Question for swingers - Milling live edge siding

[Snag]

Ok, need a little advice on the best way to aproach this.  A customer wants me to saw some siding for him.  The specs are as follows: 1/2"thick, 1 live edge, one straight edge, approx 8" wide.  I will be sawing between 12" and 20" diameter logs and have been trying to figure out the best way to attack this to maximize production.  Any ideas?  I can wing it while I go :, which may be the answer, but after reading some other discussions on here, I sure someone has some methodology... Thanks in advance..

[LOGDOG]

Must it be 8" or can it be between 8" and say 10''? I'm just thinking about the radius rounding over on the crown. Picture a 3-sided cant ...round side up. It may be 8" on the low side of the round and 10" on the crown. I'm trying to think of the best way to do it without waste. Does the customer need any stripping for underneath the siding?

LOGDOG

[Snag]

They dont have to be exactly 8", but they need to stay as close as I can.  Also, I have an 8" wpf so I cant go bigger without double cutting.  It isnt a big deal to have some waste, Just trying to figure out how to minimize it.  My goal is to not regret the way I cut it when I'm done.  He only wants the actual pieces of siding, so anything else stays with me.  If there are strips left over I will just add them to my lumber collection.  Thanks.

[Husband]

I would go 8" from the left side, whatever from the middle to ensure that I get another 8" from the right side of the log. Do the 1/2" cut in the verticle drops. Hope this helps.
BTW, does he want it bevelled as well or is he happy to have them square???

[Qweaver]

OK, I'll show my ignorance, what's a live edge?

[Snag]

He is happy with them just being square.  That seems easy enough, I was wondering if I did the drops on the left if before going to the right if I should take a vertical 8", but I guess all that would do is cause me to lose width on that side.  Just saw the right hand side as if dbl cutting?  Thanks Husband....

[Snag]

hey qweaver, thats not ignorance, nobody knows everything.... a live edge is just the natural bark edge.  The guy wants what is referred to as "Adirondack" siding in these parts.

[LOGDOG]

Let's see ... I guess right off my first thought is to put the log in between your tracks. Stand at the head of your mill and sight a line through your blade in the vertical position. Line the left edge of the log up with your saw. You can always take a ruler and measure from the left side of the log end on the crown to the inside edge of your low track to check and see if it's sitting in there square. Then I guess I'd level the top edge of the log by raising the saw up over the log in the horizontal position. Bring the saw over the highest end of the log ...measure from top of log to bottom of saw and raise the low end so that they match. Secure the log.

I'd take the top off the log first. Pending on the width of that first face you may need to take a 1" board horizontally to open a face up that it 8" wide. Once you have a face wide enough, I'd crank the mill left, line my blade up with the live edge and then set your stop 8" to the right of that point. (I guess that's how the manual mills do it? My automatic is different). Once you've got your stop set, lower the cutting head enough to allow you to take the 1/2" thick piece with the blade horizontal. Then I would repeat the procedure we just did by rolling over to the left. Line the saw up with the live edge, set your stop, drop, and take the 1/2" thick piece.

What you'll see is that you are stair stepping down the left outside of the edge and on the inside core of the log you'll have what looks like a set of stairs. I'd take siding off the edge as deep as you can go and then clean up that stair stepped triangle by cutting it into whatever lumber you'd like. Once you have a 90 degree piece of pie cut out if you will, I'd take some siding with the blade going deep vertically 8".

Here I have a question, what is the max depth between your cross brace on your saw carriage and the top of your blade? It will determine whether or not you can take another piece to your right or if you must go left and take some deep off the left edge horzontally to gain depth for the vertical cuts still to come off the top edge.

I'll leave it here because I don't know the measurements on your mill. But you get the idea. If a log has taper in it and is straight, by aligning the left side with the saw and leveling the top of the log to the saw, you can be assured that the pieces of siding will be as close to the same width on one end as the other -even with the live edge. To counter this on the bottom half of the log I would simply lower the end we raised until the bottom edge of the log is parrallel (level) to our saw in horizontal position. This allows you to cut the taper out of the center of the log which will result in uniform pieces of live edge siding coming off the bottom of the lower crown.

Follow? smiley_dizzy

Hasta manana amigos...
LOGDOG

[Snag]

LOGDOG -

smiley_dizzy  actually I do follow.  Thanks for the scenario.  I am going to tackle it this week.  I'll let you know how it ends up working out.  Thanks again.

[LOGDOG]

Cool ...Sounds good. Don't want to slow you down or anything but think you could manage a few pics for the greater good?  Look forward to hearing how it works out.

LOGDOG

[Snag]

sure thing.  I will get some pics of it.  I sawed one log yesterday.  Each log is going to need to be done in its own way, or so it seems right now.  The one I did yesterday was pretty easy.  For the majority of the log I would take 8" from the left and then was left with 6" to 10" on the right.  I spoke with the customer and he said he didnt mind some of the boards being narrower, so I just cut off the stuff < 8" and put in the pile.  Lots of windows and stuff on the house, so boards will have to be ripped down anyway.  When I was left with 10" I just took off the 2" piece in the center and then went over my 8".  When I get into a bigger log I am going to try to save the middle by doing the 8" vertical drops.