Whatcha Sawin' ???

Magicman · June 07, 2018, 10:46:19 PM

I was back on my 74 mile road trip today and should finish sawing tomorrow. It looked like two 30"+ Cherrybark Oaks will be first up.

The lumber whack grows with 1601 bf added today. I used two blades, one 4° and one T7°

Oh yes and I did this.

The log was set up and ready to saw. I was actually off of the sawmill seat and reached over with my left hand and moved the wrong lever.

Darrel · June 07, 2018, 10:58:50 PM

I've done that too Lynn. In fact, that is one of the ways I know that I'm a real sawyer. 8)

Southside · June 07, 2018, 11:22:29 PM

Finished up 1100 ft of pine flooring today. You get an even deeper appreciation for it when you take fiber from stump to floor.

Crossroads · June 08, 2018, 01:05:13 AM

Southside, how well does pine hold up as flooring? I thought it would be to soft, but I've thought wrong before.

Crossroads · June 08, 2018, 01:09:45 AM

Only thing I cut today was some 1/2" cdx plywood to go over the ship lap on my roof that has to many gaps for my liking. Should be done with the plywood overlay and get the tar paper on just before the rain gets here tomorrow.

WDH · June 08, 2018, 07:02:09 AM

Many, many, many old homes in the South had pine floors.

Scottasheppard · June 08, 2018, 07:21:02 AM

White oak posts for my tractor shed. Tool shed

btulloh · June 08, 2018, 07:31:49 AM

Quote from: Crossroads on June 08, 2018, 01:05:13 AMSouthside, how well does pine hold up as flooring? I thought it would be to soft, but I've thought wrong before.

SYP can be pretty hard. Longleaf even harder. I don't thing anything's harder than the latewood in some SYP. Like WDH said, lots and lots of floors done with it.

Southside · June 08, 2018, 08:32:15 AM

Quite a few old homes in the north east even have white pine flooring, usually just called wide plank around there.

Crossroads · June 08, 2018, 09:30:43 AM

That's interesting, I definitely learnt something today

hopm · June 08, 2018, 10:12:56 AM

i always wanted to do a floor in poplar.....I know it is soft but every mark is character....at least that's what I told myself while the younguns was growing....

WV Sawmiller · June 08, 2018, 01:17:49 PM

A repeat customer came today with a big Red Oak log. He had bibbyed down the big end but it was still 30" across in a couple of places. He had loaded it with a skid steer at his home. I think was around 28" or so on the little end. There was some punky wood around the edges as the log had been down 2 years. It took about all my little JD 750 could do to drag it off the trailer, then I still almost missed the back rail, one end was not square to the loading arms so had to use my MagicMan connect to the clamp trick to hold it in place till we lifted it but we got it loaded.

Customer wanted it cut into 2X6s. Trimmed and rotated several times till my blades would pass, cut 2- 2" flitches, a 5/4 X 10" board and 3 - 6" cants then started making 2X6's. Trimmed 3-4 down to 2X4s where too much wane on them. Total at the end was a little over 285 bf. There was some weak spots along an old knot or two and several, nearly half, of the boards broke or cracked at about 6' but still good usable short pieces for knee braces and such. He wanted to build an outdoor gazebo of some kind for his wife and figured he had about enough to do his project.

Then when done he went and bought a well seasoned 2"X18"X6' walnut LE board and a couple of 2.5" square X 8' pieces of walnut leg stock I happened to have for his walnut table project. I trimmed off one edge of the walnut board, then cut another 2X4 off it leaving it the sizes he needed. Lumber sales actually exceeded the sawing fee but he was real happy with both.

After all the hard work was done we finally got this big red oak on the mill.

Finished a little over 285 bf here and a few shorts on customer's truck.

POSTON WIDEHEAD · June 08, 2018, 07:39:42 PM

Quote from: WDH on June 07, 2018, 10:21:40 PM
Appears that I am being watched. I can get sneaky when it comes to walnut ;D.

We have been talking behind your back.

Bruno of NH · June 08, 2018, 09:23:37 PM

In New England we have lots of white pine floors old and new.
I have laid many over the years.
I have put down 5 or 6 syp floors makes a nice looking floor much harder than white pine.
One of my favorites is fir i just like the look.

Darrel · June 08, 2018, 10:18:13 PM

Mountain mahogany (Cercocarpus mountanus). One of my trees/bushes died this spring so I fell it and threw the biggest piece on the mill.

I didn't get a picture of it on the mill. Man it's hard stuff. I cut really slow and opened the water up all the way. The 10° doublehard blade didn't like it one bit. If I ever decide to cut it again, I'll make sure I have a 7° or even a 4°. Here are some pics of the end result. My wife's hand gives perspective. Also notice the burn marks from before I opened up the water all the way.

PA_Walnut · June 09, 2018, 07:00:47 AM

Been sawing a lot of curly maple...mostly grade stuff, high-figure, white and clean.

Had a log that exhibited CRAZY figure, but had been down for a while. (not a good plan). So, put it up on the deck yesterday and opened it up with a minimal cut. I always do that with maple to determine the color and figure, then decide how to saw it...usually looking for the thickest stock I can get without hitting heart.

4/4, then a nice wide 5/4 and hit color. So, went to 9/4 slabs. Awesome figure and color...will make great tables.

Next up today, is a hard maple with even more intense figure and a dime-sized heart and large enough to quarter. Should be instrument wood. Stay tuned.

Magicman · June 09, 2018, 07:55:46 AM

I finished my 74 mile road trip yesterday. Well got home at 10PM, so I guess that it was still yesterday? :-\ The customer had bought Red Oak logs to cut/sell for firewood but we hardly had no Winter so he hardly sold no firewood. This job was a salvage operation to recover the logs as lumber instead of more firewood that he did not need.

When I got there yesterday AM he had cleared out access to these logs. I trashed three blades hitting nails/screws. :-\

Some were not too "sporty" but we sawed them all. The largest here was 37" butt.

The "log handler" bringing the largest to the sawmill. :-[

This wack of mostly 12" brought the total to 3475bf of lumber. Not too shabby and now he has a stickering job.

Crossroads · June 09, 2018, 11:12:12 AM

That's some pretty wood Darrell!

MM, way to turn firewood into some nice lumber

Bruno of NH · June 09, 2018, 02:58:02 PM

Doing my monthly white pine slabing for sales stock and my customer that buys
10 a month.
Used a WM 10° vortex band it does clean more sawdust off the slabs.

Magicman · June 09, 2018, 03:35:54 PM

You are developing quite a wood yard Jim. Congrats, and nice slabs. 8)

Bruno of NH · June 09, 2018, 03:41:09 PM

Thanks Mr Lynn
Im way behind on milling.
I have alot of logs to mill

Magicman · June 09, 2018, 03:49:46 PM

Pat & I are taking a vacation starting Monday. I wish that we were heading in your direction because I would love to stop by for another visit. Ours was much too short last year.