Whatcha Sawin' 2021 ??

[DPatton]

Saturday June 12th the sawmill and I traveled 81 miles to saw walnut slabs in Emerson Iowa. My first photo of the day was sunrise over the Missouri River from the highway 2 bridge at Nebraska City. It was a pleasant reminder of all the time I've spent fishing and waterskiing on that particularly piece of water. In the mirror you can see the TK1600 in tow behind my truck.





The customer had at least twenty walnut logs scattered about in several piles waiting to be sawn. He also had a John Deere skid loader for bringing the logs to the mills loading arms.











The sawing took 8 hours and the logs were all turned into either 1 1/2" or 2 5/8" live edged slabs. The client had a 14' x 8' dump box type gooseneck trailer that we filled with over #9000 lbs of slabs. The rest of the slabs were dead stacked in the driveway to be hauled away in two more trips. It wasn't until I had left the job that I realized I never took photos of the trailer full of slabs or the slabs dead stacked in the drive but I did take a photo of this one on the sawmill.





Thanks for looking!

Last time I crossed that bridge they were building levies around Sapp Bros truck stop.

Now they're raising the roadway and existing secondary bridges between the river bridge and Sapp Bros truck stop. They're also adding a pair of bridges to allow flood waters under the roadway where the last flood washed out the road.

[TimW]

 
I figured it out in the morning.

Is that a shiplap attachment?  HAPPY FATHER'S DAY, Y'all!
           hugs,  Brandi

Brandi:
If you look at reply 937 you can see the SLR under the cant and on top of the bed rails.
The SLR can be used to make tapered siding and shingles.
For more information see the W-M web site.
If you do not use the SLR properly you can make some nice thin parallel boards.  I know cause I done dooded it.
GAB

That is what I thought.  You can see some of it in the photo in reply 944.
hugs,  Brandi

[TimW]

I won't be moving and bucking logs and sawing anytime soon.  Sat. I had a green laser light show in my right eye's peripheral vision, all day long.  Sunday it was mostly a vision show of floaties in the eye.
Eye doctors fit you in when this happens, as it is dangerous.  As it turns out, I have a tear and a hole on my retina.  I find out Wed. if the specialist will laser the hole closed, or just let my eye doctor treat me.  He has seen patient's cases go both ways.  Meanwhile, I am to not do anything stressful.  So when I feel up to it, I will piddle in the barn.  I got 3 items to finish on the 250 hour sawmill mx.
            hugs,  Brandi

[doc henderson]

get well soon!

[cutterboy]

Best of luck with that eye Brandi.

[Andries]

My right eye developed the same issue a few years ago.
It can be serious and come on quickly - you will want to be a strong advocate for quick treatment Brandi. 
All the best for a quick recovery.

[Roundhouse]

A week ago I finally got back to running the sawmill for a little bit. I milled 4 hemlock logs, two were from last fall and two I had cut the day before. I've been working on a new road and as part of the widening I cut a couple "extra" stems that were paired with larger hemlocks, one was at the edge of the road, both had a lot of limbs shadowing the road. Below is the before and after. On the left are the trees shortly before they were cut, at right the same spot the next morning. 




Stems this small only allowed for one 8' butt log from each but I figured even at 11" diameter they were worth cutting into a couple beams. It was easy enough to grab them with the tractor and run them back to the log deck. The jack is along for the ride, a gentler ride on the logs vs. the rack of the 4-wheeler where I've had parts vibrate off before.




The other two logs were a little bigger from a much bigger tree, each had two 12' logs below them on their respective trees. 




I ended up with a modest 13 4/4 side boards, 3 6x6 beams, and one 5x5 beam. I wasn't sure of the final destination for this lumber and didn't feel like reshuffling my existing air drying piles so I stacked and stickered everything on the mill. Not my normal practice but it's going to be another stretch of time before I fire up the mill again, this wood will be considerably drier and I will be using it or moving it to where it needs to go.








Ironically, the "product" I brought home that day was the outside scrap. My wife runs a school farm and with a wet spring was looking for a way to get through the "boot sucking mud" to the feeders in the cattle pastures. Laying down some of these scrap slabs like these provided enough traction and floatation to safely reach the feeder and return. Now there is demand to keep a supply in stock.

[doc henderson]

very nice pics, and would love to see a few more about you shed design.  looks solaresch.  good work in the woods.

[Magicman]

I am sawing a two day job for a re-peat "three-peat" customer.  Sycamore, Red & White Oak, and ERC.


 
Hidden in the tall grass.


 
My customer and his brother "rolling" a chainsaw split Sycamore "log" to the sawmill.  Actually the Magic Hook is doing the work.



Most of which got QS.  I sawed over 2Mbf today but I forgot to take a picture. 

[TimW]

Thanks guys.  Y'all are the best!
           hugs,  Brandi

[WV Sawmiller]

 

 I needed some more stock lumber (Framing, boards and battens) to build another composting toilet and 2 sheds so I cut a spruce tree out of my overaged Christmas tree patch, dragged it down and bucked into 6 - 8 & 7 ft logs. All are small diameter.

 

Took 1.6 engine hours and here is the finished product. Battens are 3" wide X 3/8" thick. Total yield was 144 bf. I'll need to cut another tree or two to get enough siding I think.

    I now have 899.5 hours on the mill. I guess my tomorrow project will be to do my 50 hour service. I have an appointment Thursday to have the trailer serviced and brakes checked and such. I sure don't want it doing like my boat trailer last Friday. 

Roundhouse,

   I've got you beat on the sawing for unusual product. I actually sawed a large Ash log one time just to get a bag of sawdust for a customer. Normally I'd have had a pile of sawdust by the mill but I had just cleaned up the mill site and dumped and dragged/bladed the site clean. A customer called and wanted some sawdust to use in a bucket/composting toilet in his travel van so I actually went out and cut up another stock log to get the sawdust for him.

