Where's the circle mill sawyer's at? I don't saw with rubber bands! I saw straight up! Not side ways! I want to hear about some carriages running off the end. Teeth going through the roof or in the pit. Blades being hammered. Dogs getting cut into. Are all circle millers using B/F bits now? Seems like everyone wants to talk about these little briggs and stratton toys they are draging around! Where's my detroit 71 and 53 series boys at? Don't let these rubber bands take over the site! All in fun, guys. I really enjoy the forum. I would like to see more old fricks,meadows,american,and others mills talked about though.
I would suggest using the search function then, there are thousands of posts here covering everything you said you want to see. Any of those topics you can find can be made current, simply by posting on them.
heres a thought for ya,
maybe at this time all the circle sawyers are too busy cutting wood and us bandmillers are the only ones haveing problems!!!! :D pc
:)Hello peckerlips- I too, long to hear more about the older mills. Part of the problem is age of the members. The circle mill guys are getting pretty old, heck even the band millers are no spring chickens. I am waiting for the snow to melt to put up a saw shed for my 00 Frick. It is sitting in the open since I moved it, and I need to put it under cover before I dig into the husk to replace some bearings and belts. The International UD-14 is running fine, but want to repair some sheet metal on it's cover and upgrade the charging system. Some older edgers have piqued my interest on fleabay and craig'slist, but I have been out-bid by other codgers. The old Clark lift truck I have will not lift a log without some serious repair and refurb. Lately I have been forced to take my logs to other geezers who run circle mills to make lumber. This works fine except that geezers won't work every day or even every month, so it sometimes takes a while. As you and I know, the band mill is only a way stop for a serious sawyer who will eventually own a circle mill. My own experience with the older mills ruined me for my first foray with a band mill. I was helping an elderly gentleman saw three pecan logs. The job took over two hours. A circle mill would have finished in 15 minutes. For all this, I will eventually own a band mill, as it can do things my Frick would turn into missiles. Don't despair, it is still fun to read about the band guys and the logs they attack. There will always be some circle guys around. If we could just get them to share more of their experiences. Regards, Clark
Sealark,
I also run a 00frick, 3-71 detroit. Skid steer with forks. A grain elevator removes the sawdust! I too need to put a building up over mine. I moved it and set it up this past year! I ran it so much I haven't had time to put a bldg up over it! Soon as it warms up though, I'm putting one up. I have already gotten me a I-beam to span the log deck. I converted from old flat belt to V-belts in the move. Cleared the whole off bearing end up! It takes 2 plus men to keep up at the off bearing end. Carbide teeth cutting popular like it was styrofoam. I wouldn't trade my old mill for the latest and greatest band mill!
I just figure circle millers didn't have enough fingers left to type! ;D
Here is an old circle mill story I post almost 10 years ago.
https://forestryforum.com/board/index.php/topic,155.msg4863.html#msg4863
Quote from: Bibbyman on January 11, 2011, 10:40:31 AM
I just figure circle millers didn't have enough fingers left to type! ;D
I got enough left to make two big fists there Bibbyman! ;) :D
Here is an old one for ya.
https://forestryforum.com/board/index.php/topic,7893.0.html
So you want circle saw storys ! Ive had circle mills almost all my life. I started out with a Champion Pony then a American and a Frick. Once I had a belt feed jump and tightened up and I couldn't stop the carriage and it went right though the siding and out on the grass on the north end of the building . Turning a big log I flipped the carriage backwards off the track landing it between the I beams and back wall with the log on top. If I remember I did learn some new words that day ;D Hammered a 54 inch saw once, it looked like a million bucks with the straight edge on it. I hung it on the mandrel there were a few guys hanging aroud the mill that day and I wound it up to 550 rpm and they scattered like a bomb was about to go off. ;D It flopped around like a peace of bologna,I took it to my saw doctor and he looks at the saw then me and says if you ever try to hammer a saw again don't bring it here ;D All the time he was trying to hold back from laughing. Ive sawed the dogs a few times had slab wood catch the saw and whiz past my head,sawed my knuckles getting a peace of bark from under a running saw. Throwed teeth though the tin siding and always tell guys never stand in line with a running saw. As years past I changed friction out for hydrawlic motors but always wanted to put a twenty foot cylinder between the track then feed the carriage with it and a high volume pump. The old steam feed carriages were like rocket ships, thats what sawmills are all about to me gears and carriages that rip back and fourth like a rocket ;D
Quote from: Jeff on January 11, 2011, 10:44:05 AM
Quote from: Bibbyman on January 11, 2011, 10:40:31 AM
I just figure circle millers didn't have enough fingers left to type! ;D
I got enough left to make two big fists there Bibbyman! ;) :D
Yea, but you retired young. ;)
Yea, well, that's true. :)
But I started young. I made it 25 years. Sometimes I think I'd trade a finger or two for new shoulders.
