Whatcha Sawin' 2022 ??

[doc henderson]

 

 

 

 



got a big load of that hollow culvertus ditchaparis

[WV Sawmiller]

   Did you get good fleck patterns when you quartersaw them? :D :D

   I assume they were used for feed troughs or such.

[Old Greenhorn]

Well, at least you could 'see' you had no metal in there. :D

 Doc, that load should be under the Score of the Day thread. I would kill to get my hands on half that load and fix some issues here.

 I have one of these down on the log pile at the mill but it is steel and only has 3/8" of sapwood all around for the 20' length. Straight as a pipe though. I think Bill put it there to test me, but I am waiting for a carbide blade. ;D

[Southside]

WV guessed it. Forage feeders for hens. Bought a small forage chopper so I can chop alfalfa baleage and feed it to them in the winter to replace pasture intake so egg quality dosen't suffer. 

If it works well I will try raising pastured  broilers in the off season using the same concept. 

Neat thing was the band would sing with each rib so by changing the saw speed it made a tune. My wife actually came from the other side of the mill yard to see just what the heck we were doing as the kid in me kept changing the feed speed.  :D

[barbender]

😂😂😂 On another "note", your mill yard looks nearly as neat as mine, Southside😁

[Southside]

Oh it's a mess, can't get the help

[barbender]

I used to blame it on other stuff, but have finally had to admit that it is just who I am as a person😂

[Resonator]

I was gonna say they were for concrete chutes. Hope you used an old blade (if it wasn't dull, probably is now). :D

[Nebraska]

I bet there are more mill yards that look pretty similar to SS's mill yard than are neat and tidy especially if you are a 1 man show.  Mine is not super tidy.

[Southside]

They are plastic, I doubt the band knew it was cutting anything. 

[cutterboy]

Neat thing was the band would sing with each rib so by changing the saw speed it made a tune. My wife actually came from the other side of the mill yard to see just what the heck we were doing as the kid in me kept changing the feed speed.  :D

OMG Southside :D :D That is funny! Playing a tune on the sawmill! :D :D

[DWyatt]

Got to bring the sawmill out of it's brief retirement while I have been building the house and shop. Did some fun sawing this weekend with Dad. Started with some 12x12 cedar posts that will be porch posts for my Grandma's house that she's building. We cut them tapered from 12x12 to 8x8. They are each about 6' long. 

Dad built the box in the picture below. We set each post in the box on the 2" block that you see in there. Made the first cut then flipped the post over and added the second block that you can see laying in the bed rails to make the cut on the 2nd face. Turn 90 and repeat for the other side. 



 

Ended up with a pile of INTENTIONAL 6' long wedges and 3 tapered posts. Dad sanded them with 60 grit on the orbital and they're ready to install.



 



 

Next we sawed 850 bd ft of 8' and 12' 4/4 poplar and got it all on stick to start drying. The two biggest logs were close to 30" on the small end and made some beautiful lumber. Some of the boards were 20" wide with not a single blemish.

Here was the 28" - 12' log.



 

This is the lumber from the two biggest logs. after we got it on sticks. We ended up with another pallet of 8' stuff, but not picture of it.


 

[WV Sawmiller]

   My son dropped off 2 - 7' WO logs (they had been one but had split down the middle) for me to saw into 1/2", one live edge boards for him to use to finish a shooting house he and his buddy are building. I got about 107 sf out of it which should finish the walls nearly 2 times over. I'll probably go help him tomorrow and hopefully it will be finished and ready to use. They have not decided whether to build a set of steps, a ladder or a ramp up to the door. I'd favor a ramp but it's up to them. They also need a door. They plan to take one out of a shop but I'd just make a simple wooden door as I think that will be faster and easier.

  A guy saw me out there sawing and stopped by to see if I saw of the public and I may saw for him in the near future. I saw several people looking as they drove by and was surprised none stopped by.

