Milling A Big Cherry Log

[coveredinsap]

LOL! Yup, everyone's an expert...particularly around here.

What the heck are you meaning by 'grade' lumber? Lumber is lumber is lumber. It's all self-regulated, and outside of structural lumber, is just a bunch of wannabe marketing bs. You can get different cuts from a log, depending on how you slice it up....quarter sawn, vertical grain...whatever. The primary thing is how clear the lumber is, for cripes sake. Everything else is just variations on a theme.

For instance, I can take a piece of cherry cut with a chainsaw mill and it will be no different 'grade' then if it comes from a expensive portable mill or a commercial mill. In fact, I have some slabs of cherry in my garage right now that came from a commercial mill that look like they were cut with a chainsaw mill. LOL! I didn't notice the place I bought them from offering to discount the cherry because if was 'rough sawn' or 'poor grade'. LOL! Man, you dudes take the cake!

Maybe if I call myself 'Sawyer Sap' then my opinion means more? Yeah right.

 

[Freakingstang]

Thanks for sharing the pics. I did check out part II. I don't mill enough wood to justify that, but would like to start with a alaskan chainsaw mill one of these days.

Steve

 

[Sawyer Rob]

What the heck are you meaning by 'grade' lumber? Lumber is lumber is lumber. It's all self-regulated, and outside of structural lumber, is just a bunch of wannabe marketing bs. You can get different cuts from a log, depending on how you slice it up....quarter sawn, vertical grain...whatever. The primary thing is how clear the lumber is, for cripes sake. Everything else is just variations on a theme.

Not to

but i'll feed the troll one more time... hahahaa

You "obviously" know nothing about grade sawing and because there may be others not fimialiar with "that" term i'll explain a bit more.

What you are MISSING, is the part that by TURNING a log you can make the lumber come out of it at a HIGHER GRADE. You know, some with knots and some without?? Starting out sawing on the RIGHT side of the log, and LEARNING when to turn the "cant", you can increase the number of CLEAR boards "dramatically".

BEFORE you think you know it all, go saw with a sawyer for a few months/years and learn about "sawing" then come back and perhaps you won't have that "tude" you have...

("These kid's now days!! You buy em books and they wipe there @$$ with the pages!!) "Ok"' i'm done...

Rob

 

[coveredinsap]

Not to but i'll feed the troll one more time... hahahaa

You "obviously" know nothing about grade sawing and because there may be others not fimialiar with "that" term i'll explain a bit more.

What you are MISSING, is the part that by TURNING a log you can make the lumber come out of it at a HIGHER GRADE. You know, some with knots and some without?? Starting out sawing on the RIGHT side of the log, and LEARNING when to turn the "cant", you can increase the number of CLEAR boards "dramatically".

BEFORE you think you know it all, go saw with a sawyer for a few months/years and learn about "sawing" then come back and perhaps you won't have that "tude" you have...

("These kid's now days!! You buy em books and they wipe there @$$ with the pages!!) "Ok"' i'm done...

Yeah, I see how that goes....everyone who dares to disagree with you is a troll. It sounds like you're a 'kid' yourself.

Dude, spare me the speech on how difficult it is to mill clear lumber. You make it sound like figuring out how to saw a log to get the clearest wood is some type of big mystery ...or difficult to fathom....like rocket science. It isn't.
It appears that the old addage is true...a little knowledge is indeed a dangerous thing. Wow, turning a log to miss the knots...who would have thought that, eh? Jesus H Christ.

Oh, did I mention that milling lumber is first year apprentice stuff for carpenters?

 

[Freakingstang]

and you wonder why people think you are a troll. Go figure... Don't you have some more milling to do with your 455 homeonwer saw?

 

[Newfie]

Oh, did I mention that milling lumber is first year apprentice stuff for carpenters?

Yeah right. And concrete workers do an internship at the quarry and learn how to mine aggregate.

 

[coveredinsap]

Don't you have some more milling to do with your 455 homeonwer saw?

Don't you mean "homeowner saw(s)"? The Husky 137 is a 'homeowner' saw too...and a great little saw at that...despite what the naysayers claim. And that's the real rub here, that homeowner saws can do the same work as pro saws.

