Great day milling experience!

[StubornDutchman]

Yesterday I had the honor of spending the entire day with chaikwa and his Linn Bandsaw mill. I got some trigger time, learned a lot, and spent a whole lot of time just gettiing in the way. We worked up several decent sized Oak and Ash logs. Eight inch Oak cants 12' long sure are heavy buggers! Thank goodness for heavy equipment for moving things around. The grain in those Oak boards was awesome. I have the milling bug big time.

I finished off the day learning how to sharpen blades. The sharpener he designed is so simple to use, even I feel confident with it. It was interesting to see how the offsets would vary from section to section on the teeth. Less than fifteen minutes per blade makes DIY sharpening a no brainer for this cheap Dutchman.

Thanks to chaikwa for allowing me to spend such a glorius day there and having a bundle of fun. Looking forward to my next visit. Thanks to all the people of AS for making such a great place to interact with such knowledgeable and helpfull folks!

Don

 

[brookpederson]

Sounds like he got some free work out of the deal too:msp_wink:

It's fun and addicting, and for most of us it will keep us busy till we kick the bucket.

 

[StubornDutchman]

Sounds like he got some free work out of the deal too:msp_wink:

It's fun and addicting, and for most of us it will keep us busy till we kick the bucket.

I know I am getting the better end of the deal. I have been over there a couple times before and each time has been a great learning experience. It takes a while for things to sink in to my hard head, but I'm starting to get a much better feel for milling. In a couple more years I will have progressed to the NOVICE stage!

Finances dictate that I won't have my own mill up and running till next spring. I have about a hundred logs in various sizes (12" to 3+'), renemnants from last May's tornado. When I do get my own mill, I plan on giving it a good work out. Right now there is a ton of maintenance to do on the Farm since it was vacant several years after our Mom died. These chores will help keep my OCD somewhat in check.

 

[chaikwa]

Yesterday I had the honor of spending the entire day with chaikwa and his Linn Bandsaw mill...

The honor was mine Don!

Sounds like he got some free work out of the deal too:msp_wink:

You are absolutely correct! Don doesn't give himself enough credit. Without him we wouldn't have sawn as much as we did. It's actually pretty cool to let someone like Don run the mill while I watch too. I get to see it in action from a perspective I don't usually have. I think he's going to do really well with his own mill. He came up with quite a few suggestions in terms of breaking down the log to get more out of it that I never gave a second thought to.

 

[mikeb1079]

glad to hear you guys had such a fine time. i too have met and milled with a fellow forum member, and also had a great time. as you noticed don milling is soooo addicting. plus you're usually so tired after a long day of milling and handling lumber that you sleep wonderfully too.

now lets hear more about this sharpener!

 

[StubornDutchman]

glad to hear you guys had such a fine time. i too have met and milled with a fellow forum member, and also had a great time. as you noticed don milling is soooo addicting. plus you're usually so tired after a long day of milling and handling lumber that you sleep wonderfully too.

now lets hear more about this sharpener!

It's an awesome addiction! The different grain patterns encountered are marvelous. I'm sure I'd faint at the prices if someone was attempting to purchase one of these 8"x8" oak cants retail. One thing that really surprised me was how far off my judgement could be on the initial cut, especially when a 4" or 5" cut at the start runs out of the bark part way down the log. Very deceiving and humbling! Then I wince a little seeing those initial slabs go on the scrap pile!

Re the sleep thing, for sure a great day outdoors and getting a good workout does that to you!