A day cutting wood

[backwoods sawyer]

These are the logs that met us this morning, but the log owner didn't. Two need split and a third needs considerable chainsaw work. Got a call: ferior showed up, keys are in the cat. So we set up and started with the small logs. With moving in and setting up it was a short day. Little Jo done the sawing and most of the small logs were done when we called it a day. I have the big log set up on blocks ready to be split in the morning.


  

  

 

[backwoods sawyer]

Well at least one of us was running the mill today ;)


 
The big log was 44" and it split clean and straight.


 
All these big logs have thick bark packed with lots of mud and rocks, since the bark was starting to slip I worked it all off and then trimmed the knots real close to round up the logs before splitting. The extra cut down the edge gives it a flat spot to stand up on the mill. Lot of extra chainsaw work on these logs. 


 

[Magicman]

Yup, Little Jo ain't worried about you.  She is steadily sawing.   ;D

[highleadtimber16]

Those logs look they would make great firewood  ;)

[Peter Drouin]

The big ones can be a hand full. That's a lot of work , Good job

[backwoods sawyer]

The story behind these logs is why they will not go to firewood.
About twenty of these big old growth trees grew 40 miles west of where they are now, over in the steep coast range near Scottsburg where he later build a house with a view of the river valley. I did a site eval and it was a non workable site, solid rock witha steep slope, it would take a cat to take the mill up and down the mountain and no mill site along the road as it was a steep climb then made a loop up and around a ridge and back down to the midway point. The trees grew on shallow ground so steep they were concerned about the houses a quarter mile down the mountain when they took them down three years ago. They hired a self loader and had a D-8 take him up to the ridge then hook on behind and take him down the mountain.
I milled up a big batch for a house project and all of the beams for the barn project and these logs got set aside to be milled later for barn restoration project. Now they have started to rebuild the 100 yr old barn that had started to sag and lean. We are milling all siding and corral boards out of these logs. 

[backwoods sawyer]

 

 


 


 


 
Whittled on the big logs today.
Started by rounded all of the ugly off. To brake them down I made a cut all the way down thu the log with the 60" bar. Then climbed up on top of the 15' logs and continued the cut going about 2/3 of the way thru the mid section. Finishing by climbing down off the log at the other end and cutting all the way down thru, drive a good metal wedge in each end of the log, flip it over so the cut is at a 45* bottom side up, drive another wedge in each corner, and use the other saw with a 32" bar to finish the cut, the top half slides away from you and the bar don't get pinched.
The cat made positioning and moving the log as well as bark and sawdust clean up effortless. Which is good unless you leave the big saw on the back side of the log, unload load a stack of 1x12 onto the trailer and roll the log over the saw when you you come back and position the log.
Bar is fine, rest is questionable and will drop it off at the shop in the morning and find out the damage.

[Jim_Rogers]

I've been working on a order of 2x10x10' 6" red oak planks for a customer.

I needed one big log to finish off the order.

So I went down to the log pile and found this real nice red oak log that was 20" in diameter on the small end and 15' long. (My logger never measures oak logs, he just cuts them wherever he feels like it, stoopid I know).

Well, I had a lot of trouble moving this log with my backhoe as it was very heavy.

How heavy was it? Well the forum tool box says it was 2094 lbs. My calculations say it was closer to 3696 lbs. We can discuss the the way I figured the weight but that's another story.

Anyway, due to its heavy weight, it was very hard to move. I couldn't pick it up with my forks. So I would normally just put a choker cable around one end and then lift up one end and drag it down the driveway to the mill.

Well this log was so heavy that the backhoe (only two wheel drive) couldn't even drag it down the driveway to the mill.
And I don't have one of those nice log trailers like Dave Shepard has, yet. (note to self, get one).
So I had to resort to another method.
I tried putting a short piece of very round log under the big log so that it would "roll" and move down the driveway.
Well that didn't work because the log chunk I used was too short and the big log just fell off the "roller log".

