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#1
Sawmills and Milling / Re: 89 LT40 Restore - 35 years...
Last post by Southside - Today at 12:11:01 AM
Absolutely post away and document everything you want to share.  Some day down the road someone will come across this post and solve a problem they are tackling and nobody else can help with.  There are many, many, older posts on here that have helped folks decades later.  The whole reason the photos are kept on the site and not hosted 3rd party is so that they will be here in the future when that unknown someone is trying to figure out just how something is supposed to be.  
#2
General Board / Re: The weather 2024
Last post by SwampDonkey - Yesterday at 11:58:38 PM
Had some thunderstorm rains here last evening. Will be some more rain today and 15 degrees cooler today.  :thumbsup:
#3
Sawmills and Milling / Re: The Opening Face
Last post by Ianab - Yesterday at 11:34:24 PM
Quote from: panhandle on May 14, 2024, 08:02:07 AMI would love for someone (Ianab?) to do a post similar to Lynn's about how to work through a log with a swinger.
I haven't got a photo sequence on hand, but I can walk though the steps I would use, given MM's log and cut list. I'm more often mixing things up, and cutting what's best produced from the log, once I see inside it. 

But before the opening cut I would get the log set up on the bunks, approx pith level. I keep some shim boards that I can stick under the small end bunk, depending on the amount of taper. Don't spend all day trying to get it exact, eye-o-meter is fine. 

Once the log is set up and chocked in place, skim the top layer off. If I need stickers, that's a place to cut them. Skim the bark off, drop 1", and cut some 1x1 sticks until you have a proper open face. Otherwise, just slab it off a bit deeper.

Once I can get my fist 2x4, saw that (or maybe 2). At this point I'm sawing 2 down x 4 across. Reason is that then any knots are in the wide face of the 2x, so a medium size knot isn't going to ruin the board. A 1" knot going across a 2x4 greatly weakens it, while a 1" knot in the 4" face is probably fine. 

So in this log, it would be 2 or 3 "layers" of boards, and then we are getting close to the pith. Switch to 4" drop and 2" wide, and run across the log like that. This is basically the same as MM's middle slice. There are going to be some low grade wood around the pith, it may still be usable, or it may be firewood, depending on the species. But you have to saw it out anyway.

Then for the last 1/3 it's back to 4" wide, and 2" deep. Carry on until you run out of log. 

But that would only be my plan for this scenario. Sometimes I'm going to cut some clear 1" boards, flat or quarter sawed depending, and some 2" from the knotty areas, then maybe flip the lower 1/3 of the log to get a live edge slab. Lots of options, and you aren't locked into even keeping the same plan once you start the log. 
#4
The Outdoor Board / Re: DAM BEAR!
Last post by Old Greenhorn - Yesterday at 11:27:12 PM
Bear stories? OK, I got a ton, they are all over up here. There is a game trail about 100 yards east of my house and they are around it all the time, along with the coyotes and others. I used to have a camera down there, bears pretty much every other day or night. It got boring, so I pulled the camera and moved it to my garden so I might figure out what was raiding it at night and chewing up my plants. I caught a black bear taking a nap in the middle of my mowed lawn in my fenced in yard at 3am about 25' from the bed I was sleeping in at the time. ffcheesy
My favorite bear story was a decade or so ago, as an active Scoutmaster and having my Troop at camp for a week. We had bi bear issues there all the time (we kept a shotgun in the campsite and used bear bags). I had one very young scout with a heart condition and since we stuck by a strict buddy system, I made myself his buddy for the week to keep an eye on his condition and remind him to sit and rest when he needed it, he still had corrective surgeries coming up. Well, little Kenny made a good friend on his own, so I buddied up with both of them and walked with them to different merit badge classes and activities. Now both these young men were maybe 11 years old and we were walking to the rifle range which was a longer walk than most. I had noticed this very large bear plodding along parallel to our path and these 2 boys were chattering away without a care and including all the sharp sounds and laughter that youngsters will produce. As I watched and we walked, I saw the bear's path begin to come closer to our path and I finally stepped ahead and put a hand on each boy's shoulder and told them to stop walking in a low voice. I asked them to hush up, and when they asked why, I pointed at the bear. They hushed up. Now I am standing there in a half crouched position to speak quietly into their ears and I had time to look this bear over and realized it might be the largest Black I had ever seen. I would guess well over 350 pounds getting close to 400. The boys of course, had the same opportunity to study our subject. Kenny's new BFFE grabbed my leg and said 'hold me'. I thought to myself as clear as if I had said it out loud "hold YOU?!, who the hell is gonna hold ME?!" But I didn't say it out loud. We let the bear move on, we waited, then we moved on. But I won't forget that one, more because it was funny than anything.
 I've had bears throw things at me at that camp too. We had one of our staffers get run down and whacked by a momma bear (and he was an all state track star). (Make a note, trying to outrun a black bear is a losing proposition.) Yeah, we see a lot of black bears around here.
#5
The Outdoor Board / Re: DAM BEAR!
Last post by barbender - Yesterday at 10:42:37 PM
 We have lots of black bears here. They have a tendency to get in trouble any time that natural forage isn't abundant. Right now they are coming in people's yards, bird feeders and garbages are the usual targets. As things green up and natural food becomes more abundant, you hear fewer nuisance bear complaints. 

 I've stumbled into them quite a few times when afield. They have always been as startled as me, and we went opposite directions!😂

 The time I was actually scared, a buddy and I were walking a trail back to the Mississippi to fish for walleyes. We kept hearing something making noise in the freshly bloomed spring foliage. We didn't think much of it until all of the sudden bear cubs started going up trees around us! There must've been at least 3 of them...that's the fastest I think I've ever ran!

 

#6
The Outdoor Board / Re: DAM BEAR!
Last post by Nebraska - Yesterday at 10:31:12 PM
Occasional Mountain Lion but no bears here. 
#7
Sawmills and Milling / Re: Did something dumb today.
Last post by Nebraska - Yesterday at 10:22:11 PM
That was just your Easter basket.  ffsmiley
The turtles told the bunny so. 
#8
Sawmills and Milling / Re: Amputated
Last post by Nebraska - Yesterday at 10:18:11 PM
Dodging rainstorms and waiting for a young man to get done with finals to help me put it on. (I don't need his help really...I just want him to learn a little)
Dad thing. Then I will reveal the tissue type.  ffcheesy
#9
General Board / Re: how do i add pictures to m...
Last post by RetiredTech - Yesterday at 09:59:16 PM
There are several ways to do it, but this may be the easiest.
https://forestryforum.com/board/index.php?topic=124146.msg2023296#msg2023296
You might want to read through the rest of the thread for more information.
#10
General Board / Re: Survivor
Last post by Old Greenhorn - Yesterday at 09:44:46 PM
Well he has been pretty consistent in not having a clue, and although it surprised me too it seems to be his style. Now we finally get into the interesting nitty gritty. 
I don't like the 1.5 hour format, it messes up the only other network show I watch (Chicago Fire). But at least this season is not riddled with social drama and all the woke stuff, which was when my wife ceased watching. She holds grudges and never watched it again. In fact she has watched no cable TV since.

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