Why is it that everyone seeks out Walnut trees for their clothes line?
"No, it's not a yard tree!"
Started Sawing up my 5 walnut logs. Sawed the first one with no problems. One has a fiberglass clothesline sticking out of it so i know what I'm in for. This is the second log on the mill and no sparks, but blade stopped dead. I was really lucky though. My goal was to cut 6ft long 4x8's from the log and this object was right in the middle of the 13ft log. So It won't interfere with the timberframe braces that will be cut from it.
Here's where it stopped. I backed out of the cut using wedges and cut the piece off with circ and hand saw.
(https://forestryforum.com/gallery/albums/userpics/16191/IMG_2882a.jpg?easyrotate_cache=1482912021)
What could it be?
(https://forestryforum.com/gallery/albums/userpics/16191/IMG_2883a.jpg?easyrotate_cache=1482912021)
Starting to emerge?
(https://forestryforum.com/gallery/albums/userpics/16191/IMG_2884a.jpg?easyrotate_cache=1482912023)
This looks familiar.
(https://forestryforum.com/gallery/albums/userpics/16191/IMG_2885a.jpg?easyrotate_cache=1482912261)
The culprit.
(https://forestryforum.com/gallery/albums/userpics/16191/IMG_2886a.jpg?easyrotate_cache=1482912023)
Got the log broke down and followed up cutting 4x8's for braces.
(https://forestryforum.com/gallery/albums/userpics/16191/IMG_2887a.jpg?easyrotate_cache=1482912138)
The same reason people in Mississippi would change their property line 5 miles just to nail a fence into a cedar tree. ??? ???
I've hit a couple of those through the years and a few phone company "J" hooks!
One of those things that come with the territory! ::)
My chickens have come to roost. My best friends father was a carpenter with big wooden kegs of nails. As kids we hammered everything in trees. Good thing we didn't have pneumatic nailers then. Today when I hit nails I look in the mirror and curse out the perpetrator. Frank C.
Yep, my first metal besides the back stops was one of those. :D
I'm betting there is another one in the tree 8 to10 feet away, same height, my guess is a hammock once swung there on hot summer days.
Worst batch of metal I ever ran into was a load of walnut. 2" flatbar, nails, steeples, 2 different kinds of chain, bullets.....a duke's mixture of everything you don't want to find in wood. Muddled through and got it all cut. Should have quit on the first metal crash. Guy drove off because I wouldn't plane it for him. The pile of walnut rotted beside the creek right where I hacked it.
Hopm, You may not want to plane it, but no problem belt sanding it! Will come out smooth.
So today I tackled the one that had the fiberglass clothesline sticking out of it. I first bored a 1.5" hole with an auger bit about 2 inches and didn't hit anything. But as I was sawing it my blade just cut one ear of the nail head off. luckily it was a nail holding the clothesline and not a lag hook. Not too bad a strike and I finished the cut. There were two other nails in the log, but i cut through them with the same blade. So I cut half this log and cost me one band.
It just seems if someone is going to hang a clothesline, it must be to a Walnut tree!
(https://forestryforum.com/gallery/albums/userpics/16191/IMG_1956a.jpg?easyrotate_cache=1482957773)
(https://forestryforum.com/gallery/albums/userpics/16191/IMG_2888a.jpg?easyrotate_cache=1482957773)
(https://forestryforum.com/gallery/albums/userpics/16191/IMG_2890a.jpg?easyrotate_cache=1482957775)
(https://forestryforum.com/gallery/albums/userpics/16191/IMG_2889a.jpg?easyrotate_cache=1482957775)
Looks like some nice walnut you got for your troubles.
Is that Farmall forklift a factory version or something you converted from a tractor? Looks interesting.
How about more pictures of that forklift? I had an allis I started to turn around like that but ended up selling it.
What is your method for debarking the log? Do I see a score line from a chain saw? Nice job, wish my logs were debarked like that log.
My forklift is a "John's Manufacturing". They did conversions on 99% Farmall BN tractors to forklifts. They were based in Grand Rapids, MI. They sold most of their conversions to local orchards, vineyards, and vegetable farmers in Michigan. Most are still in Michigan as people tend to hang onto them because they are so useful. I went up to Michigan to get mine. I'm in IL. My vegetable farmer neighbor has 2 of them(which is how I learned about them). It's rare to see them outside of Michigan. There are very few original Farmall BN's around today because of the large number of conversions John's did. They were actively doing this from the 60's through the early 80's and were driven out of the business by lawsuits/insurance. I don't think there was anything wrong with their conversions, but I think it took one or two people suing them for them to come to the realization that it wasn't worth the cost of fighting it going forward. They are wonderful little forklifts with 2500 lb capacity and easy to work on. Mine originally would have had an ROPS, but someone probably took it off and then it never went with the unit when sold. I bought it from a guy who bought 4 of them at an auction of the original owner who passed. So I am the second owner. Since I bought it, I've rewired it, added an LED bar light on top of the mast, replaced the alternator and water pump, relocated and built a new battery box support and box, and now use an Optima battery so the terminals will never corrode.
https://forestryforum.com/board/index.php/topic,65543.0.html
Debarking walnut is best done while green. I use a bark spud, sometimes an axe, and sometimes a small spade shovel I have. I do not let it dry on the walnut or it can be much harder to get off. On smaller walnut trunks, or large branches with sweep, I let the bark dry on them, mill them for curved timberframed braces, then draw knife off the bark leaving some of the dark paper from the cambium layer for a cool looking effect, coat with a layer of clear shellac, and sand the live edges lightly to get them smooth.
