Crazy Road Trip

[Nomad]

     This was just nuts.  I got in last night from a road trip of 355 miles, each way, to saw one log.  My thanks go out to CustomSawyer for pointing this customer to me.

     He had gone to look at this job awhile back and in fact sawed the tree in half.  (Jake you hit it right on the money too.  That was almost exactly the bottom of the worst rot.)

     The log was in a back yard impossible to bring a bandmill into and no way to crane the log out.  But setting my Lucas up around the log was no big deal; I just had to roll the log about 5' to clear the rest of the trunk.  You can see the upper part of the trunk to the left in the photo. 


 

    The trunk had a lot of dirt and gravel in the bark and I guess we didn't get it all.  Stones do a number on carbide tips.  I also hit a fair amount of metal.  Here's a cluster of nails that had been in this tree for a long time.  And for CustomSawyer, that stain you saw way in the middle of the bottom of the log?  Turned out to be an eye bolt.  (Don't ask how I know that :D)


 

     About half way through


 

     Almost finished.


 

     Most of the boards, mostly fat 1X8s.  I got about 1300 BF out of this log.


 

     Without CustomSawyer's reference this fella never would've heard of me.  Thanks again, Jake!

[POSTON WIDEHEAD]

The F.F. Working together. 

[Chuck White]

Now that's a nice whack of lumber!

Whew, what a road trip.

Glad it worked for you!

[Leigh Family Farm]

Way to live up to your namesake...Nomad

[Magicman]

Nice.  Congrats to all on this team effort.   

[Meadows Miller]

Gday

Great team effort as Lynn stated  ;) ;D 8) Nomad log looked worth it not an Agrade but good I have hit a couple of eye bolts in my time once on a Lucas and another time on the Laimet mild steels not to bad  but still a supprise  :  ;) :D  Your going Aussie Style (Walkabout Sawmilling) Now  ;)  :D I have gone upto 1100 odd mi for onsite jobs Mate  ;)

Regards Chris

[terrifictimbersllc]

Can I ask how many hours did it take for this sawing and did you get help tailing off the boards?

[Nomad]

Can I ask how many hours did it take for this sawing and did you get help tailing off the boards?

     I did have a helper.  Not the best by any means, but better than nothing.  Things were hampered a lot by lack of room and no way to easily move the boards to the stacking area.  I spent a lot of time waiting for him.  Probably 10 hours time with the mill in place; 6 or 7 hours with the motor running.

[stumpy]

Was this a paying job?

[Weekend_Sawyer]

That looks like some nice wood, do you ever flip it over before you to the the heart and have a 3" thick plank from the middle?

Did you have to change out the blade when you hit the eye bolt?

Did it ruin the blade?

What is the cost of replacing the blade and having a blade reconditioned?

Thanks
Jon

[Nomad]

Was this a paying job?

Yes Stumpy, this was a paid job.

That looks like some nice wood, do you ever flip it over before you to the the heart and have a 3" thick plank from the middle?

     Nope.  If they want slabs, I'll slab it.  Flipping over half a 4' wide log 13' long is not on my agenda.

Did you have to change out the blade when you hit the eye bolt?

     Actually, the eye bolt didn't do much damage.  The cluster of nails, though, took out a couple of carbides.

Did it ruin the blade?

     It didn't ruin the blade, but I needed to change it out.  It'll need to be re-tipped.

What is the cost of replacing the blade and having a blade reconditioned?

     The cost of a new blade is $400, plus shipping.  The cost to have one re-tipped is all over the map, depending on who you get to do it and whether or not there's a shipping cost involved.  I charge $65, which adequately covers it for me.

     If you've got any more questions for me Jon, feel free to ask.

Thanks
Jon

[Ianab]

It's hard to destroy a swing mill blade, with manual feed you pretty soon figure that something is wrong and stop pushing  :D You don't have the power feed and 100hp combo that that a bigger circle mill does, that can put some serious hurting on a blade.

But taking the carbides off, or at least badly chipping them is pretty normal for a serious metal strike. You might get though a bullet or soft fence wire with minimal damage, or keep sawing with a couple of cutters out of action, but there is usually some damage.

The carbides are pretty cheap, only a couple of bucks each, but it takes time to replace them, either yours or your saw doctors, so that gets you up around the $50 mark to repair a blade.

Ian

[customsawyer]

I am glad this worked out for you Bill.
The customer called me and was talking about paying me to pick up the log and haul it to my mill and all of this but when I got to the site and saw the 7' wide drive way I knew there was no way for me to get my mill in or the log out. Thus the call to Nomad and a happy customer.