Whatcha Sawin' 2021 ??

[doc henderson]

My price has gone up from 6 to 9 bucks a blade, and 20 bucks shipping for 6 blades one way.  I am a bout to buy a sharpener.  they did sorta threaten to charge more if they had to clean the blade.  I am getting better with the lube, and less sap and dust on the blades.  I am sure if it was bad enough, it may throw off the set.  It also will defeat the point if there is enough stuff built up on that fresh sharpened blade and they do not track well.

[firefighter ontheside]

They are not super crusty or anything, just clearly not cleaned like WM used to.  I was looking at sharpeners and they are not terribly expensive, but to get one that also sets the blade is quite expensive.  Is there a way to set the teeth otherwise?

[Tristen]

Quarter sawn white oak, rays end to end on every board. 12 ft long.  


 

 

[WV Sawmiller]

   Pretty poor day for me. I had a skin doctor appointment (We think we have the answer to my Atopic Dermatitis on hand and feet- Dupixent to the Rescue) then I met my helper and customer back at the mill about half way home. We sawed 7-8 logs including one gnarly, big butted 14' WO that was a struggle from  start to finish and in the last cut to salvage one more board off the side and I hit the standard 2 nails from a posted sign I'd guess. Only log that blade had sawed so the customer bought it. I was getting 1X10's off it and they were clearly too much for my 77 y/o hookwormy looking helper so I'd have to help him stack each board as they came off the mill. He gave out on me about 4:00 pm or so. I ended up stacking the last 4 boards off the last cant then packed it up. We only got about 418 bf. I looked after I packed up and see there is only 6 more to finish. I probably should have just sawed and stacked but agreed to meet at 8:30 am tomorrow to finish. I will finish then if I have to do it alone as I need to bring the mill home. I have another scheduled job this weekend and may sandwich in one a mile down the road before during Wednesday or Thursday. It looks like I may have to stack them for my 85 y/o neighbor/customer. If so I'll just charge extra for it. It should be a 1 day job as is my weekend job.


Whopping 418 bf for the afternoon. Today's lumber is stacked in front of the shed. Under the shed is Saturday's sawing. We cut one cherry into 8', 3' and 4' boards to maximixe the return. They are on the ground separate. The customer will use them to make birdhouses.

  Oh well, at least it is only 11 miles and today was only a 5 mile side trip on the way back from my doctor visit.

  Just before I pulled out a truck with a new slide in camper drove by and I ended up behind him. It looked like a brand new rig. I hope he did not tear up his A/C and such hitting the low hanging limbs and stuff hanging over the road. I see he had a Maine tag so I assume he was lost. GPS may have routed him that was as a shortcut to I-64. He was driving slow and saw me following so he had the great courtesy to stop to let me pass. Unfortunately not being familiar with the area he stopped at a narrow spot on the road where we had a big road slippage and repair last year that none of us trust anyway so I waited behind him. After a couple more miles he found a wide spot and pulled over where I could pass.

[Sheepkeeper]

Sheeprustler Sheepkeeper

 Boy that is some pretty log stacking! Was that your wood or a customers? I need to steal a copy of that picture to send to all my mobile customers as to what their logs should look like before they call me and say they are ready for me to come saw.

  Real pretty finished lumber too!

This was at a first time customer. Well stacked logs and and abundance of energetic help made for an easy day. the boards were stacked and stickered as they came off the mill and there was a stack of already dry lumber that was going on top to weight the fresh stuff down. This was not the customer's first time at the dance.   I anticipate that there will be more work for me down the road.

[TimW]

  Pretty poor day for me. I had a skin doctor appointment (We think we have the answer to my Atopic Dermatitis on hand and feet- Dupixent to the Rescue)

WV,
My dermatologist called me into his office, last year, to offer Dupixent to me.  As I remember, it was shots every week or maybe every other week.  I told him no thanks.  No way was I driving 45 miles for a shot every two weeks.  Atopic Dermatitis is the main reason I don't saw away from home.
   In the winter, I usually take a mid day rinse off and change clothes.  In the summer, it is 2-3 rinse offs a day and same amount of clothes changes.  When I get a bad flareup, it is an epsom salt bath for me.  Usually it is manageable enough to just use CeraVe body lotion
hugs,  Brandi

[caveman]

Is it worth cleaning the blades myself before I send them to this guy or not bother with it? 

