Whatcha Sawin' 2025 ??

[TimW]

For this very reason I have considered hanging a big mirror on the wall next to the sawmill, so I have somebody to yell at.

Or you can just hang a photo of Howard.

[GAB]

For this very reason I have considered hanging a big mirror on the wall next to the sawmill, so I have somebody to yell at.

Or you can just hang a photo of Howard.

I would not recommend that as it might just scare new potential customers away.
If that is your objective have at it.
GAB

[Daburner87]

Rain stopped so I built this firewood processing rack for the waste coming off the mill.  Its just over 9ft long, 33 inches wide. In retrospect, I wish I built the verticals in the back up beefier so when I drop the waste off my forks it won't eventually break.  It will definitely take a beating, maybe I'll mill some solid 2x4s for the back if I ever break it.  The base is complete overkill.

[doc henderson]

nice.  does the saw bar and chain cut between the uprights?  let us know how it works.  is that 16-inch centers?

[Resonator]

I built a similar rack a while back. Worked OK, just be ready for a deep pile of saw chips where you stand and cut. 
Also seen one also where the rack was built to be lifted with loader forks, and secured with a chain. Then they could cut the slab wood to size, and dump the whole load in a trailer.

[doc henderson]

the cut wood will fall through on the ground and also then nice to pick the thing up to make it easier to get at the cut chunks of wood.  mine supports the slabs at 16-inch interval, but it is open so I can adjust for knots or turns in the wood.

[Magicman]

More sawing today and we should finish tomorrow.


Ain't skeered, I had to do another "scoot over" today to clear the blade guide on a "too big" Red Oak log.....but.


Yup, nails.  Two here and two more making three blades trashed today.  The customer then discarded all of the Oak logs, so it will be only SYP now.


I moved the sawmill down to the third (last) stack for tomorrow's sawing.  The third log from the right on the bottom is Oak, so it will be discarded. 

We have only counted boards and I have not done a bf tally but I am seeing over 3Mbf.

[Daburner87]

nice.  does the saw bar and chain cut between the uprights?  let us know how it works.  is that 16-inch centers?

Yes exactly.  Personally haven't tried it yet.  I need to build a few firewood storage racks before I do.

I got the idea from this guy here...

https://www.youtube.com/shorts/pFbZJJQMUYo

I used bigger wood so I didn't need that many concrete blocks.  I was thinking maybe I could use a ratchet strap or ROK strap and maybe I can pick up each bundle without having to grab each individual piece. Then I can easily transfer it already organized, unstrap it, and it would stack nice and quick.  Maybe. 

[Old Greenhorn]

Nice rack and concept. The question that struck me was unloading. Maybe your strap idea will work fine. Too bad it's a lot more work to make those front 'bar guides" so they could flop down after cutting so that unloading was easier. I'll be following on this to see how it works for you when you begin filling racks.

[Resonator]

As I recall irregular shaped slabs made it kind of tricky too. As I would cut down through the stack they wanted to shift, or collapse any gaps between the pieces (had to watch to keep the saw bar from getting pinched).

[Dave Shepard]

I finally got my sycamore home. Both logs are 42" small end.

[Daburner87]

In the past I would just dump my waste into my fire pit which is 6'x4'.  The problem is everything is 8' or bigger so you get overhang. Unless I build a bigger fire pit 

I seriously hope this helps me centralize the waste so I can continue milling quickly, and when its time to party we got the biggest fire in the neighborhood. 

[Daburner87]

As I recall irregular shaped slabs made it kind of tricky too. As I would cut down through the stack they wanted to shift, or collapse any gaps between the pieces (had to watch to keep the saw bar from getting pinched).

Maybe ratchet strap them before cutting?  Then remove the entire bundle afterwards?  I'm just spit balling, I hope it works, gotta get rid of it somehow.

[Old Greenhorn]

.......... and when its time to party we got the biggest fire in the neighborhood.

You gotta think bigger. None of our slabs go to the firepit, they feed the OWB all year round, but the fire pit down there is about 30' in diameter and we feed the pile all year. When party time comes in August we notify the county Fire Control and we have the Department Fire Chief at the party.

[LeftFinger]

we just burned off the Village tree trimming , leaf pile , also my sawdust/slab pile as all my Elm bark had to be burned today according to my Elm permit. Pile is about 30 ft wide by 75 ft deep

[barbender]

I made a slab rack similar to Daburners, but it was a pain to unload. Lately, I have a rack where slabs are piled. I keep them as neat as possible. Then they are banded. When I cut them up, I have a couple of pallets that the slab bundle is set on, that has uprights lagged to the sides. Then I cut the wood to length, on the pallets. This saves me from having to pick the wood up. I use a lot of the slabs in our bundled firewood, after I cut them to length I can just pick the pallet up, and bring it over to the bundling area. 

All of this is dependent on having a loader and pallet forks, obviously.

[doc henderson]

You may find you need more "wiggle" room.  the good news is that the uprights can be modified if needed.  looks to be a good sturdy base.  over time some of the parts may turn out to be sacrificial and need replaced.  I just repaired part of my base.  I do better to not stack full and then can shift slabs as needed.  I cut between the crossbars and the wood can fall through for slabs, and log may tilt and stay on top.  when the saw pulls slabs forward as mentioned, you may get in a bind.  looks great and yes please let us know how it goes.

[Magicman]

Both logs are 42" small end.

Those will be interesting Dave. 

[jpassardi]

Yeah, those are some healthy sycamore logs.

[doc henderson]

they look plenty big enough to quartersaw, and not as much twist as a few I have around here.

[Dave Shepard]

Definitely going to get q-sawn. I was on a crane rental when these came down. Didn't have the time to deal with them at the time. Then they showed up at the wood yard, too big to deal with. Their cracker couldn't even split the 18 to 24 inch limbs. The butt was even bigger, but I wasn't going to risk tramp metal.

[TimW]

Dave,
       Quarter sawn into what?

[Dave Shepard]

Probably 4/4 or 5/4. That's what I've done in the past.

[Magicman]

My customer called "calf rope" on this job this morning.

 
I have sawed through many jacketed bullets but never one with this thick of a jacket although it did have a lead core.  It was .30 caliber.  Notice that the jacket is rounded over and it destroyed the blade.  After the nails yesterday, today, and then this, it was more than he could stand.


We left 16 logs including these 4 unsawed and partially sawed cants.  I actually do not blame him for calling it quits so we did what coon hunters do to the fire when the hunt is over.

We did manage to saw 2394 bf in about 10 hours which included all of the setups, moving, and jaw jacking.  All of this lumber will go toward building a new home. 

I believe that I am now off until April 24th but if it rains, that job will be pushed to May 26th.  I am down to 6 jobs in the schedule book but none are ready yet.

I can see some "nothing" in my future. 

[barbender]

Well, you've earned that nothing, Magic👍😊