woodshop
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A woodshop can never have too much poplar, it's good for framing cabinets, great for drawer sides and bottoms, it machines easy, it is light and strong. Since it has such tiny pores the grain is tight and easily machined. Was given this 35" dia poplar log to mill. Most of the regulars on here have seen this routine umpteen times, but I took pics today, and don't mind sharing yet again. The log has been sitting since last fall, but was still solid and clean once I cut off the ends to make it 8ft.
First I sliced off one side, then turned the 2000+ lb log 90 degrees with my floor jack, and sliced off a second side.
Since I'm not making table tops and dresser drawer fronts out of this stuff, I rarely use a piece wider than 9 inches, so made an 9" wide cant with the csm. At a full 32 inch wide cut, the csm was moving about an inch every 5 seconds. Thus it took a full 8 minutes to go the entire 8ft. length.
Slid the 600 lb cant off the log by pounding plastic wedges all four corners, which allowed me to push it off. Then used the floor jack to right it so I could mill it into boards with the Ripsaw bandmill. I sliced this one a true 4/4 since I have a particular need for 5/8 inch poplar (gonna make some bead board with it for a kitchen). I set the Ripsaw deep and just raised the depth an inch for successive cuts. Poplar is REAL easy on bandsaw blades. This blade was not a new one when I started, but still at the end of the day I had almost 300 bd ft of mostly 4/4, so lots of linear feet on the blade, and it was still cutting sharp and true. Keeping the blade out of bark as much as you can REALLY extends the life of the blade.
Splayed out like a deck of cards... I left the top board a little thick because I didn't want to run through that bark.
First I sliced off one side, then turned the 2000+ lb log 90 degrees with my floor jack, and sliced off a second side.
Since I'm not making table tops and dresser drawer fronts out of this stuff, I rarely use a piece wider than 9 inches, so made an 9" wide cant with the csm. At a full 32 inch wide cut, the csm was moving about an inch every 5 seconds. Thus it took a full 8 minutes to go the entire 8ft. length.
Slid the 600 lb cant off the log by pounding plastic wedges all four corners, which allowed me to push it off. Then used the floor jack to right it so I could mill it into boards with the Ripsaw bandmill. I sliced this one a true 4/4 since I have a particular need for 5/8 inch poplar (gonna make some bead board with it for a kitchen). I set the Ripsaw deep and just raised the depth an inch for successive cuts. Poplar is REAL easy on bandsaw blades. This blade was not a new one when I started, but still at the end of the day I had almost 300 bd ft of mostly 4/4, so lots of linear feet on the blade, and it was still cutting sharp and true. Keeping the blade out of bark as much as you can REALLY extends the life of the blade.
Splayed out like a deck of cards... I left the top board a little thick because I didn't want to run through that bark.
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