Sawing Logs

[Cowboy Billy]

Its been a long 2+ weeks. We went to the farm for a week over the 4th of july weekend. My Sister and her family came UP too. But the trans went out in their van 15 miles from the farm and ended up needing to be replaced. We gave them Dad's truck to go home in and borrowed my friends Scott's truck to drive until the van was done. It took a week and a half for them to get it done. And Dad and I ended up staying UP 15 days. We came home friday getting in after 1am. Then got up at 6:30 am unloaded the truck and loaded up for Cubtug. SE of Columbus OH. We had a great time there but it was another long day getting in after 1 am once again.

Finally got Dad's sawmill back from my Uncle while we were UP there. And had my little brother show me how to use it. Found a small sapling spruce tree that was blown over on to another tree and cut it down to try out the woodmizer sawmill.

The 2171 did a great job as always but I didn't think I would need more than a 20" bar and left the 24" bar at home. This spruce was blown over and hung up in another tree with part of the roots sticking up in the air. I don't like cutting hangers but I got it down ok.

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My brother Tommy cutting the branches off after I cut it down.

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Its not the biggest tree I have cut down but it might be the tallest. It was 98 feet tall and I got four 16' sawable logs out of it. Enough to make the deck for my trailer

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The three bottom logs after we got them loaded on the trailer. Tommy's on the left and I am on the right.

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Got the butt log up on the mill and getting ready to be cut.

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Tommy making the first cut.

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Tommy got it squared up and is cutting boards. We got 12 3/4 inch wide boards out of it. For the deck of the hay wagon.

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It was really to hot out to be working in but ya do what ya can when ya can!

Billy

 

[Skier76]

Wow! Really cool pics! How did the finished product come out?

 

[Uper]

CB, How do you dry your lumber? Do you air dry it with stickers or do you know someone that will kiln-dry it for you? Nice pictures, BTW. It looked like a good days work. Also, who did you get to repair the transmission?

 

[Cowboy Billy]

Thanks Skier

It did good after we put a new blade on the mill. But we need to go through and adjust everything and replace some parts. My Dad and Uncle bought it new in 1998. And my Uncle has had it until two weeks ago. It only has about 150 hrs on it but anytime something broke my Uncle rigged it back up rather than fixing it right even though Dad said he would pay for any parts it needed.

Howdy Uper

I just stickered it and let it air dry. Its for a hay wagon and if we go UP next weekend I am going to put it together green. When the wood shrinks I will just tighten the bolts that hold it together. I have some red pine and cedar I want to cut and have planed into tongue and groove inside paneling. My friend said a mill 15 miles from our place will kiln dry it for $.20 a board foot and plane it for another $.20 a board foot. The trans was done at O'Connor Doge in Pickford. It seems that they did a good job of it.

Billy

 

[thewoodlands]

Its been a long 2+ weeks. We went to the farm for a week over the 4th of july weekend. My Sister and her family came UP too. But the trans went out in their van 15 miles from the farm and ended up needing to be replaced. We gave them Dad's truck to go home in and borrowed my friends Scott's truck to drive until the van was done. It took a week and a half for them to get it done. And Dad and I ended up staying UP 15 days. We came home friday getting in after 1am. Then got up at 6:30 am unloaded the truck and loaded up for Cubtug. SE of Columbus OH. We had a great time there but it was another long day getting in after 1 am once again.

Finally got Dad's sawmill back from my Uncle while we were UP there. And had my little brother show me how to use it. Found a small sapling spruce tree that was blown over on to another tree and cut it down to try out the woodmizer sawmill.

The 2171 did a great job as always but I didn't think I would need more than a 20" bar and left the 24" bar at home. This spruce was blown over and hung up in another tree with part of the roots sticking up in the air. I don't like cutting hangers but I got it down ok.

(broken image removed)

My brother Tommy cutting the branches off after I cut it down.

(broken image removed)

Its not the biggest tree I have cut down but it might be the tallest. It was 98 feet tall and I got four 16' sawable logs out of it. Enough to make the deck for my trailer

(broken image removed)

(broken image removed)

The three bottom logs after we got them loaded on the trailer. Tommy's on the left and I am on the right.

(broken image removed)

Got the butt log up on the mill and getting ready to be cut.

(broken image removed)

Tommy making the first cut.

(broken image removed)

Tommy got it squared up and is cutting boards. We got 12 3/4 inch wide boards out of it. For the deck of the hay wagon.

(broken image removed)

It was really to hot out to be working in but ya do what ya can when ya can!

Billy

Billy looks like you had a good time working, it's been dropping down in the 60's at night here and muggy and in the 80's during the day.

zap

 

[smokinj]

COWBOY I want to work for you! I can run a little wider if need be.

 

[Backwoods Savage]

Billy, I like those little mills. We've had a fellow come in to cut some lumber and he also has one of them albeit a bit larger. It really does a nice job with minimal labor so long as you have a good sharp band saw. Looks like you have a winner there. Hope you enjoyed your extended stay.

 

[Cowboy Billy]

Thanks Zap

I can't wait to get the dump trailer going. Right now the only loader I have is the big case. So I have to drive it out load the trailer then drive it back and unload it. And that thing is one ruff ride. One the dump trailer is going I can haul my wood back dump it and go back for another load.

Thanks Jay

If you want to come up and play in the woods you would be welcome. I don't think I have anything on our place that won't fit on our mill but if I find something I will let you know.

