# Milling long timber



## phred45 (Sep 6, 2010)

I'm finally getting started on milling with the Granberg Alaskan mill. How do you get the first cut for pretty long beams. They are ERC for a barn/workshop and the shortest need to be 16'. I have 2"x6" boards with alluminum rails but only up to 12'. A lot of guys use extension ladders. They are kind of pricey and only 14' per extension. Can they be bolted together?

Thanks to all of you for helping me with the Stihl 076, finally got her all set up and running.


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## BobL (Sep 6, 2010)

phred45 said:


> I'm finally getting started on milling with the Granberg Alaskan mill. How do you get the first cut for pretty long beams. They are ERC for a barn/workshop and the shortest need to be 16'. I have 2"x6" boards with alluminum rails but only up to 12'. A lot of guys use extension ladders. They are kind of pricey and only 14' per extension. Can they be bolted together?



Lookee here

I have 4 lengths of 10 ft unistrut that gets me to 16'.
2 lengths of 20' should work as well.


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## mtngun (Sep 6, 2010)

Thanks for the pics, Phred45. Nice cedar.






There are several ways to mill longer boards. BobL's suggestion is one.

The Will Malloff way is to stretch a string from one end board to the other, then install lag bolts about every 2 feet, such that the head of the lag bolts are flush with the string. Then slide your short guide board over the top of the lag bolts as you mill. Brmorgan actually used this method a while back, and it turned out well, but it's very time consuming.

My way is to install an intermediate "middle board" in the middle of the log. You do this by chainsawing a |___| piece out of the top of the log, around 4 inches deep, perhaps 16 inches long, just big enough to give you room to work and a perpendicular surface to attach the middle board. Screw a board to the end of this cut-out and level the middle board by stretching a string (or two, actually) from one end board to the next. You'll start out milling from the first end board to the mid-board, then slide your guide board down to the furthest end board to finish the cut.

All of these methods are a royal pain. The good news is that you only have to do this for the initial pass, after that you can slide your short guide board along the top of the previous cut.


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## SPM in King (Sep 6, 2010)

There is a set of pictures with descriptions of how to do this with Granberg rails, on the Granberg site:

http://www.granberg.com/alaskan_chainsaw_mill.html

See the last set of shots. This uses a laser level to establish the endpoint. I would think this could be adapted to a singe rail system. Once you place the rail for the first part of the cut, use the laser to establish the end point. Make the first cut then move the rail to the end and make the second cut. I have not tried this, but it seems like it has promise.


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## discounthunter (Sep 6, 2010)

ERC is not a very good beam wood,for post they are fine but can crack easily when spanned.



unless useing BIG timbers ,4x10 maybe 6x8 .


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## sachsmo (Sep 6, 2010)

20' sticks of uni-strut would work, longer than that you will probably need to weld. I got lucky and hauled a 40' aluminum extension ladder home (2 20') Had this around since an OSHA inspection at work 20+ years ago!








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## BobL (Sep 6, 2010)

mobetter said:


> 20' sticks of uni-strut would work, longer than that you will probably need to weld. I got lucky and hauled a 40' aluminum extension ladder home (2 20') Had this around since an OSHA inspection at work 20+ years ago!
> 
> 
> 
> ...



Nice,  How do you carry such a long object around?


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## deeker (Sep 6, 2010)

BobL said:


> Nice,  How do you carry such a long object around?



That is exactly what she said.


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## sachsmo (Sep 6, 2010)

It is aluminum and doesn't weigh much, just give myself lots of room to turn in the woods!

As far as transporting it, I strap it down in my 8' bed (10' with tailgate down) and fly a red flag on the end.


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## deeker (Sep 6, 2010)

mobetter said:


> It is aluminum and doesn't weigh much, just give myself lots of room to turn in the woods!
> 
> As far as transporting it, I strap it down in my 8' bed (10' with tailgate down) and fly a red flag on the end.



Almost need a flatbed trailer to haul it.
 
