Has there been a log that you just couldn't cut??? Too hard, too much sap, etc, etc.??? This one out here knocking my blades off has won the battle. I've got about a 5x 8 piece of pure heart pine, that i am about to put to the side. I give up and am going to try another log. Hopefully, it's just the piece of wood and not my mill.. Please, someone tell me I'm not alone.
Most all of us have run into one of those at some time or another. After a while the cost in blades and frustration just ain't worth it any more.
Quote from: LeeB on April 30, 2010, 01:02:03 PM
After a while the cost in blades and frustration just ain't worth it any more.
You got that right. I'm down two, maybe three blades. I have to inspect this last one.
Only one so far, six band blades and 2 chain saw blades. It went to the slab pile in chunks. It was about a 200yo graveyard tree. Must have missed the change on how to post pics but there are a few shots of the log from hades in my pics.
Personally I NEVER stop. I have thrown ALOT of blades at a few logs. I just get it in my head, that its GONNA get cut, hexx or high water.
Ironwood
Gator,their are some logs that just aren't worth fighting with,some of the young bucks consider it a challenge,some old guys are just too DanG stuborn to quit.Roll that sucker in the bushes and "pith" on it or block it up and burn it.Frank C.
I had an embarassing experince sawing heart pine cants into flooring. (This stuff was lighter wood!) Band occasionally would rise in the cut and actually exit the top surface! Changed bands and the same eventually happened. Inspecting the band showed pine resin on the bottom of band. I redesigned my oiler to wipe both top and bottom of band and on both sides of the cut but I have never sawn heart pine again so I don't know if I solved it or not. I ruined some of his flooring so I knocked off a substantial portion of the bill. It was a terrible experience - one I hope to never repeat. :-[
Bob
Gator you just reminded me I've had one log, a huge very dense white pine that gave me fits perfectly good bands that cut well before and after it.I still have it in the back of a pile I may throw it on the headrig and try to see if the bit is mightier than the band.Frank C.
Had a couple I quit cutting because they were FULL of metal. I don't mind chiseling out a piece of metal here or there, but I ran into a white pine that must've had boards nailed up the trunk to make a ladder...three nails side by side every 8-10" :(
I think the only log I quit cutting that wasn't full of metal was a big ugly spruce log. One of those logs I was just turning into boards just in case. I don't like cutting spruce.
Hey I gave up on a supposedly good walnut log. got it down to 6X10 and gave it to a neighbor for a mantel. It was full of 50 cal mini-balls and railroad spikes. Some logs just ain't worth the hassle...
One of mine was a curly spaulted hard maple with a FULL set of steps from tree stands over the years. Zing, zing , zing ,zing , zing, zing. I got it cut. Only one I have let get the better where off angle fence insulators (ceramic), we had to swing the log and come from the other end, then split it near the insulator. Thee is another walnut "waiting for me" up in the field w/ ceramic in it as well, that is a "no time soon" kinda project" ;D
Ironwood
Seems like all I have had this week.
There was some 12"x4"x8' Western Red Cedar that had been cut 20 years ago.
The knots were incredibly hard.
Has anyone ever experienced really hard knots in pine that cause the blade to shift up or down?
That was followed by my Osage extravagance outlined in a separate post.
This week was cut the crap week at the mill.
All the old, weird and wonk logs were cut up into lumber or firewood.
Lots of hackberry, crooked Osage and Walnut tops.
Then there was the five blade Elm log that was full of nails last month.
It seems that whenever I have a really awesome log like a 30" Walnut or Cherry I keep having to swap out blades until I have used at least three.
It can be really tough to figure out what is going wrong when the cuts are crooked.
black locust. It had been standing dead for know telling how long before I got it. like sawing solid rock
Campy, if you are having trouble sawing knotty southern pine, most likely the problem is the blade. Usually not sharp enough, not enough set, or both. You need at least 25 thou set, maybe even more, and the teeth gota be razor sharp. Band tension needs to be right, but this is not as critical as set and sharpness. I learned the hard way, don't go tweakin on the mill till you are absolutely positively certain it's not a blade problem.
Gday
Ive had snapped off auger bits and a heap of other hardware in recycled piles and bridge timber that have made me throw a log over the years its just not worth the time to dig them out the most recent one was about 6 months ago 2"x2" chunk of auger that had snapped of in the ironbark bridge timber years ago and hit it when sawing 5x3"x 9's for fence posts ;) foot blocks for firewood is where they endup in hardwood ;) ;D 8) and pine goes in the burn pile ;)
Regards Chris
I milled a Old dry pitchy Doug-fir 20" butt log that after squaring two sides the log owner decided that that was the one that he wanted as a push log for cleaning out the barn and any other leveling that he needed done. He made a couple plunge cuts with the chainsaw so that the forks of his tractor would stick thru the 12' log. I was happy to not have to do any more cutting on that log.
Gday
Backwoods there was atleast one log a year that ended up like that at my grandfathers mill when i was a kid ;) a cheap and effctive leveling and getting rid of the bark in the logyard the biggest one i saw them use was about 2'by3' and 16' long ;) ;D ;D 8) 8)
Regards Chris
Quote from: campy on April 30, 2010, 10:43:42 PM
Has anyone ever experienced really hard knots in pine that cause the blade to shift up or down?
Not so much in pine, but definitely in spruce. That's why I don't like sawing it. The knots are so hard the blade always wants to dive when cutting them. The opening cuts & flitch cuts on the first couple faces of some gnarly spruce can get ugly.