New mill first day tips?

[cutterboy]

Mr Buck, just start slow and have a good time. Don't feel you have to be perfect the first day sawing.
You say you will start with white oak. That is heavy dense wood. It does saw well but is slow going especially in wide boards.
Good luck and have a good time.

[SawyerTed]

White oak will be a stress test on the new mill AND the new sawyer.  Because the new mill will likely need a little fine tuning, the white oak will reveal any tuning required pretty quickly.   It may be hard to tell if issues are the logs, the blade, the mill or new sawyer.  

That's why several suggestions have been to saw something soft to start.  Pine or poplar would be good, especially poplar.  Poplar tends to be soft and uniform grain and density.  

If white oak must be cut early on, start with some 4 degree blades.  The 4 degree blades are all I used on white oak with my LT 35.  They will help reduce blade issues early on.  Cutting white oak will be slower unless they are pretty fresh.  

White oak can cause some extra heat in the blade.  Keep the tension up on the blade and use a fairly strong lube mixture to limit build up on the blade.  Build up on the blade in white oak tends happen due to the extra heat.  

Ive owned two new mills, both needed a little bit fine tuning.  The LT50 needed a bit more tweaking than the LT35.  Not sure if it was the mill or me having a little more experience. 

[jpassardi]

Yes, watch the Hobby Hardwoods guy, I hear he had a previous life as a Dwayne Johnson stunt double

Yeah, the Rock: I think I see the resemblance... Just a word of caution: Robert has threatened to do a spandex video at some point so be careful what videos you click on!   

Seriously though, he does make some quality videos.

[Mr. Buck]

Yes, watch the Hobby Hardwoods guy... 

Thanks!  I've been watching Robert for a couple of years now. I'll rewatch that recent video on spindle cleaner. Is that you?  

[YellowHammer]

Yup.

[Mr. Buck]

Yup.

I plan to come visit and buy something one of these days soon. I'm just over the hills in NW Georgia - a scenic 2 hr drive.

What species is that Mahogany you're selling? 

[Magicman]

Just for the record, Chinaberry is in the Mahogany family. 

[YellowHammer]

We sell about 53 species both domestic and exotic, including African mahogany, but sometimes Honduran.  We also sell Kentucky Coffee, which is also called American Mahogany.

[TreefarmerNN]

I'd suggest looking at your manual and checking and if necessary, realigning your mill.  It's probably fine but the process will teach you a lot about how the mill works.

It's been raining here and I knew my mill was a little off so I decided to realign it.  Keep in mind this is an old (1987) mill so things have changed. Here's the process I started today.

Take the blade guides off, install a blade and tension it.
Align the head to the main beam.  Mine wasn't bad but it wasn't perfect either. The adjustment is on the bottom rollers although the adjustment bolts are horizontal.  Back ones are easy, the front ones are under the speed control box and pullies.
Move the head to the front main beam.  That one was off more than I expected on the outside.
Loosen bolts holding beam to frame.
Fight wasps living in the beam. 
Align beam to head.  It might have been as much as 3/8" off.  My bad for not doing it sooner.
Move head back to main beam.  Check alignment of outside roller support arm.  It was off. 
Drop wrenches while aligning arm.  Cuss a bit.  Get it perfect and tighten lock nuts.  Find out the rollers have clamped the arm so hard it can't move. 
Play with the alignment to get it both aligned and with proper tension on the rollers. 
Shake the arm to make sure everything is solid and won't wiggle.
That was it for the afternoon but the rest of the process won't take long.

Reinstall the blade roller guides, hopefully only once to get them in the proper orientation.
Reinstall a blade and tension it.
Bring roller guides to the blade. Check blade for level and that both guides are in the same plane.

Adjust down pressure on guides.  (I don't want more than 1/8" deflection due to the guides. I may go for between 1/16 and 1/8.)

I'll check the middle beams but those pivot on my mill and I seldom use them.

Adjust the log uprights to as close to 90 degrees from blade as possible.

Go saw some logs and make sure I did it all correctly.

If, as I suspect your mill is aligned you can do the checks pretty quickly.  It takes longer for an old mill that has fasteners that are stuck a little bit.  But it's a good process to learn and you will know more about how your mill works after doing the checks.

Enjoy your mill.  The grin isn't permanent but might last for a long time.

[OlJarhead]

All great advice!

If you plan to tow it anywhere, get a spare.  I blew mine on my first job!

Take video.  In fact, that's part of how I started on YT.  I videoed what I was doing (after I sold the LT10 and bought the LT40) and shared it with folks here to learn.  I was helpful to show what I was doing and then get feedback.

Learn to setup and tear down efficiently.  it's worth doing it a few times over in the early days if you plan to move it at all.

Have fun!  Sawmilling is one of those things that can being much satisfaction and it's something I love to do and I think it's important to remember that's why you're doing it ;)  Sometimes when the back hurts, you've run your shin into the tongue, cut the side supports, backed a band off, stuck the debarker into a knot and had to get out wedges to lift a cut to remove a busted band you might question your sanity but sawdust gets in the veins so just sit back, let the wife know it's actually called man glitter, and enjoy the ride ;) (after she chases you out of the house for shedding man glitter all over the floor she just swept).

[Nebraska]

Yes man glitter is a definite hazard had a sock full the other day and almost didn't catch it when I came in and took my boots off. 

[Brad_bb]

Make lumber skids and have a lot of stickers ready.  Be smart and get the spiral fluted stickers.  A guy in Tennessee makes/sells them.  You'd be surprised how many you use.  7-8 stickers per layer on an 8' pallet.  x13 layers for 4/4 boards(which is what my forklift can comfortably lift)=104 per pallet.  I'm sure I have 800-1000 stickers or more and that is a small number compared to some of these other guys.  You can reuse them.  I was not smart enough to get the spiral fluted ones.  They will prevent sticker stain thus improving the quality of your wood.  Most of my stickers are Ash.  They must be dry also.  Some guys start out buying spine at the box store and cutting it into stickers, but that's a losing battle because there's a lot of knots in pine, and they just don't seem to last as long.  I regret now biting the bullet and buying a couple pallets of spiral ones.  I cut a 4/4 board 1-1/16.  How you stack and air dry determines how flat they come out.  If you do it well, I end up with a 15/16" board after drying and planning both sides.  If you don't do it well enough, you need to cut them thicker.

Watch Yellowhammers videos, esp the latest one on lumber skids.