Whatcha Sawin' 2020 ??

Clark · March 23, 2020, 07:43:47 AM

Thanks Bruno! If the bark is peeling like shag bark but on a smaller scale then it is Ostrya virginiana or ironwood as the locals call it here. It's always an understory tree in these parts and only grows on better hardwood sites. Over in the UP it will grow to nearly become a respectable tree but 16" on the butt is very large.

$600/thousand sounds good for a species that would otherwise go to the firewood pile but when I think how many 4' bolts of that size it would take to make 1,000 bd-ft...it would be a slow process!

Bruno of NH · March 23, 2020, 08:53:17 AM

Clark,
I want to bring some in as I have a couple of ideas as to who to market it to.

Patrick NC · March 23, 2020, 09:01:17 AM

I'm going to cut some 3/4 live edge siding out of these this morning.

I rolled them under the sawmill shed last night so i could keep out of the rain today.

WV Sawmiller · March 23, 2020, 10:19:36 AM

You may want to try some 5/8" siding. I experimented with 3/4 and 5/8 siding and prefer the 5/8 now. I sawed one flat surface, rotated 90 degrees to clamp against then sawed down about half way, rotated ends on the log and put the same side back against the side supports and sawed to the bed. Good luck.

Patrick NC · March 23, 2020, 10:50:06 AM

Quote from: WV Sawmiller on March 23, 2020, 10:19:36 AM
You may want to try some 5/8" siding. I experimented with 3/4 and 5/8 siding and prefer the 5/8 now. I sawed one flat surface, rotated 90 degrees to clamp against then sawed down about half way, rotated ends on the log and put the same side back against the side supports and sawed to the bed. Good luck.

I'm just about to start so I believe I'll give that a try. Makes sense that siding doesn't need to be 3/4. Thanks for the advice.

Bruno of NH · March 23, 2020, 04:11:13 PM

This is what my brother in law is doing with the hornbeam I sawed for him on Saturday afternoon.
Rack sides for his new to him Dodge Cummings one ton.
Pre def with 64,000 miles
It's getting an egr delete and stacks .
A dump piston add under the flat bed.

busenitzcww · March 23, 2020, 06:36:51 PM

Cut some oak cookies the other day. Town tree, was suggested maybe iron injections? 26" diameter

Magicman · March 23, 2020, 07:51:55 PM

With the ripple that I see along with the crazy, I would have loved to have seen that log flat sawn.

btulloh · March 23, 2020, 08:01:25 PM

X2 on that.

Is the rest of that still in log form?

busenitzcww · March 23, 2020, 08:40:42 PM

It got busted up into pretty short pieces and the dark streaks were only in the very lower part of the trunk. Did cut one piece into slabs. Client did say he was bringing another chunk yet so we'll see.

Kwill · March 23, 2020, 09:38:45 PM

Some cherry today. This is my first cherry

5 4/4 slabs and one 3 inch slab

WV Sawmiller · March 23, 2020, 09:44:48 PM

Very pretty cherry. I love cherry. I hope you anchorsealed the ends before sawing. I find cherry and ash to be some of the worst woods I cut for end checking. I normally take my anchorseal with me when I grab the chainsaw and seal almost immediately after bucking the log. I like to make primitive benches out of the 2" live edge slabs so I save short pieces, crotches and I love cherry curves.

This is probably the last short cherry bench I made.

Kwill · March 23, 2020, 09:57:40 PM

Quote from: WV Sawmiller on March 23, 2020, 09:44:48 PM
Very pretty cherry. I love cherry. I hope you anchorsealed the ends before sawing. I find cherry and ash to be some of the worst woods I cut for end checking. I normally take my anchorseal with me when I grab the chainsaw and seal almost immediately after bucking the log. I like to make primitive benches out of the 2" live edge slabs so I save short pieces, crotches and I love cherry curves.

This is probably the last short cherry bench I made.

Dont have a thing here to seal them with. Was hoping to sell them green.

WV Sawmiller · March 23, 2020, 10:59:26 PM

As I mentioned I seal mine immediately after bucking the log to length so they are certainly green. I'd get some anchorseal, paint or whatever I could find to help protect against checking. Good luck.

Hoopty5.0 · March 24, 2020, 09:13:03 AM

I was going to my parents place the other day and saw someone clearing land. Big ol mesquite stump was laying there so we asked if we could take it.
The response? "That's huisache, not sure why you want it, but sure."