So I go another smaller diameter but longer "roller log" and put it under the big log and that worked very good:



 

The only problem was that I had to get off the machine and put it back under several times in order to get it all the way from the pile to the mill.

I really miss my broke down log truck.

Jim Rogers

[Jim_Rogers]

Not a good start to the day:



 

I'll have to see what that is.

Jim Rogers

[Jim_Rogers]

Well, I made the next 2" cut and didn't hit a thing. So whatever it was, was only in that 2" plank.
I figured I would have hit it for sure.

I guess I lucked out on that one.

Jim Rogers

[DeerMeadowFarm]

You have to get lucky once in a while Jim!  ;)

[Jim_Rogers]

Well, my luck ran out on the way with the delivery of this lumber:




 

I didn't have a spare with me. My spare for the trailer consisted of two new tires not on two rims I got from a salvage guy. So, I had to leave the trailer on the side of the road. But before I left it, I called the customer to send over one of his trucks so we could slide his (14) 2x10x10's off of the trailer onto his truck. Which he did. I didn't want to leave it on the side of the road with all that lumber on it.

After I got paid, I came back to the sawmill yard, got the two used tires I bought, two used rims that I swapped some lumber for and got a local garage to mount the tires. And got one of the new tires on the trailer. And it is home now.

What an afternoon.

Jim Rogers

[Peter Drouin]

I like the catwalk next to the mill. Is that to keep you out of the mud?

[Jim_Rogers]

Peter:
Yes, but it wasn't muddy when I put them down, this time.
But it is nice walking on wood instead of hard ground.

Jim Rogers

[WDH]

I have a sawdust catwalk  ;D.

[Peter Drouin]

I have a sawdust catwalk  ;D.

say_what

[thecfarm]

I walk on my sawdust too.

[Magicman]

When it is muddy I regularly "pave" with sawdust. 

[Bandmill Bandit]

When it is muddy I regularly "pave" with sawdust.

Even when dry saw dust pavement is so much nicer to work on. I just keep it damp. and it smells nice un less its Poplar/Aspen! and that'll grow on you too. :D

[highleadtimber16]

When it is muddy I regularly "pave" with sawdust.

Even when dry saw dust pavement is so much nicer to work on. I just keep it damp. and it smells nice un less its Poplar/Aspen! and that'll grow on you too. :D

You're still able to smell the sawdust!? 

[Magicman]

You're still able to smell the sawdust!?   

Most of us are suffering for auditory, and "odoritory" overload.   ;D

[backwoods sawyer]

When we arrived on site we walked the trail and it was soft, real soft we left some ruts getting in and out. I knew I could not pull one hill so the customer had his truck ready to pull me on in. I spun out right where I had dropped the chain. He hooked on and away we went on down the trail, watching a young oak it was aparent it was going to catch the saw head. I slid to a stop and as he spun he walked right off the side of the trail but I avioded contact with the tree and he was able to use hp to get back on the trail.
The site had a good slope to it and the legs on the mill were two clicks low on the rail side, so cut a few rounds and set up on four of them.
Good batch of Doug fir and pecky WRC.

and note Little Jo is doing the sawing while I am off taking pictures :D




  

  

 

[Magicman]

and note Little Jo is doing the sawing while I am off taking pictures :D 

Is seems as that is your new "normal".   ;)

[drobertson]

I have a sawdust catwalk  ;D.

Just last evening I thought about taking a picture  entitled "a river ran through it"  I use dust as a floor dry quite often as well, it works great and is so soft,

[Peter Drouin]

Looks like the logs rolled down to the mill ok. I have gone to jobs when the logs were on the downhill side. The customer did not know that a man can not roll a 1200lb log up hill alone. :
When he called back to say he put them on the uphill side I went to look . And the logs were piled high, Like a pyramid. :  So when you move one all would role to the mill , If you went for the top one It would be a good way to get killed or smash the mill :D :D :D