Whatcha Sawin' 2024 ??

[NewYankeeSawmill]

Maxed out the sawmill today!
Had a customer w/ 1 log, which I normally ask them to bring to me (advertising states 4-hr minimum)... but this sucker was too big for me to lift w/ my tractor, and the site was only 15 min away. So I waived the minimum, and came out to his place. Billed him for 2 hrs., he paid me for 3. Customer was happy as could be.









Blade started waving a little halfway through, so I put on a fresh one, and walked slower. It got better. Was definitely pushing the limits of this equipment. Only the 18hp engine, so maybe w/ the 23hp it would have fared better. Still was nice to meet the guy, make a few bucks. Hopefully turns into some referral business.

[TimW]

I had one of those days where everything I touched seemed to fall apart. It was so bad I was afraid to go pee.

    I talked to Doug at WM customer service yesterday and he sent me a drawing showing an adjustment for my drive belt. I went out and checked and am sure it has never been moved but I moved it over to spec but when I engage then disengage the belt it jumped off. The other drive pulleys seem in line but the belt was running on the edge of the idler pulley. The only adjustment I could do was move one thin washer so I did that. I cranked the mill to test it and it choked down so I checked and found I was out of fuel so I took the tank off and filled it but when I went to put it back I found the support for the tray that holds the tank was broken so I had to disconnect the weldment to the debarker and such and took off the tray. Right after noon I took it to my mower guy who said he thought he could weld it so I dropped it off there. Hopefully I can get it back tomorrow and check some more. I don't see any adjustment left for the belt. The drive and band wheel pulley shafts seem rock solid.

Howard,
I had that problem with my alternator belt.  The alternator pulley and the drive pulley are one and the same.  I have to line up the alternator belt, then adjust the drive belt pulleys.  It is give and take.  WM Dennis told me to tape a string to the front or back side of the pulleys and check alignment with the string.  It can be an optical illusion looking and thinking it is lined up and the string shows you are wrong.  florescent pink works great!

[barbender]

 A journey starts with the first step, but it's hard to get rolling if it's a step backward😊

[SawyerTed]

In the fall of 2022 2021, a repeat customer had me saw walnut logs he had bought from a farm owner.  There was a log with a couple of large branches that he culled.  We were sawing in the farm owner's walnut grove.  The walnuts trees are the straightest largest group of walnut trees I've ever seen.  There are over 30 trees in the 30" DBH range. 

Last year I was sawing for the son of that farm owner.  The son and his father had collected logs from both of their farms.

What did I find in the whack of 20 or so logs?  There was that "cull" log.  It had checked a little but was in good shape. 

I cut it into four 16/4 live edge pieces. 

This last week, I was sawing for the son again.  What did I see his father moving while making room for the new lumber?  Four gorgeous walnut 16/4 x24" wide x 8' live edge blanks.

They were dead flat and pretty much the way they were when I cut them. 

Coincidentally, another customer called looking for a bar top for his man cave. 

I brokered a deal on one piece of walnut.  It worked out for one happy sawyer and two happy customers. 

Here's the bar top after sanding with progressively finer sanding discs.  My customer sent this last night after he started work on it.  It will receive an epoxy bar top pour. 

BTW -it IS heavy!

[Rhodemont]

Ash
    

[WV Sawmiller]

Ted,

  You triggered something. My spring is not the one from WM, The old one broke and I got one locally. It is not as stiff but has worked fine. I have a WM spring in my spares kit. I'm going to put that on and see if that helps. Sure can't hurt. I asked WM customer service but they said that spring should n be part of the problem but we will see.

[jpassardi]

Very nice Ted - though he may want to reconsider the table legs. 

[Magicman]

The customer saw an opportunity to grab the tractor and came back saying that he has found another log.

Yes he did and...


Guess what was sitting at my sawmill loader when I got to work this morning.  30" butt and 26" top end to be sawed into 1X12's etc.  I had to take the MS261 to that nub on the bottom center.  No problem loading nor turning.

I sent the above picture to PatD and to Marty and both commented back about the sawdust pile.  Didn't say nuttin' about da log that showed up during the night.


Da sawdust pile is sorta impressive considering the size of the scoop that moved every bit of it away from the sawmill and also that it completely wraps around the tree in the background.

I said that I had not and would not count the logs:


But I did take a picture of the remaining logs.  Looks like 19 to me.  We would have finished had he not brought the log in that took 1 1/2 hours to saw this morning.  Seemed like more handling than sawing.

Anyway, Monday is another day and should be the last day unless..... 

[barbender]

Jpassardi, that is that "white trash deco" style that is all the rage now😂

[SawyerTed]

You can't have any idea how accurate that is! 

Of course the tire/wheel stacks were a "workbench" of sorts.   They were leftovers from their "race car"!   

My customer is a friend and a real go getter tree service guy.  But he's an Appalachian American if there ever was one.   I love him but...

[WV Sawmiller]

  I got my welded/repaired fuel tank tray back today and put it back on. I hate the little nuts and bolts on the debarker controls/breaker box and managed to take at least twice as much time as it should have taken to reassemble but got it back on. The guy did a good looking repair on the piece.

  I went ahead and replaced the spring which was light duty. I had a WM spec spring but the other had been working fine so I had not replaced it. I moved the little pin over as close as possible and test it. Still jumped off a time or two. I called WM and Andy suggested I might have to loosen the motor to cock the pulley to track better. I told him that does not sound Kosher to me and I'm very reluctant to try that yet. I had never noticed the motor is mounted in 4 slots and I can see where it could be slid forward or back a little but there is no indication anything has shifted so I am perplexed at what is the root cause of my current problem. I also am having trouble figuring how to run a straight edge or pop a string on the back to verify alignment. There is not much working room between the pulleys and the frame/housing and such.

    I checked the tension and it was about 20 ft/lb at 7/16" instead of the 14 ft/lb per spec so I adjusted to that tension. I tried a couple of times and the belt seems to be staying on. I won't know till I can run a few test logs. I have my fingers crossed.

  Looking at the design there is a small lip the bolts on over the drive pulley at about 10 o'clock as facing the front of the mill and another little pin that shifts over next to the 19" pulley at about 8 o'clock so there is nothing to except tension help keep the belt on from 10 to 8 o'clock. Looking at it I can see where it would not have been hard to install a pin system around 2 o'clock but this has always worked before.