Whatcha Sawin' 2025 ??

[Magicman]

After the continuous rain for the past week, I was very hesitant to go to my sawing site this morning.  The customer's Dodge 1500 had an easier time than I did with the Ford F250.  His lighter truck was floating on top, but I had to break through to get a firm grip.


Nothing but fresh bulldozer-ed dirt.


I have finished sawing the Oak and got 9 of the 17 Tulip Poplar logs sawed.  There are 30 logs left so 2 more sawing days.  They were hauling and stickering when I left so no tally for today's sawing.

[TimW]

Woodmizer Service Loop guy came today.  First time for me.  I learned a few things.  Got my new 1.5 inch guide bearings installed and Yes, the blade alignment was off.
But now, when I put simple set on 4 1/8 ( for 1/8 for shrinkage) and the mill cuts consistent 4 inch 4x4s.  Oscar said I needed to add another 1/8th, which is not what the mill was doing before.  So to cut a 4 1/8 thickness, I now have to set simple set on 4 1/4?  What am I missing?

[WV Sawmiller]

Tim,

   One real simple thing to check is where you set your pointer on the scale. Are you setting it to read the thickness at the bottom, middle or top of the line as you read it? 

   I just kiss a line on the end of the log, measure from the bottom of the cant, then set my pointer to where I want it to read for the actual height based on my tape measure.

   Good luck.

[TimW]

He adjusted the scale a tad also.  But I am not even using the scale.  I am talking simple set setting on 4 1/8 setting and the cut giving me 4 inches.  Before I was setting it on 4 1/8 and it cut 4 1/8.  It is cutting 4 now, when set to 4 1/8. 

[barbender]

How does your Simple Set measure where it's at? I know the Accuset ll uses a transponder. My old setworks didn't "know" where it was, it just measured down from where it was activated.

[TimW]

It doesn't know where it is at.  It also, measures from where it is activated.

[trimguy]

On my simple set I have to add 1/8" to the thickness I want the board to allow for the saw kerf. 

[trimguy]

If I want my boards 1" than I need to set my simple set to drop an 1 1/8".

[Magicman]

Tim, my understanding of SimpleSet is that you always have to add the 1/8".  This is what WDH told me back years ago when he was comparing my SetWorks to his SimpleSet.  He was surprised to see that I did not have to add the 1/8".

[WV Sawmiller]

Tim,

   Yes, I have to add the 1/8" kerf. I thought you were talking about the last board being 4-1/8"

   Attached is my cheat sheet showing the kerf added at each drop. Well, disregard that. I don't see the add attachments option any more. I finally figured out how to add pictures but now can't attach word or excel docs. 

   Oh well, I said every time I learn something new I have to forget something else because my mental hard drive is full.

   Anyway my cheat sheet adds 1/8" to every drop so I end on a finished mark. For example if I'm sawing true 1" thick boards I turn to the 4th face of the cant and start or 10" and drop1-1/8" every cut to end on 1". (10", 8-7/8", 7-3/4", 6-5/8", 5-1/2", 4-3/8", 3-1/4", 2-1/8", 1")

[TimW]

Tim, my understanding of SimpleSet is that you always have to add the 1/8".  This is what WDH told me back years ago when he was comparing my SetWorks to his SimpleSet.  He was surprised to see that I did not have to add the 1/8".

So your older SetWorks is more advanced than SimpleSet?
I guess my saw was not aligned right from the factory and that caused me to be off in my calculations on my cheat sheet in my head.  I'll have to relearn my 1/8 shrinkage calculations.  Fuzzy math comes into focus now.

[GAB]

Tim, my understanding of SimpleSet is that you always have to add the 1/8".  This is what WDH told me back years ago when he was comparing my SetWorks to his SimpleSet.  He was surprised to see that I did not have to add the 1/8".

Lynn:
You are correct, however  i think that if you set the accuset computer kerf setting to zero then you would have to do the same as the simple set owners.
When you hit the drop down lever on an accuset mill the computer drops to the next setting and automatically adds the kerf setting to the drop.
GAB

[Magicman]

So your older SetWorks is more advanced than SimpleSet?

That would kinda be true in a sense Tim.  That being said, my SetWorks is no longer supported and has not been for many years.  It does not know where it is, so I have to set my starting point to saw through a cant.

A few years ago, probably 2016, FF member and Wood-Mizer employee "Sparks" knew of a couple of SetWorks mother boards still in Indy.  He had one of them bench tested and sold it to me.  Hopefully this one will carry me to the 'Great Sawdust Pile in the Sky'.  

If it ever dies, I am sure that I will be buying a Mikron.

[Magicman]

All that I lack is 'finishing up' on this sawing job.


After finishing the Tulip Poplar logs, there were these two about 30" X 5' shorts left.