We are all still here. Just busy. The other day I was asked when would I have something new on my rebuild. My answer was as soon as life quit getting the the way I would. I moved mine from my old place to the barn that I wasn't using much any more and started setting up and up grading for the next phase of my life. We're here just busy. Stay safe.
Beings there are 5 times more baand saws than circle mills it makes sence there are more topics about em ;D ;D. I perfur my belsaw but that could be because it is all I know.But in my situation with bigger rougher logs and dirt from skiding em proably better off. Could go thru life and not have problems you mentioned and not feel deprived for it :o :o
Brian
jeff
you got bad shoulders from trying to fly or what?
No, From doing this 10 hours a day for 25 years:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=i3PftuULqdk
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8VPJ-Ojha-s
Jeff, you ever try to calculate how many bf you milled from that seat? I bet it is a staggering amount at that pace! 8)
Between 3-5 million feet a year. Between 20 thousand and 30 thousand feet a day most days.
So, maybe 100 million board feet, give or take.
They are too busy trying to make up for the lower production per log by sawing more logs, while the bandmillers are finished for the day 'cause they got the most out of their logs ;D
Just kidding, I've never ran a circle mill but they have always intrigued me. I think if I was going for real high production, and I had a good supply of logs, I'd pick a circle mill any day.
I guess another question I have besides lack of circle sawmill guys on the Forum is where is the LARGE and MEGA mill guys?
Who on the Forum represents the largest mill operation?
Yeah, most of us are little'uns! where's the bigguns!
Jeff those are neat videos, how much horsepower did that mill have? That carriage is moving scary fast, think I'd be a little intimidated sitting behind those controls :o
The headsaw had 150 hp electric, the vertical edger had 75hp and the hydraulics had 75 hp, so 300 HP all told.
Looking at Duck and run! A circle sawyer initiation. That remind me of when I was doing maintenance work for a local mill like the one in Jeff videos. The sawyer hit a railroad spike in a log. It was most likely put there to hang nets on to dry and the tree gtew around it. You had to be careful sawing timber that came from around the river shore. Anyway the saw hit the spike just right and strip about half the teeth off of the saw. Shrapnel knot one of the windows out of the sawyer box. One of the teeth end up in the edger man shoulder. He was lucky. 6 inches more it would have kill him. That same year the sawyer was coming back with the carriage when the cable broke. It wipe out the bumper and end up in yard. It wouldn't have been so bad but mill was 15 feet or so in the air.
Sometimes I feel some nostalgia coming on and think maybe someday I'll get a circle mill and fart around with it.
I've had two real good opportunities and kept my hand (and fingers) in my pockets. One was at a local farmer's auction where they had a dandy little circle mill – maybe a Bellsaw – with about a 40"-48" blade. It had a gas International industrial engine. They fired it up and the old engine ran perfect. They ran the carriage back and forth and spun up the blade (but didn't saw a log) to show the mechanics worked on the mill. It was under roof. I think they got the bid up to about $1,100.00. I thought it sold but I found out later that they didn't let it go. A grandson took it and set it up but the last time I saw him, he said he sold it.
