started on some VERY fresh pine logs this AM, I only cut pine about once a year, and have about 3000bf of logs to do. my cuts are wavy and heck! I'm using my regular hardwood blades (I know) running a steady stream of veg. oil on blade, but still wavy, any help would be great thanks, kirk
Hey Sawyerkirk,
I cut a lot of pine. Lots and lots of pine.
Waviness may not be your saw. Some pines are just inherently difficult to cut. Loblolly is one, especially when the growth rings are far apart. You pretty much know it's the wood being difficult when the board has a concave wave on one side and a matching convex wave on the other. It has to do with the difference in density of the real soft summer wood and the hard winter wood guiding the blade.
The most important thing you can do to counter-act this is a "sharp" blade. (real sharp) A little wider set helps and also the tooth configuration can be more aggressive. the softer the wood, the more aggressive the tooth
Your guide setup has to be right and your tension correct, perhaps even a little tighter than normal. I'm sure you understand that though. You have to have a sharp tooth.
You can play with cutting speed but if the blade is sharp, speeding up should be no problem. The blade has to be sharp.
You can identify a dulling tooth and/or soft summer wood because the fibers will be torn rather than cut cleanly. You will be able to brush up the fibers with your finger between the winter rings. Even though you have a sharp tooth you will see some of this, but you have to have a sharp tooth.
I'm not much for expensive blade lubricants as you may have gathered from past posts. I use water and sometimes a little dish soap (1/8 cup to the gal. give or take) I only use soap if the blade is gumming up. Water will usually do a good job all by itself, you just have to find the proper flow. Too little is no good and too much floats the blade and muddies up the sawdust. I've been know to run a full stream in difficult situations. Most gumming is caused by the blade getting warm and that is caused by it getting dull. You have to have a sharp blade.
If you have a mis-adjustment in your blade setup, pine will find it.
Oh! I don't know if I mentioned this before but you need a sharp blade or you'll get wavy cuts. :D
not sure of which type pine it is, I'm a hardwood man, they are pretty knotty mostly 20" x10's the really horible waves only happen on the first 2 cuts on each side of the log, then smooths out after the log is squared. I'll just cuss and deal with it!! One good thing is the veg. oil I use cuts the pitch so my body isn't all sticky! Thanks Tom. oh yeah, I finally have that oak headed to Tampa this morning.Looked kinda sad, a whole flatbed semi for 600bf of white oak!!
Thats only a pickup load. :o
I'm glad all this stuff is on here. If I ever get a band I'll need it. I cut pine rarely too but Love it when I do. Stuff is butter to the circle mill.
If they are pretty knotty then I'd bet a dollar to a donut that the knots are your biggest problem. Cross-cutting and the grain slope entering the knot is hard to contend with. The solution is still the same though but slow down.
I don't know if you are in the habit of entering the top or bottom of the log but entering the top end helps.
wish we had some white oak down here. :-/
Knotty white pine never gives me much of a problem...but don't get me started on knotty spruce >:(
found some brand new softwood blades I bought a few years ago, I had completely forgotten them, slapped one on and have now cut about 600 feet with few waves. thanks for the help, remember always use a sharp blade!!! I always try to enter the top end. Hey Tom, any time you need some white oak, I send ya some!! a truck load of 12x12x16' to Jacksonville next week.
Tom, the grass IS always greener....wouldn't mind cutting up some cypress :D
I've cut cypress! (https://forestryforum.com/smile/pleased.gif)
Jeff's an expert on that cypress. 8)
Fla_Deadheader is going to be.
Jeff might fun ya, but he handles a bandsaw real good. :)
Glad you got it, Kirk. That's the reason I think everyone should have a sharpener and setter. If one configuration doesn't work, another is just 30 minutes away. :D
Wait till y'all see the Pecky ones we put on the trailer today. The load will be here Sunday and I will take some pics. Then, as soon as we saw them, I will show pics of these "cull" logs.
In the old days, These Pecky logs were left in the woods, OR, burned for firewood. NOW they have been "discovered". ;D
I'm glad Tom clued me in on sawing the pine from the top down. I've just about finished a 4000 bd-ft pile of partially dried pine logs. Now just how do you turn these 20 foot logs so you can always saw from the top down? :D
Uh, never take on a job entailing partially dried logs if you can avoid it. It takes sharp blades, really sharp, and lots of them. I sawed 3 logs, changed blade, sawed 2 more, changed blade, sawed 2 more, yep had to change blade again. ;D Of course, each log has been 150 bd-ft or more.
My Pine log pile is pretty well dried. The bark falls off all over the mill ::). I only had to change blades when I saw the tip off the clamp ::). I didn't need water, till I started sawing a sappy white Cedar?? I sawed about 600 ft, up to 14' and they were mostly 16" or less. Sawed from top end first ( we bedded the logs). Maybe all the little white ternite bodies provided the slick-um for the blade?? ::) :D :D :D
Minn. boy, the easiest way is to move the mill to the other side of the log pile. :D I know, I've been there before. The customer says. "I could'a swore you told me to face the butts that way". :D
They can be sawed butt first but I find it a pain. Some folks like to saw butt first to cut down on the handling of the slab. The first cuts are short and the slab is at your finger tips. I like to saw from the little end because a log is only as big as it's small end. and looking at it makes sawing a lot easier than guessing where it is at the other end of the mill. I still saw the short boards but handling them is the log owner's job. ;D
Your experience with blades and dry pine is common. Feel good that you care enough to change blades. I've seen sawyers really screw up a log because they didn't want to use another blade.
Suppose for a minute that I move the mill to the other side of the pile. Now who is going to carry those 20' planks around the log pile to the board pile? Whoops, the next log is the wrong way. Now how will I get it up over the pile of logs when I do get the mill moved back where it was? :D
It's great to be able to tell the customer where and how you want the logs, but I have to take them as they come. The customer I'm sawing for now got the logs for the hauling (salvaged from a pipeline clearing) and couldn't find a sawyer for nearly a year. Now he doesn't know for sure what to do with the lumber, so he isn't real sure what he wants sawed. :o
I'll do my best to get him good lumber in sizes he can use, but it sure is puzzling what to saw sometimes. ::)
Yeah, but you know what? Those can be some of the best jobs because your the expert. You outa hear how they talk good about you when you leave. :D
I hope it works out that way. So far I have spent 12 hours sawing and 4 hours talking with the customer, trying to find out what he wants. :D It's about a 12000 bd-ft job so a few hours one way or the other won't hurt me too much, and that talking can lead to more advertising.
That's right! When you're on the job, that's the only customer you got. ;D :D
Hey Tom! Does your blade hafta be SHARP to cut pine?? :D
I heard somewhere that it was supposed to be, did you? :D
Talk about dyslexic,I just read this thread,but at first glance,I thought it was about Pineapple :-/ ::)
Or is it ADD?
Paul,
That's just because it's past bedtime -----at least for me. Bonus Notches sinyour.
Noble
Bonus Notches, Noble. :D