Whatcha Sawin' 2020 ??

Magicman · September 02, 2020, 07:24:05 PM

I sawed "alone" today without Luke.

The ERC "logs" that were there when we set the sawmill up last week were still there

and had gathered two more. There were 11 logs total with the largest being a 12" butt.

Eight 6/4, two with one live edge, three 5X5's, two 3X4's, and the rest 1" with some live edge. This was a travel and minimum charge job so I did not scale the lumber. The customer was very pleased and gave me a $50 tip.

My next job is Friday and I think that it will be sawing SYP.

doc henderson · September 02, 2020, 07:28:57 PM

even your sawmill looks a little sad... we all miss Luke. i am sure he is enjoying school and his friends! i would be so thankful to have all that time spent with your grandson. that is so rare these days. i am sure you are thankful as well. God bless.

WV Sawmiller · September 02, 2020, 08:32:34 PM

Aha! The truth comes out! We saw the last post with a couple tractor trailer loads of wood all neatly stacked and stickered when Luke was along. Now when the MM saws by himself we see one little piddling trailer with the deck barely covered and nothing was stickered. We see who has been doing all the work this summer. :D :D :D

I had a guy call me about 3:00 pm and wanted me to saw some wedding cookies for him so I told him I could do them this afternoon but was booked up till next week so he said he'd be down about 6:00 pm. I went out and got everything ready with the mill and gates open, horse and mule in their stalls out of the way, etc. He called at 6:00 pm still about 45 minutes out then overshot my house about half a mile or so and finally got here just before 7:00 pm we had to rush with the remaining light. Turned out he had come from Huntington WV, 140 miles away. He wanted 16 - 6/4 ash cookies about 13-14 inches in diameter and had 2-3 pieces of fresh cut/green firewood length "logs". I got 14 cookies out of the first one then cut 4-5 more till the customer stopped me. Then he had me cut a 30" piece of sentimental elm into 8/4 LE slabs for a swing.

Turns out the wedding cookies are for the younger sister of a young lady who was in my wife's HS band and my wife did her wedding photos. Its a small world. I did not know they were even back in the state. Oh yeah - the wedding is this Saturday.

I showed the guy my primitive benches and offered to make one or two out of his slabs but he declined. He took pictures and said he will be back.

Magicman · September 02, 2020, 08:41:39 PM

Quote from: WV Sawmiller on September 02, 2020, 08:32:34 PMAha! The truth comes out! We saw the last post with a couple tractor trailer loads of wood all neatly stacked and stickered when Luke was along. Now when the MM saws by himself we see one little piddling trailer with the deck barely covered and nothing was stickered. We see who has been doing all the work this summer. :D :D

Guilty as charged!!

WV Sawmiller · September 02, 2020, 09:40:30 PM

MM,

All kidding aside I'm betting most of us here on the forum are envious seeing you get to spend such quality time with your grandson. I'm betting Luke will be telling all his friends the rest of his life about the first summer he spent sawing lumber with his grandpa. Well done to both of you. smiley_clapping smiley_clapping smiley_clapping

TimW · September 03, 2020, 01:11:58 AM

Quote from: firefighter ontheside on September 01, 2020, 08:23:01 PM
I'm sawing nothing because I broke the curl cylinders on my tractor. Not a good time to break the loader since the huge log I broke the loader with I'm supposed to quarter saw. Not gonna happen if I can't lift a cant off the mill.

You can't ignore the curl/dump function of the joystick and just use the loader to lift and remove logs? Plug or cap the lines if open?
hugs, Brandi

TimW · September 03, 2020, 01:39:08 AM

Quote from: Magicman on August 31, 2020, 08:48:06 AM
Quote from: Magicman on August 27, 2020, 08:37:48 AMLuke and I kicked this job in the butt log yesterday. He goes back to school Monday so this was our last job together for the Summer. He learned a lot about sawing and probably also learned a bit about me. We had a wonderful time together. Thank You Luke !!!
So here is Luke's first day "not sawing" and back in school.

https://youtu.be/20-hNQczNLI
It began with a Senior Parade. (a better video)

Lynn,
You are truly blessed having your Grandson help out for the summer.
I feel blessed if I can just get my son outside to help me for 5 minutes. But since he is a chef................I don't have to cook on his days off.
hugs, Brandi

WDH · September 03, 2020, 06:36:44 AM

Howard,

Down here in blistering hot and sweltering humid Middle Georgia, that green lichen growing on the ash bark is a distinctive characteristic.

Bruno of NH · September 03, 2020, 07:36:42 AM

WDH
We get the green lichen on oak and ash that grows in some spots.
Just got some oak in with it on the bark.

