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Rough at the beginning of a cut-why?

Started by caveman, November 27, 2014, 07:15:11 PM

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caveman

On some boards/slabs the cut starts off rough and then becomes what you would typically expect as far as cut quality.  What causes this?  Could it be from the blade speed slowing as it enters the wood?
Thanks,
Caveman
Caveman

POSTON WIDEHEAD

It's usually the speed is to slow starting in with me. You'll see little lines across the wood about 1-6 inches into the cut.

What I practice are 2 things. When the blade teeth barley reach the log....give it speed.
The other thing I practice is to have enough extra length to what ever I'm gonna saw so I will be able to saw off the undesirable marks where you entered......or wait and plane and sand them out.

But sometimes the lines can't be helped. especially if your sawing a WIDE cut. The the more HP you have, the less lines at the entry you'll have on wider wood.
But practice......wide Cedar will saw different than wide White Oak,

Just my 2 cents worth.

Nice log Caveman!
The older I get I wish my body could Re-Gen.

YellowHammer

You are most likely entering the board too slow, with a sharp blade and soft wood.  The blade is oscillating or resonating like a guitar string before the cut starts so when you start sawing, the bounce of the blade cuts the wood and shows as these kinds of lines, especially in soft wood such as cedar and poplar.  It will continue to resonate until you put enough load on the blade to dampen it out, which basically means sawing faster. 
I can usually spot blade bounce as I'm adjusting tension, and smooth it out.  Sometime this is caused by sawdust on the wheels, or a bad spot in the band, look for anything that will keep the band from running dead smooth.
Or forget all that and just enter the board faster and keep the hammer down.
YH 
YellowHammerisms:

Take steps to save steps.

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dustintheblood

The folks who gave you feedback about the start of the log are right.  Sometimes I've found that if the wood's real dry, the blade will fight me until it settles into the wood (and i"ve got my feed speed worked out)

I'm also weighing in cause that is IMPRESSIVE cedar!  Up here when we get a 6" top at 10' we're throwing a party.  Very nice!
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5quarter

I can't believe I'm saying this but the old goats right on the money.  ;) Try to enter the log at or near normal sawing speed. tougher to do on the wider cuts, unless as YH says, you have  higher HP mill.
What is this leisure time of which you speak?
Blue Harbor Refinishing

Rachiano

Adjust blade tension above specs in the manual and cut starting from the top of tree to the bottom....small end to large end....may make some difference.
Rachiano

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caveman

Thanks for all of the good information.  I guess I have a habit of easing the blade into the wood, especially larger diameter logs.  The cedar pictured was some we cut down out of JMoore's uncle's yard or out of a tree he and I took down for a paralyzed neighbor.  They have been soaking in my pond for months to keep them in good shape.  Boy, do they smell sour when you pull them out but the bark slips right off.  The smell goes away after the wood dries.  A few other live edged slabs we sawed that day were used to make a table and benches.  The boards and battens sawed were used for a back porch.

 
I am anxious to saw some more.  We have too much lumber on hand to make more right now.  The cedar boards pictured were about 11 1/2" wide with very little sap wood.


We run the tension at or above the level advised in the manual.  Being an LT-28, it does not have a gauge but rather a knob and a washer to align with a point to indicate tension.  The engine is a 25 HP Kohler and we were using 10° bands.

Again, thank you for the tips/diagnosis and hopefully one of these days I will know enough about this stuff to help someone else.
Caveman

Magicman

This is the first time that I have ever heard of someone keeping ERC wet.  Just curious, what were you trying to prevent?
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Swatson

I am curious about soaking cedar as well.  Ive heard it done on walnut to distribute color to the sapwood but wondering about the cedar.  It seems pretty stable for me, probably the most stable wood I cut.
I cant figure out which one I like better: working with wood or making the tools to work with wood.

POSTON WIDEHEAD

Quote from: Magicman on November 29, 2014, 08:35:43 PM
This is the first time that I have ever heard of someone keeping ERC wet.  Just curious, what were you trying to prevent?

Theft. Who would look in a pond for Cedar.  :D
The older I get I wish my body could Re-Gen.

5quarter

What is this leisure time of which you speak?
Blue Harbor Refinishing

caveman

Basically, I have three areas in the pond with three different types of wood (cedar, cypress and pine).  I had logs piled on both of my trailers and cluttering up my yard and my parent's yard next door and needed somewhere to put them.  Also, the termites stay out of the logs better when they are under water.  The red cedar is relatively rot resistant but these DanG termites get into them, especially the sapwood.  When pulled out of the pond and put on the mill, they saw like fresh cut logs.

We could go ahead and saw them into boards but we are running low on places to put more lumber.  Also, it is difficult to guess what people want sawn out of logs.  It is hard to saw 3", live edged slabs out of 1"x6"s.

When we need some to saw, one of us (usually me), will wade out there and tie onto a log or logs and we will haul them out.  JMoore and I spent most of the day yesterday dragging or scooping weeds out of the pond.  There are still a lot of weeds to remove and the logs definitely complicate the weed extraction.  By the way, the water was chilly yesterday. 
Caveman

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