milling thread

[sotc]

i think this is the right spot for this. anyway i got my mill today:)

[sotc]

any opinions on how i should mill this log? horizontal for the widest planks or vertical for most planks? dimensions?

[Skwerl]

Try to get most of the defects in the fewest planks, idunno. :|:

[No_Bivy]

walnut...12/4, re saw later. Less waste.

[sotc]

whats 12/4? ive seen people post numbers like that before but dont know what it means

[No_Bivy]

12/4 = 3 inches.Fat, then let it dry. Craftsman can re saw to what they want. IMO.

[sotc]

3inch slabs is what i was thinking after talking to others. so 12/4 means 12 divide by 4? trim wane or leave it? if im slabbing it 3 inches thick should i stand the log on the skinny edge? or get the wide boards?

thanks for the help john8)

[No_Bivy]

12 x 1/4 inch. The wood will shrink so add a little. The band saw I use adds a 1/8th for kerf and shrinkage.
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[sotc]

1/4 inch with a chain saw mill? probably shatter the wood dont you think?

[Skwerl]

Hard to type it but John is talking about 12/4 or 12X1/4 or 3".

[No_Bivy]

:D

[fishhuntcutwood]

I don't know a damn thing about milling specifics, other than how to run a 660 with aux oiler!

[fallguy]

A freind of mine just picked a used one. He has been cutting Oak with it 24" wide. He got some big old Maculla on it. Its 15 minutes to make a 8' long cut and 1 tank of gas.

[Wagnaw]

The Alaska mill you guys are showing is the same one we have at home. One thing though, the triangular bracket on the far side broke eventually, so we had to make a new one out of wood. Still works the same though. I wish I had some pictures, but the saw my dad uses in it is really funky looking. It's an older Stihl 08 A or Ev. Something like that. Huge saw, but it has a top handle and a really round casing. Any of you all know anything about it, or know what it is. My guess is that it's an old equivalent to what the 880 is today. My dad got it from this old Korean guy for 100 bucks. All it needed was new spark plugs and a carb cleaning.

[stig]

One thing that takes a lot of the strain out of running an alaskan mill is having someone pull it for you. That way you don't have to sit in an awkward position and push the mill. Putting a piece of bungee cord or some other elastic material between the pulling rope and the mill makes it easier for the person pulling to put an even pressure on the saw.

[stehansen]

12 x 1/4 inch. The wood will shrink so add a little. The band saw I use adds a 1/8th for kerf and shrinkage.
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Why didn't you get one of these Willie?:D

[sotc]

i tried but 225 dollars only made them laugh :what:

[stehansen]

i tried but 225 dollars only made them laugh :what:

What the hell is wrong with them?:? Don't they know who you are? Have you milled the chunk yet?

[sotc]

no got to busy yesterday playing, prolly to busy tommorrow. i did get it on my trailer so i can take it to the outlaws for milling

[Al Smith]

Chainsaw milling has it's place but it's not an easy task nor is it fast .

Use the biggest saw you have and set it rich because it's going to be working full time milling .

I can make a little better than a foot a minute on 18 "red oak using a 125 Mac.

The advantage is you can mill right on the spot and carry the thing in the back of a pick-em -up .The disadvantage is it's slow and you have to work your butt off for the lumber . It's just an option not my favorite but I have used it on rare occasions .

[sotc]

you can carry a lucas mill in the back of a truck to but thats a chunk of change

[Al Smith]

you can carry a lucas mill in the back of a truck to but thats a chunk of change Well,true.It's cheaper than a Woodmizer mill though .;)

[sotc]

really? ive never priced one of those, not really wanting to get that far into it.

[Al Smith]

Well,let me put it like this . I paid less for the first house I bought than a mid sized new Woodmizer sells for .Nice mill though .

Ironically though along the same lines,that new Merc setting in the garage cost more than that first house too .:(

[Koa Man]

I just take any logs I want milled to a mill and pay them $100 an hour. One hour will mill a lot of lumber. I have it all quarter sawn in to 2 inch thick planks. I resaw those at home to sizes I need. On expensive lumber like Hawaiian koa, I usually cut it into veneer on my 18 inch, 5hp bandsaw. I then run the veneer through my thickness sander to get it smooth and all the same thickness.

[Dave Shepard]

Well,true.It's cheaper than a Woodmizer mill though .;)

I run a Wood-Mizer at work. Lotta money for a lotta of production. I do like playing with the new wireless remote option though.:D Congrats on the new mill, SOTC! I think chainsaw mills are a great way to recover a high value log that commercial mills don't want to buy. The big guys don't like to see "Tree Service" on the side of a truck in their yard.;)


Dave

[digga]

any of you guys ever used one of these seems like a good idea http://www.ripsaw.com/ripsaw.html

[sotc]

i wondered why the power head was turned that way, its a band saw!

[stehansen]

I just take any logs I want milled to a mill and pay them $100 an hour. One hour will mill a lot of lumber. I have it all quarter sawn in to 2 inch thick planks. I resaw those at home to sizes I need. On expensive lumber like Hawaiian koa, I usually cut it into veneer on my 18 inch, 5hp bandsaw. I then run the veneer through my thickness sander to get it smooth and all the same thickness.

