Whatcha Sawin' 2024 ??

[Nealm66]

Howie, I buy those gloves from Madesn's to get the XL's for winter use and they hold up pretty well. The get $4.95/pr which I think is fair. I put in an order to them once a year or so. They are a local shop in NW WA and don't really have an 'internet presence' per se. You can download their PDF catalog, look it over, make your buy list, then call them up and place your order. It AIN'T amazon. But on the other side of the coin, the guy you talk to on the phone can answer, or find out the answers to any questions you have about size, fit, feel, or whatever. They are good folks in the store, not in India. I buy my Hickory shirts there, my logger jeans, my flagging, my wedges, my crayons and holders, logger tapes, and a lot of other odds and ends. I always enjoy placing an order with them because I feel like i chatted with and old buddy on the phone when I am done. If I get through school tax and insurance billing this year with any money left, I will be sending them and order again this fall. I need a new hat, some shirts and other stuff.
 I liken my experience with them to when I was a young boy and we would get the L.L. Bean catalog (way before it was the L.L Bean that it is is now and was just an outfitter), I would sift through the whole catalog and pick out my one or two 'big wishes' then save my allowance and earnings to make those purchases. I still have my first pair of Bean boots, the Maine Guide Hunting boot. I don't think they honor the lifetime guarantee they had when I bought them, but I don't expect to wear them out before I die anyway. I don't wear then that much. Good boots, but they aren't very warm, even with the sheepskin soles I bought with them back in 1971.

Bob and Mike are a couple of the saw mechanics that work there that I consider to be the very best . Both will stop and come to the phone of you need them to. Bob came from castle rock stihl and Mikes been there as long as I can remember. Handy if you're looking for advice on which saw to purchase, stihl or husky. Or if an older model. Mike has an extraordinary memory and knows every modification that was used to improve or any weaknesses 

[Resonator]

Maple.

Haven't made sawdust in a while, this has turned out to be a very slow year for my sawmill business. My customer with the electric pickup and Model A called me to cut down a couple trees at his lake cabin. One was what I thought was (edit : soft) maple, though I think is actually a hard maple by how difficult it was to saw. Got a couple decent logs out of it, though I had to work around a ingrown seam to get some good lumber.


Was pleasantly surprised to find old tap holes in the jacket boards. Or as the late WDH would say, "Wow that must have been one HUGE ambrosia beetle!"

[beenthere]

Sugar maple is a hard maple. 

[Resonator]

Yup, I meant soft maple (edited it). It can be confusing as the soft maples are mostly what grow and are tapped for sap here, though they are not "sugar maples".

[Hamajama]

I hate EAB...


They hadn't gotten into this one, though.

[WV Sawmiller]

   Well, I spent the day with the devil.  Most o f those oak logs my repeat customer had me saw turned out to be hickory. My trip started badly with the GPS direction I printed to my customers FIL sent me one block too far and up a narrow dead end drive towing the mill. I finally had to turn around in someone's field and hope he does not have an APB out for a red Ford P/U towing a sawmill. It was 19 miles away and when I got there there was a nice level lot to work with and an excavator and a great big pile of old logs piled against the mountain.
We started with the oversized log shown in the forefront. The rest of the logs are in the background.


   
   I had 3-4 helpers throughout the day. They rough stacked the boards and live edge 8/4 pieces in various locations based on the length and thickness. I did not do a tally at the end of the day as I have at least one and likely 2 more days sawing there and we'll keep adding till done. The customer's boss or partner came by and is pushing me to go saw at another nearby site sating he needs the logs moved/sawed by next week so he can do the landscaping. These guys are builders and build mostly single family homes in the area. I should be able to accommodate the additional work.

[Magicman]

I am steadily knocking this job in the head. 


The logs on the right is what is left to saw lumber from.  We should finish sawing lumber tomorrow and then begin sawing 4X4's & 6X6's out of the remaining logs.  I have not counted nor even estimated how many there will be.  I am not looking to recover any side lumber, just four passes and done.


Compared to what it looked like last Tuesday which was the only day that we sawed last week.

I have passed the 20Mbf mark, all being 1X12's, 10's, 8's, & 6's.  The tally would be higher if we had sawn 1X4's but anything that could have made a 1X4 went to the burn pile.

[Magicman]

The hurricane's outer bands of showers shut us down at 10:00 so we did not finish sawing the lumber logs this morning.  Weather permitting we will be back Friday.

[Wlmedley]

A young fella who lives up the hollow from me asked if I wanted a sugar maple log he had just cut. If not he was going to cut it up for firewood. I haven't milled any maple so I told him I'd like to have it. He bought me a nice clean log on his tractor forks and I put it on the deck. I wasn't going to fool with it for awhile but curiosity got the best of me and I cut it up today. Kept four boards for myself and took the rest up and gave it to him although he didn't ask for any of the lumber. He was pretty happy about that and I was glad to do it. He is a good fellow and I might need help with something someday.Got around 80bf.

[Magicman]

He is fortunate to have you as a neighbor. 

[Wlmedley]

Don't know what it will do while drying but it was one of the best behaved logs I've ever cut. I usually have trouble with the cant wanting to slowly raise in the center while cutting which requires me to rotate it several times to keep from getting thick and thin lumber (imagine that).This maple stayed flat on the bunks and straight. It was a good log to check my mill with and after measuring all boards and finding width and thickness the same for full length I know it's good.Can't say that maple is particularly pretty lumber but if it drys straight I'll be happy to saw some more.

