Went milling yesterday

[BIG JAKE]

More beam cutting

Here's some more pics of beams cut July 1st.

 

[mtngun]

Good work ! ! !

Your beams always seem to be perfectly square. I find that challenging with an alaskan.

I covet your guide board.

Is this private land or forest service ?

 

[BIG JAKE]

Good work ! ! !

Your beams always seem to be perfectly square. I find that challenging with an alaskan.

I covet your guide board.

Is this private land or forest service ?

Thanks mtngun-I never use a square just eyeball it but that aluminum rail makes it easy because it's so straight and rigid too. I used a square at first till I realized I don't need it. Where I'm cutting is on Nat'l Forest land. I have some land of my own but this is closer-it's an area that was thinned. Logs aren't very big but big enough. But I can cut dead wood forest wide, I just want the fresh cut so it'll be bug free. The firewood cutters will have it all cleared up by winter so I've been hitting it pretty regularly. Last year I found a blowdown pine that was 48" in diameter. Firewood cutters got to it first though. So I've been working on the 4 wheeler today to get it ready for scouting. I'd like to lay into some big logs if I can find them. Speaking of guide boards, I had the thought that a 9.5" TGI would work well for a guide board-very light and strong.

 

[mtngun]

I hear you on the competition with the firewood cutters. When I spot a nice blow-down on public land, I figure I better get it before someone else does, even if I don't urgently need the wood.

I don't think a TGI i-beam would be rigid enough when laid on its side, but, I haven't tried it. Moisture damage would also be a concern. I try to baby my guide board, but somehow it ends up getting wet and warping despite my best efforts.

Your aluminum guide makes sense to me.

Aluminum ladders are too wide to lay flat on a narrow cant, otherwise they are a good value. I suppose you could modify the ladder by welding or bolting a few pieces of angle across, to create a flat surface for the ladder to lay on, and also to provide a place to screw the ladder to the cant. I like a 13' guide board, so I would need to buy a 24' extension ladder -- about $160. But unistrut isn't cheap, either, and unistrut is heavy.

 

[BIG JAKE]

I hear you on the competition with the firewood cutters. When I spot a nice blow-down on public land, I figure I better get it before someone else does, even if I don't urgently need the wood.

I don't think a TGI i-beam would be rigid enough when laid on its side, but, I haven't tried it. Moisture damage would also be a concern. I try to baby my guide board, but somehow it ends up getting wet and warping despite my best efforts.

Your aluminum guide makes sense to me.

Aluminum ladders are too wide to lay flat on a narrow cant, otherwise they are a good value. I suppose you could modify the ladder by welding or bolting a few pieces of angle across, to create a flat surface for the ladder to lay on, and also to provide a place to screw the ladder to the cant. I like a 13' guide board, so I would need to buy a 24' extension ladder -- about $160. But unistrut isn't cheap, either, and unistrut is heavy.

I moved a 400lb woodstove up into the house on 2 said TGI's sure they deflected some. I'd give you one if you were closer to try. If I had it to do over again though, I'd buy another rail kit from Ripsaw. They're pricey, but so light and rigid. Should last me a lifetime if I don't drop a tree on it or run over it. I took advice of some of the guys on here and bought one-worth it. I only have two sections(10.5 ft) but found if I level the log first with the 046 for long logs, I can make the first rail slab cut to the end, leave the saw in the cut idling and slide the rail to the other end. I zip in a small screw to hold the rail from vibrating sideways and continue the cut. I only use the rail on the first cut. After that I just run on the wood. I found that if I cant the saw across defects it nullifies defects and the boards actually smooth out with consecutive cuts. Also, if I drive wedges in too hard as mill along I can create a defect because it lifts the rig height slightly. So I wedge gently and boards are coming out nice. Just enough to maintain the kerf width. I'll have to see if I can go 20' on a tank of gas but depends on the log diameter.

 

[BobL]

Nice pics Big Jake. Good to see some slope milling and I see you also bring a table along with you.

Just a point on cooling down after milling, having a temp gauge on my saw I can see how long it takes to take most of the excess heat out of the saw after a long run. Because the probe on my temp gauge sits on top of the exhaust outlet it only measures the outer ally skin temp and it is affected by air flow. When I stop the saw the temperature rises quickly (no air flow) so to assess the affect of period of cooling I had to let the saw idle for different periods and then watch the temperature rise after stopping the saw. I have not done a systematic test but it looks like at least 2 minutes of idling is needed to take the excess heat out of the saw. I will do some more tests when I next mill a big log.

 

[BobL]

Aluminum ladders are too wide to lay flat on a narrow cant, otherwise they are a good value. I suppose you could modify the ladder by welding or bolting a few pieces of angle across, to create a flat surface for the ladder to lay on, and also to provide a place to screw the ladder to the cant. I like a 13' guide board, so I would need to buy a 24' extension ladder -- about $160. But unistrut isn't cheap, either, and unistrut is heavy.

I know what you mean about unistrut being heavy. I should have just gone for the the HD ally unistrut that I used for my mill rails, it costs the same as the steel unistrut but only weights 16 lb per 20' length. I might just do that sometime.

 

[BIG JAKE]

Nice pics Big Jake. Good to see some slope milling and I see you also bring a table along with you.

Just a point on cooling down after milling, having a temp gauge on my saw I can see how long it takes to take most of the excess heat out of the saw after a long run. Because the probe on my temp gauge sits on top of the exhaust outlet it only measures the outer ally skin temp and it is affected by air flow. When I stop the saw the temperature rises quickly (no air flow) so to assess the affect of period of cooling I had to let the saw idle for different periods and then watch the temperature rise after stopping the saw. I have not done a systematic test but it looks like at least 2 minutes of idling is needed to take the excess heat out of the saw. I will do some more tests when I next mill a big log.

Excellent Bob-thanks I'll idle it longer then. I have a laser thermometer-I'll test that if it goes high enough and also a probe therm. On the table-I try to stay off my knees and the table makes it easier to make adjustments.

 

[BobL]

Excellent Bob-thanks I'll idle it longer then. I have a laser thermometer-I'll test that if it goes high enough and also a probe therm.

I experimented with an IR (with target laser) meter last year and found it was a bit erratic. To start with it doesn't align all that accurately with the laser and the the surface has to be dark and rough to work properly. It was hopeless on shiny light coloured surfaces. The temp really needs to be measured as close as possible to the exhaust port or maybe even the exhaust itself will be as good as anything.

On the table-I try to stay off my knees and the table makes it easier to make adjustments.

Yep - agree 100%