As I've said before, buying a pro saw doesn't make you a pro.....knowing how to use the tool correctly makes you a pro.

And you better believe that first year apprentice masons learn all about aggregate mining.

 

[Newfie]

Who said anything about masons? I would think they would be required to work in a brick factory before laying a brick.

 

[stumpguy]

just wanted to say, great pics and great info! we have been playing with the idea of buying a mill. we generate hundreds of nice logs each year and it seems to be a such a waste to turn the best ones into firewood.

 

[Gologit]

Most of his fixation seems to stem from lack of clue. He's milled up one tree with half a saw and half a mill and he's an expert. Sap appears to be in an expert in most other venues as well. Probably just another google baby with very little practical experience.

Time for me to go back thru all of his posts so I can take notes, cuz apparently I've doing it all wrong.:greenchainsaw:

Maybe its time we cut 'Sap some slack. Other than the fact that he's arrogant, blindly opinionated,spiteful,vindictive,totally clueless about chainsaws and mills and milling procedures,completely lacking in any of the more important social graces, and makes himself the poster-boy for never knowing when to STFU he might not be a bad guy at all. He lives up in the wine (whine?) country north of San Francisco. Too much exposure to yuppie vintners and their ilk has obviously warped the boy. Maybe if he spent as much effort in learning from this forum as he's wasted arguing on it he'd be better off. I know the rest of us would.:notrolls2:

 

[coveredinsap]

Maybe its time we cut 'Sap some slack. Other than the fact that he's arrogant, blindly opinionated,spiteful,vindictive,totally clueless about chainsaws and mills and milling procedures,completely lacking in any of the more important social graces, and makes himself the poster-boy for never knowing when to STFU he might not be a bad guy at all. He lives up in the wine (whine?) country north of San Francisco. Too much exposure to yuppie vintners and their ilk has obviously warped the boy. Maybe if he spent as much effort in learning from this forum as he's wasted arguing on it he'd be better off. I know the rest of us would.

LOL! Thanks for the comments! (Obviously another member of my fan club weighing in on the subject.)

About the only comment I have is that...maybe if all the wannabe 'professionals' (that would be people who think that buying a 'pro' saw auto-magically makes them superior or 'professional') stopped dissing everyone who doesn't buy a 'pro' saw, I wouldn't have to waste my time butting heads with morons. "Tools with tools" would be a better named sub-forum for some around here.

 

[rb_in_va]

A Granberg chainsaw mill (for slabbing) and a Lucas Portable Mill and you're all set....no tractor necessary and no moving big-arse logs around. The Lucas mill sets up and breaks down easily and is set right up on the spot. Sweet. (And no huge investment for a tractor....doubly sweet.)

And you just have to move the mill every time you want to mill a log, right? And if you break a blade it's only $200-300 a pop, right? I'll take the bandmill/tractor set up. That way I'd have a way to move stacks of cut lumber (think forklift) too as well as do hundreds of other projects. Plus, tractors are just plain cool.

 

[coveredinsap]

Plus, tractors are just plain cool.

True. But what's a decent tractor going for these days? $25k? $50k? More?

$10k or $15k in a mill is one thing. Buying a tractor, a trailer, and a truck to haul the works around with is another thing entirely.

The more portable a setup is, the more likely you'll be able to get it to the log, as opposed to getting the log to the mill. That's why chainsaw mills are so handy....and popular

And if you break a blade it's only $200-300

In all my years I've never "broken" a circular saw blade. And I've used plenty of them too. Knocked a few teeth off? Sure. Then they becoming a 'thrasher' blade for cutting things you don't want to use a good blade on.

 

[rb_in_va]

True. But what's a decent tractor going for these days? $25k? $50k? More?

$10k or $15k in a mill is one thing. Buying a tractor, a trailer, and a truck to haul the works around with is another thing entirely.

The more portable a setup is, the more likely you'll be able to get it to the log, as opposed to getting the log to the mill. That's why chainsaw mills are so handy....and popular



In all my years I've never "broken" a circular saw blade. And I've used plenty of them too. Knocked a few teeth off? Sure. Then they becoming a 'thrasher' blade for cutting things you don't want to use a good blade on.

