Milled 36" white oak with csm and ripsaw

A 150 year old 36" dbh white oak blew down in a storm taking a second 36" white oak with it, which in turn then shattered a 30" beech tree as the two massive white oaks both fell on the beech. I was told I could have any of it I wanted to take away. The first oak went 42 ft till the first branch. That's where I started. I have felled trees this large before, but this was the largest tree I ever milled into lumber. Got about 800 bd ft out of the first two 8 footers. Quick and dirty estimates are between both of the oaks I will get about 2500 bd ft of lumber just from the 36 inch 8 footers. There is plenty more if I dig into the rest of the larger limbs, but I'm running out of room to sticker and dry the stuff. Tomorrow I'm tackling a 34 inch red oak that also blew down in somebodies yard. So the white oaks will be on hold for a while. I get between 400 and 500 ft of mostly 5/4 and 6/4 on a good 8 hour day with that size log. Takes time to get from whole 36 inch log quartered into cants, and up onto horses, but then once there slicing into boards with the Ripsaw goes quick, couple minutes per. 8 hour 400 bd ft day I go through 1 1/2 to 2 gallons of mix and half gallon of bar oil. One sharpening of the rip chain and maybe 2 ripsaw bandmill blades, depending on what I run into. Not counting my time (doesn't count, I'm having fun and burning calories), that's a cheap price to pay for 400 bd ft of premium white oak lumber. I took couple hundred digital pics first two white oak logs. Here are 14 of them somewhat in sequence.

Loaded for bear


Pull the 395XP out of the csm and buck an 8ft log.(left the ripping chain on, cut fine).



Move 2000 lb log away from tree with jack to mill


Slab off first side with csm


Roll log with jack 90 degrees and slab off second side


Slice log down center pith with csm


Using jack, flip half upright and slice in half again with csm. Use Jack to get quarters up onto horses so easier to mill.

Great looking stuff Woodshop. Ive been looking on the web for a little while now trying to find used ripsaws for sale but havent had any luck yet. From what I understand they are a little under 2 grand new, does this sound right?

dustytools said:

Great looking stuff Woodshop. Ive been looking on the web for a little while now trying to find used ripsaws for sale but havent had any luck yet. From what I understand they are a little under 2 grand new, does this sound right?

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...around $1800 for the whole package, including the aluminum guide bars etc.

dustytools said:

Great looking stuff Woodshop. Ive been looking on the web for a little while now trying to find used ripsaws for sale but havent had any luck yet. From what I understand they are a little under 2 grand new, does this sound right?

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I bought a new one about 4 months ago with extra guide beams (gives me a 20' cut) and a couple of extra extra bracket spacers to help with taper logs and it came to a little over $2,000 (I'll have to pull the invoice for an exact figure)

I just got the call today and my bandmill is ready to pick up. I'm giving some thought into selling my ripsaw (still undecided) after I've had a chance to run the bandmill a little. If anyone is interested in a used ripsaw, shoot me a pm.

that is beautiful stuff woodshop!! you are just adding to the fire of me wanting to persue milling as a hobby. thanks!

Great picts. woodshop, thanks for posting them!!

Rob

Great pic's Woodshop.
Are milling that for someone else?
Do you charge or barter?
You got a great setup.
Happy millin

Wood shop you are doing a great job Quarter sawing that oak.
I would say that is the only way to get the best of that tree.
really premium boards.

smithie55 said:

Great pic's Woodshop.
Are milling that for someone else?
Do you charge or barter?
You got a great setup.
Happy millin

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Not charging for this wood, nor being charged for this wood, milling this for myself, my fledgling little side business I started few years ago, Three Sisters Woodshop, www.tswoodshop.com. These two white oaks are about as good as it gets, premium grade lumber, stuff you would pay top dollar to a mill if you had to buy it. I have to give credit to an AS member alanarbor, an arborist here in PA, who saw my milling posts and my csm/ripsaw setup, thought I might be interested, and referred me to the owner of the trees. The owner was just happy that I was helping to clear away his blowdown "mess". One of those win-win situations you luck into once in a while. As was said in other posts, once your name and setup gets out there, and people see what you can do, the trees often seem to come to you faster than you can mill them. I'm putting those white oaks on hold, and going to mill a 33 inch red oak today. I have a huge 45 inch tulip poplar about an hour down the road that was given to me if I want that. That tree blew over couple years ago, but is still growing. Over 50 ft before first branch... not sure how I'm even going to tackle that one if I do. Point being, once you start, it doesn't stop, which is OK for now, I'm lovin' this even though it takes a LOT of my time.

And doing a mighty fine job I might add. What kind of results do you get from the reds? Are they full of rays like the whites? Im gonna tackle those two pin oaks here in the next month or so. Wish I had you there to help out and share the fun.

Oak

Again, nice work Woodshop. Someone posted looking for a used Ripsaw. Early Oct. one did go on Ebay for $700 ish with 3 lengths of aluminum rail. I thought that was pretty good! Keep your eyes peeled for the deals.

Dusty, did we figure out how far from Indy you are. I'll bring bat blanks and we can have an oak milling party. Let me know when you get closer to the milling day.

dustytools said:

What kind of results do you get from the reds? Are they full of rays like the whites? Im gonna tackle those two pin oaks here in the next month or so. Wish I had you there to help out and share the fun.

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I'd like nothing better than to help you mill dusty... milling WITH somebody, as I had today is just that much more fun. PLUS you do get more production in shorter time with two people. Red vs white rays... the red oak I sliced up today was a black oak, one of the red oaks, and I was surprised at how large the rays were. The pin oaks I milled in Feb had rays when quartersawn, but not as nice as the white oak I milled last couple weekends, and the black oak I milled today, some of it quartersawn. I took more pics, and will post a pic of one of the nicer quartersaw boards to show folks that some red oak species DO have quartersawn figure that rivals white oak.

Thanks for the info woodshop. Hautions, these pin paks are just south of Cincinnatti, about 2 hours northish from me, Not sure how far from Indi. Nevertheless I would love the help. Probbably be a few weeks or so before they come down. There will be plenty of wood for the both of us as these are good sized trees. I would enjoy having someone around with some milling experience. P.S. There are also some nice pines on the same site that I will check on.

Mill'n

I'm about 2 1/2 hrs from Cinci. Let me know your schedule.

:rockn:

Great stuff! Keep it commin'!

opcorn: