Whatcha Sawin' ???

[Magicman]

Yup, I am bored sawing small ERC "logs" right now.  I only had a couple that made 1X10's yesterday.  There are some larger ones that I will get to probably Thursday.  Next week I  should have my "mouth full" of framing lumber SYP logs.

[sandsawmill14]

i dont like small logs either yesterday i only had 1 log that made 4 4x6 the rest were a bout 1/2 made 2 the rest only made 1  :-\  its a hard row to hoe(old saying) that you think you will never get to the end of trying to cut those things by the tt load and the slab pile is almost as big as the log pile was wen you started :D

[WDH]

I had to cut a bunch of 1x4 pine for lathing on a roof that will be covered with metal.  I hate cutting 1x4's  .

[sandsawmill14]

they do pile up slow dont they ??? and wear you out offbearing 

[Jim_Rogers]

Yesterday morning we sawed up the maple logs that the customer dropped of Saturday. All were 2" round edge cuts, very fast to saw.

Most were very colorful:



 



 



 

About lunch time a customer showed up with some oak salvage beams. Of course he told me that there weren't any nails in them.

He spend till 4:30 pm with his helper pulling nails.

There was some nice lumber there, but some junk as well.



 



  



 

We had to show them how to use a piece of pipe to roll them out of his truck. Some people don't think smart and use rollers.



 

Sorry didn't get an after picture.

Jim Rogers

[Magicman]

I hate cutting 1x4's  .

The only thing that is keeping my production up is those edged slabs.

Much rain now so I am sitting in the truck.   :-\

[grouch]

[...snip...]

About lunch time a customer showed up with some oak salvage beams. Of course he told me that there weren't any nails in them.

He spend till 4:30 pm with his helper pulling nails.

There was some nice lumber there, but some junk as well.



 

[...snip...]

Jim Rogers

Being the pro that you are, you gotta please the customer when you can. For myself, I'd rather have those hewn surfaces remain intact and show 'em off. Somebody put some sweat into those.

Magicman's usage in his Cabin Addition thread shows proper respect, to me. (Yeah, his had a personal side that these probably don't have to your customer).

Taking hand hewn lumber and making it look like what you can buy at Lowe's or HD or any box store seems about as goofy to me as wallpapering over maple or putting peel-and-stick simulated wood grain over walnut wainscot.

Customers may be blind, confused, misinformed, tacky or just plain ornery, but they're always right.

[mesquite buckeye]

WV,

Cherry is the absolute worst wood that I have ever sawed for pith cracking.  Unfortunately, in my experience from a woodworking perspective, a 6" cherry log is an exercise in futility.  It will be almost all juvenile wood.  My customers won't buy boards that are badly pith cracked.  With a log that small, I bet every single board pith cracks bad, and the cant will crack and split such that you can only get small pieces out of it.  You might want to warn your customer.

Might I suggest a small paradigm shift?

Most of our mesquite has center and other cracking. We call it character and fill those cracks with black or colored epoxy. It becomes part of the look and feel of the items made from it. Also you can bookmatch the pieces for an even nicer effect. Here is an example:

 

The center cracks become part of the beauty of the piece. In this case showing how a really crooked young tree can straighten out as it grows.

[Jim_Rogers]

His intend was to use the oak boards to make a table top similar to the one he already has and likes.
He didn't intend to even plane them. Just use them rough with some oil or stain.

He wanted some straight edges to work with so we trimmed a little off each side so that he had straight edges.

I did what he asked.

Jim Rogers

[Chuck White]

I really like sawing Cherry, but I always orient the "heart check" so that I can cut a 1" board with the check centered edge-to-edge in that board.

It boils down to the board will either be good or be junk, but it'll be in one board, not all of the boards!

[Magicman]

I finally gave it up to the rain today.  My helper can not work tomorrow due to a family tragedy, but I should be able to saw Thursday.

[Magicman]

I remembered that I did have a couple of pictures.


 
But none of lumber or sawing.  Covering the lumber before another shower.


 
And moving some more logs to the sawmill.  At least some of these are a bit larger and will make some 1X12's.   

[WV Sawmiller]

  Finished a small job today. 2 afternoons, one day in between - total 1540 bf walnut, cherry and poplar. Lots of wasted time doing extra log prep and stacking and such but enjoyed working with the client so we all had a good time.

   Today was just small cherry logs (3-6 ft long). Guy had suggested just making cants and he'd resaw on his shop bandsaw. I looked at it and told him if he just wanted 4/4 I'd go ahead and saw them. Main time used was in loading and clamping anyway. Making 4-5 more passes on a small cant was much faster and easier for me. Most of the day was misting rain which was miserable conditions. Was happy to bring the mill home and wash everything up since could not use leafblower on the wet stuff.

   Highlight of the day was a 4' crotch from which I got 3 - 8/4, a couple 4/4 live edge slabs and a couple of wide short 4/4 boards. Had to nick off a couple inches to make sure the slabs fit through my 23" blade guide restriction. Customer was real happy with them and they will end up making some real nice tables. I forgot my camera and will have to be more diligent next time as pretty boards.

[derhntr]

Sawed a little red oak tonight, no help over 2 hrs to saw 1 log, nice wide boards


  

  

 

[Magicman]

Oh my, those are very clear boards.  Beautiful.   8)

[Delawhere Jack]

Those were some really nice logs derhntr.  ;)

[thechknhwk]

Nice looking oak, where abouts in "mid-michigan"?  I'm in St. Charles area.

[Ljohnsaw]

No camera so no pictures :(

Rescued an abandoned log down the street from my cabin.  Pretty big - 18" butt.  I noticed it probably a year ago, after I got my mill built.  Funny what you notice after you have a mill. ;)  It was propped up between the stump and the top of the tree so it was off the ground and delimbed.  Bark falling off but was hoping for something solid inside.  I bucked it to 24', grabbed it with my SkyTrak and drove it about 1/2 mile to my site.  Knocked off the bark and trimmed the now-2" nubs of branches.  Cut it into two 12'ers.  Figured there might be a nail or two in the butt log since it was near the road so I cut the next log up.  Made a nice 11½" square cant.  I split that and made twenty 1x6 (full size) to make some scaffolding planks (3 on edge with OSB sheeting).  Got 4 others from the sides but 2 were punky on one end.  Will cut the butt up into a few more 1x6 and a bunch of 2x3 for bracing my foundation blocks.

[thechknhwk]

I know how you guys love the walnut, so here ya go :D  One decent 9 footer and 2 short uglies, but got some nice 5/4 cut.  I also cut 2300bf of WRC on sunday, no pics I was workin for someone.

[Delawhere Jack]

Sawed some beech and some really nice walnut. Logs were at the home of a friend of the client. The friend had acquired them to cut up for firewood. My client knew better. We milled two walnut logs, 26-27" x 8' and three or four beech logs a little smaller. About 900 bf in 3 hours. The clients father told me he had  some other guy mill for him a few years ago, and got really wavy cuts.  He was MUCH happier with the product of my work.  ;D


  

  

  

 

[derhntr]

Nice looking oak, where abouts in "mid-michigan"?  I'm in St. Charles area.

I am just north of Greenville.

[thechknhwk]

Gotcha, I think you are about 60 miles west of me.

[derhntr]

Couple hours of sawing results 80% Quarter sawed/Rift Red Oak 90% clear.



  

 

[WDH]

Very, very nice.

[POSTON WIDEHEAD]

I like your tail gate.  ;D