Note added at the end: This nice writeup was in the Danbury, CT News Times newspaper this morning: http://www.newstimes.com/default/article/Cutting-a-big-slice-of-history-3535899.php#photo-2899353 (http://www.newstimes.com/default/article/Cutting-a-big-slice-of-history-3535899.php#photo-2899353)
Gus called me several weeks back and was intent on having his sycamore logs sawn into full width slabs. Said they were 5-6 feet in diameter and about 6 feet long. It was misty & raining during the 2 hour drive and I was not just a bit nervous. I found him with the staff of the farm market in the break room about 7:15 am. They sent me across the street to the field behind the mulch piles. There they were, just about the biggest, roundest logs I had ever seen and certainly the biggest I had ever agreed to saw. We talked about where the cuts would go through. I said "let's start with the smaller one first, try to keep it clean when you bring it over", made some crayon marks then got away from them as fast as I could.
I really tried not to think of the logs I had just seen, as I was unloading the Peterson WPF and putting on the slabber over by the sawing site. By this time a crowd of men in trucks with coffee showed up, about 20 or more. Some were trying to talk with me. I could hear the excavator getting nearer and finally the first log came into view. Honestly I was not feeling that well, thoughts were going through my mind like that I was a gladiator in the arena, and they were bringing out the monsters for me to fight. Would I be, at the end of the day, in this world, or in the next?
(https://forestryforum.com/gallery/albums/userpics/21495/1.jpg)
I stayed on task while the second log was brought out. Now I was just trying to think about the first log.
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This was as high as the Peterson would go. The bar was 49 inches above the ground. Doesn't this look like one of those pictures from NZ or Australia? Well it is Connecticut.
(https://forestryforum.com/gallery/albums/userpics/21495/3.jpg)
Sawing commenced. Chains were getting dull after 2 cuts. The wood was nice and I was cutting 3-1/2" thick slabs. I hit 3 nails once, but no metal after that. Across the center of the log, there was a 10" diameter hole full of mud. It didn't dull the chain but it was a bear to get through. We cleared it out with a hoe and a blower. Still, for some reason it was hard going. The slabs were mostly 50-58 inches wide and there were 11 of them altogether. I couldn't get the remaining 2 slabs so we decided to saw them out by placing the remainder on the second log. We decided around 2pm to just finish the first log, and resume the day after next. Before I left at 5pm, I had readied the butt log so sawing could start earlier in the morning. Here's Gus and me with the second (butt) log. I took home 8 chains to sharpen. Thanks to Norm W. for this and the preceding photo.
(https://forestryforum.com/gallery/albums/userpics/21495/4.jpg)
On the second day, again I drove through the rain for two hours. The rain had stopped and the skies were getting lighter as I set up. I knew I would be blocking up the mill to make the first cuts. John was a great help and suggested anchoring the mill with side straps which worked well. Couldn't have it walking off of the blocks. For the first cut the bar was 58 inches off the ground. I'm 6' 3" and could just reach the key and throttle.
(https://forestryforum.com/gallery/albums/userpics/21495/5.jpg)
Cuts were dead flat and as smooth as could be with Carlton 43RP rip chain, made into 5 skip sequence, with the cutters ground at 15 degrees, and hand filed. The skies were brighter.
(https://forestryforum.com/gallery/albums/userpics/21495/6.jpg)
Slabs were impressive. The tree was probably around 250 years old. I used triple taper wedges to lift the slabs up about 1-3/8" and John could drive the forks right beneath with me holding on the other side.
(https://forestryforum.com/gallery/albums/userpics/21495/7.jpg)
(https://forestryforum.com/gallery/albums/userpics/21495/8.jpg)
QS Sycamore 24" wide on either side.
(https://forestryforum.com/gallery/albums/userpics/21495/9.jpg)
Somebody shot this lead ball into the base of the tree around the year 1860.
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Anyone need a 5 foot wide coffee table?
(https://forestryforum.com/gallery/albums/userpics/21495/11.jpg)
I needed a place to sit. The sun had come out and it was getting hot.
(https://forestryforum.com/gallery/albums/userpics/21495/12.jpg)
Here are the slabs from the big log, 430 square feet of sawn area. The first day was 340 square feet.