Thanks Dennis

Sounds like you had a great trip too! I am thinking of going back up next weekend. Its in the high humidity and upper 80's down state and just miserable as far as I am concerned. My Cousin is going up and wants some gravel for his sister and I told him I would load him up as much as he wanted.

Billy

 

[Cowboy Billy]

Sawing logs wasn't the only thing I got done. I also got the front of the barn finished up. I had to haul dirt from a spoil pile in back of the barn and fill in 4+ feet infront of the barn for a level parking area. Then I put a foot plus of gravel on top of it. I will have to add more gravel latter when it all settles but its ready to party on now :D

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It sure looks a lot better now :!:

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And have a circle drive that goes past the trailer to the barn and back to the trailer. Its all gravel but its good :!:

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Billy

 

[smokinj]

Thanks Zap

I can't wait to get the dump trailer going. Right now the only loader I have is the big case. So I have to drive it out load the trailer then drive it back and unload it. And that thing is one ruff ride. One the dump trailer is going I can haul my wood back dump it and go back for another load.

Thanks Jay

If you want to come up and play in the woods you would be welcome. I don't think I have anything on our place that won't fit on our mill but if I find something I will let you know.

Thanks Dennis

Sounds like you had a great trip too! I am thinking of going back up next weekend. Its in the high humidity and upper 80's down state and just miserable as far as I am concerned. My Cousin is going up and wants some gravel for his sister and I told him I would load him up as much as he wanted.

Billy

Billy I would leave my mill at home (ok maybe not) but Wow looks like my kind of vacation......Your equipment is Awesome!

 

[jlasserton]

I love the pictures. They really capture the great work you all did. I like your method for drying the wood too. I've done that myself and had good results.

 

[Bootlegger]

Billy, I like those little mills. We've had a fellow come in to cut some lumber and he also has one of them albeit a bit larger. It really does a nice job with minimal labor so long as you have a good sharp band saw. Looks like you have a winner there. Hope you enjoyed your extended stay.

How much did the sawyer charge per board foot?
How do I calculate board feet from the log?

 

[Cowboy Billy]

Thanks Jay

Its nothing fancy but it can get some work done and have fun doing it. My Uncles and Cousins wanted to know why we bought all the equ instead of hiring it out. But by now its all paid for itself and I still have it to use. I shutter to think what it would have cost to have a contractor do all that work for us! I hope to have one or two 10x12 guest cabins put up this year. And want to put in 3-4 pads for campers that will eventually have water and electric hookups. So I can have all my friend come up and they can have there own space.

Ya can bring the mill up or I can send ya home with some logs. Right now I have more cedar down than I know what to do with. But I also have some nice spruce and pine that need to be limbed and gotten out of the woods.

Thanks Jlasserton

I am quite proud of the place and like showing it off! We originally had 40 acres that only had a few trails that were a tight fit for a fourwheeler. When Dad bought another adjoining 80 it was all woods and was hard to walk through. While I have a lot to do its coming together nicely.

Howdy Bootlegger

Up by me its $.20 a board foot to rough cut it or $200 / 1000 BF. And another $.20 to plane it. I don't know yet how to calculate the board feet in a log but there is a chart on the side of the mill.

Billy

 

[raven]

Cowboy your really making progress up there and its looking great. If im not mistaken your in the Cedarville , Hessel area? I really like that area,been fishing Huron and the river since the early 70s. I just picked up a 60 in the Gwinn , Chatham area. Is that an Lt 40 your running ? I have a Lt 30 and have to say there a nice little mill. I just tuned my mill and cut some 10 inch oak beams and was really pleased with about being off by no more than 1/8 th in 16 ft beams. Ill take that any day on ruff cut. You can get a log rule (Doyle, Scribner,International) and lumber scale from Woodmiser cheap. Its a pocket rule and scale , works in a pinch though. I will be running up to the Two heart for our family reunion then over to the 60 in August to layout a sugar shack (about 20 of maple) hope to have it done next yr and the area for the barn picked out. Cowboy that 20 cents a foot for kiln dry sounds reasonable to me. Anyway nice pics and looks like great progress to me. By the way i missed that tug this yr , but i was in the UP so it didnt bother me ...lol

 

[Cowboy Billy]

Howdy Raven

Yep you are right. I am about 15 miles from Cedarville. And it is a LT 40. I find myself bouncing around trying to get the depth of the cut on the gauge it would be nice to have a manual adjust too. So I could get it close under power set the finish by hand. Thanks for the tip on the lumber scale I'll look into one.

I have only been up by Gwinn once but it is a beautiful area. It took us quite a while to decide where to put our barn I wanted to put the roof line N/S So the main door would get all the sun in the winter and melt snow and ice the best. My brother wanted it E/W and that is what we went with. And I have to say it worked out better. We mainly work off the east side door and we have light in the morning but in the afternoon when its hot we are in the shade. We put all the doors on the gable ends so we don't have to worry about snow avalanching down and hitting us. We also get a nice breeze through the building with both main doors open. We also mounted the sliding rear door on the inside of the building so in winter we do not have to remove snow from the back of the building to open the door.

Billy

 

[savageactor7]

Keep the pics coming Billy. I remember when you posted on the building of your pole bare but didn't realize that you milled that lumber too. It's almost like you guys are pioneers up there.