Tough Day Milling Elm

[BobL]

Did your Dad go to school or something near Poughkeepsie,New York and grow up with my Dad? They sure did think alike (most of my friends dad didn't do thing like that.

My grandfather died when my dad was 13 so Dad had to leave school and go work in a mill to support his mom & 8 bothers and sisters.

And was that a short ton or a long ton?[/QUOTE]
Our ton is 2200 lbs - so whatever that is.

And I think my privilege was granted because I bet my father I could split a cord by hand quicker than he could. So it was a lesson in learning to define things. He split birch and maple.

I never got a chance to have that bet. When I was 13 my dad was in a logging accident and although he survived he was a physical wreck for the rest of his life.

 

[820wards]

When I was in grade 4 elementary my dad gave me £5 to pay the monthly butchers bill - in those days we bought meat from a butcher who gave us credit as long as we paid every month. That much money was also a substantial fraction of Dad's weekly take home pay and muggins here lost it! My penalty was I had to split up 5 tons of firewood using a standard axe (not even block splitter). The wood was not your namby pamby straight grain stuff but gnarly Aussie hardwood. It took me a month of working after school and on weekends. In the end my dad helped me chop up the really tough stuff. Boy could I chop hard wood after that - and can still do so today

Bob,

I'll bet you could have arm wrestled anyone at your school and beat them hands down after splitting that much wood.

I have split some eucalyptus here where I live with a maul and sledge hammer and it was no easy chore. As hard as the woods are where you live it must have felt like you were never going to get done. What your Dad taught you by repaying him with labor has made you a good person today. If a parent tried doing that here in the states, the kid would probably report the parent(s) for child abuse.

jerry-

 

[BobL]

Bob,

I'll bet you could have arm wrestled anyone at your school and beat them hands down after splitting that much wood.

I wish - I was kinda small as a kid and academically one of the better kids in my class, plus my mouth got me into a bit of trouble. I learned to dodge punches and keep out of the way of bullies.

I have split some eucalyptus here where I live with a maul and sledge hammer and it was no easy chore. As hard as the woods are where you live it must have felt like you were never going to get done. What your Dad taught you by repaying him with labor has made you a good person today. If a parent tried doing that here in the states, the kid would probably report the parent(s) for child abuse.

Dad was actually a softie and mom was the tough guy. She could just look at you from 50 yards away and you knew you were in trouble.

 

[820wards]

Dad was actually a softie and mom was the tough guy. She could just look at you from 50 yards away and you knew you were in trouble.

Between the two of your parents I think you turned out to be a pretty nice guy, but then we haven't talked with the Mrs. yet.... Just kidding. Anyone who is willing to help so many people with this milling hobby we all have, has to be all right in my book.

jerry-

 

[davidbrac]

Logosol also have a debarker
http://www.logosol.co.uk/sawmills/accessories/log-wizard.html

 

[Daninvan]

More Pics!

Well my original plan to go back the next day and finish off what I had left behind kinda morphed into "go back someday". Which turned out to be today, only a week and half later. I thought I'd tackle one of the two remaining elm pieces.

I figured it would be easy. The log was already partly slabbed last time so it was flat, trimmed to width, and debarked. Two hours max in and out for 5 or 6 slabs I figured. Plus it was yet another beautiful dry sunny day, temp was maybe 10 degrees C, perfect!

Ha! You get overconfident and BOOM! Once again it was a day of endless small things going wrong.

My main saw died on me after less than half a cut. It took forever to transfer the mill over to my number 3 saw. (number 2 was in pieces at home) I had to spend way more time sharpening than I expected, since I failed to resharpen after my last outing. Apparently the trimming the log to max 31" and debarking job I did last time was not up to snuff, I spent a lot of time on both. Again. The mill got loose at one point and messed up a cut. Then I noticed the last few boards were curved.

I called it a day after five slabs and about 3 1/2 hours. I figure around 100 bf.

Dan, planing on setting aside a day or two for chainsaw maintenance, soon.

 

[gemniii]

Purty wood!

 

[BobL]

Looks like some real nice looking wood Dan.

What happened to the saw?

 

[Daninvan]

Looks like some real nice looking wood Dan.

What happened to the saw?

I'm happy with the wood, even though the pieces are short, maybe 3 1/2 feet long. The grain is actually quite straight and clear, so it should be good stuff once its dried out. I am getting a bit sick of elm though, I have enough elm stacked up to (pick your favourite metaphor).

The saw, once it warmed up, kept quitting on me. It would just kind of go from full throttle screaming to burbling to a stop in a matter of a second or two, sometimes it would recover and carry on, sometimes not. It's been getting worse the past couple of times I used it. (NOT running out of gas!)

