iDRY Vacuum Kilns

Sponsors:

Sawing frozen wood

Started by fluidpowerpro, November 26, 2021, 02:10:57 PM

Previous topic - Next topic

0 Members and 1 Guest are viewing this topic.

fluidpowerpro

Even though I live in Minnesota, all of my sawing has been in temps above freezing. Are there any things I need to do different when cutting frozen wood?
Change is hard....
Especially when a jar full of it falls off the top shelf and hits your head!

Jeff

Try to wait until its good and froze. Half frozen, or case harden wood can be a bear to saw.
Just call me the midget doctor.
Forestry Forum Founder and Chief Cook and Bottle Washer.

Commercial circle sawmill sawyer in a past life for 25yrs.
Ezekiel 22:30

WV Sawmiller

   Make sure you are using the right blade. May have to change depending on the kind of logs you're sawing. Frozen softwoods saw more like hardwoods.
Howard Green
WM LT35HDG25(2015) , 2011 4WD F150 Ford Lariat PU, Kawasaki 650 ATV, Stihl 440 Chainsaw, homemade logging arch (w/custom built rear log dolly), JD 750 w/4' wide Bushhog brand FEL

Dad always said "You can shear a sheep a bunch of times but you can only skin him once

barbender

I find that softwoods saw better when frozen. WM Turbo 7/39's worked great for me all last winter.
Too many irons in the fire

Southside

What do you mean "frozen wood"? How does such a thing happen?  :D  We only get the half frozen, somewhat frozen, only the sap wood is frozen kind - yea, that's miserable.  
Franklin buncher and skidder
JD Processor
Woodmizer LT Super 70 and LT35 sawmill, KD250 kiln, BMS 250 sharpener and setter
Riehl Edger
Woodmaster 725 and 4000 planner and moulder
Enough cows to ensure there is no spare time.
White Oak Meadows

fluidpowerpro

 I guess what  I should have said was sawing when the wood temp is below freezing. I primarily saw Red Oak, Birch and Jack (Red) Pine. Some Maple and Tamarack here an there.
Thanks to all for the guidance.
Change is hard....
Especially when a jar full of it falls off the top shelf and hits your head!

doc henderson

Well, you know this, as I read about your background.  cold metal, oils ect.  even water is more likely to seperate from gas, the colder it gets.  plug stuff in and let it warm up well.  the engine is working hard to pump any hydraulic oil even not under load.  I have shredded belts in the winter due to the increased oil viscosity. 
Timber king 2000, 277c track loader, PJ 32 foot gooseneck, 1976 F700 state dump truck, JD 850 tractor.  2007 Chevy 3500HD dually, home built log splitter 18 horse 28 gpm with 5 inch cylinder and 32 inch split range with conveyor powered by a 12 volt tarp motor

Peter Drouin

A&P saw Mill LLC.
45' of Wood Mizer, cutting since 1987.
License NH softwood grader.

Southside

See Peter, no more rain and mud!
Franklin buncher and skidder
JD Processor
Woodmizer LT Super 70 and LT35 sawmill, KD250 kiln, BMS 250 sharpener and setter
Riehl Edger
Woodmaster 725 and 4000 planner and moulder
Enough cows to ensure there is no spare time.
White Oak Meadows

Bruno of NH

Lt 40 wide with 38hp gas and command controls , F350 4x4 dump and lot of contracting tools

barbender

Now Fluidpower, what part of MN are you in that they are calling Jack Pine, Red Pine? I won't have it!😊
Too many irons in the fire

Andries

Red Pine = Norway Pine
Jack Pine = Jack Pine
I'm with barbender on this one. 👍 
LT40G25
Ford 545D loader
Stihl chainsaws

Resonator

You can't burn Jack pine...slowly. ;D
Under bark there's boards and beams, somewhere in between.
Cuttin' while its green, through a steady sawdust stream.
I'm chasing the sawdust dream.

