First Try Not So Good

[rarefish383]

I got my Alaskan 36" last week and took it to the mountains with me. This is my anual hunting trip. I had my Homelite 1050 in the shop, this is the saw I'm using for the mill, and it wasn't ready yet. So, I took my Farm Boss 18" to experiment with. Bad idea, just too small for the rig and the trees I had to work with. It was frustrating, I should have left it at home and waited for the big saw. I called my mechanic this morning and he said he was working on it today. Here's a pic of the smallest tree I had to work with, with my friend sitting on it.

By the way, the hunting trip went well with 2 deer taken from my stand, and my cousin passed up 2 small bucks from it on the last day we were there. In all we got 4 deer out of the six of us there, Joe.

 

[BobL]

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I had my Homelite 1050 in the shop, this is the saw I'm using for the mill, and it wasn't ready yet. So, I took my Farm Boss 18" to experiment with. Bad idea, just too small for the rig and the trees I had to work with. It was frustrating, I should have left it at home and waited for the big saw.

I feel for ya, and sense the resigned frustration from the photo . . . . . I call it "sittn on a bigun with too small a saw"!

 

[rarefish383]

Bob, thanks in advance for all of your help and advice. I was just rading Andrew96's thread and saw your link on how to use an extension ladder for a guide. My plan was using a 12 ft section as a guide on this project. I also have a super heavy duty 42ft extension and liked the way you put 2 sections togeter with fish plates. If I ever get around to building my dream cabin on the farm I would be able to mill beams for the roof and floor out of one log. Thanks again, Joe.

 

[mikeb1079]

i hear that

hey joe, i feel your pain because i started out the exact same way! trying to use a 50cc saw to mill anything over 6" is utterly frustrating. here's the upside though: once you get that big saw running, it'll make you smile at how much better it is. also, you can then use the smaller saw to cut things to size. i upgraded to a used 066 and it makes me grin every time i go milling. good luck with that timber, it looks like you have some nice wood to mill. :biggrinbounce2:

ps, you may already know, but one thing not to underestimate is the benefit of having a helper. not only for safety, but just having another guy on the other side of the mill to ease it along, help with wedges, move boards around, etc, is really a bonus, and makes the day much more productive. anyways, good luck.

 

[Brmorgan]

Well, don't get discouraged yet! I think everyone here has, at least at one time or another, had a very disappointing day trying to "make do" with either an inadequate saw or less-than-ideal milling equipment or guides. The latter tends to provide me with the most frustration.

That 1050 should have enough hoss to pull through some pretty big wood. It won't win any races in smaller wood though, since it's turning barely half the RPMs of a newer 90-100cc saw. But it should get you started anyway, and the upside is that a lot of parts for Homelites of that vintage aren't as difficult to come by as other saws of the era. At least up where I live, anyway. Buy some good earplugs/muffs for the noise and some nice padded gloves for the vibration though!

 

[rarefish383]

Brad, your right on with the ear plugs, the mufflers on both of my 1050's were gutted many moons ago. And talking about numb fingers from vibration. We had a lot job, back in the 70's, where we took down several acres of beautiful Tulip Poplars. The home owner wanted them all cut up into fire wood. We ran the saws all day, only shut them down for lunch. We had one of the ground men gassing and oiling the saws as we were cutting. I had my right hand on the throttle and my left on the hand gaurd. I let my left palm rest on top of the hand guard with my thumb and fingers wiggeling trying to get some feeling back. The tip of the 3 ft bar hit a log on the other side and kicked back nicking 3 of my fingers pretty good. Wrapped them up in my hanky and kept going. Those three fingers still turn kinda yellow when it gets below about 40, Joe.

 

[Brmorgan]

Heh, I can only imagine. I'm only 27, but I still feel your pain! I cut dozens of cords of firewood to sell with my Dad's XL-12 when I was growing up (it was the first saw I ran and learned on) and it was bad enough as far as vibes. Those old tanks were built for durability, not comfort! I've run my Stihl 090 on the mill a fair amount, and after just a couple slabs I have to put it down for a few minutes to get the feeling back in my left hand. The volume is probably pretty damn close to your Homie too; there ain't a single thing inside that muffler. I have four injured fingertips - ring finger on my left hand got shortened a bit in a drop-chain deck at a lumber mill, and I trimmed down the first three fingers on my right hand in my jointer at home a couple years ago - and those fingers can get terribly sore in the cold, and don't do too well with vibration either.

 

[rarefish383]

Brad, I might be gettin a little off topic with the old saw stuff, but once I get started, oh well. When I started climbing we used Homelite EZ's up in the trees. I thought they were a little under powered and too short so I used an XL12. A couple years ago I sold about 20 old saws, all in good running condition. Several EZ's and 12's all went. As soon as I sold them I wished I had of kept One of each. A couple months ago a friend was cleaning out their garage and found a Super12 and asked if I wanted it. You bet. When I picked it up I couldn't believe I used to use one of those things up a tree. That thing was heavy with two hands much less reaching out with one hand. Just goes to show I ain't half the man I used to be or a third of the man I wanted to be, Joe.

