Quality of cut.

[AtlanticAcres]

My buddy bought a mill and we are having fun. We sharpened the blades and set the kerf. We are getting a 'feather' edge along some of the boards.
The feathers are strains of wood not completely cut off and only occur on the 90 degree edge. Doesn't happen all the time. Can someone explain.

TIA - AA

[Magicman]

Are different species different/worse than others.  What you describe, to me, is stringing or tearing rather than cutting.  That is one of the indicators that I use to determine if a band has dulled and is in need of being changed.

And welcome back.  How is the kitchen floor?

[Chuck White]

Welcome AtlanticAcres.  ;)

I agree with most of what Magicman said, but I sometimes find that the same thing happens when the blade is pushed a little too fast!
I've only ever had it happen with Pine, Poplar and a few other softwoods.

[tyb525]

It also seems to depend on which way the grain is running. I've had it happen in almost every species I've cut.

[AtlanticAcres]

Thanks guys.

We are milling pine and spruce. And yes we are probably pushing the mill too fast.

TIA

[AtlanticAcres]

Magicman,

Kitchen floor is complete along with new cabinets. Also, I ran into rot this spring in the porch and had to rebuild. I tried uploading images (mac based here)
but found it frustrating...

[AtlanticAcres]

Ok... try this. Link to Forest Forum Gallery. This shows rebuild of porch with 1x12 boards. I used hand forged wrought 2.5" nails for floors.
I pre-built flooring - ship lap - and pre-stained before installing.

I will add photos of mill and other stuff... my currant project is building a post and beam addition to my workshop that will become a green house among other things.

[WDH]

You have done the hard part.  Now, all you have to do is start your post, open your gallery in another window, click on the photo you want to post, and then click on this sentence that will be just below the photo "Click here to copy this photo code directly to your Forestry Forum post window".   Then click preview to see the results of the photo added to your post.

[AtlanticAcres]

Ok... here goes.







The red colour will change this fall to an ocher... we are still discussing! :D

[AtlanticAcres]

These images show kitchen cabinet build plus floor of kitchen. I apologize for posting in this section... but hey it works.





Cabinets are all wood 3/4 and 4/4. Doors were made in my shop with table saw mounted router.
This was part of a kitchen remodel. Floors are 3/4 x11.5" nailed with hand wrought nails, some new, some old.

Enjoy.

[AtlanticAcres]

Oh... the mill!

[Magicman]

Boy AA, when we got you cranked up, you really took off !!!  Good job with your flooring and cabinets.   

Now somewhere when you set up your gallery you add a number to your forum member number which makes the gallery available for viewing by other members. (If you want that.)

[AtlanticAcres]

OK.  Will do that next!

AA

[Tom]

It's a function of your profile.  I fixed it.

[WDH]

AA,

I am glad that you got the mill in the pics or we would have had to fine you  :D.

Just kidding!  Nice job.  The cabinets look great!  

[AtlanticAcres]

Thanks all.

I had fun building the cabinets but realized I need a bigger(don't we all) shop or I have to get ride of a lot of stored house parts.
I also have to think about better heat sources other than a kerosene heater. I am thinking solar and part of the greenhouse attachment will hopefully supply some solar heat to the shop. I am hoping to use the greenhouse to dry some wood too. It will be 12'x22' with a sloped roof - 7.5' at lowest. 10.5' at highest.

WDH - we are starting with this mill. Actually I have two friends that co-bought the mill.
I supply the tractor with forks, and logging winch. The pic of the mill shows our first cut.
We are milling material to get my greenhouse built - albeit - slowly. After that we will be
milling for a permanent structure for the mill.

Our first board cost us about $45,000 including cost of used mill, new tractor, used winch and forks - lol! :D :D :D

I will obey the forum police and post in appropriate areas...

TIA

PS: Ok Tom I trust ya... not sure what ya fixed.

[Magicman]

PS: Ok Tom I trust ya... not sure what ya fixed. 

He did the number thing and now your Gallery shows up.  You've got a lot of friends here.

I drove through your home location a few years ago.  Beautiful country.   

[Meadows Miller]

Gday

AA Nice thread and nice pics mate n dont worry about it being micxed topics as its nice to see everything you have been upto Mate  ;) ;D ;D ;D 8) 8) 8) 8) 8)

With the mill it might be that your outer guide might be getting alittle play in it as you move it out as i see your in small logs  ;)

Regards Chris  

[Sprucegum]

I don't know why you think its mixed topics - no one has mentioned food yet 

What size is that spruce on the mill and what did you get out of it? I try to do some small stuff but my circle mill cuts a pretty wide swathe  :-\

[Meadows Miller]

Spruce just knock the sides of em make a 4x4 1/6 then split em up the guts  ;)you dont have to worry about kerf too much then I can get that on a circ on a 6" dia log Mate  ;) :D  :D ;D  ;D 8) 8) 8)

[AtlanticAcres]

Meadows is correct. We got a 4x4x10' out of her.
Our biggest challenge will be a 12' pine with the butt being 32".

The mill can only handle 28" plus it can only cut up to 3.75" thick at a time. Poor design I know. But when you only pay
a few $k you get what you pay for... and considering I didn't pay anything and have access to a mill... well you know! 8)

It was all I could do to lift it with the tractor loader... just because I wanted to try. We dragged it to the mill in the end.

Oh! So it takes food to make it a mixed topic. Why didn't you say so. My next project after the greenhouse(food) will be an
outdoor bake oven... yes some wood will be involved... maybe fire wood! :D

[Hilltop366]

Hi Acres and welcome

If you want to see feathers on the edge of a cut try my mill with a chainsaw bar and chain, I'm not sure but I think the stringy wood like spruce might make it worse than other kinds of wood. I also notice that the faster I cut when edgeing a board the worse it is. Nice looking reno of your house, not sure about yours but the ones I've worked on in the past never seem to end. Great to see another Nova Scotian on here I'm just down the coast from you in Yarmouth County.

Cheers

[AtlanticAcres]

Hey Hilltop,

Old houses are like old wooden boats - ya just go in circles - repairing them.
We will be re-staining a different colour this year. Although I love the ox-blood red - when it is new re: porch rebuild. I don't like the pinkish colour it fades to after 3-5 years. And being on the coast doesn't help with the wind, salt and exposure. We did the exterior over about 20 years ago and have re-stained on average every 5 years - gets tiring. If I could get 10-15 years without fading I would
feel better about it.

My tractor winch came from Barrington passage a few months ago...

cheers for now.

[AtlanticAcres]

Hey Hilltop,

Noticed you have an old Acadian Engine. I have three Atlantics - 2 3hp, a 7hp and 1 4hp Hawbolt.
Hopefully i will wrap a hull around the 7 some day.

AA

[Hilltop366]

Acres that circles description sounds about right, My house is about 10 years old with eastern white cedar shingles which are real slow to put on but I haven't painted them yet. Just got a little trim around the windows and some corner boards that are painted so it's not too bad. The Acadian engine belongs to a friend of mine, He has it at his chainsaw shop in Concession up on the french shore.
Is your saw mill one of the shop builts I see on kijiji once and a while?