WV Sawmiller · September 03, 2020, 09:06:49 AM

Yeah, I was surprised to find he had green ash as most of ours are dead and much drier. That was the first elm I have ever sawed. Not much use for it around here. I tie catfish lines to lots of them on the river but that is about all I have even done with it. :D

I do my cookies one log at a time. I just set the log on the horizontal rod/cylinder on the clamp, close it nearly done then set it on the lip, rock it back near level and clamp it tight. I do lose the bottom 3". Next time I will try putting a 6" square 8/4 cutoff and maybe I can squeeze out one more cookie. I tried making jigs and such to cut multiples and one one always get loose, jerk free, destroy a band, ruin a couple of cookies, etc. One at a time works better. Once you start cutting you just zip right through them in seconds anyway so it is still a very simple process but never fails to impress the customer. ;D

doc henderson · September 03, 2020, 09:31:31 AM

I do them one at a time. I used to put a screw or two through my 2x jig to help hold. if the clamp is in the log I feel more secure. I try to find a flat spot to put against the jig.

firefighter ontheside · September 03, 2020, 10:43:12 AM

Quote from: Bindian on September 03, 2020, 01:11:58 AM
Quote from: firefighter ontheside on September 01, 2020, 08:23:01 PM
I'm sawing nothing because I broke the curl cylinders on my tractor. Not a good time to break the loader since the huge log I broke the loader with I'm supposed to quarter saw. Not gonna happen if I can't lift a cant off the mill.
You can't ignore the curl/dump function of the joystick and just use the loader to lift and remove logs? Plug or cap the lines if open?
hugs, Brandi

Yeah. I'm not even gonna start the tractor until the cylinders are put back on.

rjwoelk · September 03, 2020, 11:12:01 AM

I thought I was closing my grapple, but was tipping the forks
The result was the forks went into the ground ,as I was driving forward and over pressured the cylinder splitting it wide open. $1100 later we are back in operation.

GAB · September 03, 2020, 02:10:11 PM

Quote from: rjwoelk on September 03, 2020, 11:12:01 AM
I thought I was closing my grapple, but was tipping the forks
The result was the forks went into the ground ,as I was driving forward and over pressured the cylinder splitting it wide open. $1100 later we are back in operation.

OUCH!!!
GAB

Larry · September 03, 2020, 10:02:01 PM

Walnut of course.

A couple of times a week I get calls that go something like this "Do you buy trees?". I polity say no but I might know somebody. After a little screening I'll give the caller a name of somebody that I think can help them. In the above picture the caller said he had a few walnut trees he would like to sell. I gave him the name of a logger that does little jobs nobody else will touch. The logger struck a deal with the landowner to buy the trees and brought me the logs to saw. Bringing the biguns tomorrow. Its a win for all involved.

Its all about building relationships. I get referrals from other sawmills, and return the favor. We all make money.

WV Sawmiller · September 04, 2020, 06:50:35 PM

Larry,

I like that. I routinely refer previous customers to new customers who need an item or service they provide. I also often refer them to other sawmillers if they are significantly closer to them than me.

Magicman · September 04, 2020, 09:26:09 PM

My today's sawing was all SYP and the cut list was 1"X6" and framing lumber.

18 properly staged logs ranging from 8" to 26" top end.

The first trailer load with 831bf.

And the second with 1013bf for a total of 1844bf. Not a bad day.

Crossroads · September 04, 2020, 10:29:03 PM

Way to go MM!

Bruno of NH · September 05, 2020, 07:47:47 AM

Mr Lynn saws um and leaves um and on to another

Getting it done the southern way.

Darrel · September 05, 2020, 01:41:15 PM

Quote from: doc henderson on September 03, 2020, 09:31:31 AM
I do them one at a time. I used to put a screw or two through my 2x jig to help hold. if the clamp is in the log I feel more secure. I try to find a flat spot to put against the jig.

Doc, with those saw cuts in that stack of cookies and the lines on the house siding I thought for a second that you were also cutting house cookies.

WV Sawmiller · September 05, 2020, 04:55:55 PM

I don't know why you need the 2X against the side supports. On my WM mill there is a metal plate there so the clamp squeezes it tight against the plate. Works fine with no additional jig or anything else required.

Crossroads · September 05, 2020, 11:10:02 PM

Had a mobile job today just across the lake from me. Unfortunately, takes an hour and 10 min. To drive around to it 🤓. The job was a good one, the customer had rented a skid steer and was able to keep the mill fed. We cut mostly 2x6x16' and 2x10x16' and ended up with 3121 board feet at 390 ft/hr. Sorry, forgot to take any pictures, but asked the customer to send me some tomorrow, so I can update.