Whatcha Sawin' 2021 ??

caveman · October 30, 2021, 07:08:06 PM

Eh! We also sawed our very first walnut logs today. They were both huge :D, 24" long. They were for my uncle, who is an accomplished woodworker. Most were sawn to 4/4 and a couple at 2 3/8 and 3".

We need to find a few more pine logs to fill our 4x4 order.

Southside · October 30, 2021, 09:03:29 PM

How long did the Gum sit for? In my experience letting it do that for 6 months to a year, and staying away from the pith and things turn out quite acceptable.

caveman · October 30, 2021, 09:36:15 PM

We got it several months ago and had been cut down months before that. We have had decent results letting sweetgum sit around until the bark slips and it begins to spalt. We may have rushed this one a bit but the last one I had, I let it sit too long waiting for it to spalt and it turned to mush and ended up going to the burn pile. We sawed several 2 3/8" cookies out of the cut offs on these logs. I suspect they will crack but we'll see. An intact 20"+ spalted cookie will be worth something.

WV Sawmiller · October 31, 2021, 03:50:30 PM

A little after 9:00 a.m. my neighbor who bought the poplar lumber yesterday rang my doorbell and said his wife loved the lumber and wanted the same amount more. I had one more 8' log off the tree so I got out late morning and loaded it on the mill and sawed it into 4/4 boards. I got 10 - 1X12s and the rest narrower. He needed 16 running feet of 8' lumber so I was about 2' short and spliced out with some of the leftovers from yesterday then I took it up to his house 1/4 mile away and dropped it off. I saw he had used the rest on a shed he was building for his car and had nailed it up in a horizontal fashion. I thought he was going to install it B&B and I still think that would have looked much better but I just saw the lumber and I'm not the carpenter. :

If he is happy with it All is good.

Ready to saw

Sawed and ready for delivery.

VB-Milling · November 01, 2021, 08:42:52 AM

Quote from: WV Sawmiller on October 31, 2021, 03:50:30 PM
...but I just saw the lumber and I'm not the carpenter.

Keeping with tradition, I always blame the previous trade for any issues...The problem is its always me :D ;D :D

WV Sawmiller · November 01, 2021, 10:14:27 PM

I started on this stack 14.6 miles from home today. I already sawed a stack at this customers home 18 miles on the other side of me. There looks to be about 60 logs here and I have no helper provided. That is the Greenbrier River in the background. The customer is a builder and built a beautiful retreat here. The last time I sawed for him here I had to ford a foot of water to retrieve my mill when the river got up. He has don't lots of improvement to grounds and drainage since my last trip.

an 8' stack of 4/4 boards. The stacks are 4' wide. I have a good supply of stickers at the end due to a punky poplar log I just couldn't see making decent boards but it produced some nice stickers. I added a battery powered 6-1/2" circular saw to my tool list and am using it to cut stickers and cut the flare off boards. I'd rather produce a good clean 8'X 1"X10" than a 10' 1X6. I see I need to get more batteries although I am pretty sure I can charge some at the house 50 yards away.

10' stack of 4/4 board 48" wide. I had 4 sycamore logs to cut first and I know they twist badly but they were not big enough to justify quarter sawing but they made some pretty lumber. They are on the bottom of the stack so hopefully the weight will help.

Total for the day after a late start and having to set up, cut stickers and stack lumber was 580 bf. I see several more days hanging out here but rain is forecast most of the week so I'm not looking for a quick finish. If it goes into the weekend and weather permits I may try to snag a 13 year old son of a neighbor. He's not big but he is one of the hardest working kids and after a few minutes he may be running the mill.

TimW · November 01, 2021, 10:26:13 PM

I buck my sticker logs to 49 inches. Then mill them. Way easier than trying to cut alot of loose 1x1s to that length.

Before I would cut a long log down to 1x1s, then tywrap them in a bundle, then chainsaw them to length.
hugs, Brandi

WV Sawmiller · November 01, 2021, 11:07:55 PM

Brandi,

That works fine at your home site with a tractor, skid steer and/or a lull to load your sticker log (which is what I do at home also) but less so when you are mobile and your only MHE is a cant hook and MagicHook which is all I have available. The log was the next in line on the pile and had to be processed if just to get it out of the way and when it became apparent after slabbing deeply that the log was not going to make good lumber I opted for stickers to at least salvage something from it and because I was going to need them anyway. I also try to get the customers to provide a short, scrap log to saw into stickers but there is nobody there but me and its either saw it or move it by hand or stop the job and wait for the customer to come move it. Making stickers seemed the best option in my case/opinion.