I have a guy like that about 10 miles from me also. The only time I used him was for the big cedar tree that we took down at my house and I gave him the trunk in three pieces each about 15' long and 36" dia. on the biggest end. I just never seem to get a tree that is good wood. If I do then it is in a backyard and we cut it up to get it out of there. Here is my mill guy who is featured in some advertisement for wood for a guy in Grass Valley, CA. They also have a smaller circular saw mill and a band saw.

http://www.woodnut.com/circlemill.htm

[Al Smith]

I wish I just had half of the good lumber trees I had cut up in the past for firewood .:whine:Geeze,I could have cut up "fiddle back " maple at the time and never knew about it . One slice through a bandsaw mill would have told the tale . Geeze 50 bucks worth of firewood could just as easily been several thousand worth of instrument grade maple stock and I would have never known .

Too soon old,too late smart .I keep all the logs now that might have some value .You can always slice a marginal log to firewood.Kinda hard to put it back togther for lumber once it's diced .

[olyman]

I wish I just had half of the good lumber trees I had cut up in the past for firewood .:whine:Geeze,I could have cut up "fiddle back " maple at the time and never knew about it . One slice through a bandsaw mill would have told the tale . Geeze 50 bucks worth of firewood could just as easily been several thousand worth of instrument grade maple stock and I would have never known .

Too soon old,too late smart .I keep all the logs now that might have some value .You can always slice a marginal log to firewood.Kinda hard to put it back togther for lumber once it's diced .
thats was a mouthful said, al. and the truth!!!!

[sotc]

This is a black oak we fell a couple months ago and milled yesterday. Had to trim it down with the chainsaw mill to fit the bandsaw. I thought the included bark cool so I saved it out for demonstrations. The staining in the 4th pic is interesting, anyone explain whats happening?

[Al Smith]

That staining is an indication of metal in it some place .Could be a nail ,a lead slug from a rifle ,who knows .

Generally speaking the metal will be at about the lowest level of the stain .

If you don't cut into it ,which I hope you don't, take precautions before you run it through a planer or table saw .Use a good metal detecter and scan each board .

[sotc]

Actually Al, I meant the yellowish stain moving up from the felling cuts. Metal stains in oak around here are bright purple, we found none of that. We did hitt a rock which is why that short piece got trimmed off mid cut in the last pic.

[Dave Shepard]

I don't have pics, but I milled up one of the big sycamores I cut last month. Was too dang big for the mill to cut without relieving the sides with the chainsaw. Next log is bigger. Will quarter it with the saw first.

What are you going to do with those big slabs?

[Skwerl]

Dave, we're gonna have to all pitch in and get you a camera so you can post pics of your mill setup. I assume you slabbed them with your freshly rebuilt 394?

[woodworkingboy]

You guys have got me drooling here. I want that wood!!!! sotc, I tend to think that yellow staining is left after the water starts to dry out, does it clear right off if you plane the wood? Probably salts...minerals.. or something...?

I've seen one of those band saw type miils in operation, like digga posted. It was cutting a relatively small softwood log and the going was so slow it almost wasn't happening. If it was pushed too hard, the blade consistently broke. I can't imagine much success in hardwood, unless the goal is to get a suntan. I think that the blade heating up is a big negative factor.

I have a Sperber two powerhead mill, using a pair of 076s. I've run it myself with both engines, a number of times, gum tape the throttle wide open on the other end. Getting it into and out of the log defies common sense, and any manner of safety concerns.

I recommend Will Mallof's good book on chainsaw milling, might no longer be in print though. Will was a milling fool if there ever was one, came up with some good methods for working alone and making the tasks easier. He also shows some rigs that you can make up yourself, for specialty cuts. I spoke with him on the phone once, a cool guy. Wonder if he's still up in BC?

[rumination]

Jay, have you ever seen the chainsaw slabbing attachment on a Lucas Mill in action? Pure luxury. Not cheap, though.

[woodworkingboy]

Yes Leon, not personally in action, but the pics in the Bailey's catalog always get me to dreaming.

[Dave Shepard]

Skwerl, I use one of these (http://www.woodmizer.com/us/sawmills/hydraulic/lt40sh/lt40sh.aspx), with the wireless remote. I used the 394 to clearance the side of the log so the outer blade guides would clear.

I don't have any pics from work, have never asker permission. I do have a lot of pics from the mill I learned on. First pic is my friends mill. We run it off of my WWII era genset. Next is the mill setup where I learned. Last, is some 24" White pine wide flooring boards. I've got a lot of pics from that mill. I'll see if I can get some of the mill at work.

[stehansen]

I can't imagine much success in hardwood, unless the goal is to get a suntan.:lol:

[sotc]

This bandsaw was pretty quick, went through about a slow walking pace.
The plan is to sell it. I'm going to get the slabs this weekend and sticker them here till I can offload it. Phil said we should get 2 bucks a board foot.

[CurSedVoyce]

I was at that clients taking out that white oak and the wood we extracted was still there from over a YEAR AGO :(
Was a good size live oak he was gonna mill. Ends are painted. But it is really checking now. Splitting more like it. Sad.

[brendonv]

Millings cool.

I kinda have a plan in me head to do tree work 3 days a week, while the other 2 are spent building tables out of slabs of wood I've produced. I have one sitting in front of me with a Mountain Laurel leg work and a nice Oak top. Mom paid alot of money for it.

[fallguy]

I just helped a friend mill a white pine log a couple of weeks ago. It had the bark peeled and had be setting for about 5 years. The checking on the ends only went in about 4 to 6 inches. I do not have any experience with oak logs but you may be surprised at what is still usable.

