Slabbing on the river

sigidi · February 11, 2014, 01:36:16 PM

Quote from: nomad on December 16, 2013, 06:00:54 AM
Quote from: sigidi on December 15, 2013, 06:29:39 AM

Hmmmm, where do I start.... best part of the job was I only had 2 days, 3 days tops for the job, took 5 days to get as far as I did :( *DanG chains, I had sharpened like a schoolkid and they cut like .... because of time pressure, set of new chains pumped up the output

I'm sure glad you said that. If you said you'd cut all that in a day I was gonna bury my slabbing attachment in the back yard! :D

Quote from: Seaman on December 16, 2013, 06:06:55 AM
x 2

Haha, you lads are funny. I'd like to have said it was one day, but wouldn't want anyone havin to bury any slabbers ;)

sigidi · February 11, 2014, 02:09:57 PM

I finally managed to get back to this job, again only had two days to give to it.

Got back onsite and cut down as far as I could until the mill bottomed out, then because the bottom flitch was so heavy, dismantled the mill so Bob could get right up to the bottom flitch. Got it set up on skids again and slabbed out what was left. Then had to break the mill down again to get the last slab log into place. I managed to get this one up on the log supports after doin a heap of tricky balancing and using the ground to my advantage with the engine downhill to get it lifted. Funny thing this was one of the branches from this big ol tree...

You can see in the background slabs from the '3rd' log from the butt. This time wasn't without its foibles, on the first day, had an issue with my keystart deciding to give up the ghost, so instead of pulling a good productive 11 hour cutting day (

don't tell anyone about the 2.5 hours of driving to and from the site) I had to stop short at 7 hours on site. The worst part was the keystart had been sneaking up on me and I had already ordered the DanG thing from Lucas, but had moved house and didn't put the new keystart with my milling stuff. So even though I had an early day, I had to go home and search through what felt like a mountain of boxes to find the new part ( I know its not milling - but I'd like to take this opportunity to express my extreme dislike of moving house!!!) but I managed to get it fitted and tested under the work lights on my ute...

This is a pic from just after I installed the lights on the ute, you can see the gate at the end of the driveway, left side of pic, it's 35m (100') from the ute

So even though it got dark by the time I ended up finding the keystart, the worklights on the ute meant it was no problem installing it with the carriage on the back of the ute, I guess I got my 11 hour workday ;)

Anyway, next day turned out much better, mill ran well, chains cut well, bob ran well and between all 3 of us (Sparky the mill, Bob the Cat and I) we got it done and had the slabs all forked out from the back yard and loaded onto a truck, off to get kiln dried.

Before I left on the second day, I moved the last four saw logs into place so I can go back (after homeowner comes back from holidays) and just use the cant hook to move logs around. I put the biggest ugliest log onto the log supports ready to setup over when I get back, then I don't need to drag bob out on another 2.5 hour drive to finish off.

customsawyer · February 12, 2014, 03:23:45 AM

Nice looking job. Looks like you got some exercise too. ;D

JohnM · February 12, 2014, 09:07:53 AM

Sig, that is awesome stuff! You said the customer had a specific use for these slabs, what would that be? (maybe I missed that... ???) Also, ET had asked, is that metal banding you're using to tie the stacks together? I definitely see a banding tool in my future. Assume plastic/poly strapping is 'better' as far as less damaging, do a lot of white pine (quite soft) around here.

sigidi · February 12, 2014, 01:51:59 PM

Quote from: JohnM on February 12, 2014, 09:07:53 AM
Sig, that is awesome stuff! You said the customer had a specific use for these slabs, what would that be? (maybe I missed that... ???) Also, ET had asked, is that metal banding you're using to tie the stacks together? I definitely see a banding tool in my future. Assume plastic/poly strapping is 'better' as far as less damaging, do a lot of white pine (quite soft) around here.

Sorry John, the customer is using them as the walls on his bush huts. He makes transportable cabins - http://www.timbertransitions.com.au/Bush-Huts-ga2409.html got himself a nice contract to supply to a resort near Longreach, turns out Longreach has some big movie getting filmed out there and the likes of Russell Crowe and some others will be laying their head down in them...

and the strapping, yup its metal banding. two reasons I used it, one to make it easier to be transported - nicer to have a bundle of slabs to tie down, rather than worry about individual ones. Two easier for me to get them out from the back yard - the track out to the back yard was about 200-300m long and I had to go in between trees, up a steep bank, navigate a little bridge over a water feature, so was nice to have all the slabs on the forks together. You can get the strap in plastic - just don't be convinced into getting the hand tighten stuff, I don't think its good enough to hold packs of timber.

customsawyer · February 12, 2014, 07:30:07 PM

The metal banding will stain the hardwoods around here. Do you have any trouble with this down under?

JohnM · February 13, 2014, 09:17:47 PM

Those little cabins are great!

sigidi · February 15, 2014, 06:21:53 PM

Quote from: customsawyer on February 12, 2014, 07:30:07 PM
The metal banding will stain the hardwoods around here. Do you have any trouble with this down under?

Yeah the black metal banding down here will too, I use the stuff that has zinc coating on it to stop the staining, but having said that, if left on out in the weather it too will stain after time. These where strapped to transport them, so won't be on for long.