New mill first day tips?

[Mr. Buck]

Hi All, 

Just got a call from Wood-mizer and my new mill should be ready for pick up in about 4 weeks.  I won't have my slab poured in time, so I plan to park it on the grass and cover it with a tarp, when it's not being used, until I finish the slab / shed.

I'm wondering if y'all have any "first day" recommendations /tips?  I have 6 white oak logs as my first project. I bought a 5 gallon bucket of John Deere branded cotton picker spindle cleaner/lube although I'm not sure what ratio to use per gallon of water.

Any advice or tips for starting up for the first time once I get it home?

Thanks  

[DDW_OR]

build pallets to put the cut lumber onto
then use the tractor forks to move it around

here are some good links to read


Observations of a New Sawyer in Sawmills and Milling

Useful sawmill mods in Sawmills and Milling

what degree bandsaw blade in Sawmills and Milling

Blade Can in Sawmills and Milling

New Circle mill adventures in Sawmills and Milling

Shifting Large Logs laterally on sawmill in Sawmills and Milling

Stopping Falling Stickers.......Video by 123 Goat in Sawmills and Milling

trees and bees, can it pay to plant cover crops in young forests? in Alternative methods and solutions

Lessons learned by a new full-time sawyer


this is a really nice looking table
Toddlers cedar picnic table in General Woodworking

[rusticretreater]

Find some scrap logs to practice on.

Stick close to the manual and adjust your mill just as it says.
Check the setup often during your early use.
You may have to adjust and set things several times before the mill "takes a set".
Focus on developing a routine, instead of just doing things.

[Magicman]

After I got my sawmill I set it up in my driveway and practiced sawing without logs for several days.  Just going through the motions of loading, turning, and sawing.  That plus going through the Service Manual page by page at night and reading about all of the adjustments.  Look at it in the book and then go outside to the sawmill, sometimes with a flashlight, and look at what I was reading about.

Familiarize yourself with the sawmill and learn the correct name for the various components, for example they ain't back stops, they are side supports.  The back of the sawmill is where the tail light is.  

[rusticretreater]

After I got my sawmill I set it up in my driveway and practiced sawing without logs for several days.  Just going through the motions of loading, turning, and sawing.

Thats how magicman got known as the "funny actin' feller" who lives down the road.

[dougtrr2]

Raise the log stops, lower the head, saw into the log stop.   Might as well get it over with, it will happen eventually. 

If you can't find any logs to practice on, start with the worst of the oak logs you have.

Doug in SW IA

[Mr. Buck]

Thanks to all of you for the advice!  It's very much appreciated. 

I do have a red oak that fell on my property 2-3 years ago (maybe 4?) that I could cut for practice. It might not be too rotten since it's been sitting off the ground a bit.  It rotted at the base and the trunk is still sitting about 3ft off the ground. It fell up hill  

Unfortunately I don't have any softwood.

Do any of you have advice on how much spindle lube to use? 

[Mr. Buck]

Raise the log stops, lower the head, saw into the log stop.  Might as well get it over with, it will happen eventually.  

Doug in SW IA

I'm so tempted to tack on some sacrificial plate to the tooth side of those stops if there's space...

[Mr. Buck]

here are some good links... 

Thank you for the effort of posting those links. Super helpful and very much appreciated! 

[Magicman]

Thats how magicman got know as the "funny actin' feller" who lives down the road.

Actually when I would crank the engine and start practicing, my "across the street" neighbor would soon be there watching. 

[thecfarm]

Get yourself a Logrite cantdog or peavey. 
sponsor on the bottom and made in the USA!!!!

[Mr. Buck]

Get yourself a Logrite cantdog or peavey.
sponsor on the bottom and made in the USA!!!!

Yes sir, I already have two (different configs) and a Logrite Doyle scale measuring stick . Quality products! 

[thecfarm]

[Mr. Buck]

FWIW it looks like 8 oz / 5gal water of the John Deere AN114022 spindle cleaner/lube is a good starting point based on an older thread I found.  Thanks, y'all! 

[SawyerTed]

Do a search for cheat sheet.   There are several around on Forestry Forum. 

A cheat sheet helps determine target cant height based on desired board thickness.   It speeds up arriving at the starting point quicker rather than calculating in your head. 

Go easy on yourself if when you make mistakes - somebody here has likely done the same or worse.  We survived and you will too. 

Remember blades are consumable

[Machinebuilder]

If you haven't watched Hobby Hardwoods videos on Youtube watch them, if you have rewatch them. Just remember he is running a much more powerful mill and has lots of experience.

get some logs, make some designer firewood, destroy blades, learn from your mistakes, then learn from everyone else's mistakes.

SLOW DOWN except when in the cut. pay attention to clamps, back stops, blade guides etc, it is really easy to get excited and  hit one of the above, destroying another blade.

