Sawing Locust with the Lucas

dgdrls · August 26, 2013, 06:13:15 AM

A friend and I were finally able to coordinate schedules
and start milling the locust he has on the ground.

Gave me a good reason to try the Lucas factory sharpener
It's like a mini Jockey and does a great job. I was a little worried
I was out of square, but not so.

The Locust has been down since last fall, dry and tough.
Mill did a great job and my friend was amazed at the
consistent cuts we were able to achieve,

Turns out my neighbor across the street needs some lumber,
I mentioned the Locust and the fact it needs a home, he just smiled.
We have some logs to go so I told him give me a cut sheet and I'll see what I can salvage.

In the background of the first photo is the Walnut that will be sawn when the Locust is done.

DGDrls

Chuck White · August 26, 2013, 07:22:31 AM

Looks like you're doing pretty good with that milll, Dan!

Jemclimber · August 26, 2013, 07:25:16 AM

Looks good. I wish I had more locust logs to cut.

dboyt · August 26, 2013, 12:05:13 PM

Looks like the locust is a warm-up exercise for the walnut. You won't have any trouble finding a home for that wood, either!

logboy · August 26, 2013, 12:27:25 PM

Nice job. I haven't noticed any major differences in sawing wet or dry wood with my Lucas. Keep the blade sharp and you'll zip through it pretty quickly. Try to run the dripper on the blade a little faster if you notice any build up. The blade should be cool to the touch.

logboy · August 26, 2013, 12:31:32 PM

I just noticed something that may cause you a headache down the road. Push your scales to the top of the post so they are touching the bottom of the crank head, like this.

Sometimes they can slide a little or move from the vibration of the mill. By keeping them at the top like that you know they are always in the same spot. I check it before I adjust every time. You may have to give it a little bend to make it hit the crank.

sigidi · August 26, 2013, 05:12:48 PM

Great work Dan!!! ;) 8)

Logboy - exactly what I do all the time, if you get in the habit of doin it takes no time at all to make sure the gauge is at the same position. Having said this I have the newer style rules, ones that have a full 6" collar on the post, they tend to hang on much better, but just in case I've added a ziptie too

dgdrls · August 26, 2013, 06:25:04 PM

Quote from: sigidi on August 26, 2013, 05:12:48 PM
Great work Dan!!! ;) 8)

Logboy - exactly what I do all the time, if you get in the habit of doin it takes no time at all to make sure the gauge is at the same position. Having said this I have the newer style rules, ones that have a full 6" collar on the post, they tend to hang on much better, but just in case I've added a ziptie too

Thanks Sigidi, I'm learning

Logboy, great tip, I'll give it a try, I realize I was always sliding my scales prior to a vertical movement,

DGDrls

Seaman · August 27, 2013, 07:53:59 PM

Good post and good tip, keep em coming!

dgdrls · August 29, 2013, 08:47:48 PM

First load of sawn Locust material donated to my very good neighbor.
I'll do a quick scale on it tomorrow the first log we sawed tonight got punky
so we abandon it. Then I suffered a tired battery issue and the mill would not start.

Seller told me of the issue I went through the entire charging system and was getting
a fairly consistent 13v when running wide open, a bit low but I thought it would be sufficient
for the mill. I'll recheck with Kohler for factory spec on charging system.
for now I'll recharge the batt and continue sawing tomorrow.

We staged the remaining 4 logs with the walnut still standing,
I hope to be done tomorrow night or Sat morning with the Locust.

learning more as I go and both my friend's are happy, me too!

Need to remember to add the saw kerf when I lower the head :

DGD

Ianab · August 29, 2013, 09:51:42 PM

QuoteSeller told me of the issue I went through the entire charging system and was getting
a fairly consistent 13v when running wide open, a bit low but I thought it would be sufficient
for the mill.

A 12volt battery should have ~13.8 across the terminals when it's charging. Not sure on the regulator setup on the Kohler, but something is amiss.

Old car I had once had an external mechanical regulator. It either charged the battery flat out, or when the voltage got over a certain level it pulled in a relay and dropped to a "trickle" charge. It was stuck on trickle. Enough to run the engine and eventually top up the battery, but if you drove at night, or did a lot of short trips, the battery gradually went flat.

Could be similar on the mill? Cutting small logs you do more starting, and the battery is gradually being drained?

Ian

JohnM · August 29, 2013, 09:54:47 PM

Looks great, Dan! Fun ain't it?! :D I haven't touched my mill in three or more weeks, ran out of logs and time (or at least time to cut more logs). ;D I need to look at that scale trick, can't picture how that works. For one, I'm only 5'8" and putting the scales up that high would make it hard to tell where I'm at. Maybe I'm over looking something...so to speak. :

Or maybe I just need a block at each end to stand on? ???

dgdrls · August 29, 2013, 10:12:18 PM

Ianab, I suspected it was a bit low I'll go through the system again and re-test.

