Whatcha Sawin' 2020 ??

[Brooks1984]

started my first portable sawmill job today milled 1/2 a pile of white pine.

Brooks,
  I love the "1/2 a pile" description. Is that like a half a mess of fish or half a mess of turnip greens where I grew up down south? :D I think in USMC supply and logistics we'd have define a pile as a "Non-definitive unit of measure." :D :D
  Welcome to the portable milling club. Keep them chips a'flyin and the pictures coming.

WV sawmiller The costumers I'm milling for are 62 year old twins who own two excavators and a bulldozer.  They do a lot of land clearing for farms so they have potential access to lots of logs so I don't know if the pile well ever end. I tried to sell them my old woodmizer lt15 but they decided they rather pay me to mill instead.😞

[Magicman]

I've learned that he means random width 4/4 lumber when he says "boards." If he says make 1x6 that's what he wants.

I also have a customer that expects me to remember what he wants when he says.....  He can't get it through his head that I have other customers that might say something completely different.  "Boards, flat lumber, & 2by's" really doesn't define anything but the customer knows what he wants.  

[WV Sawmiller]

   Good point and another reason you need to discuss and sometimes show each customer what you are planning on cutting before getting started. Once you both understand the expectations you can commence sawing. I still get an occasional mid-cycle change when I do something like cutting a half inch trim cut when cutting 1" or 2" boards and the customer sees it and decides that is perfect for some special project he is thinking about and wants you to cut a lot more. Or I have been cutting wide red oak for counters and they start with some stock 6/4 but want 8/4 or 9/4 for the main cut but once they really see and pick up the 6/4 cut they change their mind and decide that is perfect as is. I had one guy who wanted 8" square hemlock posts till I showed him and fortunately his wife showed up then too, what a 6X6 looked like and they both confirmed that was perfect. 

[SawyerTed]

Today's customer saw that I cut a white oak 2x12x16.  I had cut it to make a 2x4 and a 2x8 per his first request.  When he saw the 2x12 he and our tailgunners picked it up and put it on the trailer. He said, "I like that but I don't want to handle any more of those!"  

What rubs my fur the wrong way is when the customer says cut one thing then changes in the middle of the cut sequence on a log.  Most times they don't understand that it is a sequence to arrive at a cant that will produce the maximum number of the initially desired pieces.  Sometimes it works out sometimes it creates waste.

And yes, it is important to just ask outright, "what do you mean by "boards"?"

[Brad_bb]

VIDEO
Today I was sawing a large dia, about 26" Walnut log.  Unfortunately I had to sacrifice a 16 foot log that was going to be a post and brace stock to cut out the clearest 9' section.  What makes me sick is that this log was totally clear AND wicked curly as I found after cutting it.  Hewing the side that will show, and no one will ever see the curl.  I did get 6 pieces out of it though with 2 jacket boards and very little waste.

Hewing more walnut Jan 2020

[LeeB]

The auto clutch repair was an easy one. Just needed to clean off the proximity switches. The engage switch was stuck. Forgot to bring my phone so I didn't take any pictures today. Didn't get started until nearly noon because or yucky weather. This big boy is first up in the morning.



 

 

 

I need to get 5 - 6x6's out of it but don't think it's going to happen. Small end is 22". May have to settle for 4 and a smaller cant from the center. There is another log not quite as big that I can get a couple out of. I have plenty of projects for them that need side lumber so no waste.

[Jcald327]

Why is there not an unlike button brad?  Beautiful curl there, I would have found him a new log lol.

[Brad_bb]

They are for my horse barn.  My GC has been on my butt to get them done and I didn't know it was curly until I'd already cut this 9footer out of the 16 footer.  Not using this one would mean I'd have to ruin (cut) one of my other big walnut logs, which I didn't want to do, and I also knew that I'd probably have to cut two of them to get the six pieces I needed.  I managed to get the six out of this one log.  Oh well.  I'll just pretend I never saw the curl and it was just an average non-figured log  smiley_whacko

Not sure what you mean by "not an unlike button"?

[Dave Shepard]

I have to replace my LubeMizer pump tomorrow

I got the LubeMizer pump replaced, but found a leak in the ¼" barb fitting that feeds the tube to the spray nozzles.  I have one in one of the boxes on the truck, but I will try the hardware store first.

I called it a "barb" fitting but the proper name is probably something else.  Anyway, I found my spare but decided to make a trip to my Industrial Supply and see what they had.



I have decided to keep my spare shown on top and use the new one that required an additional coupling.  The longer unit will make the installation a bit more "finger friendly".  It will probably be Friday before I will get everything back together but no matter because it is too wet to move the sawmill anyway.  :

Those are push-to-connect fittings. 