[donbj]

I won't be moving and bucking logs and sawing anytime soon.  Sat. I had a green laser light show in my right eye's peripheral vision, all day long.  Sunday it was mostly a vision show of floaties in the eye.
Eye doctors fit you in when this happens, as it is dangerous.  As it turns out, I have a tear and a hole on my retina.  I find out Wed. if the specialist will laser the hole closed, or just let my eye doctor treat me.  He has seen patient's cases go both ways.  Meanwhile, I am to not do anything stressful.  So when I feel up to it, I will piddle in the barn.  I got 3 items to finish on the 250 hour sawmill mx.
           hugs,  Brandi

Good you caught it quick. My wife had the same thing. The best warning she had was her brother had it years ago and ignored it and lost one eye. We jumped on it like you did and the laser treatment was successful. She had both eyes done within a year, kinda strange but glad we got it. Park the heavy lifting for a while!

[Roundhouse]

very nice pics, and would love to see a few more about you shed design.  looks solaresch.  good work in the woods.

Thanks doc,
Where my mill and shed is located a lot of snow falls every winter and that was the main driver in the design, a steep roof to easily lose the snow without me being there. I also wanted to allow for a lot of natural light on the mill even in gloomy weather. Since the footprint of the shed is small, 8' x 20', I built the trusses to slope in one direction. The vertical side of trusses I enclosed in clear panels to let the light in. After I built it I briefly asked myself "could I use the upper space as a solar kiln?" but I quickly dismissed that as there isn't really access for that, a floor would block light to the mill, and it wasn't built with the weight that would add in mind. Instead I've kept it open and really like the airy-ness and light around the mill. I use a tiny bit of storage up there but that's it. The shed sits on a northwest-southeast axis and I theorize that later in the winter morning sun can shine through the panels, raise the temperature a bit under the roof and help slide snow off the roof. I'm not there to observe this but the roof has worked very well for the five years I've had it. 
Here is a look at the shed during construction before I put the mill under it. You can see the truss design and the end panels aren't up yet. The small "drip roof" that is on this side would be added the following spring.



The following spring with the mill in the shed and work continuing on the drip roof.



And with the end panels in place the shed was essentially done. The panels don't completely enclose the ends but get close enough to the eves to keep all the weather off the end trusses.



A look at the other side of the shed early in its career. It sheds snow very well, and provides shade in the summer.



There's no power out there so I've added a deep cell battery to run an overhead winch and some 12 volt lights that come on when I need finish up after sunset.



Finally, here is the shed as it looks currently with a log deck in place, you can also see the lattice panels I hang on the sloped side when not running the mill.



Pretty humble compared to a lot the large sheds I've seen here but the work that went in to it has been worth it and I'm happy with the design.

[doc henderson]

thanks RH.  be proud of your creation.  some nice ideas there.  

[WV Sawmiller]

    I like it! How wide is the opening in front for your logs and such.

   I should copy a similar design to keep the mill in when I am not on the road with my mill.

[Roundhouse]

   I like it! Howe wide is the opening in front for your logs and such.

   I should copy a similar design to keep the mill in when I am not on the road with my mill.

The opening is only about 11' which is enough for 90+% of what I mill, 8' 6" logs and 10' 6" logs. Other logs I have brought in with the loader through the backside by zig zagging them around the posts. I'm working out a system for loading oversize "beam" logs from the end, I won't need it often but will be able to mill long logs without taking the mill out of the shed.

[Magicman]

I finished sawing my little hourly rate two day job today by sawing this jewel:



Looks are deceiving because that top limb is ~16" diameter and 3' above the sawmill bed.  Notice that we have the butt tied down with a ratchet strap.  I brought it down to the stem and turned it 90°.  It was then 24" wide and was sawed into 1¾" slabs.


 


 
OK, but what was it?  @WDH No picture of the end grain.


 
The bark.


 
A knot.


 
Another knot.


 
Woodgrain.


 
Edge with bark.  I am saying either Tupelo or Black Gum??


 
A portion of the lumber whack.


 
Another view and as they say; this one is in the book.

[WDH]

It is elm. 

[Magicman]

Well DanG, I see it now and it's so obvious.  smiley_dizzy

At least you didn't have any trouble seeing it.  :

[TimW]

My right eye got lasered today.  Gotta stand down until at least Monday.  I am gonna go batty no being able to do anything stressful.  I may go piddle in the barn in front of my new 5 foot fan.

.........................and no, I am not cleaning the house.
hugs,  Brandi

[doc henderson]

when you say... "Piddle in the Barn"  ...  I have to say, it conjured a little different image than I think you intended!      8)   :D :D :D

[WDH]

Hey piddle, piddle, the cat and the fiddle and the cow jumped over the sawmill  ;D.  

[doc henderson]

we should probably get some sleep.  oh well.  @Bindian will be so happy to wake up and see that she has mail!  and piddling in front of a 5 foot fan...  sounds like the proverbial "piddling in the wind"  .  or the movie, "gone piddling with the wind".  "frankly Danny, I don't give a @DanG "  8th night of 8 in a row 12 hour shifts.  please do not send me to the woodshed!  8)  a couple of sick people in the AMs and 4 hours over puts me at 100 hours for the work week.  so I been sawing nothing.  

[Old Greenhorn]

when you say... "Piddle in the Barn"  ...  I have to say, it conjured a little different image than I think you intended!     8)   :D :D :D

Yeah, me too. But then I thought "Well maybe he has dirt floors in his barn" and that made it OK in my head.

[GAB]

A classic example of the same word having different meanings for people in different parts of the country.
GAB