You will learn quickly that sawing is a small part of running a sawmill, Most of the work will be material handling.

get the logs to the yard
get the log to the mill
get the log positioned on the mill
handle the slabs you saw off the log, and get them out of the way, then what are you going to do with them.
now that you finally have a cant saw boards off the cant, you will probably turn the cant several times doing this
move the boards off the mill, this is where the pallet is good, sticker the boards as you put them on the pallet
move the pallet to a drying area that is out of the way
start over

at some point you will need to move the large pile of sawdust that you have next to the mill.

HAVE FUN

[YellowHammer]

Yes, watch the Hobby Hardwoods guy, I hear he had a previous life as a Dwayne Johnson stunt double and here is a video he recently did on Cotton Picker Spindle lube.  The best thing you can get for your sawmill is a $5 can of Kubota Orange spray paint so when you gouge something or run your band into a backstop, you can quickly paint it back new so you don't have to keep explaining it to people.

[WV Sawmiller]

   Watch as many videos of the sawing process as you can and be sure to look at the work flow. Where do the waste slabs go? Where do the flitches go that need to go on an edger or back on the mill to be edged later. Is where the sawdust going to be a problem? Where does the finished lumber go? If you are sawing different thickness do they need to be stacked in different locations? Where do your support tools (Tape measure, cant hooks, fire extinguisher, leaf blower, Lube bottle, etc.) go? 

   These things vary with your mill. I off load off the end of my mill but if I was using a mill with a dragback I'd want to off load off the front. I throw my flitches to be edged on my loading arms but if I had a manual mill I'd likely stage them on sawhorses behind me. At home my waste slabs and edgings go on my tractor forks for removal as needed.

   I concur with the cheat sheet suggestion. Remember the first and third faces determine the width of your finished boards while the 2nd and 4th faces on the log/cant determine how many actual boards you get. I find using a cheat sheet saves me one cu toff almost every log and also tells me when I can salvage ($$$) a 1" board off a cant when I'm sawing 2" framing or such.

    What makes or breaks most sawyers is how efficient or not they are. Wasted motion and double efforts kill you. Did you ever watch a very efficient waitress at work? Every step should produce something worthwhile even if it is just to see if the mill head will clear the log or measuring the exact height of the bark above the rail on a flitch so you don't have to make an extra cut or waste an extra inch or so on a finished board. 

   You talk about pouring a slab. You sure want to have your work flow very well ironed out before you do. 

    Good luck.

[John S]

As Magic mentioned they are "side supports" not "back stops"!!!

[SawyerTed]

Be prepared to have old and new friends appear.  Some will come to watch, scratch and spit just to see the "wrecks."   Some will want 5 scrap 2x6x10s.  Your best friends will come off bear and help.  

[YellowHammer]

As Magic mentioned they are "side supports" not "back stops"!!!

Nope, it my mill and I can call them anything I like.  Since it's insured by an inland marine policy, has an engine and controls, technically, it has more in common with a watercraft than a trailer, so it technically has a bow, stern, port and starboard. 

So the conversation with a new employee goes like this:

"Avast there Matey! Load the log on the port beam!"
"What?"
"Roll the log on the port loader arms"
"What?"
"Roll the log on the front side, on those little metal things, the side facing you, you scalywag!"
"OK, now what?"

"Roll the log to the starboard!
"What?"
"Roll it to the side away from you until it hits the starboard supports!"
"What?"
"Roll it backward until it stops, you landlubber!"
"Oh roll it backward until it stops against the back?"
"Yar, aye matey!"
"Oh, so why didn't you just say roll it against the back stops to begin with!?"

"Arh, I'll keel haul you!"
"Hey, why did you just run blade into the back stops and cause all those sparks?"

[Ianab]

No one has suggested, cut some stickers for drying your good lumber. Basically get your "practice" logs, and cut them into 1x1s. Even if the log is low quality, as long as you can get usable lengths it doesn't matter if you also cut some kindling. But it gets you into the "groove" of running the mill, and you are going to need stickers. If you can saw them from a fast drying type, that's even better, as they will be good to use sooner. 

[NewYankeeSawmill]

Raise the log stops, lower the head, saw into the log stop.   Might as well get it over with, it will happen eventually. 

! Just take that first blade out of the box, grab some pliers, snap a few teeth off, and throw it in the trash. Will save you a flitch...

[SawyerTed]

"Hey, why did you just run blade into the back stops and cause all those sparks?"

Answer:  AAAARRRGGGHHH!  Karma be a nasty wench!  Me language is imprecise!  

[randy d]

This is what i did when you are happy with the way your mill is cutting take that band off and hang it up in your garage then when your mill is not cutting well put that band back on if cuts start looking good put a new band on and start making great lumber again.