Then the logger I do business with also deals in any kind of rolling stock that he can patch up and put out on his lot for sale. He came across a Bellsaw B14 I think, mill that had been put on a mobile home frame so it was somewhat portable. It was PTO powered. He bought it for scrap prices. He got the instruction manual and extra inserts, tools, etc. He had it about 6 moths and traded it for something. I never asked him how much he was asking.
here in eastern canada where im from there called rotary mills and we have had three of them two were oxford and a lloyds i grew up playing around my dads mills spinning the saw by hand just to see it go around and watchin the teeth, my dad taught me how to setup mills after and hes probably forgot more than ill ever know, i can take a bunch of old rusty mill gear and make a mill out of it to saw lumber actually i have done it last year to get a friend of mines mill going and now hes sawing like a pro, we only saw for fun and when someone needs some lumber far from full time , we only had one accident when my dad rolled a log over his finger and lost the end of it, hes now 85 yrs old and helps me out some with my little mill my dad used to saw when he was younger for years my grandfather was a sawyer and my great grandfather was into sawing lumber to make sailing ships so i guess sawing is in my blood and there s nothing like the smell of freshly cut lumber
Quote from: Bibbyman on January 11, 2011, 02:41:52 PM
I guess another question I have besides lack of circle sawmill guys on the Forum is where is the LARGE and MEGA mill guys?
Who on the Forum represents the largest mill operation?
Most of the big 'uns in my neck of the woods are licking their wounds wondering where the housing market went :'(
WPLips,There are quit a few of us circular guys just seems we don't have all the questions the bandies do.I can't say much as I have a bandmill and a circular mill.I like boath but given my druthers I'll run the big wheel.An older handset circular mill is the best mill buy, but you end up with a mini industrial site.The foundation and set up are what discourage most hobby sawyers.Theirs nothing like watching a log going through the saw the smell the sound and the diesel up agenst the governor.Frank C.
Good thing camera batterys were dead or I would be up fer belsaw abuse again ;D 29" small end by 14 ft log got chewed up today. will have pics of lumber tomorrow. once you get it beavered down to 18 in so blade cuts thru is fun to cut biger ones. 8) 8) 8)
Brian
Cap Crunch,now I know where you got your handle thats a bigun.What size headsaw are you turning?My first mill had a 44" and I never found a log I couldn't cut,at least back east trees.Frank C.
Bandmiller2
I am runninga 46" with 36 teeth does make the 40 hp 3000 grunt a might Actually the 2910 Ford had more trouble packing it than mill had sawing it ::) ::)
Everything has its place and everything in its place. Band mills work good for grade sawing resawing small logs and so on circle sawmills cut ties timbers and high production I have a circular mill but would like to have a band mill to resaw cants with after cutting off the dirty bark
Over the years i have gotten lumber from band mills and circle mills . I have noticed that most of the band mills lumber has dips waves and birdbaths on the surfaces . so all the socalled savings of lumber by the thin curf ends up on the floor of my shop as planer shavings. Today I had a 1.25" board that had to be planed down to 3/4" to remove all the dips . most of my circle cut wood will dress out with less than a quarter inch.
Don
I suspect sawyer error bandmills are suspost to be quite accurate never run one myself but there are too many of them not to work well
(https://forestryforum.com/gallery/albums/userpics/19561/100_1680_%28Custom%29.JPG%20%5B/IMG%3Cbr%20/%3E%5BIMG%5D%20https://forestryforum.com/gallery/albums/userpics/19561/100_1682_%28Custom%29.JPG)
(https://forestryforum.com/gallery/albums/userpics/19561/100_1681_%28Custom%29.JPG)
I give up Help Jeff
Don, you must have gotten your bandsawn lumber from someone with a poorly setup mill. I can saw 7/8" boards and they will usually plane out to 3/4" after drying. Not that I usually do that, but I did it on accident a few times before I learned to add in kerf thickness. I now saw to 1" in case of bad cupping or warping during drying.
Captain, You have a great looking setup, keep the pics coming!
c_c
You are doing well. You have good pics in your gallery. Just copy them into your post.
You can use the modify button to fix your post. You will notice there is an ending bracket missing after the IMG of the first pic
Then to test it, click on the preview button. If the preview isn't what you want, look for anything else that is missing. Easy to erase a bracket or two here and there. :)
Don does have a good point.
When the band blade goes dull, the waves happen. Can't go back and redo the piece.
On a circular sawmill, such waves don't happen as easily nor as often. Something serious (beyond just sharpening saw teeth) has gone wrong if a wavy board comes off the circular saw. Still need a lot of attention to saw hammering, alignment, guides, lead, and accurate carriage set. But Don makes a good point that thin kerf saws have had to deal with for many years.