[nativewolf]

VIDEO
Today I was sawing a large dia, about 26" Walnut log.  Unfortunately I had to sacrifice a 16 foot log that was going to be a post and brace stock to cut out the clearest 9' section.  What makes me sick is that this log was totally clear AND wicked curly as I found after cutting it.  Hewing the side that will show, and no one will ever see the curl.  I did get 6 pieces out of it though with 2 jacket boards and very little waste.

Hewing more walnut Jan 2020

Brad I'd have set aside that one cant and waited til a special project came that required/deserved a curly walnut face.  It was a great looking cant.

[WDH]

That was a very expensive post and brace . 

[Jcald327]

I mean I can like your post, but aside reporting to a moderator, I cant show my dislike ;)
Let's be honest, I considered it due to the fraud waste and abuse of such a pretty log, but alas, it's all in good fun, and you gotta do what you gotta do.  

[doc henderson]

we all know you love and appreciate a great log, and we all know you gotta do what you gotta do.  It is all good!     @Brad_bb

[EOTE]

They are for my horse barn.  My GC has been on my butt to get them done and I didn't know it was curly until I'd already cut this 9footer out of the 16 footer.  Not using this one would mean I'd have to ruin (cut) one of my other big walnut logs, which I didn't want to do, and I also knew that I'd probably have to cut two of them to get the six pieces I needed.  I managed to get the six out of this one log.

Oh man you are killing me Brad_bb...walnut logs for a barn?  I darn near choked when I read that you are using them for a barn.  I would bring you all the SYP pine logs you want to swap for those walnut logs!  I used to live in Illinois and had some of those types of walnut logs years ago.  The sawyer I took them to said they were the prettiest walnut logs he had cut in 25 years.  I've always loved black walnut for woodworking.  It's hard to come up with black walnut logs in this part of Texas.

[Brad_bb]

That was a very expensive post and brace .

Not when I'm only buying the log.  It would be if I bought the post and brace stock from someone else finished.  
More than an oak or Ash brace, yes.  But I have maybe $1.55/BF landed Plus my time in the log.  I can't find Walnut logs at my price easily, but I've found enough over time for my needs, quite a bit actually.  Some yard logs, some not.  These were part of the big walnut haul I found a couple years ago.  Farm owner had bulldozed them down for more field and logger he lined up never came through to take them.  Had been down 4-6 months and I spent 3 days bucking and prepping to haul with skid steer. Then hired two expensive log trucks to move them.  He was happy to get them gone, with very little left to pile to burn except the stumps and some very small branches, and get paid.

[doc henderson]

my buddy who is a trauma surgeon with the composting toilet that takes my saw dust, attended a cabin building dovetail joint class and is actually building a walnut log cabin.  southeastern Ks., and he has more walnut than anything else.  some hickory.  off grid of course.

[Brad_bb]

Ok doc, now that is going too far!  ;D  That would be something to see.  They would have to be hewn or sawn logs I think to get the sapwood off.  The heartwood would be very rot resistant.  It would grey on the outside, and be indistinguishable from poplar or anything else, but you'd see the dark wood on the inside.   It would be difficult for me to get that many logs, of the quality needed, to do a stacked log structure.  It wouldn't be easy to procure via loggers I think either.  They sell those quality logs for veneer which drives the price up that way.  When they do, they're used to cutting them the lengths needed for the veneer guy.  You'd need to keep them as long as possible, like I try to do.

[Brad_bb]

That was a very expensive post and brace .

Wait til you see the timber frame I'm going to build next year and the fun pieces I'll use. 

[Jcald327]

Some old nasty oak, just out the slabber before a paying job tomorrow.  Crazy how much dust we've made in about 10 hours of sawing learning the ropes.


 

 

 

There was actually a pretty good depression to act as a log stop before the mill, now its downhill onto the bunks haha.  Over 14 inches deep of dust and chips in some spots... I love it

[Kwill]

 

 

 

 

 

 
Milled some cedar this evening. Made some boards for steps for a deer stand my dad and I are building and one 5x5 for my extension on the sawmill shed.

[Hackeldam Wood Products]

 

 
Brought home some nice Cherry. Can't wait to open them up.

[DWyatt]

@Kwill I really like that building you have around your mill. The lights are a very nice touch!

[Brad_bb]

 

 


 

[doc henderson]

I really like the "stands" .  are those traditional timber frame saw horse hook setups?  or your own idea?  are they at the ideal height for the process you apply to finish the beam, and if so what height.

[Brad_bb]

These are called cribbing ponies. I got the design from Steve Chapelle's book, a timber framers workshop. They are 17 1/2 inches tall. Not ideal for scoring the 4 inch timber you see in the photo. They were designed to lay an 8 inch cribbing timber, and then 8 inch Timbers on top of those. That's 33 1/2 inches, which is a good height for cutting joinery. Doing a six or 8 inch timber on these ponies is better.  I'm just too lazy to put blocks underneath the 4 inch timber.