First run on my new mill...1,000bf mix of walnut, cherry, and maple. Love this forum!
Robert
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Welcome glad to have ya, take your coat off and stay a while!
What kinda mill you running ?
I purchased a WM LT28 with the 19hp Kohler, power feed and the manual deck package.
Robert
Welcome to the Forum, Rshorer
Welcome to the Forestry Forum, RShober!
Welcome!
That looks nice! - I wish I had some of those species! ;D
Now take a pic of your mill and post it for us to see!
This forum is so willing to help and has great experience... grab a coffee and start reading.. :D
Welcome to the forum! Lots of info around here!
Welcome to the forum
That's my dad supervising the inaugural log. I've since added an hour meter, and I'm currently working on a conventional type trailer jack for the front.
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Robert
Welcome to the forum.
Whatcha going to use the lumber for?
You will need a Logrite cantdog/peavey to turn the logs. Sponsor on the left,made here in the USA. by nice people. Website tells the difference of a cantdog and peavey.
Welcome to the coolest hangout around. Pull a stool up!
I see your future... a better way of stacking and stickering your wood. I started like you and finally learned how to organize my wood a bit better. It also depends how much wood you'll be milling. Is it going to just be a hobby for yourself, or are you wanting to sell wood?
Other things to quickly learn if you haven't already...using anchorseal, making stickers ahead of time, and maybe making lumber pallets. I stack all my wood in my pole barn on lumber pallets that I made. I have enough air flow in that building that I'm not getting mold on my Ash, Walnut, and cherry. I've also milled a little honey locust and oak and Osage.
Newbie mistake. I leaned the hard way. Palletizing. in Sawmills and Milling (http://forestryforum.com/board/index.php?topic=104143.msg1618977#msg1618977)
The flatter your stack is, the flatter your lumber will be.
I do a lot of furniture and cabinet making. My main hobby though is making bird houses. I've drawn up plans for a mill and drying shed and have started collecting building materials, but it's been so darn wet for the past 6 months, I haven't really gotten started. Hoping to visit Wally's World soon and see his solar kiln. We struck up a conversation last weekend...he's about an hour away.
Robert
Welcome. The lt-28 is a good mill and will keep you supplied with bird house material. There is a lot of information to learn here and a good group of folks to associate with.
Robert,
Welcome to the FF. You look to be about 3 hours away so if you are ever passing through this way stop by and see us.
Ditto Brad's comments about stacking pallets. Building them and putting/attaching your first level of stickers helps you start right and keep the stickers properly aligned. BTW - I see on your lumber you have lumber out past the stickers. I have read here that placing your first sticker very near the end of the boards helps keep the boards from checking/splitting. Apparently the board will split till it reaches the sticker then stop so that helps protect your lumber. Also keep the stacks straight and up off the ground on pallets, concrete blocks or crossties or such. If your stack has a hump or dip I hear every board will dry with the same hump or dip in it. I keep all my stickers on centers of 2' or less. Many of our member recommend 16-18 centers and always aligned, which yours seem to be. I like the Anchorseal Bard mentions. Some species are much worse about checking than others. I find wild cherry and ash to be among the worst I saw. Softwoods don't seem to check as badly. Keep on posting.
Welcome aboard, wonderful piece of machinery you have there.
Stacks look great and I was curious about the painted ends on the stickers, was that on purpose or used to tell what type of species. Has me thinking next time I have to mix and match stacks.
Make sure we get pics of the build start to finish, those get lots of followers and plenty of suggestions to help along the way.
Thanks so much for the advice on stickering...really like the pallet idea. I sourced a company out of New York for the painted end stickers. Pretty sure they're made from mahogany. Spent a few hours milling some poplar for my nephew. It's great practice for when those paying jobs come in. Following a post by Magicman, I think my first 6x6 post came out pretty good.
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Looks like you've got a good start. Now, if you're going to mill at home, you're going to have to decide how you're going to dispose of your slab wood, and your bark and sawdust. I came across some bucking horses that I put the slabs on and cut them to firewood length. My tail gunner takes it all for his wood stove.
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Dust and bark will pile up faster than you can believe. Dumping it on my property wasn't working out well when I first stared. It takes up a lot of space quickly, and I didn't want to wait the time it would take to decompose. So I made some Vortex burn barrels. Two will keep up with us milling and usually they will burn into the night from when we loaded them during the afternoon. The heat from the initial coals will dry out the dust and then allow it to burn. That's why I like to burn bark first if I can. I use a little splash of diesel and a mapp torch to start the barrels and they go pretty quick.
Click link below
Burning as we go in Sawmills and Milling (http://forestryforum.com/board/index.php?topic=95735.msg1476521#msg1476521)
I have a cabinet maker about 2 miles away that'll take all the flitches I have. I've got a large compost pit going, so the sawdust will definitely help out. Now to find a pallet maker...sincerely appreciate the input from all!