[Al Smith]

I have cut into cull oak logs left in the woods since the late 30's .In the late 70's early 80's they might have 2 inches of rot on the outside and checked on the ends maybe a foot .Inside was the nicest oak you've ever seen .Still full of moisture believe it or not .

Oak is an interesting wood .In the log form it can last for decades before it becomes totally unusable . Cut that lve oak. Whatever is good lumber is a plus , the rest is just hard won firewood .

[JamesTX]

Millings cool.

I kinda have a plan in me head to do tree work 3 days a week, while the other 2 are spent building tables out of slabs of wood I've produced. I have one sitting in front of me with a Mountain Laurel leg work and a nice Oak top. Mom paid alot of money for it.

THere's a place down here that mills cedar and mesquite into various products. He will take a mesquite log and cut it into a 6' x 1' x 8" slab to be used as a mantle piece. For that he charges $750.

[Burnham]

Expensive slab.

[JamesTX]

I agree, but they are real pretty. He sands them, fills the cracks, and urethanes them.





And then sells them to stupid people with too much money ......... like my father in law.

[Burnham]

Bet they are.

[Skwerl]

Bet they are.

'They' meaning pretty logs or 'they' meaning stupid people? :lol:

[Burnham]

Both, Brian...both.
:D

[JamesTX]

Since it's my f-i-l, I can back you up on both points.

[Burnham]

:lol:
;)

[Al Smith]

I know cedar doesn't warp too much but evidently mesquite doesn't either .I wouldn't know because my knowledge of same does not extend much past the charcoal . Which I might add does give grilled meats a nice flavor .

At any rate if a person hung a slab of green oak that large for a mantle it could warp and split in 40 directions . Besides that you would need a small crane to lift it .

[woodworkingboy]

No offense to f-i-l, but urethane as a finish for expensive woodwork :lol:

[Dave Shepard]

I got a few pics of the mill operation today. Split a big sycamore so I could get it on the mill. Was 44"x39" 10 feet long. It's a lot of work to quarter saw the big logs, you get a lot of flat sawn, which in this case is very plain, but the results are worth it, as you can see in the last pic.:D That's a 13"x 1 3/16" x 10" dead clear board. Got a few of those.

[woodworkingboy]

Nice log, hope the wood doesn't warp too bad on you. Sycamore can do that.

[Bodean]

Awesome thread.

We mill at work a bit with an alaskan mill.
It's the largest size, we run an 88 on it.

Right now we need something like 40 log benches, bit of milling coming up.

[sotc]

Looks real similar to the mill that did my log. Very nice machine!

[Dave Shepard]

Did he have on of these?

[sotc]

Nope, just a control panel on the machine

[sotc]

A little less than I thought, just under 400 board feet. Mostly 3 bys, 3 4 bys and some 1 and 2 bys. Stickered and waiting for a buyer.:)

[CurSedVoyce]

Nice Willie.. Would be nice to make something special out of that :)

[squisher]

Yah, like money!!!:D

[sotc]

Thats what i'm about8)

[CurSedVoyce]

HEHEHE :D

[squisher]

My log buyer is a real good score for me. I also sold him a couple maple logs when he picked up the rest of the black walnut. No big money like the walnut but it sure as hell made it worthwhile bringing them home.;)

[sotc]

Heck yeah, about $2 B/F! Nothin like your walnut log but hey....

[squisher]

I get real good prices for sure. 3 bills for 4 maple shorts as straight up logs. And the guy wants basically any wood I can get in lengths. I don't think I'll be milling anything myself in the forseeable future.

[stehansen]

We have a friend in the bay area who does some wood working and he came to visit last weekend. I gave him a slab cut from a black walnut stump that I cleaned up from the neighbor's place. He said that a chunk of wood like that retail is $500. It was just a round slab, 12" in dia and 4" thick.

[Dave Shepard]

What species of walnut is grown for the nut crops in your area? Is it popular for wood workers? Sounds like you might have a niche market opportunity.

[stehansen]

I've thought of that. Most walnut trees (60%+-)in this area are english walnut grafted onto a black walnut, the balance are english grafted onto paradox root stock (cross between english and black). Anything planted in the last fifty years or so has the graft about a foot high, so there's not much black walnut wood.

[woodworkingboy]

Steve, you mention black walnut as root stock, but isn't Claro Walnut more prevalent in your area? Big demand for that amongst gun stock and furniture makers. I heard that years ago, there was little market for the walnut, so the farmers culling the less productive trees every year, ended up burning it. The graft area grain can be very nice as well.

It seems that a lot of wood will come out of a big orchard every year.

[stehansen]

I have never heard the term Claro before. I looked it up and it is the same wood as Paradox. Black walnut is a little more prevalent but not by much. Is the english walnut wood good also?

[Al Smith]

I think the niche market in walnut could be figured gun stock blanks .

Fact is I saved a few root cut ash just for the figure that I've yet to cut up .I figured it could make nice inlays for table tops etc. for the furniture maker types .

Figured wood can be a rascal to work with but the end results can be mighty pleasing to the eye .

[woodworkingboy]

English Walnut can be quite nice to very beautiful too, but the color is paler.

Steve, I've heard the Claro also referred to as California Black.