I am finding cutting the stickers on the site with the battery powered circular saw is much easier than using my 441 Sthil chainsaw with a 24" bar.

Ljohnsaw · November 01, 2021, 11:21:08 PM

Howard, what brand is our circular saw? I have DeWalt 20v stuff. I picked up a DeWalt 12v car lighter charger. Wasn't cheap but I used it all summer at my cabin build. I have a little deep cycle battery in my bath house (solar charged) and I think it charged faster than a 120v house fast charger. Well worth the investment. With the solar disconnected, I monitored the deep cycle battery voltage. Charging a bunch of 5amphr batteries didn't make a dent in it so I think running from your vehicle or your mill would be just fine.

WV Sawmiller · November 02, 2021, 12:31:38 AM

This is a HF Brauer brand (if I spelled it right) 20V saw. I already had a couple of cordless drills, angle grinder and my leaf blower that used that same battery and charger system. I got several 120V electric chargers with it when I bought them so that was the incentive to get this one. A 12V plug in system would be nice but the customer's house is close and I bet he has an outside plug I could hook into to keep cycling between them. Of course, other than cutting the end off a barky board or two I should not need it for a while. I figure it will also be handy if I ever need to cut a flitch off a cant if I get a broken blade or one pulls off trying to back out or such (Not that I'd ever need to do something like that. :

Usually a couple of plastic felling wedges and my little felling ax readily solves that problem.)

I have had good results from the HF tools like this so far, Not particularly expensive and work well for the needs I have had. Plus the manager there is a customer of mine and I used to get special discounts before I joined their club to get extra discounts that way too.

VB-Milling · November 02, 2021, 06:53:27 AM

Got started on the logs in the driveway.

Started with the 2 pine logs over the weekend.

This funny looking crotch maple log. Thought it would make interesting lumber

Another mill maxing white oak. 27 inches at the butt. Had to chainsaw trim some flare. Flat sawed a few 10/4 because I have no idea what to do with it.

I really need to start keeping a log book...

Magicman · November 02, 2021, 07:19:45 AM

From what I see you are progressing along quite nicely VB. 8)

VB-Milling · November 02, 2021, 07:25:38 AM

Quote from: Magicman on November 02, 2021, 07:19:45 AM
From what I see you are progressing along quite nicely VB. 8)

Thank you sir! Much appreciated! Been having lots of fun in the process.

WV Sawmiller · November 02, 2021, 09:54:07 AM

VB,

Good luck on the log book. I keep an excel spreadsheet with my sawing history including comments. I keep up with every bf sawed, engine hours and what I was sawing. I update my average sawing rate after every job and can tell you my average bf production is about 172 bf/hr. Some jobs more many jobs less but that's the average. (Helps when trying to establish an hourly rate to use too!). I have a list of every species I have sawed. It helps when you have someone call and asks about sawing ____ and you can tell them you have sawed it and any "gotchas" to be aware of. For example I sawed Red spruce last week for the first time but assuming it was similar to Norway spruce I had sawed I was better prepared on what I needed to do,

VB-Milling · November 02, 2021, 12:36:57 PM

Quote from: WV Sawmiller on November 02, 2021, 09:54:07 AM
VB,

Good luck on the log book. I keep an excel spreadsheet with my sawing history including comments. I keep up with every bf sawed, engine hours and what I was sawing. I update my average sawing rate after every job and can tell you my average bf production is about 172 bf/hr. Some jobs more many jobs less but that's the average. (Helps when trying to establish an hourly rate to use too!). I have a list of every species I have sawed. It helps when you have someone call and asks about sawing ____ and you can tell them you have sawed it and any "gotchas" to be aware of. For example I sawed Red spruce last week for the first time but assuming it was similar to Norway spruce I had sawed I was better prepared on what I needed to do,

What you're describing is basically where I want to be. I got too excited to get up and running, especially after my hardware debacle, and I forgot to start the tally. The further I got from the start point, the more daunting it became to start keeping track and here we are. I've tracked nothing except what I've posted in my milling thread. One day, I would like to try and backlog everything, but who has that kind of time. At some point, I'll just start keeping track. Maybe when I'm through my log inventory and I have new logs coming in slower. Only 4 logs left in my inventory!

