OldJarheads Milling Thread...

[chet]

Boy does that bring back memories of myself and my three sons working with the guy that use to saw for me. He once told me that he enjoyed sawing for us so much he was tempted ta do it for free. 

[OlJarhead]

It's hard not to!  These folks were great and took me out for a birthday burger after work ti!  Super people!

[Magicman]

I know that it's quicker and you seem to get away with it, but I can not split the pith on the SYP that I saw.  Actually I can not do it with any species that I saw.  Every board would crook. 

[OlJarhead]

I always do my best to avoid splitting the pith.  If I do it it's a goof but I don't recall doing it with this one.  What I do is work to my width with the pith off center so I don't split it.

I have gotten away with it on pondo though for paneling though mostly that was long ago.  But yes occasionally I'll be milling along, drop go and realize I missed when it's too late.  I cringe then because it means 2 boards are inferior not one.

On the other hand I have so milled a lot of pondo and fir with off set piths that don't center.  Don't split it on the near end but do on the far or split it in the middle of the log because it's that off ;)

[OlJarhead]

I'll admit, I was a little bothered by your post MM so I went back and looked at the raw video for this one and found this:


 
It's actually hard to see in the video but here you can see I'm leaning down and double checking that I won't split the pith -- you can just barely see the 'dot' of the pith under the band and the angle doesn't show how much lower it is but it's clearly well below where I will cut.  Not sure I had that in the video or not (I cut out a lot actually, in order to keep them short).
How to produce more lumber an hour in 8m [the key] - YouTube
At 6:57 in this older video you will see me measure where the pith is and in many of my videos you might see me point at it as I go by and box it in...I strive to do this all the time so it's like hitting the bullseye for this old dartplayer, only in this case you try to miss the bullseye ;)

Anyway, I think in the videos it looks like you split the pith when you don't, like the pick above where the saw band is above the pith by 1/2" at a minimum but it's hard to see.

Erik

[OlJarhead]

OK I went back to the log before this one...


The pith is directly below the top crack -- it looks like it may be lower but it isn't, it's just below the upper crack...I clipped this from the video

 


And hear I've captured the pith in this one board which begins to bed hard to the left half way through it (WRC movement perhaps?)...

I'm not saying I don't ever do it (again, sometimes it can't be avoided when the pith wanders from one end to the other) but I try very hard to always avoid it and usually point it out (if for no one other than myself).

I've listened (well read really) to you a long time my friend and I try to learned from every post you make!  And you may have noticed often mention you in my videos.  I try to give credit where it's due to those whom I've learned from though admittedly I give more credit to you than anyone.  So perhaps that's why I began trying to understand what you saw as me splitting the pith.

[OlJarhead]

 


OK I went one step further -- I'm obsessed!  But honestly, I wanted to assure myself I didn't miss something.  First pic is without arrows to see if you can see what I see.
 

 
Notice the arrow on the left, it's pointing to the rings surrounding the heartwood.  It's off center and the pith is in the center though off to the right a little -- off set.  Right arrow points to it.  Now look at the pics above again ;)  The band goes above it when I'm checking (before engaging).

I also went to the 2nd time I split the cant but for the life of me I cannot see the pith and even after rotating and following where I know it is/was I still can't make it out. 

Didn't split it here at all bud.  Even later I noticed I slipped it into 1 1x6 easily since it was off center and in one 6x cant and I skimmed off (notice that skim cut earlier?) enough to make it past on my way to the deck ;)

But thanks for keeping me honest!  I appreciate it and welcome all comments!  

[Old Greenhorn]

Me thinks he doth pretest too much. :D :D :D

 Relax man. I am sure MM was just throwing out a thought. You are like me, you are your biggest critic because you want it right, every time. I do the same thing. But I don't have an audience and I don't video my milling. But if I think I messed up I look it over carefully to see what I did wrong so I don't do it again and splitting the pith is one that really pithes me off. I love it when I am making 4/4 and the pith is dead smack in the middle of a board. It happens more than I deserve. But sometimes things are to quite right. Let it go. 2 boards in 5,000BF is a blip on the radar.

 Every log has a new challenge.

[Magicman]

quote OlJarhead:  "I'll admit, I was a little bothered by your post MM so I went back and looked at the raw video for this one and found this:"

No foul no error, no pretest, except that I did not catch it in the video.  Others may not either.  :P

Since many members/guest will be viewing your well documented videos, I would suggest that you make a point of pointing out that you offset the pith when you made the cant so that when it was split the pith was in one side and the other side was pith free.  

[OlJarhead]

Sorry!  and yes I am my biggest critic.  I strive to do things correctly and when I don't I strive to not do it again!

