# Sawing Some Walnut



## Sawyer Rob (Dec 4, 2011)

A friend gave me some logs, when he cut down every tree in his yard! There's white pine, blue spruce, maple and walnut in there...







The walnut is pretty nice, and as you can see in the first pict., it split part way up when the guy fell it. 






Anyway, it was 25 feet to the first limb, and decent in diameter too...






I had it in my mind that just "maybe" i'd get a decent stock blank out of this crotch...






So i loaded it on the mill, and opened it...






I took 1" boards off, and left this thicker piece. There's really isn't anything that i thought would make the kind of blank i'd want on my rifle, so i peeled the bark off and stickered the whole bunch...


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## Sawyer Rob (Dec 4, 2011)

Then i decided to mill the split log, so i loaded it on the mill...






The grade was decent and walnut looks best flat sawn, so i started taking 5/4 boards off...











I wanted the natural edge left on the boards, so i only turned the log 180*, and kept sawing untill i had a 7/4 plank left. I also took all the bark off, as that's where the bugs like to hide and lay there eggs...






Here's the tally from the split log... Not too bad considering it was a split log!






Hope you liked the picts...

Rob


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## RVALUE (Dec 4, 2011)

Did the barber chair kill him?


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## KenneSaw (Dec 4, 2011)

nice walnut!


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## Sawyer Rob (Dec 4, 2011)

RVALUE said:


> Did the barber chair kill him?



No, it didn't split until it hit the ground, actually it hit "something" on the ground, but i forget what it was...

Rob


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## RedArrow (Dec 4, 2011)

Like the pics, any of the grain?


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## hamish (Dec 5, 2011)

Rob,

Whats the band info you used on the walnut, mainly the set and hook angles?

Jeremy


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## Sawyer Rob (Dec 5, 2011)

They are 1-1/4" Norwood bands, when i sharpen them i set them at .021".

I like the Norwood bands, because i use "one band for everything" and so far they have done that best.

Rob


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## Sawyer Rob (Dec 5, 2011)

RedArrow said:


> Like the pics, any of the grain?



Sorry, i don't understand your question???

Rob


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## RedArrow (Dec 5, 2011)

I like all the pics, just wondering if you had any that showed that beautiful wood grain close up. Especially the feathering on that walnut!


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## Sawyer Rob (Dec 6, 2011)

I looked through my walnut picts., sorry, i didn't see any close up's of the crotch figure, but here's part two of sawing walnut...


Here's some more picts. of milling the walnut logs a friend gave me. This is a pretty nice log going on the mill.






So i got started with taking the slab off, and a couple 5/4 boards...






Once that was done, it's time to turn the log...






Even with the sapwood, the boards look pretty nice...






So i took more 5/4 boards, and kept working my way around the log...






Untill i had a nice "cant", that's nearly 14 inches square...






I'm sawing this walnut for "grade", so now it's a matter of turning the cant to keep getting the best lumber possible, and pulling 5/4 boards off...


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## Sawyer Rob (Dec 6, 2011)

I have a friend who loves to scrool saw, so i took a couple thin boards to surprise him with!






Then i put the first boards that came off, back on and edged them...






And here's the "tally" from this log...






As you can see, i even took a couple 10/4 boards for thicker projects...

Rob


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## RedArrow (Dec 6, 2011)

That's awesome! Great pics. Thx


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## Sawyer Rob (Dec 7, 2011)

RedArrow said:


> That's awesome! Great pics. Thx



Thanks, glad you liked the picts...

Rob


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## tjbier (Dec 7, 2011)

Good looking stuff Rob! I'd be sneezing like crazy with that walnut
That mill looks like it does a very nice job too.


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## Sawyer Rob (Dec 10, 2011)

Thanks tjbier,

The mill does a GREAT job, and i'm betting that the Lumbermate 2000 will go down in history as one of the best manual mills ever invented!

When the LM2000 came out, it already had GREAT quality and reliability and were still very reasonable priced. The LM2000 was easily the manual mill all else were compared to, and most couldn't even come close to it. It's a great low maintance design, that will last for many many years to come...

Rob


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## mikeb1079 (Dec 10, 2011)

excellent job rob. that's a nice little bandsawing tutorial for us newbies! 

thanks for the pics!


