# milled 36 inch white oak continued...



## woodshop (Oct 20, 2006)

Slice into lumber with Ripsaw bandmill














14 inch wide 5/4 quartersawn 8ft board





Two thirds of the days take, about 270 feet, about 1300lbs of wet oak.





Other third, about 130bd ft, had to come back second trip for this or would have been too much weight in van for whole 400 ft plus equipment.





Started another stickered pile. I can get between 600 and 800 bd ft in each 3x8x5 ft cubicles.


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## CaseyForrest (Oct 20, 2006)

Anyone ever tell you "you suck?"

Thats some sweet lumber!! I wish I had enough white oak to redo my trailer deck and sides.....


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## hamradio (Oct 20, 2006)

It probably sounds stupid, but I want to build a ripsaw.


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## woodshop (Oct 20, 2006)

hamradio said:


> It probably sounds stupid, but I want to build a ripsaw.


Not so stupid at all... I looked into that myself. But even though I consider myself pretty handy, after seeing some of the engineering that goes into the Ripsaw, decided there was no way. You might be able to get away with buying a few main parts from them and building the rest. Like the casting that mates the saw head to the pinion gear and band wheel. It has a tunnel for the oil output of the chainsaw head that dumps onto the pinion gear in the housing. Also, the tracking and band tension issue would be tricky. Bottom line is that it's a little more complicated than it looks.


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## woodshop (Oct 20, 2006)

CaseyForrest said:


> Anyone ever tell you "you suck?"
> 
> Thats some sweet lumber!! I wish I had enough white oak to redo my trailer deck and sides.....


Hey casey, didn't you tell us in a recent post there was a 4ft white oak you might be able to mill at your job site? There's all the white oak you'll ever need. Even if you have to rent a log truck from a local sawmill to pick up the log for you and deliver it to your place for milling, it would be worth it. Price quartesawn white oak lately?


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## hamradio (Oct 20, 2006)

My plan would be to make something with an old, large woodcutting bandsaw. Use the end of a shot bar to mount part of it.


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## dustytools (Oct 20, 2006)

Hey guys, I just started a new job about 10 minutes south of Cincinnatti. After inspection of the site I discovered two huge pin oaks one is 25in. across and the other is 31 in. across, talked to my excavation foreman and he said he would take extra pains with them when he pushes them out. Cant wait. Ill try to get the cam working before I go back up on Monday and get some pics. of them standing there.


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## CaseyForrest (Oct 20, 2006)

woodshop said:


> Hey casey, didn't you tell us in a recent post there was a 4ft white oak you might be able to mill at your job site? There's all the white oak you'll ever need. Even if you have to rent a log truck from a local sawmill to pick up the log for you and deliver it to your place for milling, it would be worth it. Price quartesawn white oak lately?



LOL..I remember that. I wonder where I could put it when I get it here, my driveway, the neighbors driveway?!

I need to move out of the city. It would be nice if we were allowed to run saws at work, I could mill it right there.


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## woodshop (Oct 20, 2006)

CaseyForrest said:


> LOL..I remember that. I wonder where I could put it when I get it here, my driveway, the neighbors driveway?!
> I need to move out of the city. It would be nice if we were allowed to run saws at work, I could mill it right there.


Casey... my property is only 50ft wide and 175ft deep. House and two two story 20x16 outbuildings take half of that. I still manage to store 4000 bd ft of lumber and find room along back fence to sticker and dry about 2000 bd ft more at a time. The woodshop takes over the entire basement, and no I havn't been able to put a car into the garage for years due to wood and tool and product storage for shows. Point is though, that you can do a lot with a relatively small space, you don't HAVE to have couple acres, however nice it would be. Heck for years in early 80's when we were first married we lived in a 12 x 60 ft trailer, and I managed to make the end 12 ft of that into a mini-workshop where I used to rebuild VW engines and do minor woodworking. 

All that said... it's obvious that if I wasn't married to a very understanding wife for the last 27 years, I couldn't do what I do. She's a keeper


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## CaseyForrest (Oct 20, 2006)

woodshop said:


> Casey... my property is only 50ft wide and 175ft deep. House and two two story 20x16 outbuildings take half of that. I still manage to store 4000 bd ft of lumber and find room along back fence to sticker and dry about 2000 bd ft more at a time. The woodshop takes over the entire basement, and no I havn't been able to put a car into the garage for years due to wood and tool and product storage for shows. Point is though, that you can do a lot with a relatively small space, you don't HAVE to have couple acres, however nice it would be. Heck for years in early 80's when we were first married we lived in a 12 x 60 ft trailer, and I managed to make the end 12 ft of that into a mini-workshop where I used to rebuild VW engines and do minor woodworking.
> 
> All that said... it's obvious that if I wasn't married to a very understanding wife for the last 27 years, I couldn't do what I do. She's a keeper



Right there is the snag...UNDERSTANDING WIFE!!!!!

My Lot is 60x80, with neighbors no more than 20' on each side!!!

Its not the land I need, its getting away from the neighbors!!!


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## flht01 (Oct 21, 2006)

Common woodshop, fess up. You don't look anywhere near tired enough after millin that much in one day  



woodshop said:


>



That's got to be some of the best looking logs/boards I've seen. You done good

Kevin


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## hautions11 (Oct 21, 2006)

*Oak*

Woodshop, it looks great! I do like the clean nature of your boards after you make the 14" cants. I have some large ash logs now. I may try to "clean" them up before milling. I am fortunate to have 3 acres to spread out on. My shop has basement space of 14 X 24 for wood storage. Time is still a limiting factor, but who needs to sleep anyway. Who caught the logging in Tokyo Thread? Talking about space limitations!!!!!!!!!!! Where there is a will there is a way. Great inovations by all. I am constantly amazed.:hmm3grin2orange:


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## oldsaw (Oct 21, 2006)

CaseyForrest said:


> Anyone ever tell you "you suck?"
> 
> Thats some sweet lumber!! I wish I had enough white oak to redo my trailer deck and sides.....



