The Greenhorn's initial sawing season 2019-20

[Old Greenhorn]

BTW, what prompted the question about the chainsaw pants? Because if you are looking, there are better pants, just not in my price range. Also, mine are summer weight, maybe you want another season?

[doc henderson]

just looking. what do you recommend.  I have chaps I rarely wear. I use double knee carharts, but they wont stop a chain.

[Old Greenhorn]

There are a couple of good threads on here that discuss the pros and cons of such pants. If I had a more robust bank account I would have gotten the Cloggers like @nybhh has and likes. (see his threads) The Elvex are comfortable for this time of year and spring. However. I am not sure how they will be in cold weather. The backs are very thin breathable material and you almost feel like you are wearing chaps with no pants on. They are still warm, but bearable. I have no problem wearing them all day, but only do that when I am working with the saw most of it. For short jobs around the mill, I throw on the chaps, but I get them off as soon as I can.

[doc henderson]

you almost feel like you are wearing chaps with no pants on.

.... : : :.... I am from Kansas, I have never tried that...conjured a bit of a visual that I can never unsee...  but I did ask.    Thanks for the info.  I think you are right, I would put these on for a day of cutting, and was wanting something as comfy as a pair of jeans to wear on those days.  thanks @Old Greenhorn

[Old Greenhorn]

...conjured a bit of a visual that I can never unsee...  but I did ask.     

Yeah, thats the image I was going for. Think Midnight cowboy.

[Old Greenhorn]

Here's the video of those doe that came by yesterday.
DSCF2671 - YouTube

[Old Greenhorn]

Man, I didn't accomplish squat yesterday. The kids both wanted to do 'something for me' and I spent half the day waiting for them to decide what that was.  Finally got down to the mill for an hour and tried doing more glue touch-up work on the benches. SO humid it was that nothing was drying at all. I made a shopping list for he coming week. I had a funny encounter with the same Doe from the previous day. she was browsing in, I was sitting in a chair, each of us shielded from the others view by the mill head. No music playing, just the sound of rain falling, very very peaceful. I must have shifted my legs, she was about 20' from me and she let out one heck of a long snort and took off running, for about 50', then stopped, turned, and looked at me. I talked to her a little, she stared for a bit, then went back to munching and started browsing in my directions again. All was forgiven, I guess.
 Tonight it was not raining so I hustled home and went a few houses down the road to one of the weekenders homes where they had some big trees just dropped and didn't know what to do with them. I asked if I could take a few of the logs and they were very pleased. I told them when I could fit it in, I would. Well this past weekend they hinted that I could start pulling logs whenever I wanted. As it turns out, my SIL indicated they have a project and need some lumber, so I offered to cut to their list (which I still await the arrival of) but I knew I would need some logs. SO down I went to start the process of untangling, cutting out, yanking and removing these logs from the tangle that was left. I chose the toughest one first and cut a 10'6" x 18" DBH log that was in the middle to start. It came out like a dream, but MAN! It was Heavy! Turns out it is clean fresh Red Oak. This log is veneer quality, easy. I had a hard time getting it off the ground into the skidding arch. I am guessing it is around 1800 pounds minimum. Slow going up their driveway, , making the 140° turn onto the road, down 1/4 mile, then another 120° turn to get into my skid roads. It went easy though. Tomorrow I will do more of the same and stage them near the mill. I really don't have a log pile because I can't lift them and would need another pair of hands to peavy them up. I just leave them on the side of the trail in groups. They don't lay very long, and if they do, I roll them from time to time.
 Oh, and the doe I keep seeing, she was laying in the swamp area in front of the mill tonight when I went down to get the arch (at a high rate of speed for a skid road). I hollered 'hello' when I saw her, she watched, but didn't move. She was there for all of my subsequent 'passes' with and without a log in tow. She never moved, just watched. On my last trip up, I stopped at the top of the trail and took a couple of photos while we (I) chatted.
 
 Can you see her in this photo? She is between the trees just a bit to the upper right of the very center of the photo.




