adjustable log skidds

[weisyboy]

let me first explain a few things so its clear why we do what we do.

when cutting Australian hardwood's you have to deal with a lot of tension, a board cut from a hardwood log will always pull, bow or spring towards the sapwood (outside of the tree), because of the was a mobile saw cuts from the top of the log down releases the tension from the top half. 
meaning as you cut the log will "hump" or bow up in the middle, after each layer of boards you have to run over the surface and trim the log level,

If the bolsters are not placed right at the ends of the logs, the ends will drop lower than the level of cut meaning you boards end up smaller at the ends than the middle and you have to do a small drop before doing your leveling cut.



to avoid this we have to move the skids for each length of log, witch gets to be a pain when you bolter is burried under a pile of sawdust and you have to dig a clean spot to put it, and picking up and movign a 100-200kg log each time isnt mutch fun.

me and allan got talkign wile we were working today, and decided we would make up a set of adjustable skids.

we normaly use 2 logs with notches cut out of the end for the log to sit in.



we layed a 7 foot 4x4 down at each end of the skidd, cut a 4 1/2" x 1 1/2" notch out of the botom of the skids parallel to the notch and placed them ontop of the 4x4.



now the skids can be slid with 1 hand, by one person at each end.

they cna be adjusted for logs as short as 3'





or as long a 20'





its easy and accurate, meaning we will move them more often and be able to cut more accurate timber.

[ljmathias]

Neat- just like the lincoln logs I used to play with as a kid... and my grandkids play with now.

Lj

[terrifictimbersllc]

If just one person, he could also roll those skids along the 4x4's with a cant hook. 

[Magicman]

I like your solution to an obvious problem.

Having no swinger experience, I thought that the log was laid on a flat surface with chocks on each side to keep it stable.  Then the entire length of the log would be fully supported through out the entire sawing.

Shows what I know don't know.   ;D

[sigidi]

Magicman, its funny how one gets set in the ways we mill - you guys use a full bed to sit your log on hey? With the Lucas we tend to use a bolster/skid at each end of the log and usually I tend to have them adjusted for every single log. the way Carl uses two skids with notches is much faster for getting logs into the mill and easier, but has the down side of not being so flexible when cutting 8' posts and then say 16' rails. So as Carl said we did a bit of thinking today and can now have the skids any distance apart from 3' right up to 20'.

If the log is more than 10' long I tend to use a pair of cocks in the middle of the log to help support it once cutting the bottom third of the log, to stop it dropping.

We're gonna give the 'new' skids a bit of a run tomorrow and see how they go ;D ;)

[r.man]

That is the first time I have heard a swinger talk about levelling cuts or bowing in the remaining log. I guess it is the difference between real life and the sales pitch.

[Magicman]

I like sgschwend's setup where he is fully supported.  He may pop on here, or maybe I can find a picture of his operation.

[mad murdock]

Hats off to you guys 8) 8) thanks for sharing your resourcefulness with us blokes.  Looks like the skids work pretty well, and not too much engineering involved in building them.

[sigidi]

That is the first time I have heard a swinger talk about levelling cuts or bowing in the remaining log. I guess it is the difference between real life and the sales pitch.

r.man, dunno if it's so much a sales pitch or with you guys doin so much softwood it doesn't happen so much. I know over here our hardwood plays around, sometimes it's cranky stuff and more often than not, the longer the log the more cranky she is. On the few occasions I've done softwoods, I've almost felt guilty calling myself a sawyer ;D coz its like disengage ya brain, ya don't have to think about the log and just cut her up. I might be over in the US later in the year hopefully doin a bit of milling so I'll be able to do a bit of a comparison  8) ;)

I like sgschwend's setup where he is fully supported.  He may pop on here, or maybe I can find a picture of his operation.

My impression of that setup is you have to walk over the bearers all day, which I would not like at all. For me milling is a good enough days work without having to work my legs even more. I hop he does drop in coz ya know how things go sometimes, you get ideas about things, never get told any different and remain in the dark  ;)

Hats off to you guys 8) 8) thanks for sharing your resourcefulness with us blokes.  Looks like the skids work pretty well, and not too much engineering involved in building them.

Murdock, yeah mate it was pretty simple to do and Carl is better throwing a cs around than me, so those notches are pretty clean and a good fit, if I did 'em  well lets just say I didn't do 'em  ;D ;)

[WildDog]

Great idea guys, simple, basic, effective and cheap, with Weisyboys post ripping jig you Queenslanders have got the ingenuity happening.