my new brand x

[donny hochstetler]

 hey guys; i'm back my new mill came in last week, all the way from condon, montana. i built the track myself,was able to save a lot on shipping. i'm able to saw a 32. ft. log with the track i have , it's all one piece, very heavy, 8) got'r all settin on 6x8s for support ,actually sawed 3 logs saturday  ,what fun. it just rips through that pine! I would like to build a small shed at the end of the track, so I can pull the saw inside out of the weather when not in use. any ideas? also does anyone know what  shiplap siding looks like? this mill has an attachment to make shiplap, thought maybe i could use this for my shed. This little mill seems to be built very stout for a small mill, rolls very easy on the track, and last but not least, Jay Brand was a pleasure to deal with, very knowledgable! My wife said she would post some pictures soon

[brdmkr]

Way to go Donny!  It is good to have another swing mill operator on the FF.

We like pics!

[Dave Shepard]

Cool! What will you being sawing for? At 32' you could saw out just about any size beam one might want.


Dave

[ErikC]

  Congratulations!  I guess you'll be looking for logs from now on.  I don't hear much about brand x and have never seen one in person, but considered them before I went with peterson. They have a few things I like, the log holding seems best of all the swingmills. Keep us posted on how she works out.

Erik

[KnotBB]

Are you sure it was ship-lap and not lap siding?  There is a difference.
Ship-lap was a way green boards could be used and as they shrank no gap appeared.  It was commonly used for siding underlayment,  sub flooring in home building and roofs before sheet goods became popular and cheaper than boards. But not generally for finish or exposed wood.  Kind of like lap siding but it laid flat.
A notch was cut half the thickness of the board (3/8" deep) about 1/2" wide on each edge of the board, but on opposite faces so they when they were laid they over lapped that half inch.  It also provided some support from the proceeding board for long spans. 



Stevem

[thecfarm]

There is a member that did want you want to.They put thier head,it was a bandsaw,inside of a shed to keep it out of the weather.A very good idea.I have no idea what post it was.Maybe saw shed might be it up,along with about 30 posts,probaly.There was a picture of it too.Good luck with your new mill.What are you using the 32 foot track for?

[Firebass]

Hey Donny Great to hear it 8)

I found a good trick recently.   Since my mill is very similar to yours and has a bunk like the brand X, you can saw the log down to the last (roughly) 3 or 4 inches then. just take your log dogs off and flip the slab. That right "OFF"  Measure from the bunk to your blade for the board thickness you would like then lift the carriage up to the next board row up and Cut the top off like you were starting a new log and cut the first row of boards.  .  Go slow at first so it stays put you can do this without being dogged but enter slowly The weight of the slab will keep it in place fairly well.  Then when you lower your carriage you can double cut the last piece leaving it full width slab.  Set it aside untill you do your next log then you can edge it any width you like just by laying it loosely flat on a decked half log or so.  Just remember to enter it slowly. but once you get into the cut you can speed up a bit.  This is something you can't do with any other stock swing mill and I believe it is a real asset.    You won't be sorry you went with that mill.

Firebass

[Jeff]

Donny, the thread thecfarm was talking about is here, started by rvrdivr, and it was a Hudson mill:

My Mill

Looks like the same thing you want to do though eh?

[brdmkr]

Hey Donny Great to hear it 8)

I found a good trick recently.   Since my mill is very similar to yours and has a bunk like the brand X, you can saw the log down to the last (roughly) 3 or 4 inches then. just take your log dogs off and flip the slab. That right "OFF"  Measure from the bunk to your blade for the board thickness you would like then lift the carriage up to the next board row up and Cut the top off like you were starting a new log and cut the first row of boards.  .  Go slow at first so it stays put you can do this without being dogged but enter slowly The weight of the slab will keep it in place fairly well.  Then when you lower your carriage you can double cut the last piece leaving it full width slab.  Set it aside untill you do your next log then you can edge it any width you like just by laying it loosely flat on a decked half log or so.  Just remember to enter it slowly. but once you get into the cut you can speed up a bit.  This is something you can't do with any other stock swing mill and I believe it is a real asset.    You won't be sorry you went with that mill.

Firebass

While I agree that having a solid bunk as part of your rail guides may make this easier, this can be done with a Lucas or Peterson.  Once you get to the bottom slab,  move it aside and start on a new log.  Once this new log is flattened, put the slab face down on the flat top of the new log.  Raise the carriage the desired board thickness and cut.  I routinely do this with more valuable species, but tend to just toss the bottom slab for more common species.  Likely not as easy as with your mill, but it works.  It is also the easiest way I have found yet to get a wide board with a Lucas mill!

[Fla._Deadheader]

 

While I agree that having a solid bunk as part of your rail guides may make this easier, this can be done with a Lucas or Peterson.  Once you get to the bottom slab,  move it aside and start on a new log.  Once this new log is flattened, put the slab face down on the flat top of the new log.  Raise the carriage the desired board thickness and cut.  I routinely do this with more valuable species, but tend to just toss the bottom slab for more common species.  Likely not as easy as with your mill, but it works.  It is also the easiest way I have found yet to get a wide board with a Lucas mill!

  This is exactly how I make table slabs, with my Peterson WPF.

I have to get the slabber bar rigged up, and cut some REALLY nice wood, as soon as I get back to CR.

[Firebass]

While I agree that having a solid bunk as part of your rail guides may make this easier, this can be done with a Lucas or Peterson.  Once you get to the bottom slab,  move it aside and start on a new log.  Once this new log is flattened, put the slab face down on the flat top of the new log.  Raise the carriage the desired board thickness and cut.  I routinely do this with more valuable species, but tend to just toss the bottom slab for more common species.  Likely not as easy as with your mill, but it works.  It is also the easiest way I have found yet to get a wide board with a Lucas mill!