I agree. You really do suck, you know that don't you. I wanted to brag about a pile of walnut logs, but that wasn't as described either. Still 400bf or more, minimum, but nothing like that. WOW!:jawdrop: 

Mark


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## bookerdog (Oct 21, 2006)

*Nice lumber*

Nice lumber. Do you use all that lumber just in your woodshop? Or do you sell some?


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## woodshop (Oct 21, 2006)

bookerdog said:


> Nice lumber. Do you use all that lumber just in your woodshop? Or do you sell some?


I can't retire for 7 more years... the woodshop business is just a side thing I have to keep in check, I limit myself to 8 shows a year or it would take too much of my time, and start to be another monkey on my back. Got way too many of them at work already. So all this lumber I mill I am banking for now. Most goes into storage. I do use some in my shop, but not even a tenth of what I mill in a year. I have sold some to people I know, other woodworkers... but I work too hard for it to want to sell the majority of it. As you see in the pics, I have too much sweat equity in my stash of wood. Also... since I custom saw all my own wood, I have thicknesses and widths specific to stuff I do in my shop. Would rather not sell my custom sawn stuff.


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## CaseyForrest (Oct 21, 2006)

Hey WS, I notice you use your aluminum rail with your ripsaw. Do you use it every cut? Or was that the first cut with the ripsaw?


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## CaseyForrest (Oct 21, 2006)

oldsaw said:


> I agree. You really do suck, you know that don't you. I wanted to brag about a pile of walnut logs, but that wasn't as described either. Still 400bf or more, minimum, but nothing like that. WOW!:jawdrop:
> 
> Mark



Sorry to hear your Walnut prize wasnt as big as youd hoped.


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## woodshop (Oct 21, 2006)

CaseyForrest said:


> Hey WS, I notice you use your aluminum rail with your ripsaw. Do you use it every cut? Or was that the first cut with the ripsaw?


Casey with the csm, I usually only use that aluminum guide bar on the initial slab cuts, then run the csm down the flat of the cant to slice it into smaller cants. 

With the Ripsaw, 90% of the time I am pushing it down a cant, I am running on that bar. I found if the cant is level, I don't have to secure that guide bar to the cant every time with those special clamps that come with the system. I just lay it on there, and as long as I am careful guiding the ripsaw, its stays put. Once in a while it starts to wander, but I just stop and reposition. When you have a helper, slicing the cant with the ripsaw goes pretty fast. He/she helps hold that guide bar in place, then when I'm done the board, they pop off the bar and pull the board away while I walk back to the beginning end of the cant and start again. I never turn the Ripsaw off, just walk from end to end slicing boards as the helper pulls them and repositions the guide bar. A full tank of gas does a 10 inch wide 24 inch tall cant cutting 5/4 (actually 1 1/8) so as long as the blade is sharp and there are no other problems, I can slice up a cant pretty fast with two people. Alone, I have to set the Ripsaw down, remove the guide, remove the board, set guide back on, pick up saw, run down cant... repeat. Goes a little slower.


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## CaseyForrest (Oct 21, 2006)

Just curious, why use the guide for every cut?


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## woodshop (Oct 23, 2006)

CaseyForrest said:


> Just curious, why use the guide for every cut?


I use a guide for every cut simply because it produces the straightest nicest boards that way. You can get away with running the Ripsaw right on the top of the cant for a few boards at a time. But if you keep going that way, especially when the blade is not brand new and very sharp, the saw tends to produce a slightly wavy cut because it doesn't have a perfectly flat surface to ride on, especially when it hits something like a hard knot or some figure with wild grain which is harder to saw through. Keeping that guide bar every cut tends to keep that in check. I also found that with the guide bar, I can run a blade longer as it starts to get dull. Without using that guide, the duller blade tends to wander more in the cut. That aluminum guide bar is exactly 2 inches thick, so I set the Ripsaw to 3 1/8 which gives me the 1 1/8 thick boards I usually mill when I want to end up with 3/4 inch S2S after drying.


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## woodshop (Oct 23, 2006)

hautions11 said:


> Woodshop, it looks great! I do like the clean nature of your boards after you make the 14" cants. I have some large ash logs now. I may try to "clean" them up before milling.


Many reasons for cleaning up cants before milling into lumber. 

1)insects... lots of critters and their eggs inhabit the bark or right under it, don't want them in my stickered pile.

2)weight... I can only carry 13-1500 lbs of wet lumber at a time, about 150bd ft. Why transport, sticker and dry all that bark and board edges I will eventually cut off anyway in my shop. (unless of course you want that natural edge for something like a rustic table)

3) stickering and drying... you can pack a LOT more lumber into a stickered stack if its nice strait edged boards that stack neatly next to each other. Also, trimmed boards dry that much faster than if the edging and bark were left on.

You can mill through and through leaving bark on, then clean them up with a jigsaw or circular saw at home before you sticker... but that is time consuming and makes a mess of edgings and trim to clean up. It takes a lot less time if they are edged to begin with when milled. It does take extra time to square up a cant and take off the bark etc, but I found in the whole scheme of things when working with hundreds of bd ft at the time, it actually saves time in the end.


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