When I was trying to purchase Walnut from the growers near Stockton, it was very difficult to initially get in with them. All the big orchards had an arrangement with the gunstock maker, Calico, that they would buy the trees and grind the stumps, and only pay a few pennies a pound for the wood. The growers knew they were getting robbed, but Calico would buy the downed trees every year, all of them, and without that arrangement, the growers would be stuck with dealing with the big nuisance in their orchards. Calico told them that if they learned that any orchards were selling elsewhere, they would no longer do business with them. A number of people told me that they hated Calico, but had no choice, unless I would buy all their downed trees every year :\:

I finally found a place that would sell to me on the quiet. Years ago I made this big table (seating for ten) out of Claro, with the wedge being Black Locust. Great Walnut, and very stable and easy to dry.

[dastevoe]

Nice table Jay !!!What finish do you have on it ? Oil?
Did you build that here in N.A. or have the wood shipped to you?$?
Nice colour !!
Steve

[woodworkingboy]

Thanks. Oil finish on there, lots and lots of applications, I like a good shine. I built that when I was still living in N. California, and it went to Arizona. I later heard that it developed a small crack. Not surprised, being so dry there, and the material was only air dried for a few years.
The owner was cool about it.

[rumination]

Beautiful table Jay. I always enjoy seeing pictures of your work.

[Al Smith]

With a big wide slabbed table top it's nearly impossible not to get splits .

They often remark about vintage pieces of fine furniture that came from Europe and withstood a few hundred years before they split .It was because they had been in homes without central heating systems for years then once in such an atmosphere that lacked of humidity they dried out .It's really a shame .

[woodworkingboy]

Some species have less tendency to split, including Walnut. An area that has drastic changes in humidity, depending on the seasons, is hard on wood, and certainly moved to a different location, can take it's toll. I like to think that the level of care, can also be a factor somewhat.

[Bodean]

Awesome table, Great thread.

I got to run the loader today in the Log Dump,
Basically fetching logs to be (alaskan) milled.

I took a mess of pictures today, easy day.

Those 8-10' twinkies are for some benches we're making for some campground.
Then I believe another 4" slab will be attached in some way for a back rest.

Some other random pictures of rot, decay, galleries and wood.

[sotc]

Cool gallery shot!! We used an extension ladder half for the first cut, worked well

[woodworkingboy]

Nice shady grove to be milling in. Cool pics, Bodean.

[rumination]

Waycool insect gallery Deva. You know you got one rocking job when you're getting paid to do some chainsaw milling on big logs like that.

[Bodean]

Nice shady grove to be milling in. Cool pics, Bodean.


50 mph winds that day,
lite deadwood was breaking out and those trees were swinging in the wind.

Yeah, everytime I complain I think of other people that have lost there jobs.
I'm very grateful.

[Dave Shepard]

Milled some cedar today. First ever. Log was split down the middle most of the way, so I finished it with the mill. Got a couple of 4x6 posts, and some 1x lumber. Colorful stuff.

[sotc]

Milled up some pine this afternoon. Some nice blueing and some borer holes I though looked cool. Got 600 board feet out of the first log, got the second log trimmed down to where we can just cut boards tommorrow

[CurSedVoyce]

Geee Willie, you need to bring that thing down here. There is still a lot of pine from the fire last year....

[thattreeguy]

anyone ever do monterey cypress?

[sotc]

Heres Saturdays log, some blued and borered boards, and our final pile of lumber before stickering and banding.
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[squisher]

Nice!

[JamesTX]

Does the discoloration make it more valuable or less valuable?

[sotc]

Less valuble to the logger as it's a defect but very desirable as interior siding

[stehansen]

So will it be used for interior siding?

[sotc]

Depends on who wants it and what they want it for.
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[stehansen]

How do you market it? Or are you figuring this out as you go along?

[stehansen]

anyone ever do monterey cypress?

I think Deva does.

[sotc]

Craigs list

[stehansen]

I need new wood for my stumpgrinder trailer deck.

[sotc]

I gots oak for $2 a board foot

[stehansen]

That would be sweet on there. Let me go check the exact measurementss. I think it's 5'X9'.

[sotc]

You would have to go sideways then, would that look stupid? the boards are 7ish feet long

[Cobleskill]

Is that your mill, or do you hire it? How much is the sawing rate out there?

I would love to own a band mill. My buddy had a Mizer, but he took it down to his place in Florida, and ending up selling it down there. He used to charge .25/bd. ft. but that was back in the '90s.

[sotc]

Phil mills the wood and we split it

[sotc]

Spent the day milling for my run to Sacramento. American elm, black walnut and Kwanzan(black) cherry

[MasterBlaster]

I need one of those mills! What's the average lowest price you get for one of those pieces?

[woodworkingboy]

I have always figured that if you were going to hire someone to build you a house, having the material from logs that you milled yourself would save a lot of money. If the logs were a bonus from work, that much more. Even buying logs then milling would reduce costs a lot, I believe. I can get Pine logs for free or for almost nothing.

[Cobleskill]

Some states insist that the wood be graded and stamped. I know in NY we can build with ungraded.

[brendonv]

Awesome Willie, I like your little helper in the trailer!

I heard to build here with them they have to be sawed by a reputable sawmill. Sounds pretty vast to me.

[sotc]

The 8th and 9th pictures show the graft, I think it is quite cool.
Butch, i'm making a pretty good load with some other boards, normally those 10x10 x6 would bring about $100 each. That last pic represents about $1650, loading more today in between bids and headed out dark and early tomorow, catch lunch with the two Steves8)

[stig]

Bet the sawyer didn't like those nails too much.

Nice load of wood.

Just to nit-pick, why don't you trim the end of logs before milling them. It looks sloppy with the hinge still on them.

[stehansen]

Very impressive Willie.

