Whatcha Sawin' 2025 ??

[SawyerTed]

Digging through the stack for boards in lower layers might be easier?

[TimW]

Got to test out the sawmill repairs Sunday.  Nice 26 inch oak, I think Pin Oak.  Could be Water Oak.  Customer wanted slabs for kitchen countertops.  I talked him into 2.5 inches for warpage and planning. Got some nice firewood from the first cuts and the sawmill is running like new now.  Yanmar shop in Onalaska, Texas  looked at the Yanmar but found the problem in the Woodmizer wiring to the Throttle Control Valve.

[jpassardi]

Nice. I see you installed your oak (anti staining fork covers) on your loader. 

[Magicman]

Good job.    

It looks Water Oaky from here which is a lower quality Red Oak.  The bacterial stain gives it a very nice blend which I like.  Those should make very nice counter tops.

[Andries]

. . . Got some nice firewood from the first cuts and the sawmill is running like new now.  Yanmar shop in Onalaska, Texas  looked at the Yanmar but found the problem in the Woodmizer wiring to the Throttle Control Valve.

Tim, the mechanical problems with your mill were a marathon.
 You are the definition of tenacious (and patience).
Also, somebody at Yanmar in Onalaska, TX. deserves a promotion. 
It's great to hear this and now you can finally discover what your LT50 is cabable of. 👍

[tule peak timber]

What does the inside of a Cork Oak look like, I don't recall ever seeing it? @tule peak timber

Hope you put up a picture. 

The wood is an unremarkable white colour. I looked up all that I could about the wood on the internet and there's nothing to be said by anyone. All of the volumes of information on cork oak is about the cork. The thick bark makes for tough handling, almost impossible to log clamp and the logs themselves are chicken wings and dog legs, at best! This is a client's project (a public library) and I am charged with taking their trees and turning them into a series of specific furniture in the neo-classical style. That said, I am forced to get everything I can from these crooked little sticks. Oh, and by the way, I have to kiln dry the bark and utilize it in the furniture designs as well as signage. They don't call me the Wizard of Crap for nothing.

[TimW]

Nice. I see you installed your oak (anti staining fork covers) on your loader. 

Yeah, I covered the forks, but not with oak.  Them's seasoned pine boards.  I don't saw much oak, so it is what it is.

[TimW]

Good job.   

It looks Water Oaky from here which is a lower quality Red Oak.  The bacterial stain gives it a very nice blend which I like.  Those should make very nice counter tops.

I'll go with Water Oak.  I saw some red in it and leaned down to smell. It didn't smell like Red Oak.

[TimW]

Tim, the mechanical problems with your mill were a marathon.
 You are the definition of tenacious (and patience).
Also, somebody at Yanmar in Onalaska, TX. deserves a promotion.
It's great to hear this and now you can finally discover what your LT50 is cabable of. 👍

No to a promotion.  Yes to a raise!  Mechanics, at small shops, are usually promoted to service manager, where they don't turn wrenches.
I wish I had a LT50.  Mine is a 2018 LT40HD Wide.  I had ran it for 4 years before these problems started.

[Magicman]

Which really makes no sense, to me anyway. 

[tule peak timber]

Maxing out the little mill on an oak stump

[SawyerTed]

My sawing job is unremarkable, mostly white oak siding 3/4"x6x10.  

What is remarkable is the power of this mini loader.  It is a Bobcat brand.

[Old Greenhorn]

Those MT100's are indeed remarkable little machines. My friend Bill has one and a lot of folks laughed when he got it, but it is always being used and is an excellent machine for yard work because it's gentle on the ground. But boy howdy it can lift! And even if it tips up, you can still get enough weight off the ground that you can drag heavy logs and such. We run forks, grapple, and bucket on it. Great for septic work, moving pallets, and logs. I love the little thing, if I had the money, that might be my ideal machine for my yard. Small, nimble, and string!

[doc henderson]

but can it build a bridge!?

[SawyerTed]

My customer today is a major tree service company owner.  He has started switching from standard size CTLs to these mini loaders.  They tear up less ground and can get in tight places.  He said he's not taken a standard size CTL on a job in over a year.  

