Freezing cold milling tips

[Peter Drouin]

 

 

When the PV won't stick in the frozen ground I use a block of wood.


 
Works good for me.

I use a 12" sheet rock knife to get the frozen sawdust off the lumber.


 

And always use this stuff in the winter.


  
I wait till spring when it's on sale, and can get it for $1.00 a jug.

The other thing when your cutting frozen log or ½ frozen. And you know the blade is razer sharp and you get waves. Turn the feed rate up so the tooth will dig in and cut strate.
I see sawyers slow down thinking it will help and cut flat.
It will but, you wont get no wood cut. :D :D
So the next time try cutting a little faster. there is a sweet spot for your mill and horse power.
Hope this helps. Anyone out there have more ideas? 

[fishfighter]

Move south? ;D Glad I don't have that problem.

[4x4American]

Good thread, Peter!  I would add that when the boards are stuck to the cant if you're not using the dragback a hookaroon is your best friend, particulary a Logrite.  Those things are handy. 

Oh and I like to shovel the sawdust back while its still shovelable with a snow or feed shovel.  And I always blow off the mill so the sawdust dont freeze to it.  I do that regardless of the weather.  I like to take an o ring pick and clean out the grooves in the guides. 

I found your feed rate advice to work well for me when I was having problems a few weeks ago. 

Also, if they are half frozen and big you can saw em in half and let em sit for a coulple days so they get froze all the way through faster

[drobertson]

No doubt,  sawing half froze logs for the last few days, a pain, speeds and feed are a killer, reaction too,, 

[jwilly3879]

I was at this property doing a footing inspection and saw this method of sawdust removal.



 

[POSTON WIDEHEAD]

Good tips Peter but I hope it don't get this cold down here. 

[larrydown60]

I really like the snow blower idea. 8) :D

[4x4American]

Me too!  I might bring mine to the job tomorrow and make some room!

[sandsawmill14]

dont saw under 30 degrees ;D 
i realize this would greatly shorten some of you guys season but it solves almost all cold weather problems :D :D :D

jwilly i have always wanted a snow blower and you may have just given me a reason :D :D :D

[Ohio_Bill]

Peter , That is one fine looking lumber shed .

[WDH]

If the logs are froze, so am I  . 

[YellowHammer]

Peter, you are a tough hombre, I think the peavy not sticking in the ground would have done it for me. :D
I tried to saw the other day when it was cold and my plastic dust collector hose snapped in half.  I was done, so I climbed into the tractor cab, turned on the heat, listened to the radio, and dug stumps. Much more better.   ;D

[Peter Drouin]

YH, there's nothing better than a tractor with a cab. 8) 8) 8) 8)
I love mine, 8) 8) 8) 8) 8)

[Percy]

Nice lumber shed and lumber collection Peter... I have a shack with a wood stove in it. Gets used alot this time of year

[sandsawmill14]

wdh, yh im with yall last week mon, tue to cold, wed had about .10" of ice so didnt work, thurs day was nice and we sawed a little over 3200 bdft fri it was cold and snowing but i had to go make payroll so we sawed about 500 bdft hit a rock froze to the bark so i payed up and we called it a day ;D

i dont have a tractor with cab but my backhoe does but i have broken all the windows out of it execpt the winshield (it busted but still in place) and 1 door :(  i replaced them all twice and decided to forget >:(  it came from ny but i forgot what city so no ac :( so windows or not its a trade off  :

[fishfighter]

Yep, my backhoe has no windows too. No need here in the south. If the outside temp drops below 40F, I just throw another log in the fireplace and keep warm. Being retired does have it perks. ;D I can always put off things if I want. :D

[jmouton]

hmmmm   a snow blower , what a good idea,,  just have to keep the bark out of the sawdust,, might have to try it ,,


                                                                                           jim

[thecfarm]

Snowblower!!!! I wonder if you could open up the second stage,I think that's what's it's called,to allow more bark to go through. On my snow blower the clearance is just about nothing.

[terrifictimbersllc]

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Nxtz7JoKZlM

[Kbeitz]

Sure beats shoveling...

[thecfarm]

Pretty clever you are,you are.

[jmouton]

i am still looking for the start button on my  shovel,,, :D :D                    havent found it yet


                                                                                                                 

                                                                                                                      jim

[WoodenHead]

0 deg F (or -18 deg C) on a calm day is about my limit for cold weather sawing.  Frozen logs dull the blade a bit faster, but saw well.  Half frozen logs just sends me into waves.   >:(  I only have 28 gas ponies to work with though.  I'm not sure I could increase the feed rate in half frozen logs.  I'm usually just at the point where I hear the motor start to slow as I am sawing under normal circumstances.   ;D

Dress in layers, watch the fingers, and keep moving!   ;D

[Andries]

Sometimes, the building schedule or log delivery forces me to mill when the weather looks like this:

Miserable weather, but as the old Finnish guy said: "There's no such thing as bad weather, only bad choices of clothing."
But really, get some good clothes to wear and figure out how to stay dry and warm. That's the starting point for quality time on the sawmill in freezing temps. If you're starting to think that you've got frostbite on your feet, hands or whatever, you won't be able to concentrate on the milling.
I haven't tried the snowblower on sawdust yet. That'd really polish up the snow chute!
The suggestions re windshield washer fluid is a good one. We use the -40 rated stuff because, yup, it gets that cold here.
It works a couple of ways. The boards don't freeze to each other for a few minutes and the sawdust on the mill can be blown off with the leaf blower, as you mill. If the blower isn't used as you mill, you won't be able to gig the head back to the front because the top of the rail will be blocked with frozen dust.
If its colder than -25 C (-13 F) you probably won't be able to keep up with the freezing, then its time to sharpen bands in the shop.

[Magicman]

   I see that and think "oh crap".