Maybe this is a little better?


 


And here is what I could see, she never took her eyes off me, but never looked concerned, just curious in a bored sort of way. All women treat me like that. ;D Look at her eyes, she is clearly thinking "Are you done talking yet?" I have seen this look SO many times.


 

SO I think I have a couple of evenings of grunt work just skidding logs to make the new neighbor happy, Then I should make him a bench or something they could use as a thank you. It is VERY nice oak, after all, and they are nice folks. :D

[WV Sawmiller]

OG,

 Been missing out on this site a while. Doing a running battle with my provider for internet services and sometimes TV lately. Anyway, I had an old doe like that last year that raised her fawn on a rock bar at the fenceline with my neighbor a coupe hundred yards away but sometimes she'd come down and bed down 30 yards away with me sawing. She'd get nervous if the dogs came by but did not mind me running the mill. I rode my atv withing 5 yards of her and her grown fawn at my upper gate the last day of antlerless season on my way to my shooting house and just did not have the heart to shoot them. I wanted another big doe for the freezer but could not take her.

 Back on your benches I'd sure trim those ends down with a draw knife or table saw. Might rig them on the table saw then take off the excess with a dk. My tenon cutter leaves a 60 degree shoulder while yours seems to cut pretty flush. You've been to Doc's thread where we discussed making them. http://forestryforum.com/board/index.php?topic=105007.0 I cut the excess off the top with a Japanese pull saw. I liked your "bottle jack" legs btw.

[Old Greenhorn]

Yeah WV, I am starting to get better at it as I work through all the wrong things to do first.  ;D I ordered a 1-3/8 Forstner bit today thinking I could still salvage those legs that fit way too loose in a 1-1/2" hole, just sand off the high spots and I bet they will tap in. 
 Rain all week here so I might trim off some leg tops tonight if the last glue is dried well enough, but it depends on how hard it is raining. I should just skid logs for the next few evenings to get that a little cleaned up. I texted that neighbor last night to let him know I was at his place and started. He said he saw me on his internet cam but couldn't make out details too well. I asked if he needed any lumber. He said he didn't want to take away anything from my pile that I worked hard to put up, but perhaps maybe a small bench for his fire pit area. I laughed, yeah, I will make him something, maybe a few things. I have all these bottle jacks laying around. ;D ;D This Oak will need at least 6 months in slab form before I can work it.
 I don't think I could take one of those does, they are neighbors and they are the only company I have at the mill. There is one fat buck that hates me and sees me as a threat to his does, him I could eat, no problem.  :D

[Old Greenhorn]

Not much today, it did stop raining before I left work, that's a change. I skidded up a few more logs, one went to the firewood pile. It's a tangle, so getting them out takes longer than moving them. I met the fella 3 houses down with the LT35. It has hydros and I am jealous. Say he just got it. He was milling up some kiln dried untreated kiln dried phone poles. Clean stuff, easy cutting. Says he has been on the FF but I didn't ask his username. That makes 3 mills on our road now. The weather shows rain every day until Friday, so I guess I'll just try to get logs moved in the evenings and start cutting on the weekend, if I can just ignore the distractions of meeting neighbors and other things.  There is a bunch of wood in the pile, but it is a tangle to sort out.

[Old Greenhorn]

More skidding last night, well, most yanking logs from a swamp tangle and a little skdding. I visited with Don for a few minutes (the new LT35 owner) and between runs I dropped him a RO log about 12" x 5' for a test log to play with. I have some more if he wants them. He is cranking out 3/4 siding for his place up north from those poles, but has yet to work on a tree yet. Practice logs are good.
 I think I will hack the smaller stuff in this pile for firewood right where it sits and bring the splitter over and work with the owner to make his first firewood pile. Otherwise I will spend many evenings dragging shorts and small pieces. Better for him to have a pile. 
 Then there is one big WO in there I have to get out, about 20"DBH with a 40-50' stem. Straight as a phone pole but I have zero maneuvering room. That should kill a couple of evenings. All grunt work this week with nothing to show for it but logs laying everywhere down by the mill. The same for tonight I think, unless I start working on the cut list for the kids.