JohnM, I'm also vertically challenged :D

P.s we would be dead in the water without the Logrite arch!!

Thanks
DGD

dgdrls · August 31, 2013, 07:41:31 AM

Battery is charged and went back to saw a bit more.

recovered about 140 BF more for my neighbor.
First load scaled about 147 BF

more great lessons learned on how to best run the Lucas,

top lesson. build better log bunks ;)

DGD

logboy · August 31, 2013, 12:00:18 PM

QuoteNeed to remember to add the saw kerf when I lower the head

No, you don't. The ONLY time you need to do that is if you're slabbing. The kerf is already built into your scales at the top, above zero. Thats why you run your guages all the way up when you're about to drop your mill, not just to zero.

The only time you have to account for kerf manually is when you're slabbing because it has a 3/8 kerf instead of 1/4". So you simply add 1/8" to everything. (I was sawing 3" slabs in the photo which is why the scale is at 3-1/8".) But when you're sawing lumber you just use the scales normally. No fancy math.

dgdrls · September 02, 2013, 07:42:40 PM

finished the locust off and learned my kerf/scale issue.

We pulled another 100 B.F off most of it 1"x6" 12' and 14'
sawed most of it with the blade in the vertical position for 6" cut.
she was working, but not complaining, I checked the blade after the
first 6" cut. Nice and cool no signs of heat build up.
the 8' log went to 2"x3"
no log was bigger than 12" on the small end.

Overall I'm quite pleased and I learned a ton of stuff.
I will clean the mill and store it for a couple weeks as my day job will tie me up with travel.
The Walnut is still standing will saw that before the snow flies, I hope :D

DGDrls

sigidi · September 03, 2013, 05:55:50 AM

Quote from: logboy on August 31, 2013, 12:00:18 PM
QuoteNeed to remember to add the saw kerf when I lower the head

No, you don't. The ONLY time you need to do that is if you're slabbing. The kerf is already built into your scales at the top, above zero. Thats why you run your guages all the way up when you're about to drop your mill, not just to zero.

The only time you have to account for kerf manually is when you're slabbing because it has a 3/8 kerf instead of 1/4". So you simply add 1/8" to everything. (I was sawing 3" slabs in the photo which is why the scale is at 3-1/8".) But when you're sawing lumber you just use the scales normally. No fancy math.

x2 you just slide your indicator right to the top of the guage, not to the "0" mark ;)

chep · September 03, 2013, 07:15:08 AM

I just sawed out a bunch of 5/4 sugar maple flooring stock. I made the most accurate and consistent lumber yet thanks to that tip, on pushing scales all the way to the top every time. DUH!!! Why didnt I think of that? Thanks guys for taking my sawing up another notch. My customer will be happy!

dgdrls · September 03, 2013, 08:41:56 PM

I got the mill home tonight and
back under cover. I cleaned up a bit more
but was told not to bother
So I staged the log butts for splitting.
couldn't leave a total mish-mash

DGDrls

dgdrls · September 16, 2013, 08:59:08 PM

The sawn locust is becoming a porch and the balance will be used in the structure in some fasion.

The Walnut is down,

Looking for advise on how much stem I should leave with the burl to get gun stock blanks?

Also advise on how best the saw the Walnut with my Lucas. I do not have a buyer yet
so I'm reluctant to saw away

DGDrls.

PC-Urban-Sawyer · September 17, 2013, 09:28:42 AM

Maybe this post by Jim Rogers will help with the gun stock blanks...

https://forestryforum.com/board/index.php/topic,66491.msg994525.html#msg994525

Herb

5quarter · September 17, 2013, 10:45:53 PM

Nice work. in a 100 years, after the house has completely disintegrated, the porch will still be there. ;) :D

mesquite buckeye · September 17, 2013, 11:31:34 PM

Unfortunately, Jim's thread doesn't include blanks made from stump/root flares, which in the past is where most blanks came from.

You want to cut parallel to the outreaching root. If you were to make blanks, this would from the root end of the log look something like the spokes of a wheel. You might have to cut out pie shaped pieces w a chainsaw to get the best stuff. Root burl can be every bit as beautiful as crotch burl. You want the grain of the wood to curve with the shape of the stock for greatest strength. If you make a blank pattern from a piece of plywood, you can try to match it up with your pieces before trimming them for the best blanks. Cut 3" or so thick when you cut out the blank stock. Just do a few and you will rapidly figure out where you went wrong if you pay attention. It isn't all that hard to get good ones. ;D 8) 8) 8)