Beenthere
Guess with any mill it depends on how much quality you want in your product. Don't see why a band won't cut good lumber. Comercial mills here in Oregon all use BIG band saws fer head rig
Yeah, and they cut coming and going ;D
Gday
Dave they do cut coming and going on some of them and they are good machines as i have run both a slant with chipping reducer head and standard carriages with wheels upto 84" dia running 12" wide bands ;) ill tell a funny story once when arvo shift was operating at the mill i worked at i was in the grinding shop sharpening 3 sets of knifes for the three chippers we ran there (one of one too many jobs I was asked to do ontop of my usual hours and a boring job with an auto grinder ??? ::)) and i heard the band making a tap,tap tap tap tap getting worse with every pass as it was in the cut so I was walking over to the sawyers cab about 30 feet from me to let Jason know that i though the band was about to go when it did with a Bang and about 30+ foot of band came out from where it had snapped off near the bottom of the cut and rolled it out over the pantograph and up against the mill shed it scared the crap outa both off us :o ;) :D :D :D the sawyers cabs at that mill where at the end of the track so we where till about 30" away from the action ;)
When a wide band costs more than a circular saw Ill stick with the circ ;) and plus I dont have a million dollars plus to spend on a setting up a production band mill any way ;) :D :D ;D
Give Me A Circular Mill Any Day I LOVE EM ;) ;D ;D 8) 8)
Regards Chris
new day so will try again other end of cant
(https://forestryforum.com/gallery/albums/userpics/19561/100_1682_%28Custom%29.JPG)
Boards all ready cut waiting to be resawn
(https://forestryforum.com/gallery/albums/userpics/19561/100_1680_%28Custom%29%7E0.JPG)
I cut 28-1X6 4=1X4 and 2-2X6 boards out of the log
My old frick 00 was made between 1924-1934. 80 + years old. The blade is stamped 1967 from Shreveport, La. That's 44 years old. Still cutting quality lumber! I want to hear about a bandmill that can even come close! Where's the bandmill that's still cutting with a 44 year old blade. If there was such a thing I'd have to drag out one of my old disston blades that's older and start running it just for spite! Ha ha!
Oh and I still got all my fingers!!!! So far!
It sure don't take much to get you circle guys cranked up! I was just kidding! Didn't you see the Smiley?
Beenthere, it wasn't just waves in this one , it also had some bowls that would have made bowlcrafter very happy. I know that that was operator error . No one with any sence would keep cutting with that many defects. at least five boards before this one would have shown a small wave . He kept sawing because both sides were bad.
I worked the megamills I was a supervisor for the largest privately owned Hardwood operation in America also in one of the largest family owned pine operation and worked in So America at one of the larger production mill for mahog. Banak anderobia cedar etc and loved them all but my fav mill of all time was a little pine circle mill all HMC with a schurman gang and a cambio debarker I loved that little mill and sawing on it I feel your pain on the shoulders Jeff I feel it every time I move them snap crackle pop ;)
Yea, had a new blow out. Got an MRI scheduled for next Wednesday morning. I didn't do anything other then maybe outlive the 1989 repair on this one. :-\
Jeff, on your shoulders, what was the cause of the injury? Was it the from running the controls in the Sawyers Cab? I have done a fair amount of work in the woods in my day, granted I haven't spent years and years doing a job that entailed sitting in a fairly constant position, i.e. an equipment operator or such, but I have had stints doing that kind of work for say months at a time. Just wondering how the damage is done, so I could maybe learn from your experiences. The biggest recurring injury I have to be careful of is not lifting too much, I can really blow out my lower back in a hurry, if I don't lift properly or try and lift too much. That could be from my years on the ground running a saw and cutting and bunching pulpwood. I hope you get some good help on the shoulder thing soon. I had a co-worker several years back who had to have rotator cuff surgery, from the looks of what he went through, I hope I never have to go through one of those. :-\
Do different causes. The first one in 1989 was an accident. We had a pin fall out on the hydralic cylinder that activates the big iron log kickers on our Debarker outfeed trough. The kickers push up through the trough, push the log up on the live deck, then return out of the trough. when they come back out of the trough and down, they just clear the wall. If you look at the video link, you will see how they work and the wall that is there.
