Lucas Mill ? regarding milling large dimensional timber

[Guner Tautrim]

I'm a lucas mill operator.  Mostly do slab work.  Now I have a client that wants beams that are spec'ed at 14"x14".  How would I do this with a 10" swing blade?
Can I saw the top off- rotate etc.  Any help would be much appreciated.  Thanks.  Guner

[Larch]

I have a swinger and mill large timbers.

First center the heart with shims and cut the top.  Then turn the log square to the frame and cut again.  And so on.

Cut heavy on each side and then skim off the cut lines with a full horizontal blade before turning.

If you think you might be doing a lot of this spend the cash now and get some manual log turners from swing-set (pictured).  They will save you a ton of time (money) over the long haul.  They are on jacks and can be used to adjust taper as well. 

[sigidi]

Guner,

easiest way is to saw the top until you have the 14" face, then roll your log.

When I had my model 6-18 Lucas I did some 350x350 (14"x14") for a guy, it took a little while, but was worth it for the price I got paid  ;)

[Ianab]

Like the guys say, although we normally don't move the log as we saw with a swing blade, there is nothing that says you can't.

Setting up a good solid log deck and having some way to jack and level the log will make life a lot easier. I've done the "flip the log" trick for cutting one live edge slab before, and it helps to have a selection of "shims", like assorted boards or plywood to lift up one end as needed.

It will be a bit of putzing around if you don't have a fancy log deck with tow boards and turner etc, but it can be done.

Edit: Have a look at this post on how to cut oversize beams with a swing mill. It's using a Peterson and they have a crane to help with the log handling, but it shows what can be done.
https://forestryforum.com/board/index.php/topic,61982.msg913324.html

[woodyone.john]

Can you cut a 14 " flitch with you slabber ? turn 90* then same again.

[sigidi]

Lucas slabber doesn't have 14" capacity

[terrifictimbersllc]

Lucas slabber doesn't have 14" capacity

The new dedicated slabbers have 20" depth.

[sigidi]

Lucas slabber doesn't have 14" capacity

The new dedicated slabbers have 20" depth.

AH!! ya see, I'm just a poor slabber attachment guy  ;D

[tburch]

I have a Peterson 10" WPF and cut three 14" x 14" cants recently to use as bunks for my mill.   After I flattened the top, I (manually, by myself) turned the log 90 degrees and did it again.  (A helper here at this stage would REALLY save some time.) 

A couple things to look forward to is that every time you flip the log 1/4 turn, it gets lighter.  ;)   Also, when just cutting the tops off, you don't have to line the log up as parallel as you do when cutting boards, unless you want to save as much top boards off as you can.   My logs were old and extremely split, so there was nothing worth saving, but the 14x14 cants are still plenty solid for setting logs on.   

First cut is easy.  Second cut is the tough one to set up, since you have to balance and shim and chock the log to get the first cut side plumb.  Third and fourth cuts are easy.