But I guess I was confused by MM because I couldn't recall splitting the pith in the above video so I was scratching my head.

And yes, if you do split it in the wood I'm milling 90% of the time you can edge it off and leave a 2x4 or a 1x4 and it will be fine. 

I do recall skimming along the pith when milling a beam and the customer asked me to leave it.  I don't like doing that as it will cause the beam to twist etc but he felt he could deal with it if it did.  My experience is that you'll end up with a much smaller beam ;)  Not worth it.  How does this happen?  Trying to sneak beams out of logs you just can't get them out of ;)  Meaning, 1 beam yes, 2 no.  Just not wide enough at the small end to make them FOHC, ones gonna be smaller or have the pith and it will be near the edge which is bad.

Anyhow ;)  One thing I do mention often is to box in the heart and avoid splitting the pith but I could try to mention it more often.  It's a challenge ;)

Making videos is a challenge really but I know that making them leaves me open to lots of 'suggestions' by others ;)

Cheers
No harm no foul!
Erik

[GAB]

But I guess I was confused by MM because I couldn't recall splitting the pith in the above video so I was scratching my head.

Cheers
Erik

Erik:
If you are many of us please do not do that as it is getting thin up there and there is no need to speed it up any.
GAB

[OlJarhead]

 ;D :D
Ya it's pretty thin up there ;)  Probably too much head scratching already  :

[OlJarhead]

Had to share this little short ;)  It's had an incredible 80,470 views!!!!
Monster On The Mill! #shorts #woodmizer #lumber - YouTube
Must be the tune :D

[aigheadish]

Nice! It's interesting what hits... Did you find out why? I assume it was shared somewhere (Facebag, Tweeter, Reddit?). I hope it's not offensive to say so but it looks like a fairly normal milling video.

[beenthere]

aig
All you need is a headliner like "Woot! this video has taken off" and everyone needs to go look to see what is happening. Counts up to be successful hits.
8) 8)

[OlJarhead]

It was just a 15 second short I posted for fun as a teaser for another video I was working on.  At the time only on YT.  In fact never shared anywhere else until it took off.

In truth it seams any big log that you describe with words like big, huge, monster etc in the video title can do well but I try not to overuse that.

YT is also pushing shorts to try to beat tiktok in the shorts game.

Ultimately I am not a short video creator so this one surprised me ;)

[OlJarhead]

it so has a 127% retention rate which is good.  I suspect people like the song and let it run a bit which helps.

Funny thing is that it can't be monetized because of the song but it has brought me 76 subs ;)
Just a tad shy of 90k now;)

[Ianab]

I hope it's not offensive to say so but it looks like a fairly normal milling video.

It is to us forum folks that know how sawmills work. But if it gets shared into a forum for say "woodworking", not everyone there knows exactly how a log gets transformed into boards, but they are interested enough to watch, find out, and share this cool video with their friends. . 

I have a video on my site that's also nothing special, but it's racked up 321,000 views over the years. It's just feeding a wild freshwater eel in my back garden, just a clip, no production, but I'd shared it to an International fish keeping forum, and it sorta went viral with lots of views from Europe. Nothing special for us, but most folks don't have 4ft long freshwater eels in their back garden (unless you live on our street)   

[OlJarhead]

True enough!  I spend so much time editing that I don't have as much time to share around but you make a good point.

Funny thing, I'm not a member of any wood working forums, I'm just a member here and at CountryPlans these days and spend more time here than anywhere else ;)  Just too busy!

YT is doing a good job of getting these shorts out but I'm more into making long form videos of milling, mostly to share what I've learned (mostly from here I might add) with those interested and just to share my adventures :D

The channel is growing though and is nearing 1600 subs.  Still pretty small but who knows?

[OlJarhead]

I Made A Big Mistake Milling This Cedar Log On My Wood Mizer LT40 - YouTube
Darnit!!!!!

[WV Sawmiller]

Happy Birthday, Semper Fi and don't drink the water. :D

[OlJarhead]

Ooorah!  8)

Sorry I missed this.  Was at the end of the work day (yup, I went back to work temporarily -- like maybe a year two max - because I couldn't pass up the $$$ they offered lol).....

Semper Fi!

And to all those who have stood on that line, THANK YOU!  Doesn't matter why, doesn't matter where, doesn't matter what you did.  Thank you!  

[OlJarhead]

My take on production milling ;)
Making Lumber Like There's No Tomorrow! [Wood Mizer LT40] - YouTube

[OlJarhead]

https://youtu.be/Gtx6t33E7IM
And so it goes some days ;)

[ladylake]

 You should send your off bearers over to me, they did good.   Steve