Dragback Shoes for Your Sawmill

YellowHammer · January 17, 2022, 12:28:04 PM

There is a current post going on about sawmill selection,

Thinking Upgrade: LT40 Super Or LT50? in Sawmills and Milling

and I had mentioned my feelings on command and control and the dragback system and how I wouldn't saw without it.

I had this video I had been working on for awhile concernng the topic of drag back shoes to fitted on the drag back of my WM sawmill, but posted it today so maybe it would be timely for this topic. I did the mod many years ago on my LT-40, posted it in the Sawmill Mods topic, and then also did it on my LT-70, although it required a slightly different configuration.

The main thing is that it allows me to hold, drop, and push boards anywhere on my tables, sometimes feeding multiple stacks at once like a train. On some logs, I can mill the entire log without having to handle much of anything. Or, on big heavy slabs or mantles, I can saw them and pull them back and drop them back onto a pallet without even touching them.

So for the sawing purists out there, I do it different than some, and I was trying to make a point about how well this works on this video, and how many boards can be pulled back at once for a routine sawing job. One the other hand, you may notice I'm not a text book sawyer, I do what works for the situation. The days of me sawing one board, feeding it back, having it fall right at the end of the cant or log, reach up to grab it, and repeat are long gone. Personally, I will read and check stress on every board, but if I know already how its going to go, I'll mow through a whole logical stack without stopping, pull the whole stack back in one pile, and pull it onto the stacking table. This is especially true with quartersawing, once I know I'm on the fleck, I'll slice all the way down to the next facet, I don't need to check every board, I already know the fleck is there, and I'm not worried about stress.

I am also convinced that keeping boards on the cant to serve as weight to keep it from bowing up off the bed also keeps me from wanting to pull every board back, one at a time. This was a pretty hard crotch white oak, so I took the boards I wanted, and mowed through the rest, knowing they would be No1 common at best. So I adjust my sawing technique based on log species, target boards, anticipated grade, and what I had learned form the log already.

Even if I have help, which I normally don't, I won't drag back single boards at a time, simply because the extra feet of head travel is a waste of time, and there are many situations in sawing where taking one vs two or three boards, isn't crucial as far as changing strategy, or rotating the cant. Of course, some logs need to be dissected one board at a time, but most do not. So why unload the boards one at a time? Even with the pith, such as on the last batch, I will sell them as frame stock, so I will blow through them also. However, I will always rotate the exposed pith to the deck so if there is stress in the dog board, I will ruin the lowest value board in the cant, not the higher value ones.

Anyway, there are other videos in the showing more of my sawing techniques, and its pretty pattern and situational oriented.

Put Shoes on Your Wood-Mizer Sawmill! Amazing Modification - YouTube

Cruiser_79 · January 17, 2022, 02:36:45 PM

Great video! I have to make a drag back for my mill, and think I will build something similar like this. Can you easily remove or swing the dragback up? Or do you always have the drag back and fingers sliding over, even if you're not using them?
What is the distance between bottom of the dragback and your blade?
The speed you approach the log is quite fast for oak, never afraid of damaging your blade or something else? I always slow down a bit when entering, but I'm not a veteran sawyer :D

SawyerTed · January 17, 2022, 02:38:02 PM

As usual a very well done video packed with ideas. Everything from dust collection to drag back shoes to material handling.

Crossroads · January 17, 2022, 02:52:59 PM

I watched it this morning and was laughing when you said you were feeding "slow". It's still quite a bit faster than I can cut anything with my 40. Thanks for the video

terrifictimbersllc · January 17, 2022, 04:57:57 PM

Heres mine, got the idea from yellowhammer. My weld job has held up. Not only can you bring the board back as far as you like, but you can also lower it as much as you want before dropping it onto the table. Then auto-down or pattern mode takes the blade back up to the right spot.

Main reason to lower it is so it doesn't hit the table so hard. This can also be accomplished by carrying the board far enough where it is partly cantilevered off of the front of the table, so when you let it go it doesnt drop too hard. Used to be, I'd have a boat bumper to drop some on, this is unnecessary now with the fingers.

Like Robert said, you can decide how many pieces to drag back. One case where you don't want to drag it all back is when the back end of what you just cut is tapered and you aren't sure that the fingers will grab the slab or just ride up on it. So just cut down till you know it's squared off.

Another is if for whatever reason boards are causing trouble on the way back. Just pull back several at once taking a little bit more time, and save time.

Another is if you don't want for whatever reason to deliver the next board immediately to the off-bearer, you can time the deliveries. Or if someone needs a not so subtle hint to "get moving", cut and bring him back several boards at once. Can also do this to give yourself a little break to update the tally, swallow some coffee, or check your phone.

Larry · January 17, 2022, 05:15:11 PM

When I saw the dragback shoe mod on YH's LT40 I knew I wanted one. Sooooooo....next day I had one on my TK2000.

That YH is just one clever sawyer. Thanks for sharing YH, its saved me lots of time and sore muscles.

YellowHammer · January 17, 2022, 10:48:31 PM

Quote from: Cruiser_79 on January 17, 2022, 02:36:45 PM
Great video! I have to make a drag back for my mill, and think I will build something similar like this. Can you easily remove or swing the dragback up? Or do you always have the drag back and fingers sliding over, even if you're not using them?
What is the distance between bottom of the dragback and your blade?
The speed you approach the log is quite fast for oak, never afraid of damaging your blade or something else? I always slow down a bit when entering, but I'm not a veteran sawyer :D

Thanks, yes there is a hinge on the dragback arm that allows it to swing up completely out of the way if not needed. Normally, the distance between the bottom off the dragback to the blade is about 3/8" inch or so, sometimes 1/4". It's important to be able to make the cut and then bump the blade up easily to clear the previous cut but still get a good grip on the end of a 4/4 board.

Actually, my approach speed on this video was hesitant, I noticed that when I was watching the video as I was editing it. These bands, especially Silver Tips, are designed for high impact entry as they are really optimized for resaws where the blade hits all the board faces as the same speed as the sawing speed. Of course there is always the entrance dip or rise to watch out for, but that generally means there is an issue with the band itself, or the mill. So I routinely will enter at the same speed I will be sawing. On this white oak, I slowed down a little, but picked it back up pretty fast.

As on the other video I posted, correct sawing speed for me is always adjusted as much with sound as anything else. The band will have a characteristic loaded "ring" sound to it during the length of the cut, as opposed too cutting too fast, where the sound will be erratic and will always have a characteristic "scrub" sound. So since that sets the speed of the blade feed, it is up to the power of the engine and the stability of the band, and alignment of the saw to be able to keep up.

Remember, the faster the band goes through the wood, the cooler the band stays due to the moisture in the wood, the less pitch builds up, and almost no sawdust, and it dry, is left on the board.