Well, the way we should have fixed it, was locked out the machine, go find some wrenches, took the hoses off the cylinder, pulled the ram out on the cylinder so it would line up and then put the pin back in. In the real world when we were trying to make production, You have two guys back there, have the debarker operator push the lever until the clevis lines up then put the pin back in. That's what we did. I an another guy put the pin in, then motioned for the debarker operator to put the kickers in the up position so we could walk out past them. He did that, then lifted his hands up and to each side to show he was clear of the controls. At that point, Bob and I turned around to walk out. I took one step, and for what ever reason that possessed the guy running the debarker, we guess he was grabbing a lever to do something else, he put the kickers back down. I was now between the kicker, and a 2 by 6 T&G wall, about a foot from one of the 6 by 6 barn poles. The kicker pushed me into the wall and I tried to resist. My arm was torn from its socket and most of the muscles torn lose with it. Bob was behind me and at the same time grabbed my belt and pulled me backwards as the kicker went on down, probably saving my life.
Bob told me he had heard about peoples eyes turning red in anger, but never saw it until that day. I instantly spin and was going after the old fart that activated the machine, as Bob held me back. I still didnt know how bad I was hurt.
I had a fairly major reconstruction of the shoulder with my arm pinned to my side for 6 weeks after the operation. My wrist got to be about as big around as a kids. It took me about a year to recover completely, but I went back to the mill after 4 months.
Thats the shoulder that is bothering me now. I went almost 20 years with it trouble free, as the fix was quite successful.
The other shoulder was diagnozed as a repetitive stress injury. I've had 3 operations on it, and after about 4 years now, it give me very little trouble. It took a longtime for the pain to go away on it, and I lost about 15% of my range of motion.
The video below shows the debarker that got me.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=p-oCi8SCs7o
Man! my shoulder hurts just reading what you described of the accident! I guess it could have easily turned out much worse. I you are able to get things squared away with your shoulder this time. I know how it feels to have deep seated pain lingering for long periods of time. I got bucked off the loader chair on our log truck several years back. I was lowering the stabilizers, and there was a small log half in the way of the pad on one side as the stabilizer was coming down, I thought that the log would just kick over as the pad could rotate on the pin and kind of "squeeze" the log as it went down. Wrong! The stabilizer went down on top of the log, and instead of the log moving, it stayed put, the whole loader began to lift up, probably 6 inches, then the log spits out from under the stablizer kind of like a wet bar of soap and the loader quickly comes back to make contact with the ground as the log is suddenly not there, and you can imagine the movement from the operators chair, no seatbelt, it threw me off like I was bucked off a horse. I landed on the small of my back (wintertime, frozen ground), and just laid there in pain for several minutes. When I went to get up, there was a powerful pain. I had cracked the coxyx bone (tail bone), and I could not sit down or move very fast for a couple months after that. I probably fell from about 12 feet or 13 feet to the ground. It wasn't near as bad as what happened to you, and I am sure not as painful either. I can relate to the pain though maybe just a little bit.
Repetitive motion is what usually gets us old farts. I had problems with carpal tunnel starting to develop in my left arm. We fixed that by going over to joystick controls and a trigger control to handle the headblocks. But, my neck has no pads in between the vertebrae. And you have to turn your head only a couple thousand times a day. That gives me some major problems.
Now I'm getting tendinitis in the right arm from using the log turner, and the buttons on the right handle. This time, I'm going to just hang it up. I think I'm worn out.
You paid your dues. Time to go to the seashore more often and SAVE THE FIRST SATURDAY IN AUGUST FOR A PIGROAST!! ;)
I think they could have saved me if they would have went to the ergonomic controls a couple years earlier like I had asked them to. They changed them all for the next guy while I was still in a sling.
Mary does not care too much for sawing. She did most of it for several years before I quit my day job and we both went running the sawmill full time. She'd rather offbear and edge. Says sawing hurts her shoulders.