Respectively,
Yes you guy's taught me that one back when I first got my mill running, works good (Thanks) Until recently that's the way I dealt with all my bottom slabs.  Just thought I'd share with Donny that it's helpful to think a little like a band miller at times(Not All) since his mill has a band mill type bunk and dogging system. 

[gus1957]

It's early and I don't get it -- What is the brand X mill?

My neighbor brought down his Lucas Mill yesterday and we are using the chain slabber to make 25' - 8" x 13" pine barn beams for repairs.

We are set up on concrete along side the barn.

So we cut 20' and just slide the beams with tractors to get the other 5'.

He cut 8" base blocks with the swing blade and put them on oiled 2" boards for eaiser sliding.

The logs are 20-24" on the butt so it takes 2 - 70 hp tractors to lift and load.

[Bob_T]

It's early and I don't get it -- What is the brand X mill?

Gus, try www.brandxsawmills.com

[woodsteach]

   Since my mill is very similar to yours and has a bunk like the brand X, you can saw the log down to the last (roughly) 3 or 4 inches then.
Firebass

Firebass if he made his track and log dog's like mine (from Jay ) then he can go down to 1 1/2" off the rails! 
For the most part that doesn't leave much of a slab.

Woodsteach

[Firebass]

Woodsteach,

I was hoping you would get in on this since you are the most experienced Brand X'r here ;D.  How tall are your log dogs?  Mine are just under 2" up from the rails..."Yes" I've sawed on them before.   My mill stops at 1"   Your right that doesn't leave much of a a slab if you can saw that far and not hit the dogs. 
Do you ever bunch up 2 or more ...of what I think are called flitch's and edge them like a band sawer would? 

Firebass

[donny hochstetler]

Me again.  thanks guys for all your input i;m still pretty green on this mill i have sawed 4 nice pine logs into 2x4s adds up pretty fast . they are very uniform in size . the top of my dogs are 1.25 in. off of the rail, and the saw bottoms out at 1.50 in.from the rail , so that leaves you with .25 in. of clearance ,between the dog and the saw . of course i don't go to that extreme would rather stay on the safe side. Hope to figure out how to make lap siding this weekend, for my saw shack.Jeff i pulled up that site ,some very good ideas.Why is it that as soon as you get something you want more ? as in saw shed,  metal detector,banding tools ,concrete, and lots of it 8) knuckleboom loader for log handling .Oh well I finally got my mill i'm happy 8)

[ironstumper]

I have a question for you brand x'ers. The vertical lift.....Looks like 1 hand crank at the top of the stancions? I believe he now overs a motorized option as well......That's my biggest complaint with my lucas...So much leg work when working alone...To go around the mill each time to change height...Well what the heck...I'm getting exercise and didn't have to pay the health club...hehehe

[fencerowphil (Phil L.)]

One thing I like about using my "Wedge Dogs" is that, when I get
down to the last bit of log, I can take about 45 seconds to change the
left hand dog on the high bunk.  By doing this,  I can cut down to
almost nothing.  In fact, if I have turned the log with crown up before
starting to saw, there will often be less than nothing at the middle
of the log's length.  The replacement which I put in that left hand dog
is of lower profile, so that I can get more sawn.  Sometimes I even
revert back to my chainsaw milling days and just put a very small
wedge.  Of course, if that is the case, I cut very slow and easy.

The flair or taper of the log on the far end is sitting on a bunk which
we always have at least an inch lower than the close bunk, so that
left hand wedge dog does not need to be changed on that far bunk.

See:  https://forestryforum.com/board/index.php/topic,30676.0/all.html
In particular, reply 19 and later in this thread.  Some had said that
they thought the wedge dog idea was time consuming, but since we
have the torx screws, dogs, and rechargable drill all in a plastic tote,
it seems to go pretty fast to me.  Also, it is so easy to do what I have
described here, that you really squeeze out all those last boards very easily.

Phil L.

[woodsteach]

Danny,  the mill is just the beginning, ... support equipment that is where it begins to get ugly,  more concrete, log loader etc... ;D

Firebass, I believe that my dogs are close to  DH's my mill stops 1.5" from the top of the rails and if I remember correctly the the dogs stick up 1.35 or so up so not much room, but enough.  Although, the other day my horizontal stop adjusting screw came loose and the back side of my blade came incontact with the dog and OOPS! Back to the saw doc.


FB.  I have not done the procedure you described and I don't understand exactly what you are doing?  Please explain more.

woodsteach

[Firebass]

Danny,  the mill is just the beginning, ... support equipment that is where it begins to get ugly,  more concrete, log loader etc... ;D

Firebass, I believe that my dogs are close to  DH's my mill stops 1.5" from the top of the rails and if I remember correctly the the dogs stick up 1.35 or so up so not much room, but enough.  Although, the other day my horizontal stop adjusting screw came loose and the back side of my blade came incontact with the dog and OOPS! Back to the saw doc.


FB.  I have not done the procedure you described and I don't understand exactly what you are doing?  Please explain more.

Here's a example of a 1" slab I did today. 
First I cut down the log as normal to a point where I choose to stop.  This one is a bit thin so I only got to cut one board/slab from it.

Flipping it over is no problem, You just stand on the edge of it  and pull it over and you only have to Dust off the rails to make it lay flat.  The wieght of the slab keeps it in place fairly well without the dogging it.

I then measure up from the deck the desired amount. 

Then I double cut it like this.  Most of the time I leave it a bit thicker and get 2 rows of boards.  You can egde the top row in that case.
The slab on the left is all thats left of the log(mostly bark) and it's much lighter to handle than if it were all one piece.

I then place them aside if I want to edge them later.

I'm not saying this is the best way It's just one way I've tryed that seems to be faster for me.