Lucas mill

[jph]

I have just bought a second hand Lucas mill, done only 87 hours.
I had my first play with it today and I am really pleased with it.
Now I understand that it is best to take two 4inch cuts rather than a full 8 inch cut when cutting horizontally.
What is the best way of returning the carriage to take the second cut? Do you just pull it back without adjusting the setting or do you slide  the saw to the to the left hand side of the log so it is clear before pulling it back?
I have watched a few video on Youtube and most operators seem to wear  what look like leather leggings, are these neccessary or are chainsaw trousers sufficient?

Thanks John

[jph]

Here is a video of my first attempts at making dust. 



http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=B4pvQKR8tmQ

[Captain]

John, as long as the blade adjustments are up to snuff, there is no need to move the blade at all when returning to make the second pass on the horizontal.

Captain

[Hokiemill]

Hey John, I have an older model 6 and I also do a double cut on the horizontal cuts to make life easier.  I usually run the mill to the end of the cut but not so far that the splitter (or sometimes the blade) exits the cut.  Then I pull the mill straight back through the cut.  I usually don't exit completely out of the forward cut because a few times I have done so near the bottom of the log and had the log shift a little bit - just enough to keep me from pulling the blade back through the cut.

[jph]

Thanks , not having to adjust the cut will make it easy.
What about wearing extra protection on your legs?

[Ianab]

What about wearing extra protection on your legs?

The main reason for a bit of extra leg protection is that occasionally a piece of loose wood or a knot may be thrown out by the blade, at high speed and in a random direction. But it's usually around shin or kneecap height.

Having a bit of extra padding there is the difference between a curse and a bruise or drawing blood. It's not common, but I've been hit by a couple of bits of shrapnel, not hard enough to cause any significant injury, but enough to be glad of the padding in the chainsaw chaps that I was wearing. I also wear my chainsaw helmet, mostly for the ear muffs and face shield, and the hard hat keeps the sun off.

Ian

[Meadows Miller]

Gday

Jph Thats a Nice mill you have got yourself there Mate  ;) ;D 8) 8) what size motor has the lucas got on it and what year ? with me anything over the 4" to 6" mark ill take a double pass on it depends on wether im cutting hardwood or pine  ;) with the cuts i usually start with the vertical cut at the width i wand then release the brake and do the first pass on the horizontal and come back set it back to the stop lock and go in big heavy sections of timber its also handy to have a couple of small timber wedges in your back pocket and whack one in 1/2 to 2/3rds of the way along on your final horizontal cut as it keeps the weight of the saw when it gets to the end of the cut Mate

as for safety  protection for the legs chainsaw pants work well but i mainly just wear jeans and also saw on them in shorts it dosent happen very often to me as there are things you can do to reduce the risk of it hapening like watching for short pieces and loose bark that could get thrown and removing them before you start sawing  or as soon as the piece your cutting  exits from under the back of the carriage  like with dealing with heavy sweep or flared butts ;)

Reguards Chris

[jph]

Not sure how old it is , but it has always been stored undercover. It has the 27hp Kohler which I believe has been superseeded by a 30hp engine.
It will complement my old Woodmizer lt40.

John

[sigidi]

JPH,
congrats on the Lucas ;D 8) Brings a smile to my dial - I am a dedicated Lucas Fan!!

Great to hear you have realised the benefits of taking two bites for wider horizontal cuts.

In my experience with Lucas milling, I've had one time in 6 years where I've done the first horizontal bite, then felt the need to slide the blade to the left, draw back, then shifted across for the second bite. I was getting a step in the bottom face of the piece of timber - turned out to be I was using a blade I should have swapped out, it'd lost tension. With a different blade no problems at all. As others have mentioned in that first bite, I don't let the blade fully exit the log before pulling back, I do make the full cut, but I keep the back half of the blade (operator side) and the riving knife still in the log.

As for the second question regarding leg protection, [my personal opinions/experience and up to yourself to make your own decision] I find it too fatiguing to mill in chainsaw pants and in the unlikely event of injuries from the blade, they won't afford anymore protection compared to jeans. I find jeans do a great job of giving protection to the legs from little bits which fly out when milling. Having said all of this, I personally mill in shorts. I saw and tail myself and typically get through around 3 cubic metres of log (1272bft) in a day - more often than not that equates to more than 3,000kg (6,600lb) I have to pick up, so being in our Aussie sun in the middle of a paddock somewhere picking up that kind of weight and doing all the rest of the exercise involved with milling, personally I find wearing jeans just too fatiguing.