We fixed up a stool to set on while sawing. That seemed to be ok at first. But it limits your movement when you have to look around to see where the clamp is, etc. Also, my left knee started hurtung. I found out that getting on and off the stool on the left side I was always putting weight on my left leg and the standing and turning - thus twisting my knee. I kicked the stool to the side and use it for a table to put items on and stood to saw. My knee got ok again. But often I find I'm standing at the control with my head cocked to the right and my weight leaning to the right. After a day of this my neck and upper back is bent. I'll go to bed at night and crank my neck over to the left and all my vertebra in my neck and upper back will crack.
Bib, eat more left handed tacos. :)
Quote from: Don_Papenburg on January 12, 2011, 09:52:57 PM
Over the years i have gotten lumber from band mills and circle mills. I have noticed that most of the band mills lumber has dips waves and birdbaths on the surfaces.
Operator error.
Dips (the bowl effect) and bumps (inverted bowl) are most commonly caused by a slack blade. A properly tensioned blade can go slack very quickly in a wide cut if the blade overheats. Waves are caused either by low blade tension or by the saw blade slowing down (cutting to fast). Dull blades or unbalanced set can cause both problems as well.
An experienced band sawyer will be constantly checking blade tension and listening to the motor.
I've sawn enough wood that I can run my hand quickly down a cant and feel even the slightest ripple. I do this automatically as the saw is in the next cut and if I feel ripple, I check the board visually -- and change the blade. Anything that manages to come off the mill with ripple gets spotted at the edger and put into the junk pile. I sell it as "junk" for half price, and some people are happy to buy it, ripples and all.
I've seen wavy boards from sawyers who just couldn't be bothered dealing with the problem. They give the rest of us a bad name.
just got one last month to go along with my peeling operation. to much big wood coming in. dads been sawing. i havent got my feet wet yet. will soon enough. hoping that the pine sqaures will hold up. post are going strong. i have a 50 acre clear cut pine. mix with post and logs. 180 select acre oak with sawlogs and pine tickets to thin on it also. about 3 miles apart . then have a 300 acre oak select cut that hasnt been cut in 50 years. so ihave my hands full with wood towork with. also have 75 thousand feet of pine pallet logs to saw up on my yard i need to get sawed up. with other guys bringing me wood every day. i hope this weather breaks soon. also have the motor out of the sk idder rebuilding it right now.
So I have a quality question for all you circle mill operators. I realize a circle mill can saw much faster than a band mill. But is it at the expense of quality?
Circle mill #1: When I was sawing under contract to a timber frame business, one customer insisted on purchasing his own rough-sawn timbers and having the timber-framers work with them directly (in order to "save" money). Part way through the project the manager of the shop asked me to resaw some of the timbers, as they were spending way too much time doing joinery. On every one of 20 timbers, I did not find a single right-angle. Not one of the faces was parallel, either side to side or end to end. The guys in the shop later told me that every timber they got from that mill was the same.
Circle mill #2: This project was supposed to use rough-sawn 6x12 white pine in a square log cabin. The big circle mill down the road ran a lot of white pine, but insisted on supplying the sawn timbers (as opposed to selling the logs so I could saw them). The timbers were all perfectly square, but they were all tapered by 1/2" over the length in both the 6" and the 12" dimension. I ended up resawing every timber.
Circle mill #3: The timber framer bought these from yet another mill, simply because I was already backlogged with his work. I had a look at them and they were all great. Square, parallel, and consistent from piece to piece. The shop guys thought they were great.
Obviously there's no grounds for blaming the poor cutting on circle mills in general. But I am curious if the bad stuff was due to mill alignment issues or operator issues (or both).
Inquiring minds want to know ???.
QuoteBut is it at the expense of quality?
My short answer to that is absolutely and unequivocally no. Poor lumber comes from poor sawyers. You can't ever blame the mill because it still is ultimately the sawyers responsibility to keep that mill sawing true.
Wow, we have some lumber buyers that wouldn't buy from small band mills because of quality issues. What would cause that?
Too many sawyers feed too fast for conditions. They think that softwoods mean to feed as fast as possible. Tapered or out of square can be several factors. Some are mechanical and some technique. You find the same factors on band mills as you do on circle mills.
All logs and different species saw different. It is the sawyer who's responsible for quality. Whether its a band or circle mill. I have days sawing popular with new teeth that the world is just a beautiful place and it takes 3 off bearers to keep up sawing beautiful true and square lumber. I'll go to bragging and stick some big oaks on the log table and all the sudden I start getting taper or wedge from the blade laying over. This is usually only on stuff over 16 feet. But then everyone's ragging me while I tweak a little and get it back like it's supposed to be.
Soooooo,
It's sawyers responsibility for quality. And at the end of the day,( my) circle mill will have a lot more board feet that's just as good as any rubber band mill.
Every time I see something built out of rough cut lumber and it doesn't have circle saw marks, I always tell whomever that those little straight lines across the boards promote rot and weakens the boards. He he ha ha!
i always tell folks that make fun of my lumber to go to the lumberyard and get the wood,
then they come running back with cash in hand. ;D
Jeff I know how easy it is to get hurt on a debarker like that. Back when I first started to work around the mill I was changing the teeth on a debarker head jest like the one in the video. I cut a piece of 2x4 the right length to hold the head up but I could still spin the head. Then I lower the head down on the 2x4. As I was using an air wench to take out the bolts holding the teeth the head was moving the 2x4 as I use the air wrench off the rail that I had the 2x4 sitting on. Next thing I knew the head fell pining my hand between the head and the log rollers. After I got some help to get the head off my hand I found out that when the head fell it mash off the ends of 2 of my fingers on left hand. I was lucky cause it only hit a 1/2 inch on the end. It mash the skin off and broke the bones on the end of them 2 finger. In time it all heal up and 35 years later you can't tell it ever happen. I remember it well. It happen so fast you didn't have time to think to move.
murdock it isn't the fall that hurt you it the sudden stop. I was helping move a mill once. We was breaking down the debarker. Had gotten the head and roller bolts all broken lose getting ready to lift it out. We had been walking across the log deck for a week. We all thought that it had a floor between the runner on the deck. i was walking across the deck and all of a sudden the botton fell out from under me. Like you I fell 14 feet and landed on my tail bone. I didn't break anything but I was so stiff that I couldn't move around. All this happen in Huntsville Alabama 700 miles from home. I laid in the motel a couple of days and then I decided to come home. The boys with me loaded the truck and chain it down. I had to stop once to get fuel. Whiled I was getting fuel I tried to tight up the chains but was having a hard time a driver walking by help me to tighten the chains on the load up. Good thing I was young and dumb back then I don't believe I could do it now.
Why did you have to prop the top head up? With ours in the up position, the center of gravity of the head is to the back of the machine, not down. Did you have a hydraulic leak that would allow the head to fall?
You must of had a different style cutter head than we had. Our cutters were set in holes in the head, then a counter hole contained Allenhead sets that held the cutter in the head. They were always miserable to get out. It got to the point where we bought a spare head and would swap out heads so the teeth could be changed on the bench.
Quote from: woodpeckerlips on February 10, 2011, 08:22:08 AM
Every time I see something built out of rough cut lumber and it doesn't have circle saw marks, I always tell whomever that those little straight lines across the boards promote rot and weakens the boards. He he ha ha!
Hey, I say that about the circle marks! Good thing we don't live near each other -- we'd be driving folks to the big box stores :D :D.
Jeff that head work off of air. A air Cylinders lifted the head then you would drop it on the log. It was either up or down. There wasn't anything in between. You could keep the teeth from eating into the log by moving the head but if you held it in one place you could cut a log into. The teeth fit in a slot in the head with a bolt holding the tooth in place. The head of the bolt was all way wearing off so sometime I had to take the cutting torch to cut the head off and use a pipe wrench to get the rest of the bolt out.
Sounds completely different than the Morbark.