[Old Greenhorn]

Well back to work tonight. I got tired of skidding logs and wanted to get a jump on the wood for my daughter. I rolled up a nice log, one of the smaller of the ones that made it to the mill in the last 3 nights. 17" at the big end, 10'6" long. 


 

I am getting really good at leveling the pith and boy is that satisfying to get a nice even slab off on the first cut. Never get tired of that!
 Never get tired of this view either:



 

It was a little rough working because the sun was over the hill, I am down in a hemlock thicket, so there isn't much light on a bright day under the tarp. I need a solution for that, but for now I was trying to tough through it. I took the top slab off, then a 5/4 board. That Woodmizer tape that @nybhh gifted me with is working perfect. I set it where my first cut is, then move on. Seems to be spot on. Next cut I needed a 4" slab to make 4x4's and 2x4's. Had a hard time seeing the scale, even with my glasses on. It was getting too dark. I have this neat flashlight in the Mule and I tired that, it has a magnet on the back end and either a flood or front beam. Worked like a charm.
This is a flash photo so you can see it all, the light is just to the right of the recoil starter in the photo.


 

Here is a shot with no flash:



 

I move it up high to read the scale, then low to watch my cut. Wish I had an alternator on this engine so it could power a headlight. I need it.
 Just as I was setting the 4" cut, the sky opened up with a line of thunder showers coming through. It was coming down in buckets. So I spent 15 minutes dumping water and adjusting the tarp. My shirt and t-shirt got soaked pretty well. I grabbed a dry BDU shirt out of the mill shed, it's heavier. That got soaked too. I do collect the rainwater to use for the blade lube, so I filled up any empty jugs I had with ease. It was raining too hard to mill because the mill is on the edge of the tarp and at spots it will pour down my back, which is distracting. I went over to the work bench (different tarp) and busied myself trimming off legs tops on benches. Eventually it died down enough to finish that 4" slab, which I did, but MAN! that thing was heavy. I only need 8 footers, so I may cut 2' off this to make a table before I cut the dimensional stuff I need. That red oak cut really nice and smelled good too. This was a good test at how all my truing and stabilization efforts have worked on the mill. I was pretty pleased with that. 2 months ago that cut would have been really tough, but tonight it went pretty easy. I got that slab off (not sure how I am going to get it back up there  ;D) and flipped the log per my log layout plan, covered everything up and called it a night. I drove back to the house with the headlights on.
 Tomorrow I get off work at noon and the weather is supposed to clear by then. Hopefully I can finish the order up and deliver it Saturday morning, then move my splitter over to the neighbors and help him (or rather show him how to) cut, split, and stack firewood so I can get at that big white oak that is laying in the swamp tangle at his place, more very nice logs.

[Tramp Bushler]

Centering the pith is "nice to do" especially cutting timbers, its usually not needed. Keep a couple of various thickness pieces of sticking handy, pry up one end of the log with a peavey or bar and slide the sticking under. Frank C.

That's what I do. But then my logs aren't very big or heavy.

[Old Greenhorn]

The point of leveling the pith, for me, is that my first slab comes off relatively even in relation to the log, but more importantly I get the most out of the log. If i don't level it, I take a very tapered slab off the top and usually have to take a couple of subsequent cuts to get a decent working width. When I flip the log, I lose even more on the other side. If I level the pith, I take an even amount off of both sides and it is a minimum amount giving me the most usable amount of wood to make lumber. Think about it a bit. It's a basic concept of getting value out of the log, at least with hardwoods that tend to have more taper than pines for instance. Some of my logs go from 20" to 16" in 12'. That's 4 " of loss off the first side before you clean off the length of the log, then another 2" before you have a decent width for the 12" log, so you have lost 6" (on the first side) before you start making boards. You will have the same or worse on the second side. Leveling the pith cuts that loss in half or more. The log I did tonight was about 1,500 pounds, so it takes a little effort, you can't easily pry up one end. but with some felling wedges it isn't really hard. Took me about 2 minutes.
Also, it those first slabs come off reasonably uniform in thickness, I can use them for other things besides firewood (like planter boxes, mill benches, firepit benches. or something else). All I can say is, it works for me, its worth the effort, and makes me happy. That's all I need. :D I have spent my life making a living, feeding my family, raising my kids, and now I am trying to make some joy for my soul. YMMV ;D (It's a Zen thing.)