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## Sawyer Rob (Dec 11, 2011)

Thanks Mike, here's part 3...

When i started milling this walnut tree, somehow i got started milling it from the top down! That''s the opposite way i usally saw, as i always try to mill out the "highest" grade lumber first, and that's almost always in the butt log.

Anyway, now it's "finally" time to mill the butt log!! So off i go to get the butt log that's behind some other logs. This is where the grabble really shines! It allows me to reach over other logs, and pick up just the log i want without moving the others...






So i carried the butt log to the mill, and set it into place...






As you can see, this is a really nice log, and i have it rotated to where i "think" i'll get the highest grade lumber...






Once i opened it, it was plain to see, this log is going to produce some really nice lumber!






So i took a couple 5/4 boards, and turned the log...






Then after takeing the second slab off, i took more 5/4 boards...






With that done, it was time to turn the log again... My mills cable log turner sure takes the work out of turning logs or cants!


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## Sawyer Rob (Dec 11, 2011)

With the log turned, i took the last slab off...






And i started takeing more 5/4 boards off the "cant"...






This "cant" sure was putting out some niiiiiice lumber!! Check out how clear this cant is...






UNTILL i hit these nails!! So much for the sharpness and set in this band!






So i removed a bit of wood around the nail, and snapped on some visegrips, and pulled out both nails.






Here they are, the heads were still in the board, so i popped them out of the board and laid them next to the nails...






And, here's the lumber from this log...






As you can see, i'm starting to get a very nice stack of walnut, and many of the boards are clear and wide!!






I'm getting the best lumber out of this tree that i can, and i still have some limbs to deal with too...

Rob


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## Talltom (Dec 11, 2011)

Nice wood. Wish I had walnut here! Too bad about the nails. Woodcraft catalog has a screw extractor which is basically a long tube with teeth on the end that lets you drill around the screw/nail and pop it out, wood and all. It easier than chipping by hand and leaves a neater hole that can easily be plugged when you use the wood. Another alternative is to use a plug cutter and chip out the "plug" wood with an old chisel until you can get the vice grips on the end. Again, it leaves a hole that can be plugged.


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## john taliaferro (Dec 11, 2011)

Wow nice pile of Walnut ,did the nails trash the band or just dull a few teeth . Nice setup .


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## tjbier (Dec 11, 2011)

Nice stack of walnut Rob! If that were on a box store lumber rack or at a lumber yard all that lumber would be about $1000:msp_ohmy:
Makes paying for mills awful quick. Hope I can get some jobs going where I can use/charge for using my own lumber.:msp_thumbup:



Sawyer Rob said:


> As you can see, i'm starting to get a very nice stack of walnut, and many of the boards are clear and wide!!
> 
> 
> 
> ...


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## Sawyer Rob (Dec 12, 2011)

john taliaferro said:


> Wow nice pile of Walnut ,did the nails trash the band or just dull a few teeth . Nice setup .



Nails like that rarely ruin a band, but you can be sure the sharpness is gone. I don't hit trash all that often, so it really isn't a huge deal, if it's a customers logs, then they have to pay for a resharp or new band. It only takes 5 minutes or even less than that to change out a band...

Rob


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## mikeb1079 (Dec 12, 2011)

that's a awful nice stack of walnut. nice work. one of next years mill projects is a winch log turner similar to the norwood. that looks pretty slick.


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## qbilder (Dec 14, 2011)

Beautiful stack of walnut!!! I had a nail scare a few weekends ago milling a maple. Saw the shiny exposed flash of metal & just knew it was time to swap blades, but fortunately for me it was lead, a .22 long rifle slug :smile2:


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## Sawyer Rob (Dec 14, 2011)

Thanks guys,

Here's how i dealt with the bigger limbs,

Now it's time to mill up the bigger limbs on the walnut tree that was given to me... So, i loaded one of them on the mill,






I decided seeing it was so small, i'd leave the curve in it... Perhaps i can fit that curve into a design of what ever i make out of it?






The next limb has a big crook in it, so i had to make a decision on how to cut it to fit on the mill,






and opened it, sawing it into 5/4 boards...






Then i loaded another piece on the mill...