I went looking for a photo of the style cutters we had on our debarker, but could not find one. I did however find a press release and video from morbark on a new style head released a year ago. Morbark is only about 40 miles from here.
http://www.morbark.com/Denubber/DeNubber%20Video.swf
Heres a couple for ya from the xew kid on the block-Iwas sawing a20 ft hemlock log and when I was backing up the carriage from acut the cable snapped and guess what -the carriage and log went through the end wall.Luckly the cable didnt get caught up in the saw! Another time one of my employees was pushing sawdust into the blower in the saw pit with a garden rake when all of sudden he caught the saw.It snapped the handle and flunged the metal part of the rake and stuck it into the roof.You should have seen the look on his face-oops
Ely,
Your right! If they don't like it, then go somewhere else. My quality vers quantity varies to what the end product is being used for. Fence boards I burn them off fast as I Can. If its framing I pay a lot more attention. Beams I get as close as possible. Mantles too. If I was doing a timber framing project I'd take great care in close dimensions. I always ask what the material is to be used for! If its a pole barn or run in shelter for horses or something then I run the material off quick and charge a little less. If its a special project requiring close tolerances. I spend time getting it just right and charge a little more. As long as everyone is happy all is good! Far as I know nobody has ever been unhappy! I've had to turn down some really large jobs because of lack of logs. Smaller orders like under 10000 feet is like where I like to stay. Sawmilling is evenings and weekend for me! I will have to say it's the only hobby I've ever had that pays for itself and I enjoy it a lot!
Quote from: Ron Wenrich on February 10, 2011, 06:07:24 AM
Wow, we have some lumber buyers that wouldn't buy from small band mills because of quality issues. What would cause that?
Too many sawyers feed too fast for conditions. They think that softwoods mean to feed as fast as possible. Tapered or out of square can be several factors. Some are mechanical and some technique. You find the same factors on band mills as you do on circle mills.
Ill add just because that Go Stick will whip that log through the saw at upto 300' a min don't mean its gonna happen by a long shot you have to vary your feed to suit the conditions ;)
Regards Chris
I never let the end product determine the quality of my sawing. Only the quality of the logs determined that. My goal everyday was to make that saw perform the pest to my ability. Producing poorly sawn lumber was never an option whether it was to be steel stickers or grade lumber. I must add that quantity and quality were always equal goals and there could not be one with out the presence of the other.
Well I don't have a huge circle mill but I've got a Foley's Belsaw with 36" blade. I hit the dog the other day and it exploded - pieces went flying all around my head. Just wasn't my time I guess.
I love the old saw and am just getting started on it. Would like some help understanding the blade however as there are really very few sawmills in central Oklahoma that I am aware of. It's a fixed tooth swage blade and I need to know how to sharpen it and etc.
Also where is a good place to buy blades and parts?
Welcome to the Forum Oklalogdog. I guess imitation is the most sincere form of flattery. :)
Look on the left side of the page here under our list of Sponsors. Menominee Saw is a source for blades for you. Otherwise you can try Southern Carbide down here in Shreveport, LA and they're a great source for blades as well. They're personal friends of mine and have done a lot of saw work for me. Here's their contact info:
4115 Curtis Lane
Shreveport, LA 71109-6403
(318) 631-7388
Ask for Johnny Walls or Shannon Walls his son. It's a family operation. You may ask if their route goes as far as your place. They'll pick up and return saws within a certain radius which saves hassle on shipping.
LOL - sorry about the imitation - You must have been a member here for a while to have been able to use that name. Anyway - Contacted Minominee today - probably won't hear anything from them till Tuesday. And, will definitely contact Southern Carbide. Thanks for the help.
Yep, coming up on 5 years. It's a good place to be. One of those outfits should be able to get you hooked up.
Welcome Okla,hope it was the dog that came unglued not your saw.Don't think I've ever heard of a headsaw 36" unless its a reworked cordwood blade.Belsaws came with 40" saws either incerted bit or solid tooth.Solid tooth saws are alot harder to maintain as the gullets should be gummed out when they get shallow.I would try to find a good used 40"to 46" incerted bit saw,sawsmiths are good to buy from most won't sell you a bad saw. Frank C.
Gday
And welcome to The Forum Okla ;) ;D ;D 8) Double Plate Spring sett saws are good and they where very popular down here but you need a gulleter and setting bar to take care of them properly I have sharpend and maintained them countless times over the years Mate with yours you have prob knocked the sett of one side by grasing the dogs you can get by using shifter to set it ;) you have to have a good eye though ;) :D :D :) I would suggest going to an insert with std metal teeth as you can look after them with just a hand file and you could prob find one cheap in a slightly larger dia for the bellsaw also i thinkk they could take upto a 48" saw ;)
Regards Chris