Some pretty good sized SYP

[MSSawmill]

If you dig back in my posts into around April of last year, you'll see that dad and I are cutting about 35-40 big old pine trees from around his house and milling them up into lumber that will be used to build my house. I think all of the trees are 25" or better, and some of the ones we've cut so far have been closer to 28"-29" on the butt without much taper until you get 30'-40' off the ground.

As I was working on a big post going through the rebuild that we've done on the mill, I came across some pics of a couple of the logs we've worked on, and I thought I'd post them out here.

This one is from March. 16' long and about 26" in diameter. I think we were cutting 2"x6"s out of the whole thing.


  

  

 

This was the first log on the mill after the rebuild. It's a 12' log that's probably 23"-24". This was taken in July, and the logs had been sitting on the yard, (off the ground), since March, so that's why the bark came off so easily. The quality of lumber is SO much better after we rebuilt the mill! Those 2"x6"s are full of knots, I know, but we just wanted to see how everything ran.
BTW, that's my ugly mug pushing the saw in these.

  

  

  

 

And then, one of Dad's coworkers wanted new flooring for his 16' trailer. It's a lighter weight trailer and all he really hauls is his 4-wheeler, so pine decking should be fine. We just happened to have one more pine log on the yard, and it just happened to be 16' long. It was probably 26" in diameter and pretty clear all the way through. We cut it up into 1.5"x8.5" to make it fit the trailer. The Kubota never complained, even though it was a little hairy roaming around with that thing!


  

  

 

No pics of the lumber from that one, but this was the log that finally convinced dad that we needed a lubrication system for the blade. We had been cutting oak, (not sure of specific species), all day long with no problems. Beautiful, straight, accurate lumber! The blade never dove or rose in a cut. And then we hit this log... This thing had been sitting for about 5 months, but it was FAT with sap! First cut or 2 went fine, but then it got ugly. The pitch built up and the blade was all over the place. We fought with it until the last couple of cuts in the cant, then we cleaned the blade up and I literally held a spray bottle of Windex behind the blade and sprayed it as dad pushed the head through. It made a big difference. So, as of this last Saturday, we have a drip system!  ;D :D

[Chuck White]

Nice logs & lumber for sure!  8)

Sounds like you have done real good on the rebuild!

Do you have shields for the blade housing?  I'd hate to imagine things that could happen if things went wrong!

[Magicman]

Good job and yup, you gotta have some soapy water when you are sawing SYP.  I use Cascade/water, but other mixtures work well.

[beenthere]

So, as of this last Saturday, we have a drip system!

And some housing for the blade, I hope. ;)

Have not heard of Windex for lube, but wouldn't expect much affect on sap from it. But we learn a lot on the forum.

Thanks for the pics. Nice to see logs being sawn into lumber.

[MSSawmill]

Do you have shields for the blade housing?  I'd hate to imagine things that could happen if things went wrong!

I wondered how long it would be until someone mentioned that!;) Yes, we are already fabricating them. Hopefully have them on there soon.

[thecfarm]

I have no idea if you put power to your lube system. I just have a drip. I have one to shut it off,when I don't need it and one to adjust,to get it just right. With only one shut off,it takes some time to get it just right every time you shut it off.

[MSSawmill]

We did the same thing you're describing, cfarm. We have an adjustable valve and  an on/off valve. I remember seeing a post about that somewhere on here, and it made a lot of sense.