[Old Greenhorn]

Well I had a half day off today so I got home ready to roll, changed and headed dwon. This was our day to watch the 3 grandsons, so I had to come up and take them on a mandatory 'Mule ride' which required a stop at the mill of course. I apparently didn't have anything 'interesting' for them to do (I forgot that was my job), but there was a pile of sawdust that fit the bill for them.
I had only cut one slab off and was chomping to move forward and get the job done tonight, but I sunk into grandpa mode and just sat down and watched them play.


 
 Anyway, when they got bored and I brought them back to Grandma but first we had to do a loop of the skid roads. I found a dead doe off in the bushes on the side of the lower road. Not sure what killed her, but I didn't want to stop with the boys. We decided she was resting and we shouldn't disturb her. I will have to deal with that tomorrow. Checked later, no idea what did her in. Her belly is green already.
 Anyway I manged to cut the order and got it all out of one log. Pretty pleased with that, because the foks here have taught me how to plan out a log for the cut and I got the maximum out with only 1/2" to spare. (would have needed another log if I hadn't leveled the pith. ;D)

 

 SO having done that and reached my goal for the day I brought it up to the hosue and loaded it on the trailer (10' is too long for my truck bed). while I was doing that one of my grandsons (4 YO) backed his John Deere tractor and trailer up to my trailer and hooked up. He asked if we could put a ball on his little trailer that would fit.


 
 The he tried to move the trailer, cute (lots of grunting and 'OOOFFing'). I said "OK, if you got this, just haul it on up to Aunt Becki's and drop it off". He looked at me and said "HUH?". I guess I can dream, but some day...

[gdaddy01]

joy for my soul.     I like that

[Old Greenhorn]

joy for my soul.     I like that

There's more to that than you might guess. Lets just say I am giving myself a self-help healing program. We all go through things in life that are tough and hopefully we find ways to work through or deal with them. I have seen and done some things I would not wish on my worst enemy (if I had one) and I am trying to replace them in my mind with positive things. 4 years in 'the program' now and I am starting to see some progress. Small joys on a regular basis make a difference.

[doc henderson]

OG, you are not alone.  luv ya buddy!!!

[Old Greenhorn]

Yeah Doc, I am sure you have a little bit of that going on too. My cup overfilled and i am trying, with some success, to make some room. I know you get it as few can. Life IS getting better. Looking forward to getting up tomorrow and hitting it hard. There were a bunch of years I would never say that, so I figure it's getting better. 

[Old Greenhorn]

Well, yesterday was a bit of a mixed bag of chores. I ran the lumber up to my daughter's place and as I was only 5 minutes from @nybhh I stopped in for a ten minute visit to see the demo work preceding his next project. Its a big job, but moving along well. Then I headed home, put on the chainsaw pants, fetched to splutter from down in the woods and dragged it over to the neighbor who is giving me those logs. I cut up the branches, shorts, and smalls, then showed him how to run the splitter. He split while I cut and together we split him up a face cord. He seemed happy and had fun running the splitter. He is learning about wood and burning and stacking, etc. But he is learning fast. So we had fun. Now I can get into that big WO and work on pulling that out, then cut some more wood for him. Eventually it will all be cleaned up and he will have wood, I will have logs. win-win. I had time to sharpen both saws while he was splitting the last of it. They were overdue.
 When I left to bring the splitter back to the wood lot, I ran into these cute little twins. They watched me unhook the splitter.


