Well, that didn't take long ...

Brucer · July 07, 2005, 01:33:43 AM

... only 23 hours on the meter and I took the paint off the top of one of the side stops. Well, OK, the paint and a tiny bit of metal as well >:(.

This was especially annoying because I knew I was gonna be close, but I figured I was safe. I had the stops vertical (couldn't hold the log any other way) and by measurement I had 1/32" clearance, so I bumped the head up 1/16". Cleared the first stop, no problem, but when I reached the second stop there was a metalic overtone to the hiss off the saw in wood. Dang! Now how'd that happen anyway?

I was only a couple of inches from the end of the log, but you could see where the blade was climbing after it touched the stop. Hang on ... the blade wasn't climbing -- it dove just as it was approaching the stop. Just enough to kiss metal, take the set off the bottom, and climb back to where it should have been. Now what would make the blade dive suddenly ???.

Stared at the log for a minute before I realized I was staring at a Larch -- my old nemisis. And sure enough, on closer inspection there was a small pitch pocket. I dunno what it is with me and Larch, but when I was sawing for Louis last year, I had the worst luck with it. I always seemed to hit a pitch pocket on the finishing cut on a timber, and down would go the blade, every time. I asked Louis how to deal with it, and he told me, "You have to pour the water on the blade ... just before you hit the pitch." Yeah, right.

Of course, I put several hundred hours on Louis' machine without once hitting metal; but that was a beat up and battle-scared old darling. Half a dozen sawyers had cut and carved and bent the metal. My contribution wouild have been insignificant. Nope, might as well wait until I've got a shiny new machine before I make my mark (so to speak).

Looks like I'm in the club now :(.