We have a guy who sharpens our blades with an old WM drag sharpener.  I ensure our blades are rust free and sap free when we take them to him.  He has been sharpening everything to 4 degrees but we just purchased a 7 degree wheel for his machine so he could sharpen our 7's to 7 degrees.  We used a 7, resharp today and it was sticky sharp and sawed like a Ninja.  The diesel drip or cotton picker spindle lube keeps the blades pretty clean but I spend as much time as needed to get ALL of the sap off using diesel, a rag and a sharpened putty knife prior to taking them to him.  He appreciates the clean blades and we appreciate sharp blades.  If he quits sharpening for us we will likely buy a new sharpener.  I'd rather pay him.

[firefighter ontheside]

Thanks caveman.  I will start cleaning the blades before I take them in.

[WV Sawmiller]

  Pretty poor day for me. I had a skin doctor appointment (We think we have the answer to my Atopic Dermatitis on hand and feet- Dupixent to the Rescue)

WV,
My dermatologist called me into his office, last year, to offer Dupixent to me.  As I remember, it was shots every week or maybe every other week.  I told him no thanks.  No way was I driving 45 miles for a shot every two weeks.  Atopic Dermatitis is the main reason I don't saw away from home.
  In the winter, I usually take a mid day rinse off and change clothes.  In the summer, it is 2-3 rinse offs a day and same amount of clothes changes.  When I get a bad flareup, it is an epsom salt bath for me.  Usually it is manageable enough to just use CeraVe body lotion
hugs,  Brandi

Brandi,

   These shots were samples and they are like an epi-pen auto injector. You don't have to drive in - you can give them to yourself. I got another shot today and give myself another in 2 weeks. It starts off as a shot every 2 weeks but he said we may start stretching it out to every 3 then maybe every 4 weeks. I gave myself 2 shots here at home in the muscle of my thigh and it was a pretty straight-forward process. Take the pen out of the fridge about 45 minutes to let it warm up to room temp, remove the cap, press on the muscle till the yellow cap (about 1/2" long) is buried in the muscle then it clicks and injects and you watch a dial show the medicine being injected. Hold it till the count of 5 afterwards and dispose of the pen. 

    The skin on my feet and hands was getting scaly and thick and cracking and very painful and I worried about getting infections or such. We thought it was fungus and tried several oral and topical cream treatments with no success. Then I tried a steroid cream which helped but never defeated it. The Dupixent samples knocked it out completely and just a hint of scale around my heels and center of my feet but it is light years ahead of where it was. 

   If you are still fighting it I'd reconsider. My dermatologist was amazed and even called his PA in to look at the change in such a short period. I had been fighting it nearly a year.

[TimW]

  Pretty poor day for me. I had a skin doctor appointment (We think we have the answer to my Atopic Dermatitis on hand and feet- Dupixent to the Rescue)

WV,
My dermatologist called me into his office, last year, to offer Dupixent to me.  As I remember, it was shots every week or maybe every other week.  I told him no thanks.  No way was I driving 45 miles for a shot every two weeks.  Atopic Dermatitis is the main reason I don't saw away from home.
  In the winter, I usually take a mid day rinse off and change clothes.  In the summer, it is 2-3 rinse offs a day and same amount of clothes changes.  When I get a bad flareup, it is an epsom salt bath for me.  Usually it is manageable enough to just use CeraVe body lotion
hugs,  Brandi

Brandi,

  These shots were samples and they are like an epi-pen auto injector. You don't have to drive in - you can give them to yourself. I got another shot today and give myself another in 2 weeks. It starts off as a shot every 2 weeks but he said we may start stretching it out to every 3 then maybe every 4 weeks. I gave myself 2 shots here at home in the muscle of my thigh and it was a pretty straight-forward process. Take the pen out of the fridge about 45 minutes to let it warm up to room temp, remove the cap, press on the muscle till the yellow cap (about 1/2" long) is buried in the muscle then it clicks and injects and you watch a dial show the medicine being injected. Hold it till the count of 5 afterwards and dispose of the pen.

   The skin on my feet and hands was getting scaly and thick and cracking and very painful and I worried about getting infections or such. We thought it was fungus and tried several oral and topical cream treatments with no success. Then I tried a steroid cream which helped but never defeated it. The Dupixent samples knocked it out completely and just a hint of scale around my heels and center of my feet but it is light years ahead of where it was.

  If you are still fighting it I'd reconsider. My dermatologist was amazed and even called his PA in to look at the change in such a short period. I had been fighting it nearly a year.

Oh.  Guess I misunderstood.  I put a compound ointment on my ankles and feet once day.  If I don't, they itch.  I have had it on my ankles and calves for over 30 years.  I can't let sweat dry on my skin.  I will email my dermatologist right now.
Thanks & hugs,   Brandi

[terrifictimbersllc]

Ps this response was meant to be in another thread.

