Whatcha Sawin' 2020 ??

[WV Sawmiller]

 

    I drove 44.3 miles to saw this whalloping big whack of 3 :D logs today. The biggest one was a pine about 22" SED and 10' long. The other 2 were RO logs 8' long and about 20 & 18 inch SED. Before I could saw it the customer's son decided he wanted 2' off the big end of the smaller (closest in picture) log so I further reduced that to 6' long. I sawed the pine into wide 8/4 boards mostly about 20-22 inches wide - they were about all that would fit through the blade rollers. The RO I sawed into 5/4 wide boards and lightly edged them - left a little wane on most of them at customer request. The tally still ended up around 451 bf. I did not scale them too closely as my minimum travel and set up fee applied since there was less than 1,000 bf total.


 

 The customer, wife and grown son (and apparently Bill the next door neighbor :D) were very happy especially with the pine which they just oohed and aaahed over. Apparently the oak was planted as a present to the customer by his kids about 25 years ago so it was a nostalgia type job.

   I only had 1.3 engine hours on the mill and I thought I was really crawling as I did not want to jump over the knots and the logs/boards were wide. I was using new WM 4 degree DH blades. It was a little difficult set up because the site (Customer's front yard) was so steep. I dug in the back two (not the end) landing gear about 6" so the tops were lower than the rails and the tail end was only about 6" above the ground. The front was jacked up 6"-8" and I could barely reach/engage the clutch lever on the logs at max height/first cut. The logs were downhill and I had to use my Magic Hook on the first two/bigger logs. I had a real good time and made new friends.

   Bill, the neighbor came over while I was sawing and wanted to know if there was any money in this kind of work. I told him there could be but for me it was basically a cost-neutral hobby.

   I stopped about 3/4 mile above my house and got out with my wife's baby EZ start Sthil 180 chainsaw (Only one I can crank in my current condition) and sawed off 3-4 limbs/tops out of a maple that fell over a week partially blocking our road to town. I should send my bill to the county. :

[Brad_bb]

What a nice straight Ash log!



 


DOH!!


 

I ended up cutting the butt end 17' into a beam, and the upper 8.5' into 2x8's.  It's a little warm out here! :-[

[beav]

Brad, that is hilarious

[TimW]

I had to get my digging tools out today.  The blade made an "almost" hit steel sound and then dipped about an inch.  I shut her down and put a new blade to finish the cut.  Once I got the cut open, there was a chunk of lead.  I figure it was a 9mm, as it was about 3/8 diameter buried in the SYP.  My first bullet.


 

 
My weekend plans changed at the last minute, so I threw everything cut from yesterday and today on the pallet and moved it inside the barn. 

 Tomorrow I'm off to my daugher's house.
I also stickered some Red Oak ovals.  Don't know what to do with them, but didn't want them to burn.

 
hugs,  Brandi

[TimW]

  The biggest one was a pine about 22" SED

WV,
     What does SED stand for? ???  It ain't in the Lumberjack Lingo dictionary. say_what
hugs,  Brandi
                 

[TimW]

Happy 4th of July everyone! usflag
hugs,  Brandi

[Ljohnsaw]

Small End Diameter

[terrifictimbersllc]

Small end diameter seems cool. Happy 4th .

[TimW]

Small End Diameter

Thanks ljohnsaw.
         hugs,  Brandi

[DPatton]

What a nice straight Ash log!

:D :D :D :D Yep, the sawmill bed sure will make a straight log crooked in a hurry.

[GAB]

What a nice straight Ash log!



 


DOH!!


 

I ended up cutting the butt end 17' into a beam, and the upper 8.5' into 2x8's.  It's a little warm out here! :-[

Thanks for the sawmill humor.
GAB

[doc henderson]

I recently helped my cousin with his bar at the lake cabin they are building.  they are living in the shop apartment, and the bar is in the man cave.  he thought I had showed him a live edge oak slab, that I said he could have.  It did have some wane, but most was straight at 23 inches wide.  so I got an old sycamore log i was worried about anyway, and cut a few 2 inch slabs.  took a couple from the middle and sawed the back edges straight, and got rid of some punky wood.  so this is live edge spalted book-matched quarter sawn sycamore.  



 
first cut



 



 


 


 
a little trim



 
side by side widest at 44 inches.  there will be a miter at the far end.  the straight edge will be the back of the bar.



 
a little figure, some is distracted by the spalting and other character in the wood.


 

i usually do not do the obligatory wood "glam" shot with water but since it is the fourth!  usflag
no way am i puttin Vaseline on my phone lens.    