[WV Sawmiller]

    I returned to my customer's site 19 miles away after breaking down yesterday (Turned out to be a simple disconnected starter wire ). I took the mill to my mower repair guy (who also owns and uses a sawmill) and he spotted it right away. I like simple but it was still embarrassing. I only had about 3 more hours till the 1500 hour service was due so I went ahead and did that yesterday afternoon. Regular service, changed oil, and filters (air/oil/fuel). I returned at 9:00 a, because they needed the excavator they've using to move/load logs. I started off with a large RO and slabbed off the back to make it fit between the rollers then sawed 2" slabs but I had problems getting my hydraulic to handle the load. It wanted to choke down and kill the battery so I kept the mill revved up to help charge the battery. Its been pretty slow going with 1400 bf before today with maybe another 1000 bf today. We got a later and a slow start then quit around 4:30 pm. Lots of small logs 10-12 inch diameter into 4/4 boards. We still have another day or two sawing and another job nearby with 2-3 days that have to be done during weekdays in a gated community. I will try to fit them in next week.

    I removed the battery at the end of the day and stopped at an Advance auto and had it checked. The good thing is my battery tests out good. The bad thing is that means the battery was not the source of my hydraulics issue.

    Below is a picture a few of the rough stacked lumber. There are 3-4 more similar piles but there is little change in them than from the last posting here.

   BTW - as I set the mill up I turned around and found a young doe on the site with me about 20 feet away. I told her she was wild and did not belong there so she trotted off. Yesterday I thought a spotted fawn was going to run over me when I went to my barn. She was between the barn and the fence next to it.

[Magicman]

With all of that fresh dirt, you had better hope that it does not rain.  

If it does, pave with sawdust. 

[WV Sawmiller]

   The excavator operator has been doing a good job to blading down the pile of sawdust as it builds up to a nuisance level. The area behind the mill has a good coating so far.

[barbender]

 Wlmedley, if that's sugar maple it has an exceptionally small heart (just a speck). 

[TimW]

Howard,
If the wind isn't blowing, I leave the sawdust chute up and the length of cut spreads the sawdust for me.

[caveman]

WV, one thing you may check on your mill that may be causing the sluggish hydraulics are your electrical connections, especially the grounds.  It does not cost much other than a little time.  Sometimes they will look fine, but they will benefit from cleaning with a SS wire brush and a bit of Corrosion Block, Corrosion X or some other Genie in a bottle spray before reassembling. 

If any of your wires feel hot while you are operating the hydraulics, that may be a clue as to where there is too much resistance, reducing efficiency.

[SawyerTed]

Grounds, battery cable ends, clean battery terminals, microswitch adjustment, hydraulic oil level, check the vent and a new filter all are worth a check.  

Sometimes while checking the routine stuff, another problem is identified and that fixes the issue.  

[Magicman]

Low voltage, whatever the cause, will cook the hydraulic pump motor. 

[WV Sawmiller]

   I plan when I go back to double check the connection on the copper bar and make sure that has not gotten too loose. If they were loose would cause the issues I saw. 

[Magicman]

We are moving toward completing this job with a few good logs, a few bad logs, and a whack of pecker poles to be sawed into 4X4's & 6X6's.  Weather permitting we should finish next week.  We sawed about 1500 bf this morning.

It's been good but I hear the bushhog calling me, plus I need to smell some fresh mountain. air.

[WV Sawmiller]

   Okay - I are done! I am also worn out. I returned and sawed from about 7:30 am till nearly 5:00 pm and we finished, I got paid and am scheduled to go saw for the same guy Tuesday at another site for what sounds like a 1-2 day job. Total tally for this job was 6907 bf. The customer told his workers to bring in a big truck and move and restack and properly sticker the boards.

    I had some small problems with my hydraulics again on a large log but got through it. I'll check again this weekend. The connections seemed tight against the hot rail. I'll check the bottom /ground more this weekend. If you've had similar problems in the past and found the answer I'd be interested in what you did.

[Magicman]

Looking good Howard. 

I had a small lube water leak yesterday that was coming from the pump itself so I will go out today and replace the pump.  The leak was just a drip, but I want everything as close to 100% as possible for next week. 

No sawing Monday but weather permitting, Tuesday.

[Magicman]

Executive Decision.  I finished my outside plumbing project here at home this morning and declared the rest of the day as OFF.  I came in dripping wet with sweat and had to change everything except my socks. 

That lube water drip can just keep on dripping and maybe I will get a roundtuit after I finish sawing at noon Tuesday.  No sawing Monday. 

[Old Greenhorn]

I am right there with you man. Went down to the mill and we got some stuff cleaned up, swapped out the slab rack for an empty one and moved the log trailer over by the processor and I managed to mill out one more 6x6. Having that sun beat on my back and the heat in general didn't help. I bagged it just after noon, ran out to get snacks for tomorrows show, came home and took a shower. Boy did that feel good!  I had gone well past Doc's test of whether I had sweated enough, front and back of my shirt was soaked all the way across. My double front loggers jeans were pretty wet too.