How many trees have you milled with a circular mill? I'd buy an older tractor, not a $25-50k new one. Plus I have friends and relatives that have tractors already. Maybe if you weren't such an a$$ you'd have friends too. You've got an uphill battle trying to convince anyone that an Alaskan is better than a bandmill. I do believe that the Alaskan has it's place though. It would come in handy if you have a log that is too big to fit on the bandmill to knock it down to manageable size.

With the Lucas you've still got to get the logs to one central location to mill, unless you want to set up and break down the mill for every log. The set up looks easy on the video, but I'm sure it doesn't always go so smooth.

 

[Sawyer Rob]

True. But what's a decent tractor going for these days? $25k? $50k? More?

$10k or $15k in a mill is one thing. Buying a tractor, a trailer, and a truck to haul the works around with is another thing entirely.

Here's your answer,

Decent Ford tractor? $3,000.00 WITH a loader that will easily lift 2,000 pounds. Trailor? $2,000.00, flat bed with 3 axles with NEW tires ready to go. Anyone doing this stuff pretty much already has a pick up or something to pull a trailor.

Sawmill, $4,700.00 and with it, you can saw fast enough to pay for all of the above. In fact it's NO problem to make some money with a band mill!

Another thing, everything above will last a long time and actually has a "good resale" if you ever want to sell it.

How do i know this you ask? Because i already sold one mill when i bought the new one. A guy drove here from Florida and handed me the cash, no problem and i got a good return on my dollar!

BUT, lets get something straight. You don't need a tractor or trailor to start out milling. There are many ways to get logs without hauling them your self. I can get logs delivered any time i want, and there are LOT's of ways to get logs on the mill with out a tractor....

You keep on trying to "taylor" a circumstance to fit YOUR answers, and everyone will keep on peeing in your corn flakes!

Rob

 

[rb_in_va]

Decent Ford tractor? $3,000.00 WITH a loader that will easily lift 2,000 pounds. Trailor? $2,000.00, flat bed with 3 axles with NEW tires ready to go. Anyone doing this stuff pretty much already has a pick up or something to pull a trailor.

Sawmill, $4,700.00 and with it, you can saw fast enough to pay for all of the above. In fact it's NO problem to make some money with a band mill!

Tractor: $3000
Trailer: $2000
Sawmill: $4700
Turning logs into lumber: Priceless!

 

[Newfie]

And to buy a brand new tractor tweeked out to "move around those pesky logs" is going to be considerably less than $25K.


All of the better bandmills have loading apparatus, manual or hydraulic, thta can be used in absence of a tractor or grapple. Logs being cylindrical, oddly enough, can easily be rolled to the mill using a peavey.


I think I'm gonna sell the backhoe for my tractor and go get a nice "pro" model shovel. It's so much more portable if not productive.

 

[rb_in_va]

I think I'm gonna sell the backhoe for my tractor and go get a nice "pro" model shovel. It's so much more portable if not productive.

 

[johncinco]

Looks great. I noticed in the 2nd set, that very long log, looks like it has some serious waves in it. is it just the camera or pics or did your blade start going everywhere?



Sometimes its better to stay quiet and be thought a fool, than run your mouth over and over and prove it.

Ben Franklin or some other smart dude.

 

[Sawyer Rob]

Hi John,

A band mill many times leaves a bit of fuzz on the edge of a board or cant, and in the pict it will look like an uneven edge.

Haveing said that, it's also true that "if" you don't have the tension up high enough, or "if" you let the band go too long so it's no longer sharp, or maybe even are just traveling too fast? Those things can cause a slight dip when going through a tough knot or maybe a hard spot in the cant. I listen to the motor and ajust my speed accordantly.

As you can see in the pict below, those boards are dead flat!

Thanks to everyone for viewing my sawmill pictures, they have had over 3,000 hits from this thread alone.

Rob

My sawmill pictures http://albums.photo.epson.com/j/AlbumList?u=4378744