[tule peak timber]

Purr,,deee ! 8)

[Bruno of NH]

I sawed this cherry 3 headed thing on Friday it had some Nice grain. 
Did 2 other cherry logs also.
Got them all sold to one customer. I didn't get pictures yet of the sawn products all 5/4 and 8/4 live edge. 
When I was cleaning and stickering Smiley took my spot at the mill controls   :laugh:

 

 

[doc henderson]

@WDH tell me about drying sycamore.  the slabs did not feel too heavy, but tested at 32% the max of my pin-less meter.  with spalting and a little punky wood, I am hoping it will dry faster.  wish i could take it to his place and lay it up on the bar and let it dry there.  i assume it needs to be stickered and weighed down.  I hope the quatersawn will be more stable.  but close to the pith, I am not sure.

[WV Sawmiller]

@doc henderson ,

   That 6th picture (Book matched pair) has a bat hiding in the lower end. :D

[doc henderson]

that is what I saw too.  was waiting to see if everyone saw it... did not want to steal your thunder!!!   ;)

[caveman]

Doc, that dog will hunt.  Until I realized you edged them, I was trying to figure out how you cut such a wide slab with you mill.

[SpaceBus]

Respectfully, you can do precision joinery with hand tools -it just takes a long time. Another option is to employ more labor force and you manage them.
 Another option is to bring in a timber framing team that will build to a cost/bid.
 A hand circle saw, a sawsall, an arbortech tool, some augers...........Develop your own system

No such thing as qualified labor here, so i have to do it myself. Time is no problem, we don't stress out that much as the first world, i learned that by now, living here.
Timber framing teams don't exist, i could try to get a carpenter from Switzerland who wants to vacation here and help me out for a week, there are always young people who travel/work.
this are some useful tools! didn't knew them
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XO2hsjLC7Ko

Those tools are incredible! I always figured guys used top carry chainsaws with 1/4" profile chains to cut mortises and tenons. 

[doc henderson]

such a great day.  fireworks are not for everyone.  will do some tonight.  put them up on a couple saw horses, and roughed in a miter.  


 

note the can in a Milwaukee cuzzie.  seems to support the weight.



 
bartenders side of the operation!

[teakwood]

I've seen some of your furniture and millwork build posts,,,,,you will do just fine tackling the timber framing job. I might add Google timber frame joints, for some metal connection ideas--or make your own metal joints with a welder. Do some reading on the threads here and go for it.  Cheers !

Thanks for the compliment, i watched some framing videos, interesting stuff! Scissor joint so you can lengthen a beam, impressive 
   http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XkgA5RZQc_s
First i thought of concrete foundation and a concrete pillar up to 1m than a teak 6x6 and then some framing joints to stabilize the side movements of the roof. Nice for the eye, but way to complicated.
Instead i cut some ironwood pillars roundwood around 16"+ and bury them 1.2m(4') into the ground and throw some length and width beams over them and i got my structure. rustic, after all it's a sawmill shed    

[WDH]

Doc,

Nice.  Sycamore will sticker stain so good air flow is important.  A fan would be a big help.  Then weight on top and time, time, time. 

[tule peak timber]

I've seen some of your furniture and millwork build posts,,,,,you will do just fine tackling the timber framing job. I might add Google timber frame joints, for some metal connection ideas--or make your own metal joints with a welder. Do some reading on the threads here and go for it.  Cheers !

Thanks for the compliment, i watched some framing videos, interesting stuff! Scissor joint so you can lengthen a beam, impressive
  http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XkgA5RZQc_s
First i thought of concrete foundation and a concrete pillar up to 1m than a teak 6x6 and then some framing joints to stabilize the side movements of the roof. Nice for the eye, but way to complicated.
Instead i cut some ironwood pillars roundwood around 16"+ and bury them 1.2m(4') into the ground and throw some length and width beams over them and i got my structure. rustic, after all it's a sawmill shed    

I'm a fan of simple old half lap.

[Don P]

Thanks for the compliment, i watched some framing videos, interesting stuff! Scissor joint so you can lengthen a beam, impressive

That particular scarf is usually used to lengthen a post. From about 10 minutes on he is giving a great demonstration of kerfing a joint to fit

This would be a good scarf for lengthening a beam, at about 4:30 he is kerfing again to fit the joint.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6j-U1P49r8U

I like to prefab bolstered post and brace assemblies then butt the beams over the bolster with a post tenon running through everything. Not conventional timberframing, closer to mill type construction but it works well.

 

[tule peak timber]

Boy , nice looking ,,,but beyond my pay grade :D