I had a customer looking to mill 4 foot long by roughly 3 inch diameter cedar stakes in half. He builds rustic fences and needed a nailing surface for the "pickets," so it wasn't critical that the cut be absolutely centered. The problem I envisioned was securing the stakes using the clamp on the LT40, and the time it would take to mill them if I could secure them. My friend said he thought he'd seen where somebody had built one on the forum here, but I couldn't find it. So this is what I came up with:
This is what I started with:
(https://forestryforum.com/gallery/albums/userpics/26008/IMG_4476_28Custom29%7E0.JPG)
This is what I ended up with:
(https://forestryforum.com/gallery/albums/userpics/26008/IMG_4479_28Custom29%7E2.JPG)
And this is a not to good picture of the sled:
(https://forestryforum.com/gallery/albums/userpics/26008/IMG_4488_28Custom29%7E1.JPG)
Basically, it's a two part system with 1) the rail that the sled rides in secured to the mill with the hydraulic clamp, and 2) the sled that allowed me to push the secured cedar stake through the blade. I fixed the saw head so it couldn't move with a wooden block in front and back. The stakes were secured to the sled with a wooden cam operated by a linkage and push stick. The push stick pushed on the linkage (a piece of pipe) and was secured to the sled with a vice grips. After pushing the stake through the blade, I removed the vice grip and the push stick (which released the cam), and ejected the two halves with a long 1X1 hardwood stake pushed under the blade and pushing the halves toward the mill hitch. The linkage and push stick combination allowed me to do everything from one place while keeping me a safe distance from the running blade.
The one I built couldn't handle anything too different from the dimensions of the pieces I was working with, but the concept could be easily adapted to other situations. I apologize for the lack of pictures, but my main reason for posting is to say the idea of a sled and pushing a log through the blade, is a viable and efficient way to mill smaller diameter logs. I could see some version of it working well for short pieces, too, even if only to secure the piece and milling like normal.
Looks like it worked.
Now that is creative and clever. I can see that sled in my future.
Thanks,
Bob
That was a neat, and very successful idea!
Well, who da thunk it. Congtats on your solution. smiley_thumbsup
Nice!!! I like it when a plans comes together. 8)
Thanks for sharing!
That is neat.
I have been aproached by a company that has a whole scad of 4x6-40'' about resawing them into deck boards for pallets. I dont have a resaw, but I had thought about making a wooden deck, about 6'' tall and like your sled to run these through and cut off a 5/8 board each pass. It would have to be a 2 person operation. No push stick just keep pushing cants through from the front and the guy in the back would lay the cants on a board and push them back under the mill headto the front and stack the boards.
Anyone ever tried this?
PC
pc, the only time I experimented with cut stock I used a straight flat 1" board for the parallel against the back stops. I clamped the cant as you normally would and just made the cuts like normal, only glitch is the 1" minimum cut depth. I think if you were to have a good flat parallel under the cant and then one parallel with the stops you could saw as normal. Just make the bottom one say 3" wide just under the cant width to allow a good clamp.
The sled idea the fellow had saw was probably one of the two arky resaw jigs he posted. Here is the pole jig post.
https://forestryforum.com/board/index.php/topic,26536.msg379885.html#msg379885
Thank you, Jeff. That probably is the one.
PC, like drobertson said, I was thinking the same thing...Make a platform with a half inch lip to clamp against. I was thinking 11.5 inches wide so you could clamp three of the 4X6's and mill as normal. Having the second person removing the three boards will reduce your time going up and should make for a pretty quick operation.
Just my opinion.
I actually was thinking that you could make a ''fence'' on the edge of a set of roller table that was clamped on the mill. Knotch the fence for the blade to go down in to the height of your board,3/4'' in this case and push the cants through by hand and never getting less than 2 cants away from the blade that way. It may have to have a wheel to hold the cants down. Still just thinking. PC
I understand what you've got in mind now, PC. You'll cut a bunch of cants at one blade height, pushing the cants through the blade with the cant(s) from behind it. Bring them back to the push side, drop the blade 3/4, and start again. Sounds like you've got it pretty well figured out to me... :)
Out of curiosity, what kind of wood are they?
I doont know what kind or wood as I havnt seen any of them yet.
I dont think you have a handle on it yet.
I was thinking to set the band at 3/4 above the roller bed height and leave it there. cut the board off the bottom of the cant. I bet I could run a lot of them in a hurry that way.
PC
I just sawed a bunch of bevel siding with my version of the Arky resaw, with two people it goes fast. You could resaw cants that way too, you would just need to make some type of roller hold down, featherboards wouldn't work as well for that.