[Cobleskill]

Although I am sure he doesn't like hitting steel, changing a blade only takes about 5 minutes. Blades used to cost $20. Probably about $30 now. Kinda looks like woven wire fence.

Good deal making something usable out of what would be waste or firewood.

[stig]

Woodmizers are great.
When I got my house, I bought 32 cubic meters of wood from the state forest. Bought it as individual trees, picked out and felled by myself, then hired in a Woodmizer and had it all cut up as construction timber.

So everything here made of wood here, outdoors ( sheds, garage etc) and indoors are made from trees that I have cut myself.

Feels good and was WAY cheaper than going to the lumberyard.

The staircase leading upstairs and all the moldings and windowsills upstairs are made from a single elm tree, so it is all the exact same color.

[Cut4fun]

A friend from HS that lives in Oklahoma has some kind of mill hooked up to his tractor.

They ended up cutting and milling the wood for their new house off their own land. Lot hard work he stated and I think he lost part of his trigger finger in the ordeal.

[Cut4fun]

normally those 10x10 x6 would bring about $100 each.

I would have thought hardwoods would have brought more then that.

I have been paying .40lbf for aspen in 8x8x8 and 10x10x8 and for poplar .50-.55lbf for the same.

[HolmenTree]

Sotc I see you started this thread off with your "new then" Alaskan sawmill. Well here is my 36" Alaskan with Stihl 090AV . Ignore the bikesaw , its just there for an ornament.
On the sawhorses are my 2"X4" aluminum slabbing rails, one section 10ft long the other 20 ft. Notice the carriage bolt levellers every 5 ft. With the 2 sections joined together with wooden 2x4 stubs I can mill 32 ft lumber. I always carry these rails underneath my trailer and the mill in the truck just in case I find that "valuable tree" while doing a removal.


Willard

[Al Smith]

.

.

The staircase leading upstairs and all the moldings and windowsills upstairs are made from a single elm tree, so it is all the exact same color. That is one sure fired way to get a good match on natural finish .

I have seen so many oak stair cases that likely exceeded 10 grand to build with excellent jointery but with missmatched wood which frankly made them look rather slip shod .

Seems to me it's a shame to spend 300 grand on a house only to do something like that .:(

I might add though that all the windows sills and eventually the windows valances in my new addition will also be made from the same white ash tree .I'm somewhat praticular about that myself .Too damned cold now to do any more wood working projects for the moment .

[sotc]

Stig, the less trimming, the more usefull. Someone may need the little extra bit, if not, they have the option of cutting it off, just never the option of putting it back.
Cut4fun, if i get $2 a board foot, i'm happy, keeps me in coffee. All loaded and ready for tomorows run

[CurSedVoyce]

Almost ready here for our little drive, just have to call Steve as soon as the kiddos hit the hay. Sorry I missed your PM when I was getting kids dinner and what not. You have a PM also. :)

[sotc]

Ready to roll8)

[CurSedVoyce]

Wood is good! :thumbup:

[Dave Shepard]

Is that a new truck, or did you take the badges off a newer model?

[Al Smith]

How don't take this wrong but living in the heart of hardwood country as I do those little short pieces look rather odd .They're usable and all that just short .You gotta do what you gotta do though .:)

[sotc]

Father in laws truck. I need to replace ball joints on mine

[Dave Shepard]

I finished assembling the 24' extension today. I've got 9 26'-28' and 11 47' logs to saw. I put a small log (28" tapering to 22", 27' long) on at 4:00 to take a few test nibbles to see how it was sawing. So far, so good.:)

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[CurSedVoyce]

SAWEEEEEEEEET! :D

[Skwerl]

Amazing, Dave. You're in a class all by yourself with the work you do. :thumbup:

[MasterBlaster]

Damn straight.

[Al Smith]

It's a rarity to even find over 40 foot of clear hardwood log to saw let alone being able to saw it .

FWIW if I ever get back to my saw rig after a year or so of "honey does " I'll be able to handle 24 feet .

[Al Smith]

After thought .What's neat about being able to cut that long ,if a person were so inclined as to sell the stuff I'm sure a quarter sawn white oak keel plate for a boat would bring a premium price .Not everybody can first even find a good log let alone saw it .

[Dave Shepard]

We have found that it's the sourcing of the timbers that is the problem. Sawing is more straight forward.

Thanks for the compliments. We'll see how I do. I've only sawn over 20' once before.

[Al Smith]

:lol: You're going to need a crane to pull the planks off once you get them cut . Lawdy can you imagine an oak 2 by 12 47 feet long .About like lifting a Volkswagon .

[Dave Shepard]

Only about 600 pounds green.:lol:

Fortunately it's all white pine, and we'll be cutting the boards to preferred lengths before pulling them off the mill.

[woodworkingboy]

If not already, I see a forklift in Dave's future.

[flushcut]

I am going to be looking at some black walnut to remove and am thinking about milling them up should be fun.

[woodworkingboy]

Definitely do, Rajan, air dried Black Walnut is some beautiful wood. A particular favorite of mine.

[cybergeek23851]

Black walnut makes for beautiful wood, just watch out for the dust.


Edit: Jay conveyed my sentiments. The slab that my desk top is made from was from a family cache of it. The grain and figuring in the wood is phenomenal, but with the age of the slabs (these were every bit of 40 years old post-milling, tree age every bit of 100+ years old from what I counted), it was a murder on my tools at the time I did the top with it being so well dried and hard/dense.

