Semi-emergency, need tips for straight lumber

[canopy]

They are also visual learners in large, so if you couldn't show them a concept that they can see and touch, they normally won't do it.

Very true.

Was this the type of blade they used in the vertical band saw from the first video?

Yes it is the exact same one. The clip is just after those cuts they said the blade is broken in some way. By diamond they say the blade has diamond tipped teeth.

Are you buying the wood you need from them, or are these your trees?

This mill buys wood by the truckload and makes lumber to customer order. So I don't get to see where the trees are from specifically.

[Jay C. White Cloud]

Hey Canopy,

There is no "diamond tipped" (other than the shape maybe,) wood milling blades, anywhere in the world.  I can say that with about 99.8% confidence, (unless the Germans or Japanese have come up with something new that snuck by me.)  That mill they are using then is missing parts?  They carriage folks have been talking about is something they are missing for the machine, I would guess.  They are still doing some pretty good work, IMO.  They are amazing people.

Good to know it's not your logs.  ;D  Now, I'm not sure of the arrangement, but if you want, take pictures of the wood you are thinking of buying, what beam of post it will be and  a post pictures here.  I, (and I'm sure others,) will have opinions on whether you should try and use them for a timber frame.  I may also ask what the timber cant feels like when you rub you hand across it, smooth, fussy, ruff, this can tell you if there is unseen reaction in the wood.  Once you start taking note of this, you will get better at it.  That way at least, you will be getting a second opinion about it.  I hope they let you pick out what you need, otherwise it is kind'a of a hit or miss deal.  Teak can be like working with, maples or birch if you get near a crotch or buttress root area.  Also, if a teak log is a "leaner," form growing on a hill, you only want to use in for certain applications, and have it milled in a certain way.

Regards,  jay

[tommone]

Polycrystaline diamond tipped circular blades are used extensively in particle board mills.  I know that diamond tipped  bandsaw blades have been tried in an experimental basis in a few places. Don't know if they were successful. The polycrystaline diamond is a made a bit like carbide ,composed of many small diamond particles compressed and shaped into a solid mass. Can look like carbide in appearance .I thought the rake angle  on the blades for the hardwood looked extreme! Just my thoughts. Tom

[Ianab]

I can understand the "visual learning" thing. It's a pity the locals couldn't get to see an actual sawmill in operation. Even a LT15 or a manual swing blade mill working properly. I bet their eyes would light up when they saw how things are supposed to work.

A swing blade mill is what they / you really need for that sort of work, they are designed to be hauled into the jungle and cut pretty much anything, any place. But I'm guessing $15k + price tag would be an issue...

Ian

[Jay C. White Cloud]

Hey Tommone,

I know there is some cutting edge stuff out there, I see it al the time in the stone cutting/carving trade, but I haven't seen anything in mainstream production other that smatterings in big industry like you referenced.  I'm sure it is coming, but even the real nice, and $$$ carbide isn't very "shock," proof and will not whether use by an uninitiated sawyer. I would love to know if these folks in Thailand got something out of Japan that is new?

Regards,  jay

[tommone]

Hi, Jay i am familiar with the wire saw and diamond impregnated beads you are using for stone cutting as I was in diamond R&d for many years and still am in a smaller way. You are right about the carbide or similiar not being shock proof particularly with hidden nails etc. still curious about the band. doesn't look tipped in any way and as I said before the rake angle looks extreme, more like the rake angle on a hand   pruner saw for branches. tom

[Jay C. White Cloud]

I didn't want to sound disparaging to the sawyer in Thailand, but I can pretty much grantee they don't have a diamond tipped blade of any kind.  The saw could very well be hand filed and set by an old wood cutter.  He would put the same set and rake on that band saw blade as he would put on his hand rip blade.  They, (rural Asian culture,) will latch onto a description that they may have heard in the media and use it to describe something they want to have that trait.  Like "as hard as a diamond," for example would fit perfectly to a millers blade.  It is not as much for the potential client as it is for their competitors, to create stress.  If you think back to advertising in this country in the late 18th and 19th century, and how "grandiose," or "inflated," much of it was.  That is where the normative culture of many third world communities are.  I could tell some very interesting stories of "claims," made by many different sources that are more mythology than fact.  It is very much a part of the cultural fiber of Asia, they love stories, the grander the better.

[tommone]

Very historically philosophical Jay, I bow to your superior knowledge.Tom

[Jay C. White Cloud]

Thank you Tommone,

I wouldn't say all that about my knowledge, but I do have some insight, and I'm very attuned to Asian, as well as, my own Native Culture.  There are very strong similarities between the two. I could see it when I was there, and the more I study Asian folk architecture, the more of the other aspects of rural Asian culture I learn.  Much of rural Thailand, and the surrounding countries are tribal in nature, and still follow clan cultural demeanor. It is both beautiful, intriguing, and difficult to comprehend at times.

Regards,  jay