Sawing a 38 foot 8X12 timber

[Acem]

Very nice job! Thanks for posting.

Many years ago I helped a friend build his log 'cabin'. We cut many long logs on his sawmill but it has a 40ft bed. Those long logs are heavy and hard to handle.

[Magicman]

Your math is correct doc, and there was very little side lumber.  Certainly less than 100 bf.  We could not have handled that log and sawed that timber without the Prentice loader.

[WV Sawmiller]

  This is probably a dumb question but I assume you had to lower the cribbing when you reversed the log/timber. Is that correct? If so, did you pull a sting or use a laser or such to adjust it?

[Magicman]

No, I did not reverse the log/timber.  I sawed and turned until I had 4 sides then slid/rolled it forward.  All measurements were made from the bed rails to the timber with my rule.  No string nor laser, etc.

The cribbing was raised/lowered to keep the timber level with the sawmill bed rails and to keep it from sagging.

The first two of the three finished pictures (purdy pictures showing the blue X) were taken from the end of the sawmill and the last finished picture (showing the red +)was taken from the front of the sawmill. I noted that was cribbing underneath the finished timber at that time.

[stanwelch]

Thanks for taking us on this unique sawing project. Well done!! 8)
You do have the MAGIC touch 

[slider]

The last 32 footer i did was similar but i squared it 1 in at a time and just sawed up out of the cut before the end that was better than using a chain saw
Good job lynn

[KWood255]

That's impressive to say the least! Well done. Very nice job. 

[John S]

Great work!

[Stephen1]

Great job and great pictures. That is a lot of log. 
My 1st paying sawmill job was 250 12x16" 25' DF beams from a demolition company. We resawed them down to 10x14" . We did over a 100 25'  beams like you just did, saw 4 sides, move the timber, saw 4 more sides, before we were able to get a 6' extension brought up from the states. 

[SwampDonkey]

You southern boys know how to get'r done with big rugged stuff. ;D Great job on the sawing and all the finessing that went on before, during and after the job.

38' is quite a room, I thought 32' looked huge. Hmm, how many 5'x6' foot floor looms could he fit in there? :D

[Don P]

Actually, I was hoping the builder realized at that span an 8x12 is trim.

[Magicman]

Looks like Cypress timbers are the new normal for some homeowners. 


 
Did you mention "trim" DonP?



These are timbers that I sawed the week before I sawed the 38' timber and are in two different rooms in another home.

[Joe Hillmann]

Looks Great!

Every 18th and 19th Century house I've worked on around here have every sill full length.  One 1828 house has 2- 12x12 x40 foot long Heart Pine sills still under it.

That same house had 40 foot long fascia boards 27 feet off the ground.  Those were about weathered away to nothing in thickness left, but we didn't replace them with 40' long boards.

Hope Plantation has 40 foot long floorboards in the Dining Hall.

I figured they must have felled those trees Very close to where the house was built.  They didn't have Woodmisers back then, but I guess there was no shortage of slave labor.

I made a bunch of 34 foot pine boards last summer.  They were jacket boards from cutting long beams.  They were so difficult to move around and were so floppy when I loaded them on my 22 foot trailer that I ended up cutting them into 8 foot boards.  I also wasn't looking forward to finding a place to stack and sticker and cover them so they would dry straight.

[Don P]

Very nice. I believe they are hanging from the structure  .

[Magicman]

Yup, in the first picture he is using 10X10 Cypress timbers as decorative trim.

My last Cypress job's 3¼" slabs and the associated 5/4 lumber was for a Duck Camp in Arkansas.   That is rolling big $$$.  I sawed it "hourly rate" and sadly do not have the board foot tally but it was certainly at least 14Mbf.

[SwampDonkey]

Some people build houses like churches. :D Look at all that space overhead, any bigger and clouds will form. ;)

[Magicman]

Yup, it's a single story home that is two stories high.