On the Beach - Plum Maple Monterey Cypress - Doubleheaded Mill Disappointment

After getting the 48" doubleheaded mill all set up the other day with a 2100 on each end (on the floor), I was looking forward to pushing it through some wood today for the first time.


So we headed to the beach log dump area this morning under threatening skies. No rain, yet.


I had a plum log (foregorund), a larger Monterey cypress (left), and a mystery log (right) set up. We cut the end off the plum, it was rotten in the middle as you can see on that one end, but showed good colour so we decided to mill it up.


Next we cut the crotch end off the Monterey cypress, unfortunately my 385 died in the middle of the cut for no apparent reason, I had to get my buddy to finish the cut off with his small saw. And then we saw that the log was badly rotten, it looked like it had started rotting from the crotch down, so we abandoned it as none of us really wanted that wood. Which was too bad since that was the main log I wanted to mill today, and was the one I wanted to use the double mill on.


So instead we started milling up the mystery log, using the double mill. The log quickly revealed itself to be a nice maple, but the double mill gave us some fits and we decided not to use it any more. We found that the bar was sagging, resulting in a curved cut, and the mill wound up getting twisted and jammed in the cut. With the two powerheads on there the sound was sure impressive, and there was no shortage of power. You will have to take my word for it as we foolishly didn’t do any pictures or videos of it in operation. We probably should have done the first couple of cuts with the regular mill as the log was obviously narrower at the top, then switch to the double just for a few cuts in the middle where the log was widest.


By then the weather was starting to turn, the rain moved in.

Next we started milling up the plum, naturally hit a nail. After that I sharpened the chain, cut off the rotten end of the plum, and peeled two nice slabs off the plum.




Unexpectedly, the weather started to clear and the mountains across the inlet were briefly visible.


My buddy who is a turner was busy cutting out turning blanks from the pieces that I had left. He was very thorough on the maple, left pretty much nothing!


The plum was a bit more difficult, lots of inclusions and defects he had to work around so a lot was wasted. The colour of the plum was pretty outstanding though, as I was cutting it, it reminded me a lot of box elder, almost like blood the chips were so red.


As our session came to an end, the tide went out and the weather started to sock in again.

We finished up with five slabs of maple, each about 4 1/2 “ thick, and two slabs of plum at about 3 ½” thick, and my buddy got about ten bowl blanks.

We finished up with five slabs of maple, each about 4 1/2 “ thick, and two slabs of plum at about 3 ½” thick, and my buddy got about ten bowl blanks.


We will need some more practice on the double mill, and will save it for a wider log that can hopefully support it better. I really would like to make it work, although it is a not a necessity since I have a 60" single ended bar (See 1st picture in first post, on the table) that I have used with good success on a number of wide hardwood logs.

Can't seem to find that envy smilie

Love the plum!

[video=vimeo;59705751]https://vimeo.com/59705751[/video] Here is a video, not the double mill but of me starting out on a cut into the maple.

Looks like another fun day at the beach! Thanks for posting

Thanks for sharing the pictures.

Doesn't the sun ever shine in BC? With a pair of 2100s, you're looking at some serious horsepower! I've paired a 372 and an 066 on a double-ended bar to cut a 42" dia burr oak. Not a perfect match, and it took a while, but we chewed through it (and a little over a tank of gas each, for every cut). Ever think about a portable band saw mill?

That plum looks incredible, I would be interested in how the color looks after drying and with some finish on a project. Or you could send me a a bowl blank worth..:msp_biggrin:

Really like that plum. I'd like to see a project completed with that.

MAQ04447 on Vimeo Here is a video of the double mill running, unfortunately not cutting, it's just on the ground in the lane behind my house. As you can hear, blipping the throttle of just one of the saws does not really do much.

As for the plum I agree, it looks amazing. I will dry it for a couple years and see what it is like at that time. I did a plum some years ago, after it dried I wound up with very little due to cracking. The purple is pretty unique though.

I should clarify that this is a flowering plum, not an orchard plum, if that makes any difference I don't know, but it was not pruned to keep it small as orchard trees often are.