[flushcut]

I am thinking big cants or slabs. Well we shall see when I look at the trees my buddy says they are big but I find that is all relative.

[woodworkingboy]

Easy wood to dry

[flushcut]

Sweet!

[Dave Shepard]

Jay, we have a 644 LULL, with 6,000 pound capacity, and a Samsung loader with 20,000 pound capacity, among other options. I'll probably move the logs to the mill with the loader, and do the finesse handling with the LULL.

[squisher]

Sweet!

Check around for customer millers/woodworkers in your area. I sold a black walnut tree once, one tree for 3g. I had a thread on it a couple of years ago, it was a nice log and limbs. I sold it to a guy who was having it custom milled and making grandfather clocks out of it, that's a value added removal imo.

Dave, impressive mill. I'm jealous. End of next week I'm td'ing two huge firs for around here and am going to try and atleast salvage short logs out of them, biggest I can move.

[flushcut]

Sounds like a good idea I am going to be looking at them today so hopefully they are big enough to mill.

[Burnham]

No self loaders in your part of the world, Squishie?

[Dave Shepard]

We sawed out four of the short logs today. Went fairly well, blew a hose, but that didn't keep us down for too long.

12"x17"x27'

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[Burnham]

You kick azz Dave, no question about it. Awesome...an overused word but quite appropriate here.

[flushcut]

That's some mighty big wood you got there wink wink.:lol:

[brendonv]

That's really cool, Dave. I'm eager to get a nice stack of logs then hire one of those mobile mills for the day.

[woodworkingboy]

Mobile mills? You rent a mill?

[Thor's Hammer]

Usually with an operator Jay. Round here its about £250 - 300 a day for a wood mizer. I used to use a guy who had a big Tom Sawyer mill, pulled by a unimog. Excellent value, as I used to pay him in round timber.

[Ax-Man]

Nice, What model Woodmizer is that mill. Is it a self feeder or do you have to push the bandsaw. I am seriously thinking of getting into a Woodmizer.

[woodworkingboy]

Wood for your own use, or to sell, Larry?

[Al Smith]

The price varies ,depending .I think I payed my saw man 22 cents a board foot .Some will mill it for a portion of the wood .Some by the hour .

Then it comes down do you want it just plain sawed ,quarter sawn etc .On the quarter they have to turn the cant every cut so that takes time .

Then you get into who buys the blade if they hit metal and other things .

[woodworkingboy]

Those good mills cost a pretty penny. It seems like something that a couple bros could go into partnership on, maybe like a wood splitter that I see some guys doing. :/:

[Ax-Man]

Jay, Both, I have seen many a nice log just turned into firewood. I now have some experience at milling now that I have used my chainsaw mill attachment along with some internet reading. It is ok for producing thick slabs for some of the benches I have made and plan on making but I am not going to get into the production of 1 x whatever boards with it. That would be too slow and time consuming and not mention a little on the expensive side, not mention the wear and tear on a big expensive saw. Also there is alot of monkeying around with hand tools to set the chainsaw mill. A portable bandsaw is the way to go if your going to make boards or beams on a small scale operation.

I thought about having one years ago but the tree biz was pretty much a year round thing and never had the time to get into it. Things are different now due to the economy and I have some time to explore this milling thing a little more. It may or may not be a good sideline.

I don't know if this tree furniture thing I am into presently is going to work out . Everyone likes what they see or so they say but I haven't sold anything yet.:lol: It is not as easy as it looks and can also get really involved as far as time goes.

[woodworkingboy]

Like to see some pics of that tree furniture that you mention. Not selling to begin with doesn't at all mean that the work isn't worthy of being purchased, that's for sure.

In retrospect, after having done a lot of chainsaw milling in my younger days, I should have purchased a better mill, by hook or by crook. Chainsaw milling has it's application, but the time factor and the other reason that you mention, and I swear that Murphy's Law doesn't apply to anything more than chain milling. I wouldn't negate it's positive qualities towards character building, however. :lol:

[Dave Shepard]

The mill is an LT40 Super with a 51 HP Perkapiller and wireless remote control. I sawed up part of a 47' today. Pics later if I don't fall asleep at the keyboard.:lol:

[Al Smith]

Comments regarding chainsaw milling : Slow as a snail .It has it's place but not the better of choices if you have another .

Now I've done it with big old powerfull saws,namely 2100 Homey and 125 Mac but my Lawd it what a pain in the buttocks eating saw dust for a foot a minute in hardwood .

[flushcut]

Yep a CSM is slow as dirt but for what I do it works well and is cheap.

[Al Smith]

--And it depends on what it is .Say the bottom part of a black walnut that has the figure buried deep in the woods you can't get out .Go for it .

Straight as a die oak you can get out that will cut fine and select,bandsaw that rascal .

[flushcut]

All of my milling is slab work for garden benches and a bridge one time that's about it. Those walnut logs I would like to find a buyer for them and not do any of the milling. I might do one or two for some mantles for a mason buddy of mine for some lake homes he is doing this year.

[Dave Shepard]

I finished the 27' logs that have been delivered so far. They were pretty easy to saw. I was able to do most of the turning and clamping with the hydraulic end of the mill. After lunch I put a 47' on. A bit of a different story there. The turner and clamp are too off-centered to help, even with the butt on the hydraulic end. Got the log two sided, will resume in the morning. This is the biggest, and required a lot of chainsaw work on the butt. Anyone know how to calculate the volume of a truncated cone? I think I have it right, but not positve. 38" tapering to 22" over 47.25'. This log weighs somewhere between 8,300, and 8,900 pounds.