 

Its the second or 3rd time I have seen them, but no Momma around. I hope they are OK. They sure are cute. They watched me for 10 minutes then layed down in the grass. When I left, they were moving about again, but hung in the same area. Maybe waiting for somebody to come back?
 Anyway, we had dinner, I closed up the mill and put tools away, then we headed over across the road for some music and a campfire. We all bagged it around 11pm. 
 Aside from listening to another neighbor punish his chainsaw for 9 hours, it was a very nice day.
 Today I am a little slow getting going, but I think I will work on the benches a little more. I also MUST cut the grass today, it shot up with all the rain we had this week and is ugly. Also have to do some household chores to keep the boss happy. 
 Time to get to it, lets see what the day brings.

[Old Greenhorn]

Well as I said, slow start today. Another mixed bag today. When I went down I ran into the twins again. No mamma. I think I have figured out what the deal is with them and I am keeping an eye on them. More on that in another post, or another thread.


 


 I try to make 1 small improvement to the mill area every weekend. I had been getting tired of having to clean the break-room table before I could make coffee. SO I hung a sloped tarp to cover it. Hopefully I have enough side slope to shed the rain.


 
 Then I finished trimming the leg stubs and the two table/benches I have on the work bench. They didn't come out too bad.


 

I re-sanded everything flush and applied another coat of tung oil to the tops.  These are ash, I had hoped the tung oil would bring out the grain. It seems to.



 

While that was drying i started to think about the next bench. I still have some bottle jack legs with the boogered up tenons and it occurred to me that I could sand the tenons smooth and  and mek them fit in a smaller hole better. I ordered a 1-3/8" forstner bit earlier in the week and it arrived Friday, so I knocked a hole in a piece of scrap (which I produce like a pro) and used that for a gauge. I went up to the shop and with some new belts on the big belt sander took them down to fit in the hole pretty easily. Back down to the mill and I had to find something for the bench itself. I have some slabs laying around and there is a need for firepit benches all over the neighborhood.  So I grabbed a 4' slab of maple, but the bark is still tight. I thought it would be a bear to get that bark off with a draw knife, but what the heck. You don't learn by sitting an thinking, you learn by doing, so I threw it up on the bench (I need a bigger bench already) and gave it a shot. Not only did it cut nicely with the draw knife, it came out DARN nice! Surely, it took some effort, but well worth it and fairly quick.



 

It finished up pretty clean and smooth. No need for further finishing here.



 

Then I turned my attention to the face. Turns out I grabbed a slab with a mis-cut in it and there was a 1/4" step that had to be smoothed out. (No photo of that, sorry, I should have). Well I have this battery planer i borrowed from my son and last week @nybhh and I were emailing back and forth about whether it could do wide surfaces. I did some tests that were inconclusive but my summation was that it would be a lot of work with questionable results. For surfaces 3" or less, this tool is a killer. It also miters corners.  So here i was with a lot of wood to remove to flatten this thing out. This was a real test, because if I screwed it up, it would go in next weeks campfire. I ran back to the shop and got a couple of batteries and had at it. I tried different techniques, different depths of cut, different step overs and patterns. Here is one. I will say, this tool cuts.



 

You can also do some free-handing with it and I chamfered the top end edges. I also did the ends and it came out like glass.



 

When I was 'done' there were small step lines I just could not get out, try as I might.



 


It was getting late and I still had the lawn to mow, so I packed it in, but brought the slab up to the house with the sander. I rough sanded to get the lines out, that took around 15 minutes. Then I cut the grass and let the sander cool. I went back after the lawn with a 120 belt and finished it off and I thin it looks good. At this point i am always leaving in just a small area where the bandsaw cut are slightly evident as a reminder of how it was made. It's a fire pit bench after all.


 

The steps are all gone. It feels nice.



 

 It was hot today (around 80) so I jumped between tasks a lot to mix it up. I am tired, but got a few things moved along. No idea what is on the list for the evenings this coming week, but I will try to get at least those first two benches finished up.

