Whatcha Sawin' 2021 ??

[firefighter ontheside]

I quartersawed this white oak about 2 years ago.  It dried unbelievably flat.  Its been sitting in the kiln shed for a long time waiting to become flooring in my bedroom.  I took it out and skip planed it all.  I will store it in an extra part of my wife's office building until I'm ready to make flooring.  I think that will be about 3 months.  After planing this stuff I'm sure I need to saw more.  This is amazing to look at and will be awesome in the floor.  


 

 

[KenMac]

I have no pictures so if they're required as proof, then just consider this a dream. I was contacted off my CL ad yesterday by a lady purchasing agent at a coke producing plant in Birmingham, Al. She was in desperate need of oak lumber preferably 1 1/4 x 12" x12". She needed 50 of these, but was willing to take whatever I had and grade or appearance was no issue. It was to be used over new refractory brick in the floor of coke ovens to protect the new bricks. So this morning I loaded about 450 board feet of left overs and trimmings from 16' to 8' and random thicknesses and widths. It was, and will be in the future, a good way to sell low grade oak at a reasonably good price. They were thrilled to find a dependable vendor for this and apparently at a much better price than previously. It won't be a regularly scheduled deal, but will be profitable for me and a good deal for them. I like win-win deals!

[WV Sawmiller]

I wanted to run a couple of test logs through my mill after working on my power feed issues so I grabbed these scrappy looking maples as a test. All are highly spalted and too small and knotty to make decent lumber so I just cut them into 8/4 LE slabs for benches.

 About 160 bf. 11 slabs from 8-11 feet long. I cut 3' off the 11' slabs so they'd all stack on an 8' pallet. The 3' are plenty long for most benches I will make unless I get a special order for anything longer.

2 of the "logs"  

First "log". Lots of sweep and plenty spalted. The mill worked fine so I am confident the last issue I had was just a poorly set resharpened blade.

  Well, now I just need to meet Ellmoe and Mrs. Ellmoe (Mark & Larissa) for dinner. They've been here all week and we have had a great time visiting with them. We were in drought conditions when they came but they brought the rain from Fla with them and it has rained every day and the river is up so high the boat landing is 3'-4' under water now.

[WV Sawmiller]

   Started a new job 50 miles from home today.


 

 

Hard to tell exactly how long it will take as the logs are scattered out in the weeds. We did not really attack any of the biggest ones today as the customer's skid steer is acting a little wimpy and he's pushing and rolling as much as he's carrying them. We sawed ash, maple, walnut and even a little red cedar. Sawed some 4X4s 20' long. Lots of bow in them. I suggested he sticker with the bow up and stack plenty of heavy weight on them to see if he can help straighten them any.


A pretty place to set up. I figure I can saw about one more day there then we either have to move the sawdust or the mill. It would not be hard to move the mill 6' up hill if it comes to that.


 A pile of scrappy cedar with some pretty, short splated 5/4 boards mixed in.

A few pretty spalted maple boards. 

 Ash and walnut. Mostly 5" & 8" 4/4 walnut for trim and up to 16' long (still waiting to be stacked). The ash is assorted widths 4/4 and mostly 13-14 ft long with 3 - 4"X 20' posts.

   A slow hot day. After every log I'd drink half to a complete bottle of water or soda. I know the water is better for me but a cold cola or Mr. Dew sure hits to spot. Total around 1175 bf so not speed records were broken today. We stopped a little after 6:00 pm and really that was about the best time of the day to be working but no way to finish today anyway and my hiney was dragging. One good thing the mill worked fine so the feed system repairs seemed to solve the issue. 6.3 hours, 5.5 gallons of gas used. 2 blades for the day.


The mill is well guarded tonight. Actually the customer asked me is I was interested in the mule and I did not say no yet. 7 y/o animal. A little bigger than Blackjack was. I think he'd be interested in trading for some sawing. Ummm? Decisions, decisions.

[Larry]

No shade trees.....price goes up 10 cents/bf.  You have an umbrella?

[WV Sawmiller]

   I'll have to keep that in mind the next time I update my pricing. No umbrella and no ride-along seat either.

[HemlockKing]

No shade trees.....price goes up 10 cents/bf.  You have an umbrella?

Really it just sucks working in the sun, can ruin a otherwise fun work day.

[HemlockKing]

  Started a new job 50 miles from home today.


 

 

Hard to tell exactly how long it will take as the logs are scattered out in the weeds. We did not really attack any of the biggest ones today as the customer's skid steer is acting a little wimpy and he's pushing and rolling as much as he's carrying them. We sawed ash, maple, walnut and even a little red cedar. Sawed some 4X4s 20' long. Lots of bow in them. I suggested he sticker with the bow up and stack plenty of heavy weight on them to see if he can help straighten them any.


A pretty place to set up. I figure I can saw about one more day there then we either have to move the sawdust or the mill. It would not be hard to move the mill 6' up hill if it comes to that.


 A pile of scrappy cedar with some pretty, short splated 5/4 boards mixed in.

A few pretty spalted maple boards.

 Ash and walnut. Mostly 5" & 8" 4/4 walnut for trim and up to 16' long (still waiting to be stacked). The ash is assorted widths 4/4 and mostly 13-14 ft long with 3 - 4"X 20' posts.

