we didn't have "remote days" or "e learning days."

Early in my career we missed days due to heat because the buildings weren't air conditioned.  

Now I'm like the rest have mentioned, there's very few times I HAVE to saw in poor conditions.  

Cutting firewood occasionally falls into the "have to category".  Because of the unexpected kitchen renovations, I am behind on firewood.   Friday and Saturday were "have to" firewood days.  Thankfully, with 200 wooded acres, there's more than enough dead standing trees to get dry wood in a short time. 

I cut 3 or 4 weeks worth of firewood Friday and split it on Saturday.