[doc henderson]

the twins look great.  I have done benches (with a hand power planer) and the hard thing is if there is a twist.  then you start high and end up low and the other side is the opposite.  if you thin it (the cut depth) down a bit, just like with a hand plane, you can start doing 45° angles across the step offs and that will sometimes help.  but i agree, there is only so much wood there.  they look good!!!
8) 8) 8)

[Tramp Bushler]

The point of leveling the pith, for me, is that my first slab comes off relatively even in relation to the log, but more importantly I get the most out of the log. If i don't level it, I take a very tapered slab off the top and usually have to take a couple of subsequent cuts to get a decent working width. When I flip the log, I lose even more on the other side. If I level the pith, I take an even amount off of both sides and it is a minimum amount giving me the most usable amount of wood to make lumber. Think about it a bit. It's a basic concept of getting value out of the log, at least with hardwoods that tend to have more taper than pines for instance. Some of my logs go from 20" to 16" in 12'. That's 4 " of loss off the first side before you clean off the length of the log, then another 2" before you have a decent width for the 12" log, so you have lost 6" (on the first side) before you start making boards. You will have the same or worse on the second side. Leveling the pith cuts that loss in half or more. The log I did tonight was about 1,500 pounds, so it takes a little effort, you can't easily pry up one end. but with some felling wedges it isn't really hard. Took me about 2 minutes.
Also, it those first slabs come off reasonably uniform in thickness, I can use them for other things besides firewood (like planter boxes, mill benches, firepit benches. or something else). All I can say is, it works for me, its worth the effort, and makes me happy. That's all I need. :D I have spent my life making a living, feeding my family, raising my kids, and now I am trying to make some joy for my soul. YMMV ;D (It's a Zen thing.)

Excellent post !

[Old Greenhorn]

Well, the weather is changing again and the temp keeps going up, as well as the humidity. I only have about 2 hours a night after work during the week to get any work done and this last week the mosquitoes have been extremely friendly around sunset down at the mill. It's hard to focus. Last night I was gluing legs on another bench and it was hard not to slap at them with glue all over my hands. The only way I can get some relief is to smoke a cigarette, they hate the smoke, it confuses them and they leave me alone. I had 3 in 45 minutes last night. Barely got an hour in before I surrendered. I loaded up the other two benches in the mule and brought them up with me.
 I can't work in the shop still because my son's truck is still going through the second engine swap of the year. Hopefully that will be out soon. But I did a little cleaning in my shed over the weekend and I had room in there. SO I figured out how to clamp some supports on those legs so I can cut them off even in the mill. Got both benches rigged and back in the Mule for tomorrow night. The last cutting adventure was not so good, hopefully this one will be better. Working on the process.
 One of the new neighbors asked if I could perhaps make benches for their back yard wedding in September. Not sure what they have in mind, but that could be more work than I can handle. I don't exactly have a stock pile of slabs. Hopefully they just want a few for the fire pit area. That I can do.
 SO I think I will be transitioning away from working at the mill in the evenings and do what I can in the shop or shed. It's getting kind of hot. I started thinking about this time last year and realized I was pretty much 'done' because of the heat, and my firewood was finished. I didn't have the mill, so I let the woods take care of themselves during the main heat season. Now I have to figure out how to work through that. I think I will slow up on the posts here also, because I sense too much drivel and not enough content of any interest. No photos from last night, I was just trying to get it done and think it through. I will get pictures of the leg cutting so I can remember how I did it. (assuming it works.)
 I also have to get back on what WAS going to be my first project of the spring: Building a doghouse shed for the generator. I want the lid to lift off and the two sides to fold down giving it room to breath. I got side tracked and didn't have any solid ideas on how I wanted it. I began sketching last night and think I have something workable now. I could start cutting the bill of materials this weekend and build it in the shed in the evenings next week if I have the right stock sizes available. More news when I have something.

[doc henderson]

the wedding benches could be slabs you have cut off cants. and just stumps for  legs, spaced down the slab.  the neat thing if the neighbor does not want them all, is they can be rented or loaned, and then made into other things.  i had made four about 8 feet long for a chapel service in BSA, and now they are all made into other things.