Whatcha Sawin' 2020 ??

[SpaceBus]

I finally ran my mill today after almost a month of my tractor being down and this was apparently the best time to have my first broken band after almost 4 years of having the mill.  When I went change it I found that the saw shrouds were very full of white pine dust.  I've never had that happen before.  I guess white pine is worse than anything else I've ever milled as far as pitch goes.  It was caked in there solid.  I guess the blade got really hot and then broke.

I use a brush and rags dipped in canola oil to remove resin/pitch from equipment. Mineral oil would probably work as well. If it's really hardened on there you can probably just break it with a screwdriver and rubber mallet. 

[firefighter ontheside]

It was easy enough to scrape out with a stick.  

[longtime lurker]

Still dragging home didgeridoos to turn into matchsticks... the novelty has worn off and I've only scratched the top yet.

What price ambition, and all that.

[moodnacreek]

Where is the bark?

[longtime lurker]

They mechanically debark them prior to loading on the barge: they're coming a long way, got a thick fibrous bark thats heavy and messy and they peel out easy enough when the moisture is still in them. 

Drawback is the sapwood dries out and it increases the log tension when it does. Upside is mess reduction, weight reduction, and less likely to get insect activity in the sapwood because its dry rather than damp like it would be under the bark.

[Magicman]

 

 
A "Do it Yourself" customer sent me this picture last night of a dining table that he built from bookmatched Pecan slabs that we sawed for him:  LINK

[cutterboy]

Nice looking table. I bet it is heavy.

[firefighter ontheside]

Looks nice.  Did he kiln dry the wood?  How long ago was it milled.

[Jim_Rogers]

Yesterday, after solving the pointer starting problem on Monday, I delivered my tree stakes to my customer.
They were one of my very first customers 26 years ago.
And have been steady, usually every year.



 

Jim Rogers

[Magicman]

Did he kiln dry the wood? How long ago was it milled.

The link that I posted above showed that I sawed the log on April 11th.  The customer sent me the picture yesterday and I have no knowledge of what happened between those dates.

[Larry]

I think I need to trim this end with the chainsaw.




I think I need to trim this end with the chainsaw.




This one is bigger but was easier to trim.  I just noticed in the picture my fender is bent.  Who done that? ??? :D

32" wide live edge slabs are nice.





My pardner Hank, wants to know what the squirrels will eat this winter.  I told him hickory nuts aka as devil nuts in some parts of the south. :D

[Walnut Beast]

Is this the one the high dollar slabs are coming out of ?

[Walnut Beast]

Cute little supervisor 

[Larry]

I got 20 9/4 slabs out of the two logs.  18 are really nice.  The kicker was I sawed through about 20 nails in the big log which ended up in 6 of the slabs.  I think the black stain is going to effect the price, but I'm not sure how much.  Might even add a little. Bottom dollar, I think they will bring at least $200 each and probably more.

[Walnut Beast]

Always nice pictures Larry 👍

[WV Sawmiller]

   I like the dog. I keep telling Sampson if he doesn't behave I will trade him for a poodle. He doesn't seem worried. : He loves to jump up and climb on the logs and is not above walking on my stacks of lumber with muddy feet.

[TimW]

I haven't been sawing, but have been building with what I sawed.  A new deck for my good friend.  24 x 10 feet.  Posts dipped 2 feet in copper naphthenate for 48 hours.  Now painting.

 

 

...............and my logger brought me more red oak logs today.


 

 

 

 

[pineywoods]

sawing standing dead totally dry post oak making what else, fence posts. 4X4 8ft. Post oak is a close cousin to white oak and the sawdust is NASTY, and the stuff is HARD HARD. Getting good clean cuts with wm 10 degree doublehard blades on a 25 hp woodmizer lt40.


 

[Larry]

A standing dead white oak showed up for me to saw live edge slabs.


It was obvious there was metal in the log.


A quick look found barbed wire sticking out the side of the log.



My plan was to saw a few slabs out of the good side, than saw about 3' off the butt and finish up.  Bad idea as the barbed wire circled the tree.  I cut through 3 strands on the first pass.  Cut off 3' of the log and slabbed the rest without incident.  The oak had excellent color and made some really nice 20 - 24" slabs.  My customer bought a band, gave me a tip, and was super happy.

Tomorrow is big crotch cherry and more walnut to slab.

[ktm250rider]

I haven't been sawing, but have been building with what I sawed.  A new deck for my good friend.  24 x 10 feet.  Posts dipped 2 feet in copper naphthenate for 48 hours.  Now painting.

 

 

...............and my logger brought me more red oak logs today.


 
br>

 

what type of material are you using for that deck?

[Nodak Andy]

All of our milling so far has been slabs.  Our mill is small so we have had to use the chainsaw to chunk some stuff up before it would fit on the mill (hence the bookmatched pairs).


This is a pair of American elm slabs 
 

This is American Elm as well
 

 This slab came from a short little chunk of American Elm that I was just going to cut up for firewood but my brother said lets just mill it up and see if it sells.... turns out, the slabs that came from this chunk and another chunk about the same size were the first to sell... I guess all the people who are just starting to learn to do these river tables would rather take the risk on a $50 piece of wood instead of a $150-$300 piece...


 A couple more from the American Elm.  We also did a big old ash log that we had to make book matched pairs out of.  It turned out really nice, but I don't have pics on my phone right now.


 This here is some of the first stuff my brother milled with his chainsaw mill before he bought the bandsaw mill.  Boxelder is pretty neat stuff when it's not rotten...

[Magicman]

Nice.  Bookmatched is my favorite way to saw slabs.

[Larry]

For some of my customers I put an alpha numeric tag on the end of the slab so they can easily book match if they choose.  The tag identifies which log and the order.  I found this way is the best, as sometimes the slabs get jumbled up when loaded/unloaded with a forklift.

These small slabs went out this afternoon.  As I was loading them a few big cherry's came in and you guessed it....live edge slabs.  I'm sure to hit more than a 100 slabs again this week.  No idea where they all go.

[Walnut Beast]

What are using for tags Larry

[Larry]

Tag was a poor choice for the word.  I'm using cheap paint pens that I picked up at Hobby Lobby.

20' long cherry with a little crook. :D  The log owner left it long so I could buck it myself.  He needs minimum 14' long pieces, live edge one side, and as wide as possible.  Some kind of window sills, and casing.

Next stop is the kiln than to a neighbor cabinet maker who will work his magic on the pieces.