[WV Sawmiller]

 

 We finished our sawing this morning with another 504 bf. The last log was a good sized RO and returned the best wood of the whole trip. Mostly 1"X12"X12'. I'd pick up one end and my helper the other, I'd go to the stack and place my end down and let him slide his in and finish the stacking while i was already starting the next cut. We had to cut a couple of 14' -15' logs in two because of sweep. That gave us a better return.

  I packed up and brought the mill home and am scheduled to saw tomorrow 1 mile away then on Saturday for another repeat customer.

[Bruno of NH]

Another barn siding job at Big Meadow Sawmill , white pine 1x8 and 1x10.
I have an extra hand for a few weeks .
The concrete guys are out of work for 2 week with mud season.
I will take the extra help, lots of things to saw , firewood , and things to build. 
I'm getting a little hesitaton with the clamp . Any ideas why ? Do I need to change the hydraulic filter ?

 

 

[Magicman]

I'm getting a little hesitaton with the clamp

Hesitation with the hydraulic pump starting or hesitation after the pump is running?  Up/down, clamping, or both?

[Bruno of NH]

I'm getting a little hesitaton with the clamp

Hesitation with the hydraulic pump starting or hesitation after the pump is running?  Up/down, clamping, or both?

After the pump is running and clamping only Sir

[Magicman]

I was thinking rocker but I had to scratch that because the rockers activate the microswitch and you have already eliminated that.  The simple troubleshooting method is always to call Wood-Mizer.

I maybe could offer more help if I was looking at mine, but I'm not.

[forcemac]

Fresh of my maiden cuts with my tiny 19" capacity Alaskan, my father in law scores about 7-8 oak and ash logs from someone clearing a residential lot.   Big logs.   Probably will keep me busy for rest of summer.   

However, there is a real monster oak in there.   Probably around 38-40" at small end, and 55" at flare.  I really would like to slab it, but I have to ruminate on it.   How would you cut it?  Slab? Quarter saw?  Or is it junk?







 Yes 

[doc henderson]

take some slabs near the center, and the outer edges will be quarter sawn.  then quarter saw the outside halves.  can you say, "I think we are gonna need a bigger bar?" :D

[forcemac]

take some slabs near the center, and the outer edges will be quarter sawn.  then quarter saw the outside halves.  can you say, "I think we are gonna need a bigger bar?" :D

Yeah big time.   This find scares me, I want to mill it, but totally lack the equipment....and am transfixed dreaming for something bigger.  Just keep telling myself baby steps.  

Was thinking this spring I'd jump to a husky 395 or maybe 3120 for my 36" Alaskan and attack the smaller stuff.   But dreaming of an LT28 for the future but now maybe a Lucas makes more sense...there is a used DSM28 on the exchange.    Price seems fair compared to a quote from Bailey's (14k shipped+tax).

[Southside]

@Bruno of NH if it's just the clamp then likely you have some wear on the linkage that activates that cylinder.  MM is right each of the levers activates the micro switch to turn on the pump, but then also each lever has a pin that activates that specific valve.  - It's been a while since I had to dive into the one on my 35 - but I had the same issue at one time.  Can't remember exactly what I did to fix it but after looking at how the pin interacts with the valve and the obvious wear mark that was different  than the other valves the adjustment / fix was pretty obvious.  I want to say I rotated something in there so the groove wasn't still in contact with the pin, but that was  few years back.  

[Magicman]

Yes, that is where the problem is but I would need to be looking at it to describe what to do.  It should be a simple adjustment associated with the rocker.

[LeeB]

Sorta simple. Kinda a matter of trial and error to get it right and doesn't take much movement. 

[Bruno of NH]

I found part of the problem. 
I found a small hydraulic leak in a fitting. I fixed it and filled it back up. It seams to have fixed it. I did order a new hydraulic filter and will change that as well.

[WV Sawmiller]

 

I met at my 85 y/o neighbors at 9:00 am to saw these 14 logs. Nearly all 8' logs and he wanted 4/4 boards and dimensional 2X4. (We settled on 1-5/8"X3-5/8".) His grandson came up to help then later his son came to relieve the grandson. 


 

 

A little after 4:00 pm with 3.9 engine hours on the mill we finished with 76 of the 2X4's and a bunch of boards up to 12" wide. Total yield (Counting the 2X4's as 1.5" X 3.5") was 1231 bf (just over 315 bf/engine hour) for a pretty good day's work.

[Patrick NC]

That's great for less than 4 hours engine time.