Southside · November 02, 2021, 12:54:31 PM

Other than nostalga I would not worry about what is behind you on the saw. At first there is a lot of head scratching, wrong button pushing, re positioning that will make your production completely off kilter.

Once you get comfortable with it you will see that there is a lot of head scratching, wrong button pushing, and re-positioning that makes creative and unique, highly valuable pieces of artwork. ;D

VB-Milling · November 02, 2021, 01:05:23 PM

Quote from: Southside on November 02, 2021, 12:54:31 PM
Other than nostalga I would not worry about what is behind you on the saw. At first there is a lot of head scratching, wrong button pushing, re positioning that will make your production completely off kilter.

Once you get comfortable with it you will see that there is a lot of head scratching, wrong button pushing, and re-positioning that makes creative and unique, highly valuable pieces of artwork. ;D

I'm starting to wish my mill had buttons

Definitely lots of head scratching.

Really the only reason I would be interested in backlogging is to know what I have buried in the drying stacks either for myself or potential "customers"

Jim_Rogers · November 02, 2021, 01:23:32 PM

One way I have cut stickers on site was to first make the 1" boards. Stand a group of them up on edge and then cut the group at each 49" mark. But not cut them all the way to the bottom of the stack. These cuts would be done with a chain saw.
Next slice the stack/group at your thickness. I usually make stickers 2" wide so that there is good bearing surface. But oak I usually cut 1 1/2" wide.
As you cut the stack of board you'll release the first bunch of stickers. You can grab them as the are cut through to then toss off into your sticker bin/pile.
If I'm making stickers for the future, I'd stack them on a pallet and air dry them for a while before using.

Jim Rogers

Magicman · November 02, 2021, 07:07:13 PM

I moved to a 37 log job this morning. Three Oak and the rest SYP. We got 13 sawed so we should finish sometime Thursday. My tailgunner/customer "calf roped" at 3:00.

The cut list is 1X10's with the rest being 1X6's & 1X8's.

VB-Milling · November 02, 2021, 07:25:31 PM

Those look like some nice straight pines @Magicman

You figure 37 logs is a 3 or 4 day job for you?

Magicman · November 02, 2021, 07:38:08 PM

It depends upon the cut list. Had it been framing lumber then hardly 2 days. This is all 1" which should have been 2 days but you can't quit at 3:00 and make that kind of productivity. We should finish Thursday so 2½ days. It really does not matter to me because from here I will move the sawmill to a framing lumber job beginning Friday.

Southside · November 02, 2021, 08:23:41 PM

Well you should have "Bull dogged" him and pinned his ears down flat. :D

GAB · November 02, 2021, 08:30:26 PM

Quote from: VB-Milling on November 02, 2021, 07:25:31 PM
Those look like some nice straight pines @Magicman

You figure 37 logs is a 3 or 4 day job for you?

A lot of it depends on what the customer desires.
Cutting 10/4 live edge for benches with good help, and proper machinery, it's a one day job.
Cutting 1/2" edged material for a speciality product with poor help could take a week.
That is why cutting by the hour puts the omen on the customer to have good help and to be there.
Cutting thinner stock like Doc H does for laser engraving could be even longer.
GAB

WV Sawmiller · November 02, 2021, 09:08:28 PM

We had a drizzly rainy morning so I did not even try to go to the site till around noon. I sawed about 7-8 logs for 453 bf of 4/4 lumber. I broke a drive belt and was in the process of replacing it when the customer and his helper came by. I had the belt on wrong (Failed to pass over one pully correctly) and it would not tension but the helper noticed and I was able to get it on correctly and sawed several more logs afterward.

Same stacks as yesterday only they are taller now. A little over 1,000 for about 1.5 days of sawing, stacking and changing a drive belt. Not breaking any speed records but steadily whittling away on the stack.