 

[Andrew96]

Well I'll get the thread back on track. Just hold on...that tree isn't going anywhere. I too struggled with a 60cc old saw and thought I was doing OK with it...until I finally got my 660. What a difference. In no time your big one will be back in action and you and your helper can mill that one up. It will be worth the wait. I like the ladder mods thread too. Great advice here eh?

 

[Cowboy Billy]

Hey Joe ya got some beautiful property there. I wish I had some hardwoods. Like Andrew said it will be there when you get back with your big saw.

The first saw I bought was a old Mac 10 with a 24" bar. I could only run it about ten minuets before my fingers went numb. (maybe that's why they called it am Mac 10?) I would like to have it again just to see how it does compared to my newer saws.

I just had a thought about the addition you want to put up. A severyl years ago my cousin was thinning some pine and the trees were to small do much with. So he took them to a mill and had two sides cut off making the logs 6" wide and made a 10x10 hunting shack out of (his deluxe shack of course) It came out pretty cool where he had a bigger log it stuck into the room enough for a beer shelf If you want I can try to get a picture of it.

Billy

 

[Brmorgan]

Brad, I might be gettin a little off topic with the old saw stuff, but once I get started, oh well. When I started climbing we used Homelite EZ's up in the trees. I thought they were a little under powered and too short so I used an XL12. A couple years ago I sold about 20 old saws, all in good running condition. Several EZ's and 12's all went. As soon as I sold them I wished I had of kept One of each. A couple months ago a friend was cleaning out their garage and found a Super12 and asked if I wanted it. You bet. When I picked it up I couldn't believe I used to use one of those things up a tree. That thing was heavy with two hands much less reaching out with one hand. Just goes to show I ain't half the man I used to be or a third of the man I wanted to be, Joe.

Yeah my dad sold his XL-12 at a yard sale a couple years ago. I was an idiot to let him do it, but that was before I started really collecting and repairing saws. This past summer I salvaged an XL Auto from the scrap metal yard, and it's basically the same saw but with an automatic oiler (which I'm not going to complain about!), so at least I have something very similar again. I also picked up an XL-902AM (~80cc), which is pretty much a Canadian-only XL-925 as best as I can tell. It absolutely screams; being an old Homelite I didn't think it would rev out that high, but it could probably keep up to my stock Husky 181SE.

I just had a thought about the addition you want to put up. A severyl years ago my cousin was thinning some pine and the trees were to small do much with. So he took them to a mill and had two sides cut off making the logs 6" wide and made a 10x10 hunting shack out of (his deluxe shack of course) It came out pretty cool where he had a bigger log it stuck into the room enough for a beer shelf If you want I can try to get a picture of it.

Billy

I've also thought about building a small cabin by doing exactly the same thing. Did he tongue & groove the flat sides to hold them together?

 

[820wards]

By the way, the hunting trip went well with 2 deer taken from my stand, and my cousin passed up 2 small bucks from it on the last day we were there. In all we got 4 deer out of the six of us there, Joe.

Joe, Congratulations on your successful deer hunt. I had some of my deer for Thanksgiving today.

jerry-

 

[rarefish383]

The picture of the big Pine is on my farm in West Virginia. We have some nice big White Oaks there, but I won't cut any live ones down. We do get blow downs when big storms go through. Several big pines went down just like the one my friend is sitting on. They are all up off the ground like that one. After I took the picture of John I cut the top out. I put a couple blocks of wood under the log to keep it from dropping to the ground. When I cut the top free the log didn't even settle down on the blocks it just stuck out 50 or 60 feet. I still blocked it up some more so it doesn't settle as I'm cutting.

I'm lucky, my cousin still runs the family business and I can get all the wood I want free. If I ask him to keep an eye out for something he will. I'm waithing for a big Box Elder. Nest time he gets one he'll just take the knuckle boom and get the whole log and stick it over in a cornrer of his wood lot.

Here's a couple more pix of the farm with my ratty old trailer, Joe.

 

[Cowboy Billy]

Howdy Brad

He did not do anything to the flats. But I will ask to to make sure next time I go up I will get pictures too. I was too busy working on my addition to get over there in the day and he was hunting out of it. I will be going up right after Christmas.

That's a awesome view you have there Joe As far as the trailer ya gotta have someplace to stay. I am sorry now that I let my brother talk us into buying a new trailer. We would have been better off buying a used one and used the money to build cabins. My whole family goes up Dad two brothers and my sister and her family. Rather than building one big cabin we are going to have four one family cabins. That way everyone can have there own place to stay.

Billy

 

[rarefish383]

Hey guys, I was going to do a little additon to the trailer, but my wife said I should just get rid of it and build something bigger. I'm thinking about 16X20. I plan on putting a full size cabin behind where the trailer is, taking extra care not to hurt my Oaks around it. I had a friend that built a cabin out of Pine blow downs. He built it with the logs going vert in stead of horz. I was thinking about doing that or a conventoal lay out, haven,t decided yet. After I get the real cabin built I'd have the 16x20 for a nice little shop, Joe.

 

[Cowboy Billy]

Cool Joe

Sounds Great

Billy