And started milling it into 5/4 lumber too...


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## Sawyer Rob (Dec 14, 2011)

As you can see, this last piece is too short to go on two bunks at once... In that case, i use one of the hydraulic toe boards to hold one end up...






Then opened it up, and started taking boards off...






Well, here's the tally from the limbs that i sawed. As you can see, i sawed one board at 10/4...






So, now it's time to get all of the walnut i've sawn from this tree, properly stickered and covered. So, i pick up the whole stack and move it to where it will be untill it's air dryed!






I then restacked the whole pile with the "best" boards in lower part of the stack. That puts the "most" weight on the "best" boards, helping them to dry flatter for the best quality possible!






And, isn't it fitting that a nice walnut tree has come up right by my stack of walnut???






That's it for this tree, other than a few short pieces i'll square up and dry for turning squares...

Rob


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## Can8ianTimber (Dec 14, 2011)

Nice Thread SR. I am glad I am not the only one that hits nails. Last week I hit 6 nails in a single pass in the last 2 feet of the log. We put a new band on dropped down 4" since we were cutting 8/4 lumber hoping we would get down below the nails. Ran into another 2 nails on that pass with a brand new band. We cut off a section of about 2.5' of the end of the log and kept cutting. We did not end up hitting any more metal after that. At the end of the day I was wondering if I was going to make more money by taking the metal I hit to the metal recycler than the value I came up with in lumber. I love milling but hitting metal is frustrating.


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## Sawyer Rob (Dec 19, 2011)

My worse day, ruining 2 bands on one log, was milling a really "nice" oak that had TWO glass insulators in it! lol One band was an older band, no big deal, BUT the other one was the second pass on a NEW band! :msp_ohmy:

That's a rare occurance for me, and really not too bad, especially when you consider how long i've been sawing...

Rob


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## Mike Williams (Jan 4, 2012)

That's some nice lumber. Thanks for sharing the pics


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## peterrum (Jan 4, 2012)

Nice thread going through your milling of the whole tree and good job on stickering and stacking.


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## RedArrow (Jan 4, 2012)

In your pic here, with the shorter boards on top and the end stickers don't have them under all the way down...View attachment 215080

Is this ok? Depending on the thickness of the boards I suppose? Have I been wasting stickers by lining them all the way down?


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## Talltom (Jan 4, 2012)

When I put short boards on top with stickers that fall between the rows below, I'll add stickers for 1-4 layers below as well, depending on the distance to the existing row and board thickness, but not all the way to the bottom. This uses the stiffness of several boards to support the end of the short top boards. If you don't add stickers below, the top board will put pressure on the end sticker and bow the board below when you weight the stack if the top board is bowed up in the middle at all. It's easy enough to add stickers to a couple layers, but it becomes impractical to add them further down due to the weight of the stack. When in doubt, use a sticker.


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## Lookin4lunkers (Jan 4, 2012)

Awesome thread, thank you for sharing


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## Sawyer Rob (Jan 4, 2012)

RedArrow said:


> In your pic here, with the shorter boards on top and the end stickers don't have them under all the way down...
> Is this ok? Depending on the thickness of the boards I suppose? Have I been wasting stickers by lining them all the way down?



Thanks guys! 

I got away with it "this time" because the lower boards were dryer and stiffer and able to take the load above. If the shorter boards add enough weight to cause bowing, then it should not be done...

In time, i'll pull those short boards off and add to the stack, so it's really not a problem...

Rob


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## RedArrow (Jan 4, 2012)

Sounds good guys, thanks for the tips!


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## Dave Boyt (Jan 31, 2012)

*Metal in wood*

I've tried some of the bi-metal blades (Norwood carries them for their mills), and they don't even slow down when they hit a nail. Only problem is that they are expensive, stiffer, and don't cut as smoothly as the regular steel blades. I just keep a couple for logs like your walnut. Of course, I don't know there's metal in it until I've hit it with a regular blade. I've got to get a metal detector one of these days. Unfortunately, a metal detector wouldn't have picked up the ceramic insulator I tried to cut in half a few months ago... but the bi-metal blade probably wouldn't have fared well, either.


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## john taliaferro (Jan 31, 2012)

Thats some nice lumber and one mean tractor . Thanks for posting .