 
They had some very nice heartwood color.


I sawed them 1 1/2", 2", and 3" live edge as a Goodwill Gesture for my Tailgunner who just recently 'graduated' from rehab and had been living homesless for the past 5 months.  They will need to dry for at least a couple of years, but anyway, I did this to try to help him.


The Oak stickered.


The Tulip Poplar stickered.


We still have nine 'pecker pole' Cypress logs and the 4-5 ERC logs seen on the right of the tree in the background.  Should be finished well before noon. 

We have sawed 3532bf in three 7 hour days which is low production but the great majority has been 1".  Good customer, good logs, and most excellent Tailgunner.

Thursday I should move to a repeat bowl turner customer who also has some Tulip Poplar.  Probably a one day job.

[nopoint]

18' of white oak.. Should have been sawn a year or two ago. Still stinking heavy. Would have been easier with a helper but I got it done. I doubt that the 2x12's will blow away. Weather has been warm here in Wisconsin. So far behind with so many things, utilizing the lights in the mill shed. 

[nopoint]

Picture maybe...

[Magicman]

Oh yes, the sapwood has rotted....no fun. 

I finished the Cypress and the ERC this morning about 11:00, sawed ~3 hours for 532bf. 


Two junky ERC logs and three pecker poles.  Yes, I did hit a nail in the butt log.


Those knotty ERC logs are pretty though.

This total job yielded 4068bf of mostly 1" lumber.

Even picking and choosing, I have been fairly busy sawing so far this year.  My two month total is now 22,912 bf which I suppose ain't too bad for a knocked out 81+ year old fart.

[WV Sawmiller]

  Okay, finally did my first sawing job of the year. See picture below. Don't get excited, they were were much worse than they appear. Small scrappy pieces that only returned poor quality 5/4 boards 5" wide or less. I estimate we got about 125 bf in total but the client was happy so I guess I should not complain. We talked as much as we sawed then I forgot to get a finished picture - but you did did not miss much. It was reassuring to see the mill still cranked and ran fine after a 2 month rest.

    I've penciled in a multi-day job 75 miles away for the weekend. I'm not looking forward to it but the guy has been calling for over a year and finally got his logs together and he is excited about it. We will see.

[Old Greenhorn]

... Don't get excited, they were were much worse than they appear. .......

Gee, I dunno Howard, they look pretty bad to me.  One man's ceiling...
--------------------
Now what am I sawing? Apparently lag hooks.....


I was gonna whack 3 feet off that log, but I dug all the pieces out and took a chance on the next cut. I got lucky and the rest of the logs was clear. It was an 18' lof and I needed 17' 1x's for facias and other stuff. I still lost 2 full length boards and came up one board short on the order. Not a good day. Now I have to put up another 17' log for just one board. Gotta finish the 10 footers off tomorrow. I was degusted when I got done with this log, quit, and went off to cut mushroom logs. That was a lot more profitable for sure. 

[TimW]

Pin Oak that Hurricane Beryl blow over last summer.  For my neighbor.

[Magicman]

It's good to see you guys back to making sawdust guys. 

Well, Tom's included some filings, but I made a few of those too yesterday.  Not fun. 

[Old Greenhorn]

I think this is only the second time I have found metal in a log at Bill's mill. The other one I caught before sawing and Bill is real careful to look trees over when he takes them and cull out any with metal. This hook was buried about 4" inside the bark line so there was no way to see it and my metal detector battery was shot. (fixed now.)
 Just glad I got it all out and could continue on the log at full length, only losing 2 boards. Surprised the blade didn't blow up. It looked like it was sharpenable, but pretty shiny on the tooth sides.

[Magicman]

I sawed a small job for a repeat bowl turner customer today.


The first thing that he did was present me with a Cherry bowl that he turned from a blank that I sawed the last time I was there.


He had 20 logs, the largest probably being ~16" butt and the smallest ~10" top end.


I started sawing @10:00 and we were finished @3:00 so 4 hours of sawing.  Pictured is the 1" & 2", but not pictured is the bowl turning blank slabs.  No lumber scale because I sawed "hourly rate".

There are 3 large jobs on my schedule but the soonest is a "whole house" framing lumber job scheduled to begin March 17.  Hopefully I will now be off for a couple of weeks. 

[Machinebuilder]

A friend has brought over a few logs for me to saw for him. 3 erc, 1 hickory, and 3 Walnut

I sawed the ERC yesterday, it saws so easy compared to all the haardwood I saw.

I did hit metal on the first log, the first board off the cant



I got the rest cut with no more metal and ended with a small whack of 4/4 boards.

[Magicman]

That is a nice ERC whack, but bummer with the nail.  Predictable but still a bummer.