(https://forestryforum.com/gallery/albums/userpics/21495/13.jpg)
The staff was as neat and tidy as Monk. Here is the sawing site as I was strapping down the Peterson in its trailer.
(https://forestryforum.com/gallery/albums/userpics/21495/14.jpg)
The moral of the story was that, almost as an afterthought, as I began the lower half of the second log, I put on an Oregon 16H harvester chain that I had modified to a 5 skip sequence, sharpened at a top plate angle of 15 degrees, and hand filed. That chain cut the entire second half of the bottom log, plus 2 more cuts from the remainder of the first log, including a skim cut to level an uneven surface where the chain was not even buried in the wood for most of the cut. It was unreal. A total of about 7 cuts, and it was still sharp. I cancelled an order for a reel of OR 27RX and have a 100' reel of the 16H coming. I'm excited. 8) 8) 8) Thanks for reading. :)
All i can really say is WOW!!!!!!!! 8) 8) 8) 8) 8)
I did indeed read it and thoroughly enjoyed the trip. I thank you for documenting and sharing the adventure. :)
WOW! Thanks for documenting the adventure. Did they say what they planned to do with such wide slabs?
Loved the lead ball. Can you think of the storys that tree could tell? Likely a musket ball being that far back.
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You deserve a rest after that :D
Good job there, that's what those mills do best. 8)
Ian
I wasn't sure before, but I am now...I'm not man enough to run a slabber.
--Peter
TT, I asked in a previous thread if I'm crazy for wanting a swing mill and you said, "You have a space, like a hole, in your brain that probably only a swing mill will fill." ...I think you just made that hole deeper! Or is it wider? ;)
Great post!
JM
Awesome. Great story, great photos. Makes me want to get burlkraft to go find us another redwood log. :)
WOW!!!!! I'd love to have a couple of those slabs!!!! Like was said before...if that tree with the ball could talk!!
Thanks for sharing!!
Thank you for sawing. Everything those big logs are around seem small!!!!
WHOO HOO 8) another Redwood 8) 8) count me in ;D
That is a great story loved the pics 8)
I think Jeff had a great idea. The last demo was a good time.
Thanks alot. Now I want one even more ;D Never going to save any money like this :D
Nice! Now how are they going to dry them with out a lot of checking or warping? I've never dried any sycamore, have plenty and the stuff is just loaded with water when green.
Great pictures; great write-up. Thanks for posting it.
Even though it was surely hard work, it was probably a "labor of love". Milling truly seems to be an addictive profession/passion, but addictive in the best way! 8)
Great photos and story. If possible, tell us what are the slabs going to be used for? bg
Thanks for the stories and pictures. Really enjoyable to hear your experience. Really great looking slabs.
Thanks all for your replies. Gus was wanting to sell a slab so the farm market owner's young son could buy himself a German Shepherd. Anybody close enough could let me know if interested and I could put you in touch with him. In the main, the wood is for several of his grandkids who are budding woodworkers. He seemed sure of what he wanted and I didn't question it. Seemed to me the thickness would stabilize it on drying for several years, and they can make slab type stuff or resaw it for other purposes.
Those of you itching for a swing mill I don't know what to say. If you get one you will have a used swing mill and after a while all sorts of new experiences some of which can only be appreciated here. You could also travel around the world a couple or three times, get a 4x8 CNC router for your basement, a used excavator for your back yard, or go in with someone and get an airplane, too. :)
Great post, love the photo's. Log's like that don't come around that often these days and by the sounds of things those slabs will be put to good use. I would love to see one of those Slab's once they have been crafted into a timeless piece of furniture.
Great picture story TT, beautiful looking wood. Great job, I bet you were a pooped puppy after 2 days of that heavy sawing.
Did take Saturday and Sunday off. First Saturday at home in more than 2 months.
I am tired just watching ;D Great job and great story. Thanks for sharing. Danny and I like to know that we are not the only ones that are nuts.
The problem starts when I am at home resting & reading the paper and FF, and drinking coffee. I forget about what just happened the other day, and good feelings about milling start up again. And then the phone rings and I say yes.
It is amazing the things we talk our selves into.
Since you can't stay off the Forum, don't answer the phone :D. That is simply an awesome job on that sycamore!!