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## Sawyer Rob (Feb 1, 2012)

Dave,

I've never tried those bands, the price has driven me off! lol I do use bi-metal bands on my band saw in my shop though, and they are GREAT!

John, 

Did i mention that i LOVE my tractor! lol It's just so handy and will do so many different jobs!
















Other tools for loading logs ect. around the mill, are just too specialized, a tractor is just plain a "do it all" and that allows you to make more money with it.

Thanks guys, glad you liked the pict. show!

Rob


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## Can8ianTimber (Feb 1, 2012)

WOW. I am getting some serious tractor envy. I had a MF 1240 for a while and I liked it but it was too small for log yard support and too heavy for mowing my grass(I only have 5 acers). A guy I know has a bandmill with a seriously wide cut capacity and he cuts with a 4" band that has really soft teeth. He said that the harder the metal is the harder it is to get it really sharp. It makes sence. I heard the same thing from the salesmen at Carbide Chainsaw Chain -- Longest lasting carbide chainsaw chain! Rapco Industries when I was researching about carbide chainsaw chain for the CSM. They said it would go through anything but you could never get it as sharp as a regular chain.


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## Dave Boyt (Feb 2, 2012)

*Tractor Envy*

No tractor envy here! My dad bought this 8N Ford back in '53, and I came along a year later, so Ol'Henry and I spent most of the last 57 years working together. Wonder what your tractor will will look like in 50+ years? I keep fresh oil & plugs in him, and don't talk about other tractors when he's in earshot. He starts up ever' time. By the way, that's some good Missouri hedge wood I'm loading up on the mill.
View attachment 221313


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## john taliaferro (Feb 3, 2012)

I got a 9n in 68 and made a boom for the back . The valve springs are getting so week ive had to pull the valve cover twice to put the rockers back on the pushrods .Its got a dent in the hood where i rooled it when new bent the steering wheel the only part ever replaced .


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## Sawyer Rob (Feb 3, 2012)

Dave Boyt said:


> No tractor envy here! My dad bought this 8N Ford back in '53, and I came along a year later, so Ol'Henry and I spent most of the last 57 years working together. Wonder what your tractor will will look like in 50+ years? I keep fresh oil & plugs in him, and don't talk about other tractors when he's in earshot. He starts up ever' time. By the way, that's some good Missouri hedge wood I'm loading up on the mill.
> View attachment 221313



Hi Dave,

I had one of those "cow chasers" for a while... lol It's a bit low on traction and lifting power for what i do, so i had to move up the ladder a bit.












Will mine be still working 50 years from now? I think "yes", but i really don't care if it isn't, cause "I" won't be, and it will be someone elses problem. lol

Rob


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## Dave Boyt (Feb 7, 2012)

*Cow Chaser*

As a matter of fact, I have chased a few cows. That's what I call a log!! What is it? How long is your track?


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## aclawrence (Feb 7, 2012)

Great Thread! I would love to be able to cut my own boards like that. Make something pretty with your walnut.


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## Sawyer Rob (Feb 8, 2012)

The log going on the mill is a blk. cherry... I harvested it out of my woodlot, skidding out the whole tree,






And i got 3 logs out of it, the longest at 20' 6", and that's the one i'm loading on the mill in the last post. It made some of the BESTcherry lumber i've ever seen,











And lot's of it,






I can saw 21' logs at this time...

Rob


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## Can8ianTimber (Feb 8, 2012)

That is some really nice cherry. Unfortunatly our west coast cherry isn't very nice. So do you know how much your tractor can lift on the forks?


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## aclawrence (Feb 8, 2012)

We have cut several cherry trees off my parents place here in Alabama. We just cut them into firewood. I know it's a shame.


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## Sawyer Rob (Feb 9, 2012)

Can8ianTimber said:


> That is some really nice cherry. Unfortunatly our west coast cherry isn't very nice. So do you know how much your tractor can lift on the forks?



My tractor/loader is rated to pick up 3,650 pounds, minus the weight of the forks. The rear tires are loaded with over 700 pounds in each one, and it will just lift the rear of the tractor, so i'm glad to have MFWD. MFWD is waaay worth the extra it cost!

Rob


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