Kevin


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## BobL (Sep 6, 2010)

mobetter said:


> It is aluminum and doesn't weigh much, just give myself lots of room to turn in the woods!
> 
> As far as transporting it, I strap it down in my 8' bed (10' with tailgate down) and fly a red flag on the end.



Do you mean you have a 30' overhang ?


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## Frank Boyer (Sep 6, 2010)

2 each 20' sections that extend.


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## phred45 (Sep 6, 2010)

Thanks everybody - just got back from the land,
These first long ones are for the poles not beams, sorry. We decided to only cut the areas flat that really should be. My wife's idea is to get the softwood off the botton 5 feet so we only have to mill the rest. It'll look funny but when all is done it's all covered up. She said she'll get them ready for me to mill, cutting with her little Stihl and taking the rest off with the log wizzard.:biggrinbounce2:

What do you think - will that work? Also her suggestion is to paint the bottom part with Tung Oil to preserve the poles better. I read up on the Tung Oil and it has some pretty interesting qualities that the old ship builders took advantage of.

As to the beams, we won't run them that long unsupported. ERC isn't a good structural wood for that. The longest span should be about 10' (for the tractor to drive in) and that is under the gable where it really doesn't have to support a whole lot of weight.
Inside almost everything is 8' with some extra support for windows doors etc.
Not sure what we'll do for the floors yet. Knowing us I'll have plenty of time until we get there. The building is supposed to be half storage and half workshop (24'x32"). Everything still takes a long time to set up, nothing routine about it. But that gets better right

I also cut a Pine tree (Loblolly) that was unfortunately in the way. To my surprise the wood was bluish tinted and smelled pretty bad. I hope that won't kill a lot of trees we already have enough trouble with beetles.


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## Frank Boyer (Sep 6, 2010)

I hope that these milling pictures work. The explorer window didn't come up. Edit- one of four pictures worked FB


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## Frank Boyer (Sep 6, 2010)

Trying again. Still can't get 4 pictures.


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## mtngun (Sep 6, 2010)

phred45 said:


> I also cut a Pine tree (Loblolly) that was unfortunately in the way. To my surprise the wood was bluish tinted and smelled pretty bad.


Your pine may smell bad, but it looks like a respectable beam for construction purposes. 

Not sure that I understand your design questions. Lots of outbuildings are constructed with round vertical poles. Then 2x6's are nailed horizontally and used to attach siding. It's a cheap, easy way to build.


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## phred45 (Sep 7, 2010)

Yes, Mntgun, it will be a pole barn. Discounthunter had some concerns about spanning the cedar beams too far so they would bend through and crack. I was wondering if it would be alright to basically chew off all the soft wood off the bottom 5' of the poles to just let the red wood go into the ground and then flat cut 2 sides of the rest of the pole for the boards inside and out. We need to aircondition the work area so it has to be proprerly insulated. We'll have to use cedar boards for all of it, can't afford to buy. It's goning to be a lot of cutting. Picks will follow when we have some poles ready.

The Unistruts Bobl is showing sound good. I sounds like a more economical set-up than Granberg or extention ladder. Your middle board idea is great but I think I need more experience cutting to get it all level and streight that way.


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## mtngun (Sep 7, 2010)

phred45 said:


> I was wondering if it would be alright to basically chew off all the soft wood off the bottom 5' of the poles to just let the red wood go into the ground and then flat cut 2 sides of the rest of the pole for the boards inside and out.


That should work fine. 

Dunno what your soil is like, but it might be a good idea to put gravel in the hole beneath and around the pole, if gravel is easy to come by. 

Some of the older hay barns in my neighborhood were slapped together hastily with "as-is" poles, not even bothering to remove the bark. The result was not perfectly straight or square, but they keep the hay dry, and some of those barns are still in use.


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## phred45 (Sep 7, 2010)

The soil here is sandy, fairly fine with lots of rock of any size but not so bad where the barn goes. Further up on the mountain and also further down there are some rock plateaus that I wouldn't want to mess with, pretty solid. We just leave those areas alone, they are nice to walk in. The poles will have concrete footings under them for stability and sit in 16 grit sand against termites 3'-4' deep, the Texan's think it helps.

