Whatcha Sawin' 2023 ??

[Magicman]

This is more like; "what's da Preacher gonna saw"?

Recently I had two customers that trimmed their logs back and also discarded everything that would not easily make the cut list.  My Preacher has bought a Norwood sawmill for hobby use and does not have a readily available supply of logs so....



 
First I picked these ERC "logs" up and then...


 


 Added these Walnut cut-offs.  I delivered them this morning and made my Preacher very happy.

[Brad_bb]

 

 Tree service was at my place cleaning up storm damage a few weeks ago.  They piled up the wood so I could cut it into Firewood. There was a silver maple log in the pile that was straight and nearly clear. I've never cut silver maple because it's no use to me for timber framing. Today I said what the heck I'll go ahead and mill it to see what it looks like. I could see spots on the end that made me think it was ambrosia streaked.  I cut all 5/4 Boards.  I think next time I have a clear log like this I'll mill it.

[WV Sawmiller]

 

 
I wanted to test my repairs after my last sawing tripped the breaker due to the power feed. I removed the feed unit and moved the cam follower bearing next to the sprocket 2 washers closer to the mill so the chain ran more in the center. I grabbed this 5' long 3/4 White Oak log. The other quarter was cut out because it was too heavy for my little JD tractor/FEL. I cut it into 1" X 1" tomato stakes.


 
I got about 160 stakes out of this log and a 10" log I forgot to photograph. Total yield as 135 5' long stakes, 12 4' stakes and 12-13 rejects that failed the "Whack-a-mole" test I use when there is a knot or suspicious looking spot. I'll sell these for about $170 next spring and they will all sell.

 Last time my mill started intermittent tripping off after about half an hour of run time. I used exactly on hour run time on these and the breaker did not trip but the log was shorter and I had to cut a little slower because the wood was harder so I am not 100% convinced of my fix and I'll saw a few more logs before taking it on a mobile job. I need to do my 50 hour service in 2.5 run hours anyway.

[caveman]

JMoore and I were planning to saw some cypress for a small order this morning.  We were able to find enough cypress that was left over from previous orders to fill this one.  We quartersawed a short laurel oak log that had been lying around for a few months.  As with all short logs, it was a pain.  Part of it was hollow and full of dirt, so we sawed around that.   

We also had a couple of wolfy slash pine logs that we slabbed.  I was hoping for more blue stain, but they needed to be sawn. 

Last month we bought a sharpener and setter.  Today we used a blade that I sharpened last weekend.  It impressed us with how it performed.  The extra set seemed to help saw the knotty pine really flat.


 

 

 

[SawyerTed]

Today was a poplar and pine siding job. 

1Mbft of poplar and pine 3/4"x8"x12 ½'.

There was nothing special about the logs or the lumber except it only took about 5 hours.  

Customer slowed me down because he stepped in to off bear before the board return could be used.   :(  Even after I told him not to.  He's paying so I quit try to speed him up.  :D  

I bet we could have done it all in 3 hours if the board return could have been used and he had a second helper.   He was carrying the siding about 50 feet to the stack and was placing and cutting stickers as he went.  

The 36 hp Yanmar diesel is a very noticeable upgrade from the 25 hp Kohler. 

We did find two screws with the blades.  That's after removing about 5 from one log.  

Having to work out a few bugs on the mill.  It did not hunt for the setting using Auto Down or Pattern Mode.  But it did develop a small hydraulic leak in the box.   


 

 

 

[Nebraska]

 

 

Exotic wood for here....White Pine, 16 footer. Going to make a ridge beam for my cabin by the pond project, and whatever dimensional lumber it holds..

[fluidpowerpro]

Cutting some 8/4 red oak for trailer decking for my neighbor that I will install on his trailer. Will finish up tomorrow.

 

 

 

 

[TimW]

That is some nice looking lumber.  But do yourself and your neighbor a favor and use the Red Oak for something else and use White Oak for trailer decking.
                       hugs,  Brandi

[fluidpowerpro]

Ya I know red oak isn't ideal for trailer decking but no white oak in our area. Red is still fairly durable and lasts ok once it's treated with drain oil.

[barbender]

We aren't blessed with an abundance of white oak up here like areas farther south. We have Bur oak, which is a white oak. It can be really hard to get ahold of bur oak saw timber, and I have decent connections. 

 I always tell people, red oak is just as good as white oak- when you don't have any white oak😊

[TimW]

I have heard that half diesel and half ATF works very well also.
             hugs,  Brandi

[barbender]

 One of the benefits (I choose to be an optimist here😁) of living in the Frozen North, is that everything is frozen for half the year, and therefore not rotting. 

 50/50 ATF/Diesel is my go to for lubing the mill, cleaning pitch off of blades, lubing chains on the firewood processor, and whatever else comes to mind😊 Might as well spray it on the trailer deck as well👍

[barbender]

FPP, is that your mini-skid? I've thought one of those would be handy around the mill and processor, mainly for the fact that you don't have to crawl inside them like a regular skid loader. That gets old, especially with the firewood processor. You're constantly in and out of the machine.

[fluidpowerpro]

Yes, its model 1 of 1. I built it about 15 years ago. It is very handy at the mill and for every thing else I do. Not a day goes by that I don't use it. 

[barbender]

Well if you built it yourself, that makes it 10x cooler yet!

[TimW]

One of the benefits (I choose to be an optimist here😁) of living in the Frozen North, is that everything is frozen for half the year, and therefore not rotting.

One of the benefits down here is I can leave my water hose out all year. 8)
 hugs,  Brandi

[fluidpowerpro]

Well if you built it yourself, that makes it 10x cooler yet!

Plus then you have the fun of building attachments. In addition to bucket and forks, I've built a stump grinder, post hole auger, backhoe, brush cutter, snow blower and snow plow. I like building things that use hydraulics.

[DbltreeBelgians]

Well if you built it yourself, that makes it 10x cooler yet!

Plus then you have the fun of building attachments. In addition to bucket and forks, I've built a stump grinder, post hole auger, backhoe, brush cutter, snow blower and snow plow. I like building things that use hydraulics.

I loved that mini skid steer since the first time you posted a picture of it. Don't recall what post it was but I thought it was pretty sweet. Well done sir.
Brent

[SawyerTed]

Today, was another demonstration day and sales day at the local Farm Fest.  I sold about 2 dozen cookies at $3 each and $5 for two, some cedar live edge slabs and talked to close to 100 people.

I mostly cut 1x8 1x6, 1x4 pine. All were 12' long.  It was pretty routine and just to show mill operations.  The customer was paying in corn and apples for the deer so production wasn't a big priority.

A lot of interested folks stopped by and talked sawmills and sawing.  About 50 took cards and maybe 5 to 10 were serious.  

What wasn't routine was the one Walnut log.  It came from a tree another customer bought.   That customer culled the log.   I sawed 2 other logs from the walnut tree for the purchaser of the tree

Todays customer was the original owner of the tree.  He brought he cull log.  

Here's what it made - four slabs 26-28" wide.   Two are 3 ½, two are 4 ½.  Today's customer was running the Farm Fest including a corn maze, pumpkin picking patch, apple cannon and a draft horse pull among other stuff.  So he wasn't available to give much guidance on the mantles he wanted.   So I decided to err in the side of caution and leave them live edge.  We can rip them any time. 

One other little job came up too.  A man restoring a 1963 Grady White (wooden) boat.  He needed a 2 7/8 x 17 x 12' piece of African Mahogany resawn into 3 pieces.  He wanted two as close to 1" as possible. There's no telling what that piece of lumber was worth.

It's the last photo.  


 

 

 

[Hackeldam Wood Products]

Looks like a great day, Ted.

[Hackeldam Wood Products]

 


Finally had time to replace the power feed module (see other thread) and get back to milling. These are 14ft 2X6, Hemlock.
My nephew is building a building at his pool.

[Magicman]

In started a job for a "many times" repeat customer this morning. 


 I counted 24 logs and then the customer skidded some more up from somewhere.  Anyway, the cut list is 12: 8X8's, 20: 4X8's, 100: 2X4's, and 25: 2X6's.  The lengths range from 8' to 14', but 6 of the 4X8's are 21'.  I'll probably have to remove the rubber from the bumpers to get those.  We are making progress but I doubt that he has enough logs.

[Brad_bb]

@Magicman At least they look straight, clear, and they do roll.

[Magicman]

Yes, Tommy is a Forester and always has good logs. 

We will take the Operator's Seat off first thing this morning and saw the 21 footers.  ;D

[Resonator]

If them logs were dogs they'd have nothin' to say. 

(No bark). ;D