Milling lumber woodshop style

[Tree Machine]

Sounds like petro-contaminated wood and sawdust. For the sake of my own selfish environmental concerns, as well as health (you're breathing in the area), mebbe try water, replace with oil for the last couple cuts? Remember, the sawdust has to go <i>somewhere</i>.

I've seen the Woodmizer LT-40 running through logs so immensely big that we had to pre-cut a slab so it would fit on the mill. Then he moved the band through the material at feed rates almost unthinkable. Water was the sole lubricant.

You can soak a rag in oil after the session and wipe band blades free of moisture and get an absolute coating on the blade.

WD-40 (or whatever) for bearings. Unless there is concern of your lubricant tank / delivery tubes freezing solid I would personally nudge you towards a free, non-toxic alternative. However, there may be considerations of which I'm not remotely aware. I've only done milling (outside of that with a chainsaw) only abou 20 times, so I only know what I've done and seen and the great stuff you guys are sharing. It's up to you, so that's all I'm gonna say on the subject.

This image shows the lube tube, as well as the answer to your last question.

 

[Tree Machine]

Givin away the farm

You were asking what I did with the cherry log. I gave that one away to the hippies in the above. I gave them a slug of the hardwood coming off the WoodMizer, and I gave them the log in the pic shown below.

These guys are specialists in creating drums, which they make with beveled staves. They were buying wood at retail prices, they had a shop, plenty of covered space for wood storage, a slew of apprentices wanting to learn the craft of drummaking. They lacked wood.

I had them out to help tail boards and kick them down a few planks of tropical and aquaint them with what's involved in the process whose instructions, at the end of the day, looked like this:

Get a bunch of logs, call the Woodmizer guy.

I offered to provide free logs to further their cause. They were very stoked.

After about 6 logs of varying species, they begged "No more". They got the Woodmizer guy in, and now they have YEARS worth of wood curing, stacked, stickered and waiting for use.

Below is a clear, hard maple they enjoyed. I loaned my arch, he came to the jobsite and took it away. Good for me, good for them.

 

[woodshop]

Tree... LOVE the pics... keep them coming. Hey I WANT one of those arches... just have to have one now after seeing your pics and how it works... thats all there is to it. The possibilities for logs in this area are endless, tree guys are glad to not have to haul them away or chip them. I just have to find a way to scrounge up $2,500 for it. Don't have room for a stationary bandmill like tawilson's where I live now, or I would invest in one of them. Lots of possibilities though if I had that arch to grab trees before they hit the chipper or boneyard, bring them home and mill at my leisure.

Have to agree on water for the bandmill, and then clean it up with an oily rag and water displacing WD-40 when done. But hey Wilson, far be if from me to tell somebody what to do.

 

[eyeinstine]

TM,

I want to know how the hell you stood that big arse log up in the middle of the road! Must have made a hell of a thud when you pushed it over!

Ron

 

[Tree Machine]

Well, I could tell ya, then I'd have to kill ya. It's a highly coveted trade secret, to be divulged by Masters to their indentured apprentices after many years of dedicated study.

tree guys are glad to not have to haul them away or chip them....... if I had that arch to grab trees before they hit the chipper or boneyard, bring them home and mill at my leisure.

That's the idea, Sir.

I don't know what wood sells for, and I'm sure it varies from area to area, and specie to specie, but if a tractor arch was able to allow you to bring home several thousand dollars worth of free logs, then I'd say it speaks of it's own worth. Plus then you can deliver stacked and stickered wood without having to unstack and resticker TWICE (your site, trailer, their site). Time is money, the less you have to handle, the more you earn.

 

[woodshop]

oh... hey Tree... there is NO doubt that it would eventually pay for itself, just as my Ripsaw and alsakan has at this point. So have the "toys" in my woodhsop. There is still that small detail of having the $2500 cash to lay down for it initially. After taxes and going to get it or having it shipped... probably closer to $3k. I don't like to go into debt for stuff like that. Cars, houses... ok, necessary, but Ripsaws and log haulers, unless its part of my business I can write off, not. Got one daughter in college, and two more right behind her. OUCH...

Lots of things in life to tug at your wallet. Lets put it this way. I'm only 51... I will eventually own a Woodmizer pulled behind a 1 1/2 ton stake truck, a log hauler, and enough space to store all the wood I mill. Trick is to still be healthy enough to work them at that point

yeah I wanna know how you stood that trunk up there too... you had to have borrowed Masterblasters crane or when that thing dropped it would have made a hole in that macadam a VW bug would get lost in.

 

[tawilson]

Tree Machine,
that is very cool what you did for the hippies. I think good turns like that have a tendency to come back at you.
I appreciate the advise on the lube too. I'll probably do a little experimenting and chances are there isn't a rats arse difference and the way to go will be the cheapest/easiest. For what it's worth, I don't consider sawdust of any type to be good for my lungs so I usually wear a respirator whether using the chainsaw or the mill.

 

[woodshop]

For what it's worth, I don't consider sawdust of any type to be good for my lungs so I usually wear a respirator whether using the chainsaw or the mill.

Breathe deep the gathering gloom...

 

[Tree Machine]

I really should wear respiration gear, or at least the new pleated particle masks they have out. But alas, I am not currently very wise in this department, as shown by the first image.


The second image shows a bit more of what's going on with the vertical log. In the pic is that same hippie.

I should explain the first image, actually, it has nothing to do with this thread except that I'm guilty of not wearing a respirator when I should've. Oh, skip it.

 

[glens]

I guess I didn't think of the water on a bandsawmill as being a lubricant so much as a coolant.

It's also important to wear goggles to keep the fines out of your eyes, especially if you're using a thin(ner) kerf band.

Jim, if you can levitate trees that well, why do you need the arch?&nbsp; And why don't you go by "TreeMagic"?

Glen

 

[ray benson]

That second pic would look really slick if you were bear hugging the tree holding it up.

 

[Tree Machine]

A hot bear like this?

 

[ray benson]

A mindreader, you must have had that pic ready to post.

 

[Newfie]

Unless there is concern of your lubricant tank / delivery tubes freezing solid I would personally nudge you towards a free, non-toxic alternative.

The guys from woodmizer delivered my mill in November and use windshield wiper fluid during the cold weather. Works like a charm and is relatively inexpensive.

 

[Tree Machine]

So howza bout some pictures of that new mill, eh? C'mon, feed us. Kick em down....

Wiper fluid, right on. That would work.

Glen mentions thinking the blade fluid more of as a coolant than a lubricant. Ever thought about dust control, Glen?

 

[woodshop]

...take a DEEP breath and hold it... now relax... now another one... ok relax... now turn your head and cough for me... tell me again how long you've had this dull pain in your chest?

 

[Tree Machine]

Does that RipSaw really work as well as you show it?

 

[glens]

Ever thought about dust control, Glen?

Got me there, Jim!&nbsp; Would oil or water make better dust control, do you think?

 

[Newfie]

So howza bout some pictures of that new mill, eh? C'mon, feed us. Kick em down....

Wiper fluid, right on. That would work.

Glen mentions thinking the blade fluid more of as a coolant than a lubricant. Ever thought about dust control, Glen?

Definitlely helps w/ dust control and sap build-up on the blade. I don't think I even have any pictures of the mill. Guess I'll have to fix that. Course then I might actually have to try posting pictures. What's next? an avatar?

 

[Tree Machine]

You don't need no steenking avatar !