[ErikC]

  I ditto the full faceshield with earmuffs. That is the most important thing to me. I like to wear my regular jeans just fine, but I often wear gloves because of the little flying debris. Those little pieces of knots in the sawdust can really sting when you already have cold fingers.
  I cut the full 8" cut almost without exception and haven't had any trouble, even when I still had the 13 hp Honda, so I guess you guys are just wanting to take it easier on the gearbox or something like that. :-\ In a really tough or highly tensioned log I take two passes, as described by a couple others. Why? It's easier :D

[sigidi]

Eric, I'd noticed Peterson years ago said there was no probs doing the full width horizontal cut, what species are you cutting and what times are you getting whilst cutting full width horizontal cuts?

A few times I tried with my 6-18 to do 6" horizontal cuts in a single cut, but found the blade wandered much too easy and I had to travel significantly slower, doing the two bites was quick, easy and produced dependable results regularly.

[Meadows Miller]

Gday


Erik :D :D :D :D ;) Nah mate its got nothing to do with the motor ,gearbox or driveline Its because We dont like abusing our saw plates and mills Mate  ;)  ;D

What happens in a horizontal cut because your running a saw outside of its optimum cutting position which is Vertical  ;) gravity takes over so when you try to take a large bite with any saw working in a horizontal plane and load it up where will the sawdust tend to go  ??? a percenage will  fall out of the gullet to the bottom side of the saw plate and generate additional heat and and thats why you will notice will also tend to lead up when trying to do full width cuts in one hit  ;) and thats why a saw seems to work harder Because It Is  and its working against its self 

so doing the double pass reduces Miscuts and allows the saw to clear the sawdust at let the saw work at optimum saw speed thats why we could do two passes quicker than someone pushing a saw through a full width cut  ;) ;D 8) It can be done but i would not recomend it to anyone running a swinger and Ill add you will notice that the saw will throw out large chips with the lucas method rather than the fine stuff with slow feed speeds and a saw thats boged down  ;)

Allan I agree with you mate on your last posts and i reckon afew of the boys would love to saw a dirty old greybox or ironbark thats been standing dead in a paddock for 40 years with case hardening  at 5.5 to 6lbs  per bft on a 90 to 100 deg day in the sun cutting and stacking  8x2s x 16's weighing in at around 120lbs ea  keeping cools a priority ;) :D ;D 8) but then again i havent had to deal with 30 to 50 below freezing and and frozen logs yet    ;) :D :D :D :D ;D

Regards Chris

[ErikC]

  Well, I am cutting doug fir and ponderosa or sugar pine for the most part. And I haven't burned a blade in a while,  but I pay attention to how things are running. I do notice cutting full 8" vertical is a little faster than horizontal. I make pretty good time though, either way ;) Another time for two passes I haven't seen mentioned here just lately is at the end of a log when things are getting light, and you don't want that saw to get too grabby and blow the last couple of boards. :D I do use the method fairly often for that.

[sigidi]

JPH, whats your thinking on things now, the protection and method of operation during the 2 horizontal bites?

I see you are from all the way over in Wales - as a kid I was lucky enough to visit Wales before the family left the UK, did the tourist thing visiting Caernarfon Castle, the place with the longest name Llangfair.......gogogoch (can't remember the rest of it :-\) among other things. Magic spot, just terrific part of the world - you're a lucky bugger living in Wales and pushing a Lucas!!

[Meadows Miller]

Gday

Erik how many hp does yours have on it I use to cut alot of aust grown plantation oregon and spruce that was nice cutting  ;D  8) but havent cut any in about 5 years as they cleand out most of the blocks and exported it to japan at half the price we where paying  ??? : :( :'( Whats sugar pine like to saw  ??? Mate 

I know what your saying  ;) id rather cut a dead strait cut than risk getting a miscut too mate  ;)  ;D 8)

Allan My mums from Belfast thats about as close as ive ever got to England but my sister and husband lived in london for two years on their honeymoon  ;)  ;D 8) 8) 8)

Regards Chris

[sigidi]

Chris,

do you have a husband?

... mums from Belfast ... but my sister and husband lived in london ...

Not that there's anything wrong with that...  ;) ;D just pulling ya leg ;)

[Meadows Miller]

Gday Allan Jeez  i missed that one i musta been typing too dang quick an Ifn i ever did have a husband im glad i cant remember it  Mate  ;) :D :D :D :D :D

[ErikC]

  My mill has a 23 hp on it, but it had the 13 hp Honda first. And it could do a full 8" horizontal cut with no trouble as long as the blade is right. That is the key no matter how many hp are involved.
  Sugar pine is a sawyers dream Chris, big diameters, long trunks with no knots, easy to cut, smells really good, and used in valuable applications like window and door work, moulding, etc because of all the clear wood It is not the majority of what I saw though, but I get it often enough.

[sigidi]

... Ifn i ever did have a husband im glad i cant remember it  Mate  ;) :D :D :D :D :D

That's funny ;D I'm gonna be chuckling all day... :D