I am a relative newbie here, have been lurking for 5 or 6 months. I have been
chainsaw milling for about 15 years, and as I get older it has gotten to be more work (or I have just gotten older)
I recently purchase a used Norwood LM 2000, and already have a pile of walnut logs (imported from the east) as well as river recovered heart pine.
My question is what jigs for lack of a better term have any of you come up with for cutting cookies. I am a turner amongst many other things and would like to come up with a way to use logs that are to short to turn into turning blanks or cookies.
Any pictures or insight would be much appreciated.
I would like to get them 6/4 or better.
Thanks in advance
As long as the log is not bigger in dia. than btween the blade guides just build a jig that will hold the short log vertical and start cutting.
Welcome to the Forestry Forum, Montana Sawyer. :)
My sawmill is vastly different, but I just clamp it upright and saw.
Welcome! Grew up in your part of the country, (Flathead Valley.)
Welcome to the Forestry Forum, Montana Sawyer
OntheSauk,
I have spent considerable time in Darrington as well. when we lived in Seattle
we went to the bluegrass festival in Darrington every year, and were good freinds with several people that were born and raised there.
Bill G. and I had some fun making cookies for his neighbor George here a while back.
https://forestryforum.com/board/index.php/topic,54542.0.html
The jig I had just kept them from sliding on the bed rails. I use vice grips. ;D
PC
AWelcome Montana Sawyer, Iam a MSU alum.. Love Montana. There are some others on here that are close too you. Onthesauk your just over the bridge and threw the valley from me. here is a Jig for clamping material I use for cutting small stuff.
(https://forestryforum.com/gallery/albums/userpics/22539/rps20120901_102020.jpg)
(https://forestryforum.com/gallery/albums/userpics/22539/rps20120901_102341_638.jpg) Ive also used this jig for cutting ovals out of crotches taking 4" n 6" passes for bowl blanks. Just cut my angle with chain saw and fixed it to the board with screws. Just keep track of where hardware is.
Every Thanksgiving my wife's cousin brings me a log(s) to saw. This year it was a cherry and it is for table decorations at her daughter's wedding. They wanted cookies, too and I warned them about the possibility of cracking but I tried it anyway on a section with nails - not too much to lose if it doesn't work. Here's how I did it.
I insert the log between the bunks with the tractor.
(https://forestryforum.com/gallery/albums/userpics/13036/cutting_cookies_001.jpg)
Ratchet straps hold the log in place.
(https://forestryforum.com/gallery/albums/userpics/13036/cutting_cookies_002.jpg)
Then I can saw.
(https://forestryforum.com/gallery/albums/userpics/13036/cutting_cookies_003.jpg)
I sawed 8 cookies (~12" dia) trying to avoid the nails and ended up with thicknesses of 3/4" and 1". I used Gene Wengert's idea for minimizing cracking and soaked them in de-natured alcohol for 12 to 24 hours and allowed them to dry. The cookie pics were taken a month after sawing and only one has cracked and it was one with a nail in it. Time will tell on the others.
Bob
(https://forestryforum.com/gallery/albums/userpics/13036/cookie_001.jpg)
(https://forestryforum.com/gallery/albums/userpics/13036/cookie_002.jpg)
I recently sawed a batch of Walnut and Cedar cookies which were used as serving trays at a wedding.
(https://forestryforum.com/gallery/albums/userpics/20011/Photo092_28Small29.jpg)
There would be no standard way of clamping because of the different sawmill designs and clamping arrangements.
Those must have been some heavy serving trays or some heavy servers (or both :)).
After looking, those were the 1" cookies. I must not have gotten a picture of the ½" serving trays. :-\
I would think a fella into the "cookie" thing would be best served with a band with little hook like 4 degree.Hooked teeth tend to grab cross cutting. Frank C.
I made some cookies last night, 8) but they weren't very good. The recipe called 'em pimento cheese shortbread cookies; a cup of pimento cheese, a cup of flour, 1/3 cup of chopped pecans, roll out, cut into 'round's, bake. Thought they'd make good horse doovers, but not worth the effort.
Great photos. Only time I tried to cut a cookie on the band mill, it spun on me and ruined the blade. After that, I went back to using a chain saw. Definitely want a slow cut, and clamp it securely so it can't spin. Norwood has a 3/4" pitch blade that would less aggressive than the normal 7/8" pitch. Do you have a plan for drying them without cracking?
MM, what did you do with all those cookies after the wedding?