Proud owner of a Wood-Mizer 2017 LT28G19

Andries

The woodstove at the summer camp agrees. It's not airtight and Jackpine is rich in resin.
Makes for an unintentional sauna! 🥵
LT40G25
Ford 545D loader
Stihl chainsaws

Andries

@fluidpower , get set to enjoy some cool sawdust! 
Windshield washer fluid in the blade lube tank.
My LT40 is happiest with 4 degree bands.
Pick your winter milling days for low to no wind, and not colder than -10c. (14 f.) any colder and bands will want to fail sooner.
No sweat, no mosquitoes, pine resin is frozen and no spectators - you may never go back to hot weather milling! 😎
LT40G25
Ford 545D loader
Stihl chainsaws

Old Greenhorn

Quote from: Andries on November 27, 2021, 07:00:36 PM
@fluidpower , get set to enjoy some cool sawdust!
Windshield washer fluid in the blade lube tank.
My LT40 is happiest with 4 degree bands.
Pick your winter milling days for low to no wind, and not colder than -10c. (14 f.) any colder and bands will want to fail sooner.
No sweat, no mosquitoes, pine resin is frozen and no spectators - you may never go back to hot weather milling! 😎
Andries, I bet you could sell refrigerators to eskimos. Just sayiin'
Tom Lindtveit, Woodsman Forest Products
Oscar 328 Band Mill, Husky 350, 450, 562, & 372 (Clone), Mule 3010, and too many hand tools. :) Retired and trying to make a living to stay that way. NYLT Certified.
OK, maybe I'm the woodcutter now.
I work with wood, There is a rumor I might be a woodworker.

Andries

Well OG, it just works for me because we have a dry cold. 
You mentioned the wet, cold and humid month of darkest November in one of your posts. I can relate completely.
That has to be the absolute worst of the worst working conditions that I can think of. 
I enjoy your daily diary thread - tomorrow is -5 and I'll be milling ash and oak. 
Tomorrow will be another day. 👌
LT40G25
Ford 545D loader
Stihl chainsaws

Southside

I grew up in the dry cold, and I will say for sure you can feel a differnce here.  I could tell when it was zero outside because the snow on the trails would "squeak" as you walked on it, and the sleds ran awesome.  At -20F your eyelids would freeze when you blinked, so you knew it was that cold.  It got really cold at -40F.  Here it hits 25 and it's DanG cold.  It's bizarre.  
Franklin buncher and skidder
JD Processor
Woodmizer LT Super 70 and LT35 sawmill, KD250 kiln, BMS 250 sharpener and setter
Riehl Edger
Woodmaster 725 and 4000 planner and moulder
Enough cows to ensure there is no spare time.
White Oak Meadows

Andries

I hear you SS. 
I spent 35 plus years in Canada's Arctic on icebreakers and wildlife surveys.
If you get -40 and open ice/ocean conditions, it'll ruin you day if not longer. 🥶 
The guys just South of the Great Lakes and in the Maritimes have my never ending respect for their ability to power through weather that is just simply a health hazard.
LT40G25
Ford 545D loader
Stihl chainsaws

Southside

Never been on the ocean in those conditions, but on fresh water where you would hear the lake "making ice" as the wave rebounded under the frozen surface.  Your monofilamment line on a jig pole was 1/4" thick, and yet there was open water at the outlet of the lake.  Better know what a pressure ridge is and stay away from it.  Actually I have seen liquid propane in a regular bucket that was not evaporating.  Had to get a wood fire going to warm up camp and the evaporator so the lights would run eventually.  Definately appreciated the fact someone who came before me made a toilet seat donut out of 1" styrofoam insulation for the outhouse.  :D
Franklin buncher and skidder
JD Processor
Woodmizer LT Super 70 and LT35 sawmill, KD250 kiln, BMS 250 sharpener and setter
Riehl Edger
Woodmaster 725 and 4000 planner and moulder
Enough cows to ensure there is no spare time.
White Oak Meadows

Old Greenhorn

Yes, winter humidity is w whole different game. Dry cold I can work with but what we get int he northeast is never (or very rarely) dry. We can get dry cold in late January or february and I can work with that easily. Single digits or even lower with proper clothes is really grt working weather, I love it. But this time of year, for me it is miserable. I may be getting old, but remain in fairly good health and take no medications beyond vitamin "I" each morning as a prophylactic. However I do have a neuropathy in my right leg from aspial injury and it causes all kinds of funky stuff in my right foot, specifically that it feels like it is freezing off my leg when the temp gets below 40F. It is a real distraction and has ruined many a good workday for me. Today was no different. I was warm all day given the conditions, but it took two hours for that right foot to get any feeling back into it after I got home. I try to ignore it, but it's hard.