I saw the start of your timber barn, looks nice and almost switched to that idea. However, I'm not a big guy and those timbers look really heavy. The only building I have ever done is stick frame and not very much of that. So who knows how straight this one is gone be.

Not much luck on long Unistruts at the lumber yards here. Not sure who else would carry them.

Finally got some long needed rain today


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## phred45 (Sep 7, 2010)

Forgot to ask: The pine beam wood feels really soft, is that normal for green pine? How do I air-dry this? It's pretty wet so I couldn't paint the ends.


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## mtngun (Sep 7, 2010)

phred45 said:


> Not much luck on long Unistruts at the lumber yards here. Not sure who else would carry them.


It's used mostly by industrial/commercial electricians, so look for an electrical supply outfit that caters to contractors.

Also check out your local steel yard, they sometimes stock it.

Home Depots in this area carry 10' unistrut, but not 20'.

You might be surprised how much it costs. 

Your sandy, rocky soil should drain well. 

I've got hardpan clay here. Thought about coating my timbers with roofing tar and burying them like a conventional pole barn, but it seemed too risky considering the terrible drainage.


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## mtngun (Sep 7, 2010)

phred45 said:


> Forgot to ask: The pine beam wood feels really soft, is that normal for green pine? How do I air-dry this? It's pretty wet so I couldn't paint the ends.


Dunno about your southern pine, but in general, keep out of sun and rain, but give it plenty of air circulation.


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## Frank Boyer (Sep 8, 2010)

mtngun said:


> It's used mostly by industrial/commercial electricians, so look for an electrical supply outfit that caters to contractors.
> 
> Also check out your local steel yard, they sometimes stock it.
> 
> ...






Try a used extension ladder from Craig's list. Quick, cheap, and easy. A 24" or 32" should cover anything that you need.


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## mtngun (Sep 8, 2010)

Frank Boyer said:


> Try a used extension ladder from Craig's list. Quick, cheap, and easy. A 24" or 32" should cover anything that you need.


He wants to mill 16' long, that requires a guide board approximately 17 1/2 feet long. A 32' extension ladder might be long enough.


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## Bigrod (Sep 8, 2010)

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How well does the mill slide on the aluminum ladder rails. I have a mill but not tried it out and I have some nylon slabs that I thought of putting on mill to make it glide better.


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## Frank Boyer (Sep 8, 2010)

The mill to ladder friction didn't seem to be a problem. You could wax/silicon the surfaces if you thought it to be a problem. The benches we did are 15' long X 6" thick and 32" at the widest part. We used 2X4's to support the middle and build up the narrow end. 3 1/2" grabber screws anchored the ladder.


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## 820wards (Sep 11, 2010)

Frank Boyer said:


> Trying again. Still can't get 4 pictures.





Frank,

Looks like you have some nice benches for your BBQ's.

Guy's, this Frank can BBQ!!!!

jerry-


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## rarefish383 (Sep 11, 2010)

I have several extension ladders from 16' to 42'. I had a job where I needed a 42 footer. I happened to be at an auction a couple weeks befor the job was scheduled and there was a 42 footer up for bid, I got it for $40. I think the guy I was bidding against wanted it for scrap. This is the heaviest ladder I've ever owned, with the 2 sections together it's well over 100lbs. I only use it for logs I can get pretty close to with the truck, and it is almost a mandatory 2 man job. Once it's mounted on the log it is nice. It's so heavy that it doesn't flex much. Since I needed the ladder for a job pruning 20 trees @ $200 per tree it was a no brainer. Now that I have the darned thing I use it for a guide. After using it for a guide, I don't think I'd recommend buying something this heavy unless you have a permenant milling lot, even if you get it cheap, Joe.


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## Frank Boyer (Sep 11, 2010)

820wards said:


> Frank,
> 
> Looks like you have some nice benches for your BBQ's.
> 
> ...



The benches came out nice. I need to seal them this weekend. The'll hold 30 plus people. How is the mill that you were working on coming along?


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