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[flushcut]

That's a nice stick!

[Al Smith]

Also one that most cannot cut at that length .

[Thor's Hammer]

The mill is an LT40 Super with a 51 HP Perkapiller and wireless remote control. I sawed up part of a 47' today. Pics later if I don't fall asleep at the keyboard.:lol:
Also known as a Catkins :)

[Al Smith]

Anyone know how to calculate the volume of a truncated cone? I think I have it right, but not positve. 38" tapering to 22" over 47.25'.



Aprox 2464 bdf according to my old lumber book .

[Burnham]

That is a beauty, Dave. Really looking forward to seeing the finished beam.

[Dave Shepard]

Beam? Don't you mean beams? I got two 7 1/2"x 15 1/2" beams out of it.:/:

[Burnham]

Beams, then :).

[Dave Shepard]

I don't think I got a pic of them finished. Maybe tomorrow.

[Dave Shepard]

Also known as a Catkins :)

Excellent!:D

[Al Smith]

Given the size would it be a fair assumption that the intended usage is for some high end house or something of that nature ?

[Dave Shepard]

Dutch barn restoration. There are 9 45' timbers in the floor system. This is a traditional recreation of a Dutch barn floor system, with the addition of floor joists and planking in the side aisles.

[Ax-Man]

Jay, here are a few pics of one of the benches I have gotten finished. I have got a couple of others but they aren't quite finished and are still in the making and still need to be put together. I hope to start playing around with mortise and tenon joints and start using small logs and limbs to make chairs and maybe some tables.

This bench was made from an American Elm tree, seat and backrest cut with a chainsaw mill. The supports came from a crotch piece from the same tree. I pretty much freehanded that piece with a chainsaw. One leg is a little off as far as being square. That one leg has been a pain since I started this little project.A chainsaw isn't exactly a precision wood cutting tool and takes a little finesse to make joints of any type with it. Doesn't take much to remove too much material.

It has been a good project for practice. I have made stuff like this before in the past but they never came out as good as this one did even though I am not totally happy with it.

[Burnham]

That looks nice, Larry. You could really dress it up with bungs to cover the screw heads.

[Al Smith]

A thought occured to me about these long beams .A few years ago Rich Dougan AKA Sawking on flea bay was involved in the restoration of a historical covered bridge somewhere in Oregon .

The beams were like 90 feet long of Douglas fir .They were cut with I think an 090 Stihl using a track device donated by some maker of chainsaw mills . There was a vid of it on U-Tube I think .It took like several tanks of gas to just cut one side of that beam plus a considerable amount of time .The method they used was the only option except squaring the log with a broad axe to cut such a long timber .

[Ax-Man]

I know. Burnham, I'll see if I can do that. It gutted me to put those lags in like that . I had it put together in a different fashion but the darn thing is so bulky and heavy as I was moving it around one side came apart.:X So in went the lags for overkill.

[MasterBlaster]

Cool bench!!! I like how it's put together!

[Al Smith]

Made out of elm it would almost never split .

[flushcut]

Good looking bench.

[Ax-Man]

I forgot to say thanks to you guys for the compliments. Thanks again. It just came off the second go round on e-bay and I still haven't sold it. I'll have to wait it out till we have our local corn festival. Where I live they have a log home festival which is a big attraction and the road to the festival goes by my house and is busy busy all weekend long with out of towners checking out the festival. Everybody along that road has a garage sale of some type going on. I'll have my little sign out this year.

[Dave Shepard]

We've pretty much wrapped up our sawing of repair parts for the barn. I've got plenty of work to do on the stuff inside, so we made a roof to go over the long timbers. Got a good pic of the mill too.

Mini "trusses". Started putting the purlins on:

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Finished roof:

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[MasterBlaster]

I bet you had fun taking those pitchers!!!

[Dave Shepard]

Yes, but we weren't set up in the right spot. I wanted to get the whole thing in frame, but my lens isn't wide enough. I think the platform is about 40 feet all the way up.

[Burnham]

Nice.

[Ax-Man]

Thought I would bring this thread back into the limelight.

Nailing boards or setting up slabbing rails to the top of logs to get that first cut with the Alaskan mill just really isn't for me. It can get to be a little on the frustrating side unless you have alot of time on your hands. I made this set-up a while back that for me works out a little easier especially for the smaller stuff.

I don't exactly what to call this other than some kind of adjustable saw guide. Kind of reminds me of those stocks they used back in colonial times to shame people who had committed petty crimes:lol::lol:

Anyway, this is adjustable by adding or subtracting 2x4's or 2x6's. I also made it to mill small logs because I also got the mini Alakan mill works great for that attachment and possibly do some eging with the Beam machine attachment I've had for a long time.

It works out good for what I have been using for but like all things it has it's pro's and con's. It was also easy for me to make and not all that expensive. I can do longer logs if need be by pushing one of those stands back on the 4x4's that are under it.

Here are some pic's showing different ways I have been using it to mill large pieces ,slabs, and a few pieces I wanted to fix that didn't come out good when I tried to freehand them with just a saw.

[CurSedVoyce]

Really cool idea Larry!!

[MasterBlaster]

Quite inventive!

[Porkbrick]

very cool.

[Ax-Man]

Last week we had a local festival and the neighbor who ownes property along the road leading to one of the major attractions let me set-up on the side of the road and see if I could sell some of the benches and table I had made with my homemade mill guide along with some chainsaw carving items, along with some odd boards I had cut and some odd pieces of wood from tree we had worked on. I had more stuff I wanted to do and put out but time was short and making money doing my regular work comes first instead of playing around making benches and boards.

