Went milling yesterday

[BIG JAKE]

I was up milling in the mountains yesterday and used the Ripsaw to mill some douglas fir. I had to mill it into cants first with the 066. At 92CC it did really well on 18" logs. It was slow going so I didn't get to the big 36" logs. I had some help and so we milled some 8X8"X9' beams. Got 3 milled and two more logs loaded to mill at home-that's all we had time for. I had as much fun slabbing with the chainsaw mill as I did with the Ripsaw(surprised me). In otherwords I'm hooked-hard work but lots of fun. I'd go back today but need to unload and finish milling what I have.

 

[MotorSeven]

That looked like a nice place to set up & mill. I have a set of those saw horses....do they do ok? I found them a little less than stable on uneven ground.

RD

 

[Ironbark]

Cool pix Jake, thanks for posting.

I've got the other half of a big cedar log to mill this weekend if I get the time.

 

[BIG JAKE]

That looked like a nice place to set up & mill. I have a set of those saw horses....do they do ok? I found them a little less than stable on uneven ground.

RD

Those horses are inadequate as is. Almost got my fingers pinched off-seriously. I like them because they fold up but not worth losing appendages. I may weld some up. I did like milling at a comfortable height too. I used a handyman jack to get the logs up there. Logs still had green needles so pretty heavy. It was a beautiful spot. Next time I go up I think I'll camp out and mill two days. With set up, travel, takedown, etc I think we only milled(worked) about 4 hours. I got 2/3rds of the 8X8'' posts I need for my porch I'm building. Roof will be 16'X46' so I need alot of decking also. It was close to a 200.00 day in terms of lumber I don't have to buy. I'll post some pics of the take today. I still have a little milling to do today with what I brought home. I didn't take the lewis winch and wished I'd had it there yesterday. Had some help also which was nice too. The guy in the pic grew up milling(family business) he wanted to come up and see-

 

[jkupcha]

Nice Jake!
Hey, where did you get that aluminum 2x6 your using for the first cuts? I've seen those on little league bleachers to sit on but haven't been able to find any. Thanks and looks great.

 

[lmbeachy]

Joe. We have them available down here if you can't find it in Jersey. Lester

 

[jkupcha]

Thanks Lester
Where do you buy it? Hardware store? What is it really for? Here are some pics of my work today. The first is an inlay over some insect damage that had to be routed out. The inlay wood is from the left over top slab and is from the same spot in the slab so once it is sanded it should match pretty good. The last pic is crack control. Really enjoyable when you can spend 5 hours just doing woodwork in the shop. Thank God I have a wife who lets me have large blocks of time now and then to play

 

[BIG JAKE]

Nice Jake!
Hey, where did you get that aluminum 2x6 your using for the first cuts? I've seen those on little league bleachers to sit on but haven't been able to find any. Thanks and looks great.

http://www.rip-saw.net/beamkit.html

They work pretty slick and you can add sections if you want to mill longer logs. Comes with all the hardware.
:greenchainsaw:

 

[MJR]

Seems like a prefect day. My kids always like to help. I even got them a little cant hook.

 

[lmbeachy]

Guide beam

Joe: There is a salvage yard about 4 miles from where I live. He has a kinds of goodies, new and used. Lester

 

[jkupcha]

Thanks. Next time I drive down I'll hit you up for directions.

 

[smithie55]

OH... Big Jake, you are hooked my friend!!
Pretty good feeling making your own lumber?
Nice place to do some milling.
Thanks for the pic's.

 

[BIG JAKE]

OH... Big Jake, you are hooked my friend!!
Pretty good feeling making your own lumber?
Nice place to do some milling.
Thanks for the pic's.

Yeah-the immediate problem is where to store cants and lumber? I'll have to stack it outside and cover it!

 

[BIG JAKE]

Pics from yesterday. Came up with a setup that worked well getting the logs off the trailer.

 

[BIG JAKE]

Once the log is milled I can slide it off onto the little trailer and take it back to the stack. The cants are heavy since they're green, but it's a workable method of moving them around.

 

[BobL]

Nice millin height jake!
Keep posting them pics too.

 

[BIG JAKE]

Nice millin height jake!
Keep posting them pics too.

Bob those last logs we rolled up on the trailer using skids-two men and the youngster. We used the thicker planks off of some cants and it was pretty easy. I got the idea that I can easily do the same thing with the DC winch or even the come a long by myself, and the tow strap tied to the opposite side of the trailer forming a V . At the apex of the V is where I'll winch from after rolling the log over the strap. Should work slick. Once the logs are in the trailer I easily roll them out on the horses, mill 'em, and slide the cants onto the little trailer, then transport them to where they'll be stored for drying. I'm pretty stoked about how everything went. Not quite sure how I'll move the 9' 8''X8"s beams yet. I need to clear the big trailer so I can make another log run!

 

[BIG JAKE]

Porch lumber package growing

I've been milling off and on. Here's a few pics. I was up last week and wanted to go this week but decided to recover a little. I overworked the legs last week I got beat up knees(not from milling). Anyway, this is the stack. I have around 200 bd ft of flat sawn pine milled to 7/8" thick and 11 beams of various size but most are 8X8" for the porch. I have logs long enough for the 16' rafters but not strong enough to move on my own and load. I measured and calculated I got 130 bd ft last week with the alaskan mill. My take last week was 22 boards at 8'4". Smallest width 7'', largest 12 1/8" with average about 9.5'' after edging. Boards will be the decking for my 46' X 16' porch cover. Nice finish to the boards with the Baileys ripping chain and holds an edge well.

 

[BIG JAKE]

I found that I can get more lumber at the end of the day by slabbing boards 16'8'' long off of the log where it lies. I can still carry those boards easily(wet) and there's less setup time. Then I just stack the boards and cut the middle. I'd like to go 20' but I don't have alot of fuel left after a cut-don't want to run it dry at the end of a cut or more likely to seize, and I like to idle the saw down for 30-45 seconds after a cut so the fan can cool the saw. I'm using close to 2 gallons of fuel a day. Here's some more pics-aug 3rd episode I only got 14 boards that day because I hit a screw I set too deep-crap. Ripsaw doesn't seem to like really wet pine logs so I've been slabbing with the alaskan. Don't know if my setup is off or what. But since I can only feed 14 1/2" in the ripsaw it wouldn't work on these size logs unless I go to square cants first. That means more log handling and setup time. Still learning.

 

[BIG JAKE]

Beam cutting July 12th

I cut 3 beams this day and brought back some firewood. Distance from the truck and being by myself I had to skid the logs over quite a ways. Forest ranger stopped to check my permit and helped me carry last one . Found out that day the 028 won't drive the lewis winch. I have the 046 but that's the saw I like to use for prepping logs for milling because it's faster than all my other saws. I'm still rehabbing a rebuilt knee from back in december so I have to be careful and slow going.