Milling Fun/Work

[PapaDave]

Since smokinjay insisted, I'm starting a new thread about the milling done back in '08 from trees cut in the power co. ROW.
I've only resized a small portion of the pics and they give a limited perspective of what went on.
The guys who mill ........they know.
This is the staging portion....collecting all the logs the tree co. took down. Mixture of Red Pine, Spruce, and White Pine.
There were also a very few Maple which were turned into firewood. :coolsmile:

 

[PapaDave]

Here's Don sizing up the first cut (I think it was the first).
First few boards.
The stack getting a little bigger.
My job was to offload the slabs and boards. Toward the end, we got into some LONG logs, and Don had to help with some.

 

[smokinj]

Very cool, was at the state fair last week watching demo's of all the wood mizers. They seem to send me flyers weekly. How wide can yours go?

 

[Cowboy Billy]

Cool Dave

I sure wish I had hyd's on mine!!


Jay

It should be 36" dia log the same as mine.

Billy

 

[PapaDave]

Jay, unfortunately that's not my Mizer.
This local guy showed up in my driveway after the trees got taken down, and we did a little bartering. He cut 1x and 2x. He took the 2x, and I got the approx. 1700 bd. ft. of 1x stuff. I was planning to have it done anyway, but this way I had no out of pocket, and still got a lot of lumber. He still has a large stack of stuff he's trying to sell.
Only problem I saw was when the blade hit a knot, it wanted to deflect a little. Tension? Dulling blade?
This was the biggest log we put on the saw. I think it was a 30" W. pine, and the blade just got through the end. Pretty much maxed out on the length, which was about 20'....I think.

 

[SolarAndWood]

Sweet pics Dave and nice lumber, thanks for sharing.

 

[PapaDave]

I really enjoyed doing that, but next time would prefer to do it at my own pace. This guy wanted to work ALL day. I didn't.......but did as long as he was here.
An Alaskan mill would be nice to have and would work well with the saw and softwoods here. I'd need a better saw for the oak.
I'm sure this is old hat to some guys on here.

 

[certified106]

Very nice pictures and a nice pile of lumber thanks for sharing!

 

[smokinj]

Cool Dave

I sure wish I had hyd's on mine!!


Jay

It should be 36" dia log the same as mine.

Billy

Now where talking a big number very large mill......I know I couldnt make it pay off. (local saw mills stop at 28 inch around here) I think the reason I didnt catch this the last time because its not a csm.

 

[MaintenanceMan]

Once upon a time I used to work for an HVAC contractor that lived and worked out of his family farm. When business was slow I helped out on the farm. They had stacked up fallen oak and poplar logs for years and decided to have a guy with a Wood Mizer come in and mill them up. I walked in one morning and the boss said, "your gonna help Dad stack lumber this week." I tell you that was one of the best weeks of my life. I spent all week in the woods down by the creek, smelling that lumber being cut up, and stacking it in the barn. It was some perfect Fall weather too. The best part was spending all week talking to their Dad. He was one of the greatest guys I have ever know and unfortunately has passed since then. I'd just about give every paycheck I ever made to go back and have that week back again.

 

[SolarAndWood]

Now where talking a big number very large mill......I know I couldnt make it pay off. (local saw mills stop at 28 inch around here)

That's interesting. So you end up with a niche of sorts of stuff that is too big for the bandsaw guys, the mills wont take and is too big for firewood for most people.

 

[smokinj]

Now where talking a big number very large mill......I know I couldnt make it pay off. (local saw mills stop at 28 inch around here)

That's interesting. So you end up with a niche of sorts of stuff that is too big for the bandsaw guys, the mills wont take and is too big for firewood for most people.

Yep,Yep....Kinda like the sheriff in town! :lol: This is just what I have learned by doing it and doing what I know others cant do. Even with mills like this around there not going to make it unless that thang is pumping out large #'s of bf! ;-) I look into the band mills many times. With out haveing a big prodject like a house and your own forest its going to be tough.

 

[Backwoods Savage]

Dave, that was really good that he showed up and you were able to barter. The fellow we had cut was 72 years old and he though nothing of working all day! But the last time he was getting out of the business and I really thought about buying his mill. I like those mills even though it is much different from the way I learned how to saw lumber. I could still have some fun with it and maybe make a few dollars.

 

[PapaDave]

Jay, this guy has a snowmobile rental place just at the edge of town about 1.5 miles from me.
He runs the BSM all the time and has quite a few stacks of lumber on the site. Bundles of slabs too. Like a miniature sawmill.
It almost looks like he's running out of room for all of it.

 

[PapaDave]

Jay, this guy has a snowmobile rental place just at the edge of town about 1.5 miles from me.
He runs the BSM all the time and has quite a few stacks of lumber on the site. Bundles of slabs too. Like a miniature sawmill.
It almost looks like he's running out of room for all of it.
I think he wanted (before we did the deal) .20/bd. ft., but he really wanted 2x's, so it all worked out.

 

[Cowboy Billy]

Only problem I saw was when the blade hit a knot, it wanted to deflect a little. Tension? Dulling blade?

This was the biggest log we put on the saw. I think it was a 30" W. pine, and the blade just got through the end. Pretty much maxed out on the length, which was about 20'....I think.

That's one problem with a BSM its not rigid like a saw blade. The deflections get worse as the blade gets dull. But some blades are better at handling it than others. Woodmizer has a large selection of blades, hook angles, thicknesses, and withs. But I haven't gotten them figured out yet. I really need to go down and take one of the owner classes so I can ask questions about it now that I have ran one and know what questions to ask. As I started with with what my Uncle thought he knew but obviously didn't know. And I learned more reading the manual than from him. I also learned a lot from people in the area that have one but none of them had the class either as they bought there's used. When I got the mill back from my Uncle I got a new 4 deg hook blade and it deflected quite a bit. When I ordered new blades last fall. I told them what I was cutting with it and they sent me a 10 deg hook. And I looked up there part # on the blade and it looked like they sent me blades for soft green wood and I though I was going to have to send them back. But I was quite impressed and it did a lot better than the 4 deg hook.

Woodmizer says it will cut 21' long logs. But it was tight getting 20' logs on mine. But they do make bed extensions to let you cut longer logs.

Billy

 

[smokinj]

Jay, this guy has a snowmobile rental place just at the edge of town about 1.5 miles from me.
He runs the BSM all the time and has quite a few stacks of lumber on the site. Bundles of slabs too. Like a miniature sawmill.
It almost looks like he's running out of room for all of it.
I think he wanted (before we did the deal) .20/bd. ft., but he really wanted 2x's, so it all worked out.

They get .30 cents around here....They hit metal and you bought the band. Looks like you have no shortage of logs.