OldJarheads Milling Thread...

[OlJarhead]

Ahhh yes "Weakness is just pain leaving the body".

In truth, it's taken a lot of work to tell myself NOT to ignore pain because, yes, the Marine Corps teaches you to ignore it and they do that well...so well that at 59 (60 in July) I'm only just learning and it's not easy!

But yes, I must be careful and continue to work on strengthening the body.  I want to hold off surgery as long as possible!

In the video you might notice the log loader arms were often all the way up ;)  I learned something from Lynn's mishap!  I don't think I've ever done that before but I thought "this bugger will decide to throw me a loop so I'm going to take precautions!"

Took some work but was a good feeling.

My friend Robert not only operated the chainsaw but once, when I said "I can do that" he said "no, you shouldn't!" and insisted that he let me...I realized I was about to make a mistake.

It's tough when you feel good to stop and say "I want to keep feeling this good" and NOT do the dumb thing.  Perhaps that's the hardest part.

[Magicman]

Yes, I noticed where your loader arms were.    

Fact is that I have never not left my loader arms up when manipulating a log on the sawmill bed, but I sorta question whether mine were all of the way up when that mishap happened.

[doc henderson]

yes, we love our big logs, but sometimes a little more size or weight can take all the fun out it.  It is all fun, till someone gets hurt.  I am glad we are all here to tell our stories.

[OlJarhead]

It's the logs that you look at and go "Hmmm....I sure hope I can turn this one" that make it not so much fun at first and a ton of fun when it's milled off the deck! lol

I only put the loader arms all the way up when I'm worried about a log rolling back on them, otherwise I keep them half way up for safety until the logs done.

[Jeff]

As a commercial sawyer that had production schedules I HATED big logs. Big logs are a whole different world on a circle mill. A  56" saw actually only has a 20" cut.  The largest log I ever sawed was 54".  Getting it rolled up on the carriage, and then dogged, hopefully securly enougn it did not let go as it looms above and then engulfs the saw completely. My top vertical edger blade would be set to release the slab. Seeing those type of logs looming above that saw as you gigged back to try and get some turn to do it again created a huge pucker factor. Anything over 30" guaranteed to screw up production and unless it was a hifh grade log, cost more to saw than it was worth.  16 to 20" logs were optimum.

[Magicman]

I have sawed several huge Oak (45-6") that have taken upward of 3 hours.  I reckon the fact that it produced 1Mbf+ made it OK, but it's still a strain on me and the sawmill to deal with the monsters.  Yup, love those ~20-25" logs.

[OlJarhead]

I've done 3 42" logs on my LT40 standard a d they took as much as 5 or 6 hours!  It was a challenge but not what I wanted to mill lol.

One I could turn and had to have it plucked off the mill with a excavator,  trimmed with a chainsaw and put back on.  7 nails, 6hrs.  No fun!

[jpassardi]

If only most were 18" - 24" - right in the sweet spot... 

[OlJarhead]

Right? 🤣

[OlJarhead]

Had some help at the cabin 😀

[OlJarhead]

 now I can hopefully mill those logs up into something useful.  Though I have one more trip to get felling done.

[Peter Drouin]

 I like it.

[OlJarhead]

We're heading back this weekend to do some more falling and drag more logs out off the bank/hillside.  I've also informed my neighbors they are welcome to buck up the smaller Doug Firs into firewood for the winter since they typically use a lot.  This can save them a few bucks and time :D and me the clean up :D

Win win!