[cutterboy]

A few days ago I sawed up some hickory and had a difficult time of it. I had four logs but only sawed two of them. I've sawed hickory before a number of times so I know it's hard but I've never had a real problem with it. However, these logs were like sawing rocks.
 The butt log had some rot in it but most of the log was good.


 
I put on a brand new blade and went to it. The blade was sharp but had difficulty in that log.


 

 
After cutting the rot out there was a nice cant left.


 
Going slowly I did get some nice lumber but also a lot of slab wood.


 

 
The next morning I put the 2nd log on the mill. Cutting a slab on the 2nd side it dove. WHAT!? This blade has only sawed one log!

 
I made a thin correction cut and got through it ok but almost done sawing boards off the cant it dove again.


 
Now I'm angry with myself for not changing the blade before and I'm not having any fun. I changed the blade and finished the log and got some nice lumber.


 
The other two hickory logs on the deck I removed and put them on the firewood pile. As I said before I have never had real problems sawing hickory before. I know each tree is an individual and even trees of the same species can saw differently but man, this tree was a humdinger.
I think I'm going after soft maple next.

   Keep on sawing.....Cutter

[tule peak timber]

Pine logs today.

 

[Old Greenhorn]

Man, y'all grow some squirrely trees out there on the left coast!

[tule peak timber]

I am a square peg in a round hole here in Lala land  :D These logs are actually pretty nice straight, purpose bought material. Maybe the mill needs alignment....... : 

[Old Greenhorn]

The hexes are fairly consistent, but the pentas have me wondering and curious.

[Resonator]

Guessing the outside of the logs was bad and slabbed off? ???
(Or maybe the outside was the good part). ;D

[Magicman]

his is my first problem with the feed chain since the mill was new 12 years ago. I've really abused it dragging back way more than I should. Wonder if its time to replace the chains.

It's always a good idea to replace the sprockets whenever you replace the chain and vice versa. 

[tule peak timber]

The good part. Pine and white fir I use for hollow box beams and build a lot of them. The last couple of years I have sought out and found markets for the jackets and skins from saw logs. This load of logs will go next to 4/4 mixed run sliced up and stacked for glue up into faux box beams. The sweet spot is that the jackets are sold at profit for more than the cost of the load of logs. The jackets/skins go to rustic fencing, siding, box beams, architectural trim and on and on. I'm at a point where people are asking for my scraps and complaining when they actually have to pay for them. Such as a request I had 2 days ago when people come to a sawmill and think that I should give them my time to freely load my scrap. I took a lesson from the big mills; they even sell their sawdust!!
So, these odd bodken log cants are now paid for material that goes into storage to blue out more, let the worms eat at them a bit and do the work for me for future orders.


+

[doc henderson]

@Larry thanks for that post.  I noticed my gantry was not parallel to the bunk.  I had never tensioned by drive chains and never had a problem.  I had recently bumped a slab backing up and kicked it into the guide roller.  It bent the support and that must have been when it skipped a cog.  I loosened up the chain and tensioned that side of the gantry forward so I could get into the square tubbing and move the chain.  I used some hose pliers as the weight of the chain and the face that it encounters 3/4 around the sprocket made it take a few tries.  My chain had about 8 inches slack I could lift it up off the rail.  now only 3 inches. Having read your post let me see what was wrong and fix it straight away!

[GAB]

I am a square peg in a round hole here in Lala land  

As long as your square peg sides are less than .707106781 times the diameter of the round hole there should be no problem.  Stated another way; as long as the diagonal of the square peg is less than the diameter of the round hole you should not have a problem.
GAB

[Larry]

My chain had about 8 inches slack I could lift it up off the rail.  now only 3 inches. Having read your post let me see what was wrong and fix it straight away!

Yes, my chain had too much slack in it also.  That may have something to do with it breaking.  I took out a couple of bent links and put in a repair link.  Adjusted slack and sawed a couple thousand foot without problem so maybe I'm good.

[doc henderson]

what did you use to remove links.  grinder and a punch?  spinner breaker?