The welcome sign was my first time using a router and doing some lettering. It didn't work out as good as I would have liked but that was a learning experience in itself:roll::roll: and finished it anyway. The guy who bought it liked it and it was one of the first things to go.

The whole thing was just a big experiment so to speak to see if I could sell this stuff and to see what would sell good and to test the market so to speak. I had to discount some prices to sell them but all in all I got back most of the money I had put into this milling thing except for my time sharpening saw, sanding and finishing most of the pieces.

I have learned alot about making lumber so to speak when it comes to level and square, drying and different finishes you can put on wood.

What do you guys think of my work :lol::lol: any helpful hints or tips would be be appreciated. I know most of you guys aren't carvers but just thought I would throw this up for kicks. I don't consider myself a carver either because the stuff I did was simple and straight forward. You don't see any figures like bears and eagles because I just don't have talent for carving animals.

[Dave Shepard]

That is a great solution for the Alaskan mill! I like it.

[CurSedVoyce]

That's cool Larry. I can't find the pictures I took of a place we were at that had turtles carved of the stumps left from felling trees. I thought it was an awesome idea. Real simple as well. It looked a lot like carving a mushroom to a degree (well the top of one anyway).

[MasterBlaster]

Those things look like they were fun to make!

[Ax-Man]

Thanks guys, The only draw back I found with the mill set-up is when using the bigger milling attachment using two slabbing rails is you have to slide the rails under the mill attachment because of the two bar clamps on the saw. A ladder would work better I think because you can hold the ladder with one hand and slide the mill with the other hand. I have a top section from a wooden ladder for doing longer lengths but haven't given it a try on my homemade set-up. Other than that I like it for the wood projects I have done and hopefully for some future projects. Right now I am burnt out on milling but I know the bug will bite again.

[Ax-Man]

I can see carving turtles and frogs CurSed, that wouldn't be too hard to translate into piece of wood.

[Al Smith]

Milling with a chainsaw is just a hell of a lot of work no matter what method you use . The only real good method I ever saw was a slabbing mill a gent built using a long bar and a large 4 cycle engine with a large sprocket to get the chain speed up .Even at that he likely had about as much money in it as a small bandsaw . It is an option however in lieu of a better method if that's all you have .

[Ax-Man]

You are right Al, but it is kind of fun. I have been snoping around the local Craig's list's in our area just for kicks and saw a Woodmiser LT 40 which I think is Dave's machine along with the full hydraulics and a fuel injected 28 hp Honda with very few hours on it along with a Woodmizer kiln for about $20,000. Guy is selling it due to health reasons. This sounds like a deal to me but I don't have that kind of money so it just isn't going to happen. Wished I did have it though because I think it would be a nice side income for my business.

[Al Smith]

You can find the itty bitty mills for about the price of a splitter I think .They are rather light duty and aren't really portable other than the fact the tracks and head stock can be handled by a few stout men .

I've seen them demonstrated and while they aren't praticularly fast they are a tad more speedy than a chainsaw and a whole lot less work .They are really designed for small logs and it's doubtfull they could handle a 3 foot oak log .24 incher maybe by 12 foot would most likely be the limit .8 HP more or less with 3/4" bands .

[woodworkingboy]

Yeah, nice idea. That first cut with the conventional methods can be a bit of a pita, getting the angle that you want to match the pith or whatever, without twist. It always seemed to me that having a set up like you have, Larry, say over a concrete slab where you could also jack up or down each end of the log, would be a good way to go.

[Al Smith]

Since there seems to be an interest in this stuff perhaps a link or two might be in order .

I checked on that small band mill I mentioned and it's 2100 bucks for the basic machine .That's for an Oscar 18 built by Hudson but others make small mills also .

For a chainsaw mill the best design I've found is a homebuilt which this guy sells detailed plans for .http://www.procutportablesawmills.com/index.html

Another interesting site is this which has a lot of ideas for those so inclined to build a mill .
http://www.diybandmill.com/index.php?option=com_frontpage&Itemid=1

[Porkbrick]

that procut is making me dream, and drool. i wish i had the time and space for a project like that.

[CurSedVoyce]

Making that whole cedar tree into fire wood was a damn shame today .... Would have made some nice barn siding.

[Porkbrick]

i have a stack of red cedar slabs i milled almost 12 years ago stored at my moms place. went up there a few months ago to find out that my brothers have been making raised bed and knife throwing back boards out of it:X. i will be dismantling their raised beds you can be certain:evil:

[CurSedVoyce]

Understandable!

[Al Smith]

Making that whole cedar tree into fire wood was a damn shame today .... Would have made some nice barn siding. Since you mentioned that ,the guy that cut what bit of lumber I have is a lineman .

Some years back he and his brothers were working in Detroit installing 70 foot poles made from 90s' ,cut down . They hauled 20 foot long pole butts by the hundreds back to Ohio ,western red cedar ,untreated .

They bought a little Woodmizer LT 15 I think and cut enough cedar to more than pay for the mill .Those butts were around 30 inchs in diameter .Needless to say about anyone in the family that wanted a cedar lined closet got one .They sold every bit of it they wanted to for about 1/2 what retail prices were .

They actually made nearly as much money one year just cutting on the week ends as they did working as linemen .

[CurSedVoyce]

Sweet!