I just saw um and leave um. ;D I hope that she doesn't do the same. :D :D
Thanks all for the replies, It has given me some idea as to how to go about it.
My plan for drying is to Anchor Seal the ends, with the rounds debarked and put it in my solar kiln, checking on them daily.
Montana, welcome, the way I have done the cookies is to take a 4X6 and cut a V in it to help hold the log. If you want you can cut two, one for each side of the log. I make mine in the neighborhood of 30" long and set them on a board, that span the rails, and make it narrower than the log. I use the same technique on slanted cookies, you will need to find the gap between the rails, and put the desired angle on them,and they seem to dry a little better as far as splitting goes. Have fun, Merry Christmas to you and your family, david
Welcome to Forestry Forum Montana Sawyer! Its good to see another Montanan on here. They're pretty few and far between ;) What if you used something similar to a buck saw for doinf firewood? How big are the cookies you are looking to cut?
Levi
Levi
Buck saw or buzz saw?
Take a gander at my mill in my gallery.
I can cut cookies on my mill, I prefer to cut them if they are 16 to 24 in dia
The small ones dont sell very well and or not very profitable for my time into them.
now cutting/ milling laying down, my bunks are 1 foot on center. I cut lots of short logs.
Welcome to the Forum Montana Sawyer.
If you are a member of AAW ( American Association of Woodturners). Check out the April 2010 Vol 25, No 2 Issue.
Beginning on page 28 they have an article about cutting bowl blanks on a portable sawmill. It looks like other forum members have given you some good advice, so this article is just another possible answer.
We would love to see some pictures of your turning.
Good luck
Quote from: beenthere on December 18, 2012, 04:40:47 PM
Levi
Buck saw or buzz saw?
Ha, your memory is better than mine. Buzz saw.
Close to a year ago, I gave away my Daughter Caitlin to Levi Entz. These cookies were her idea, they turned out beautiful, as did the bride and groom!
(https://forestryforum.com/gallery/albums/userpics/30023/IMG_2115.jpg)
(https://forestryforum.com/gallery/albums/userpics/30023/IMG_2119.jpg)
(https://forestryforum.com/gallery/albums/userpics/30023/IMG_2234.jpg)
(https://forestryforum.com/gallery/albums/userpics/30023/IMG_2369.jpg) and the best thing is they will make it home for Christmas this year!
who's place is that !!! :o
I've got movable bunks on my Thomas. I can just slide them together and clamp a piece of firewood up to 24" on end and slice away. Or slide them apart a bit and drop one end of the log down between the rails, clamp, and saw on the diagonal.
It can make for some very marketable cookies. It is hard on blades as a not too sharp one won't like the diagonal or cross cutting and those short pieces always seem to have a lot of grit in the bark.
That was another reason why I brought a Thomas. Even though I never have done that.
Shelbycharger, this was a rental, last minute deal, not due to anything except a change in plans due to a transfer in post. The wedding was to be the following May, in our field across the drive. We worked most of the fall cleaning up from a tornado's damage, then the change in plans, go figure that one. this is at Cedar stone logde in Eminence, MO, a very nice place, backhome and country. under three weeks planning, and as you might expect, a perfect wedding! This being said, of all the cookies cut, the ones that were cut on an angle most of them not shown, handled the drying quite well, the guest book was one of them, but special care was taken with this one. Not shown only because of the names on the list, forgive me for this, just a privacy issue, but rest assured it is still in tact, and solid. I will say it is whiteoak on about 45 degree angle, and just beautiful.
I like all the cookies,drobertson, you mentioned transfer in post and saw the hat. Who's serving our country?
My son-in-law, stationed in Kenosha, WI, Coast Gaurd, he has bout two years or so to go, He was in Portsmouth NH, I was kinda hoping they would get Florida, or some place warm ;D Oh well,
Probably he was too. WI,must be a big body of water?
Lake Michigan, yea, it's pretty big, we have been there three times now, I really like it there, just not use to the cold, It seems like the cold is colder up there. I know Levi is ready for some ice fishing, folks up there said it is a blast.
I use a piece of 1/2 in ply wood 16 inches wide and 4 foot long on the bed to set the stump on and a 2x6 or 8 against the side supports and then the 2 plane clamp on my LT40. I cut those thing every spring for my wife's use as she chucks all the ones that she used last year before for various things around our back yard garden.
(https://forestryforum.com/gallery/albums/userpics/22409/IMG_0315.JPG)
You can see about a dozen or so stepping blocks in the shadow (you have to look close) under the spruce tree by the kitchen deck.