Here is the result:

The pieces are 4' tall and 22" wide. Got 5 nice slabs like this 2" thick. I had no idea mesquite was so dense! these slabs are about 75# each. The stump rolled on my big toe and I thought it was a goner for a bit. Dad thought we could roll it up on the trailer, but had to end up getting the tractor and crane to lift it on. Probably weighed close to 700 # for that short 4' piece

The other ...interesting... characteristic is it smells awful. Heavy urea, urine, not sure. but it smells like stale pee and its VERY strong.

caveman · March 24, 2020, 01:03:21 PM

You made the right choice slabbing out that stump.

Hopefully we can get back to sawing some time this week. We have been doing chores to get ready to saw that include cutting and hauling more logs, adding roofing to the mill shed, unloading a drying rack, building another drying rack, delivering wood to be sold on consignment at the local hardwood lumber store, planing some lumber, checking mill alignment and ordering another box of blades.

Big cypress mantle being planed.

John's truck loaded with cedar cookies, heart pine, curly maple slabs, live oak boards, camphor slabs, a thin cedar live edged piece, and the cypress mantle from above.

The desk top below was a picture sent to me by one of our customers. She does the burning and epoxy and has been busy selling stuff like this and river tables lately. We have been able to get a lot done since we were all sent home on 3/13 and still maintain social distance

Next Monday we find out what type of work we will be expected to do on our real jobs. I expect both will be a lot different than 3/12.

tule peak timber · March 25, 2020, 03:21:10 PM

Today we are hacking and stacking cedar from the 2018 Camp fire.

tule peak timber · March 25, 2020, 03:51:56 PM

Starting up on some coastal live oak this afternoon. Great looking stuff that we sell a lot of .

And a look inside-I see a table set in about 3-4 years....

Darrel · March 25, 2020, 07:33:39 PM

Beautiful!

WV Sawmiller · March 26, 2020, 06:59:39 PM

My first off-site job of the season. 13.1 miles away. I dug the mill out of the mud that had accumulated around the landing gear feet and hooked it to my truck.

Loaded my mobile sawing kit - Magic hook, tape, old bumper jack, box of 4 degree bands, spare gas, toolbox, spare tire, leaf blower, chainsaw w/gas, tools & bar oil, ATF spray bottle, felling ax and wedges for blade reversal (if needed), Logrite and cheap local cant hook, spud bar, shovel, tamping bar, short boards and short 6X6 for feet levelers, dry wall knife, and shop brush, ear muffs and FireEx.

Okay - I have sawed bigger, prettier log piles. This was actually one dead maple cut into 9' and 10' "logs". Customer first said he wanted 10/4 and 14/4 with one live edge. I cut the first one @ 10/4 and he decided that was plenty thick enough and we sawed them all that way. I did salvage 3-4 4/4 piece for him. About 300 bf and I went to the barn with him to help stack but did not get a finished picture. The customer was very happy and better yet his wife was all excited about it so it was a very good day. My minimum order to move the mill applied and I even discounted that.

Having recently cut live edge siding helped. I'd square one side vertical to any heart check, put that face against the side supports, make a cut or two, lower the side supports, flip the cant on the face just sawed, lift near the center an inch or two with the movable clamp to use as a pivot point, spin the log completely around 180 degrees and put the same/original face back against the rails and saw to the rails. The live edge is always opposite the back side supports. You can spin a very heavy cant on top of the clamp.

Bruno of NH · March 26, 2020, 08:32:01 PM

Sawing 1x12x14 hemlock barn siding for a customer and I bought some red pine logs to saw.
I like the look of red pine I will see how it sells.

cutterboy · March 27, 2020, 06:50:58 PM

I took my sawmill out of the barn where it was stored for the winter, set it up and started sawing. 8) I set it up in a different location this year between two barns where it can't be seen from the road and the noise is less for the house across the road. In the summer I like to start sawing around 5:30. So far I like this location.
I started with cherry that I logged during the winter. After sawing two small short logs to work out the kinks, I put a pretty nice log on the mill.

I got a nice little wack of lumber from that log. I'm so happy to be sawing again!

All the best, Cutter

Brooks1984 · March 27, 2020, 07:18:56 PM

I finished milling the white pine I bought this winter. It took me three days too mill it up with the weather and renovating my parents rental house. I'm hoping to build a new sawmill shed soon or modify my old sawmill shed if I get rid of my old lt15.

Larry · March 27, 2020, 10:31:33 PM

A rough 36" white oak. I was supposed to quarter saw but due to the shake I made a management decision to flat saw. Still sent most of the cob to the slab pile.