Of course he has a crane and grapple trucks to do the big lifting.  That's in addition to a chipper that eats up to 10" diameter branches like we eat spaghetti.  

He's buying high hp, high flow standard size CTLs for the forestry mulching side of the business.

[Stephen1]

A continuation from last weeks sawing job. We had a rain delay with no rain as the weatherman really messed up. I went back Tuesday as we had our long weekend.
We had 4 of us working, the owner and 2 paid helpers. Cathy is great at organizing and setting up the building of bunks. This the way we usually leave all our sawmill jobs. I don't consider the job finished unless it is all stacked and sticker and hopefully covered.
At the end is the best, they really love it when it is left in this shape. I saw always by the hour. I sell them breeze wood stickers at $1.25 and then when they bring this wood to my kiln I refund them .75 cents. That way I keep feeding my kiln.
Total for the 2 days is 16hrs billing for  2700 bd ft. of RO , quarter sawn and flat sawn for flooring, sugar Maple for cabinets, and some red maple. We junked a few logs.
The customer was very happy. 

[Resonator]

The tree service guy I helped on a cemetery job last fall had a compact track loader, I was very impressed with it's capabilities. He loaded 8' saw logs on my trailer, cleaned up limbs, and left hardly any tracks as he went. Also with the small size and tracks, he could go anywhere on the jobsite to pull trees in whatever felling direction was needed.

[Wlmedley]

My BIL brought me three logs last fall which we think are Chestnut Oak. The bark was extremely rough and was full of dirt and small rocks so I left them lay all winter and thought about cutting them up for firewood. Checked a few weeks ago and found the bark was fairly easy to get off so I peeled them and put them on the log deck. Sawed one up today and got some pretty nice 1" lumber and a few 4"x4"s but it was quite a job being it was to big for me to turn and I just cut down past center until it was small enough to turn and then had to edge several boards on both sides. I'm getting to where I don't want these large heavy logs.My back doesn't like them either.

[Wlmedley]

Still have two left to saw . May wait awhile 

[WV Sawmiller]

   I went back to the same site i sawed at last Sunday and sawed a couple dozen logs I guess. Total yield was about 1200 bf.  I sawed 2- 4X8X16 beams and most of the rest were 8' X2x6 pine and poplar with one 6' WO thrown in for 2X12 stair treads.

   I am still chasing some feed gremlins and think it was wires interfering with the fingers of the drum switch I recently installed. I re-routed them a bit and hope that fixes the problem. I did not take pictures as the logs were in the last post and the stacking looks the same. We had several comments on the stacking on edge but they do leave a small gap between each board and are comfortable with the drying rate and completion,

   There were lots of small diameter pine logs that returned from 4-8 2X6s and an occasional 2X4 or 1X6. Not high production but they saw quick and are easy to handle. This looks to be a whole summer gig for a one day sawing of 1100-1300 bf per trip. Because they are close and good location to set up I am okay with that.

[Resonator]

Got all of my pitchy-pitchy pine logs that I logged last winter peeled and lined up with the log deck. Now I won't worry about the bark munchers making tunnels before I can get them all sawn.

More logs coming in. One of my neighbors from a few miles away had some red pine trees he cut some time back, that he wanted to go to a good home. I took a quick look at the logs, and said sure bring them over. Also gave him an excuse to take his grandpa's old 1948 Farmall he restored out for a tractor ride.

Some had been down for about a year, and the bark was falling off. The others were cut last winter and I peeled right away (since I do a lot of bark peeling).
They all appear solid and straight, so I think they'll make good lumber.

[TimW]

What are you using to peel the bark on the pitchy-pitchy pine logs?
That International M looks styling with the loader on it.

[Resonator]

My main go-to tool is a flat pry bar. On a warm day with moisture in the logs, they peel smooth and easy.  
But on tougher ones, I use a painters knife, a mortar trowel, crowbar, long wood handle ice chopper, small hatchet, sledge hammer, or throw whatever tool I got at it that works.  

[Magicman]

That whack of logs looks very nice. 

[TimW]

I was wondering.  Dad and I peeled SYP logs before for a temp. dog fence.  We used his and Grandpa's draw knives.  I am now the proud owner of those two draw knives!