 Different anecdote. My brother was raised with me on Long Island (please don't spread that around, I am not proud of it) where the humidity is always high being only a fe miles from the ocean in any direction and the winters can be really cold when you factor in that humidity. Se ha marries a rancher gal from Colorado and moves out there for the rest of his life. One of their first few winters out there we were talking on the phone and he was telling me it was a little rough because the snow was coming pretty regular and it was so cold everyone's propane tanks were freezing. Anyway, he was outside shoveling his driveway after a snow in a sweatshirt and it was 20 below, no wind and 30% humidity. He thought it was a beautiful day with blue skies. His neighbors thought he was nuts and one of them said so. "It's too dang cold to be wearing just a sweatshirt!" My brother said "Cold? you think this is cold? Try long island in December on a 20° day. Now THAT'S cold!"


 Still another if you haven't moved to a better thread by now: My sister and I are out in Breckenridge, CO for my niece's wedding in December 35 years later and it is cold at 8,000 feet. I have an altitude headache that won't quit (only time I have ever had that) and decide a few beers might help me get some sleep and from our 6th floor condo I spy a liquor store several blocks away. SO I put on my 'warmer clothes' (read: not warm enough) as it is 10 below (F) and start hiking over there. By the time I get to the electric doors of the store I am 'pretty cold' and as the doors close behind me I shudder and say out loud to nobody in particular "DANG, it is COLD out there!" There is nobody in the store but me and the clerk behind the counter, who has his nose buried in the "Rocky Mountain News paper". He doesn't even look up at me, and in a dry monotone says "Yeah, but it's a dry cold". I laughed pretty hard and said "can you tell me just what the heck that is supposed to mean?!" He said "danged if I know, lived here all my life, everybody says it, I have no idea what it means." I laughed, got my beer, froze every brass piece off my body on the walk back and never shook that headache until we dropped back down into Denver 2 days later. It was a good wedding party though. I didn't go to her second wedding which was in Yellowstone park as I recall. I think that one was a lot 'warmer'.  ;D
Tom Lindtveit, Woodsman Forest Products
Oscar 328 Band Mill, Husky 350, 450, 562, & 372 (Clone), Mule 3010, and too many hand tools. :) Retired and trying to make a living to stay that way. NYLT Certified.
OK, maybe I'm the woodcutter now.
I work with wood, There is a rumor I might be a woodworker.

Old Greenhorn

Quote from: Southside on November 27, 2021, 08:17:48 PM.... I could tell when it was zero outside because the snow on the trails would "squeak" as you walked on it, and the sleds ran awesome. ....
Squeaky Snow! I love squeaky snow! It's almost always accompanied by clear skies and great weather. Yeah it's cold out but it is the BEST cold! Nothing better. We only get it in January and February. I think that is a federal mandate or something. ;D
Tom Lindtveit, Woodsman Forest Products
Oscar 328 Band Mill, Husky 350, 450, 562, & 372 (Clone), Mule 3010, and too many hand tools. :) Retired and trying to make a living to stay that way. NYLT Certified.
OK, maybe I'm the woodcutter now.
I work with wood, There is a rumor I might be a woodworker.

Jeff

My mill us under that big black tarp along with my 8n. I have no intentions of being here long enough to plow!! 


 
Just call me the midget doctor.
Forestry Forum Founder and Chief Cook and Bottle Washer.

Commercial circle sawmill sawyer in a past life for 25yrs.
Ezekiel 22:30

RAYAR

Quote from: fluidpowerpro on November 26, 2021, 02:10:57 PM
Even though I live in Minnesota, all of my sawing has been in temps above freezing. Are there any things I need to do different when cutting frozen wood?
Yup, dress warmer ... ;)
mobile manual mill (custom build) (mods & additions on-going)
Custom built auto band sharpener (currently under mods)
Husqvarna 50, 61, 254XP (and others)
96 Polaris Sportsman 500
2006 Ranger 4X2 w/cap, manual trans (430,000 Km)

thecfarm

I sawed hemlock off and on one winter. Not a problem. 
Model 6020-20hp Manual Thomas bandsaw,TC40A 4wd 40 hp New Holland tractor, 450 Norse Winch, Heatmor 400 OWB,YCC 1978-79

Thank You Sponsors!