  A slow hot day. After every log I'd drink half to a complete bottle of water or soda. I know the water is better for me but a cold cola or Mr. Dew sure hits to spot. Total around 1175 bf so not speed records were broken today. We stopped a little after 6:00 pm and really that was about the best time of the day to be working but no way to finish today anyway and my hiney was dragging. One good thing the mill worked fine so the feed system repairs seemed to solve the issue. 6.3 hours, 5.5 gallons of gas used. 2 blades for the day.


The mill is well guarded tonight. Actually the customer asked me is I was interested in the mule and I did not say no yet. 7 y/o animal. A little bigger than Blackjack was. I think he'd be interested in trading for some sawing. Ummm? Decisions, decisions.

Get the mule! You know you want to! By the way, that really is a beautiful scenery to setup and work. 

[WDH]

Mule looks like it has a bum foot.  

[Sixacresand]

Leave the mule.  Take the cash.  Cash, you don't have feed it, doctor it, spray for flies, worm it, maintain a fence for it, trim its hooves, catch it when it gets out, etc  

[WV Sawmiller]

  I went back today, fired up the mill, made 2 cuts on a small walnut, flipped the log and the mill died. We checked various electrical connections and decided no power to the coil. I finally unloaded the cant and hooked up the mill, called my small engine guru and went by to see him and he said the RH coil was bad. None in stock at local Kholer dealer so I ordered a new one which should be here tomorrow. They are generally very responsive about having and getting parts quickly. Hopefully it will get here and we can get it installed and that will fix the problem. I will say the air filter was an embarrassment. I need to be more diligent about cleaning that pre-filter. If that fixes the problem and the weather looks good I'll try to go back and finish up next week.

   My wife did not seem too interested in the mule but she has not seen him. The man said he has used him in harness a little but never ridden him. Not that we would ever ride or work him.

[Bruno of NH]

Sawed some nice clear wide white pine boards today
Got (17) 1x20x10 , (2) 1x18x10 , (4) 1x13x10 and (6) 1x8x10 out of one nice log.

 

 

 

 

 

[caveman]

Dang, Bruno.  Those are nice.  I hope that you are doing well.  It is good to see folks cranking out good lumber.  We are back to needing pine logs to saw.

[Brad_bb]

Before and after pics.  20' Walnut.  about 25" at the base.  Cut 10" thick for a post in my house frame.  Planed and belt sanded down to 150.



 

[cutterboy]

Bruno, nice pine! I don't see much clear pine. That must have been a treat to saw.

[Bruno of NH]

Bruno, nice pine! I don't see much clear pine. That must have been a treat to saw.

It was a nice break from the miles of framing lumber and barn siding of the last 2 years.
But back at it today 3x6,6x6,8x8 and more 2x4x8

[samandothers]

Bruno, nice pine! I don't see much clear pine. That must have been a treat to saw.

Very clear white pine.  I noticed the lack of knots and pretty grain.

[Resonator]

Just a wild guess, that Pine was the butt log and felled with a V notch. :D

[HemlockKing]

Just a wild guess, that Pine was the butt log and felled with a V notch. :D

Story of most pine trees around here! Only maybe 1/5 is 1 stem/normal tree! Usually can get a good 8-12ft before it forks though 

[kelLOGg]

Sawed some nice clear wide white pine boards today
Got (17) 1x20x10 , (2) 1x18x10 , (4) 1x13x10 and (6) 1x8x10 out of one nice log.

 

 

 

 

I think he meant to say he planed some white pine today ;D
WOW! those ARE nice and smooth.

[Bruno of NH]

Sawed some nice clear wide white pine boards today
Got (17) 1x20x10 , (2) 1x18x10 , (4) 1x13x10 and (6) 1x8x10 out of one nice log.

 

 

 

 

I think he meant to say he planed some white pine today ;D
WOW! those ARE nice and smooth.

Sawn with a Woodmizer silver tip turbo 7  1"1/2 × .055

[Magicman]

Due to the HOT, we aren't working long hours but we are managing to gradually get this job's log sawn.



This plus yesterday's sawing is 1474 bf of various 1" plus some 2X4's & 2X8's sawn in 6 hours.


 
We will start back at 6:00 tomorrow morning on these (yes, the log on the right indicates metal)


 
Plus this 20' monster that also indicates metal.  That log is 46" at the butt.  I guessed the weight at 8K lbs. and the weight indicator kinda says 8600 lbs. 

The green paint is where we will buck it to 12' and bring the sawmill to the log.  I told him that we would probably have to buck it back to 10' before I can load it.  It is fresh felled so full weight.

[Magicman]

This is the first time that I have ever sawn on the 'installment plan'.  Starting early (6:00) and sawing until it gets hot, then knocking off and waiting until the next day.  I have sawn 1843 bf of SYP and another 253 bf of Red Oak from one log in ~8 hours which is not much production but it has been too hot to care.

I'll go back in the morning and saw two Red Oak logs and then we will quit and wait for Hurricane Ida to pass.  After Ida, we will tackle that huge Red Oak log seen above. 

 

[Tom the Sawyer]

Lynn, 

I, too, am sensitive to the heat and have pushed it too far already this season.  I start in the mornings and when the heat index hits 100 (around 11 am today), the log on the mill is the last log of the day.

[Magicman]

My customer is the one having heat trouble. 


 
 I have an umbrella that I sit under while sawing and wear a 'pith' type helmet that has a helmet liner that keeps it away from my head and allows air circulation.  I also have a half gallon jug of ice water that rides between my feet so that I can take swigs very often.

I'm not saying that the heat does not bother me because it does, but I am better off than my 72 year old customer/tailgunner.  He is suffering.