I think they made this conversion to. I had this tractor years ago.
(https://forestryforum.com/gallery/albums/userpics/39553/Image06.jpg?easyrotate_cache=1483206066)
The old hook in the log thing. :D :D :D
:new_year:
Quote from: Kbeitz on December 31, 2016, 12:41:29 PM
I think they made this conversion to. I had this tractor years ago.
(https://forestryforum.com/gallery/albums/userpics/39553/Image06.jpg?easyrotate_cache=1483206066)
What??? What was that used for? Driving over / harvesting corn? Did it have the drive-line running though all that?
Maybe driving over those tall Blueberry bush rows in Michigan??
I have been told that those were made to mow around small trees on Christmas tree farms.
PC
Quote from: paul case on December 31, 2016, 01:52:10 PM
I have been told that those were made to mow around small trees on Christmas tree farms.
PC
Yep for Christmas tree farms.
Quote from: Kbeitz on December 31, 2016, 03:58:56 PM
Quote from: paul case on December 31, 2016, 01:52:10 PM
I have been told that those were made to mow around small trees on Christmas tree farms.
PC
Yep for Christmas tree farms.
OK, clue me in... So the tractor can clear the tree. Is it pulling a brush hog mower? Might have to be a small one so as not to mow down the tree! Or using a belly mower????
Well, I hit around 17 nails, all different sizes, in 3 consecutive walnut cants once. They were scattered in an odd pattern and every size nail you can imagine. The customer asked me to keep going, hoping the next cut would be free of hardware. We finally concluded that some kids must have had a great time building a tree house in that walnut tree, years ago. It was way off the rural road and the current land owner had never done any work that far back. The customer paid me for the blades, gave me two 8/4" boards and we shook hands. We tore up 9 blades on that small job. You name it, I've hit it. Nails, spikes, barbed wire, bullets, copper wire and the list will go on.
any thoughts on a metal detector? recommendations under $150?
Yup, the Lumber Wizard (https://www.amazon.com/Wizard-Detectors-25506-Lumber-Detector/dp/B00005NMUN) does a good job. I also have a Bounty Hunter Nail Finder (http://www.opticsplanet.com/bounty-hunter-handy-man-nail-finder-metal-detector.html) that I actually like better. It is "MD" but still available from some sources.
I'm on my 5th Lumber wizard since October 2014. They work well, until they don't. We did a lot of reclaimed timbers with a lot of nails and screws and got most of them. The first one just failed. The second and third ones, the buzzer stopped working and I couldn't find headphones to fit the jack. I don't think they would have worked anyway. The 4th I had about 4 months and all of a sudden you could not tune it. It would just stay stuck on. They have a year warranty. I think two of mine were replaced including the one I have now is a replacement. Haven't been using it much lately though. I bought one of the Garrett wands too, but haven't had any use time with it yet.
I always wondered if they would detect metal deep enough in wood to do any good?
PC
My Garrett 250 works well.
I also have a Garrett 250 but it was more than $150.
My favorite is the Bounty Hunter Nail Finder.
Quote from: paul case on January 01, 2017, 11:12:28 PM
I always wondered if they would detect metal deep enough in wood to do any good?
I have a Tesoro Silver microMax that will detect metal six inches deep in the wood. With practice you can gauge how deep the metal is by waving it above the surface. I keep finding my steel-toed boots with it :D
I haven't personally hit metal but I have bought a few Woodmizer blades for a sawyer who did on my logs .
An apple tree got it's revenge on me from building a tree house at about 10 years old .50 years later I discovered the nails while dead wooding it.New 14'"loop of Stihl pico chain for a 200T saw .
Any opinion on Garrett pro pointer hand held?
Under $150
Quote from: carykong on January 02, 2017, 04:38:30 PM
Any opinion on Garrett pro pointer hand held?
Under $150
That's what I use... I got on off E-bay for 1/3 that price.
I think it works good. The only problem I have with it is I need
to check the log before it get anywhere close to my sawmill.
It even picks up nails on the ground. I can't get close to the mill.
You should never attempt to check a log for metal when it is close to or on the sawmill anyway. As previously mentioned, steel toe boots will also give you a reading.
Yes, you have to make sure that there isn't metal under it, like forklift forks. I haven't wand'ed logs unless I suspect something. Reclaimed timbers or boards, I absolutely want and I do it on the saw horses. The other problem while wanding is if you are on concrete and have the log or timber near the floor. You can pick up the rebar or mesh in the concrete.