I had changed the muffler recently, to one that had pretty much zero back pressure, so that may have affected things.

Since I don't have any interest in tuning/maintaining the motors myself, it's off to the shop tomorrow. I meant to do it today, but, umm, I fell asleep on the couch after coming home from milling!

 

[BobL]

I'm happy with the wood, even though the pieces are short, maybe 3 1/2 feet long. The grain is actually quite straight and clear, so it should be good stuff once its dried out. I am getting a bit sick of elm though, I have enough elm stacked up to (pick your favourite metaphor).

I'd like to be milling anything.

The saw, once it warmed up, kept quitting on me. It would just kind of go from full throttle screaming to burbling to a stop in a matter of a second or two, sometimes it would recover and carry on, sometimes not. It's been getting worse the past couple of times I used it. (NOT running out of gas!)

Sounds like a blocked carby?

I had changed the muffler recently, to one that had pretty much zero back pressure, so that may have affected things.

Did you retune after the replacement?

Since I don't have any interest in tuning/maintaining the motors myself, it's off to the shop tomorrow. I meant to do it today, but, umm, I fell asleep on the couch after coming home from milling!

No beer involved??

 

[Daninvan]

OK some more info on this. I took the saw to a local shop for a tune up, told them about the dying problem mid-cut.

The mechanic there called me and said "did you try loosening the gas cap when it happened". I had not done so, but after I spoke to him the lightbulb went on. I had purchased a new gas cap for the saw recently and the correlation between new gas cap and the saw dying was pretty clear. I guess I can go back to my old gas cap, but I am not sure why the new gas cap would not vent properly and (presumably) allow a vacuum to build up inside the tank.

I like the new gas cap since it has a little plastic bit on the inside that prevents the cap from falling on the ground when I am filling the saw up . . .

 

[BobL]

OK some more info on this. I took the saw to a local shop for a tune up, told them about the dying problem mid-cut.

The mechanic there called me and said "did you try loosening the gas cap when it happened". I had not done so, but after I spoke to him the lightbulb went on. I had purchased a new gas cap for the saw recently and the correlation between new gas cap and the saw dying was pretty clear. I guess I can go back to my old gas cap, but I am not sure why the new gas cap would not vent properly and (presumably) allow a vacuum to build up inside the tank.

I like the new gas cap since it has a little plastic bit on the inside that prevents the cap from falling on the ground when I am filling the saw up . . .

Glad you found the problem. I always listen for the sound of hissing when I open the gas can in case the tank vent valve is getting dirty or stuck. This happened to a friend of mine when his 660 seized because his tank vent valve was partially blocked and the saw was running too lean. Usually a saw just wont run if it can't get the fuel but if there is just enough to keep it running it can do nasty things.

 

[huskyhank]

I assume you are using one of the 2100s from your signature. The saw probably needs a new tank vent. Or at least the old one cleaned out. The shop may have to improvise as the old parts may not be around any more. You can use your new cap and the saw will run great. While they have it ask them to rebuild the carb.

 

[Daninvan]

Hank, thanks for the heads up. I'll check into that.

Dan

 

[Daninvan]

Finished!!

Well I got down to the beach today to finish off that last piece of elm. I had started it with my buddy back at the beginning of November, but we were not able to complete it. The plan was to get back to it "soon".

So I arrived today and it was all set up and ready to go. I trimmed a bit off and started at it. The first cut went without any drama.

Then, problems. I had a friend running the saw for the first time, she got about two feet and then had a terrible time with it. I took over and realized that we had encountered something embedded in the log. A clue was the big patch of bark inclusion right where the saw had stopped. So we pried out a bunch of junk, including some rocks!

Then, we had to change mills since the chain had been badly damaged by meeting the rock(s). We restarted the cut at the bottom to save any rocks to the end of the cut, and pushed uphill to complete the cut. Luckily, no more rocks.

In the end we finished off the elm, got five slabs, and I have two new helpers!

 

[mtngun]

Great pics, Danivan

 

[mrbentontoyou]

success!

congrats on finally finishing up.

question- maybe i missed this earlier in the thread but what is your claim to the logs on the beach? can you just take whatever washes up? if that's the case you are luuuucky...

here in nyc the city parks department is so uptight about fallen trees on city property you can actually get arrested and fined for taking/milling trees that blow down.

 

[Daninvan]

We can't take what washes up either, the city has a designated area where they put stuff they don't want / can't sell to mills and let's people go at it. There's a benefit to them also, they don't have pay to get them hauled to the dump!

You are not supposed to mill in the parks here either, I have may have done it (!) but you can get in trouble if they catch you.

 

[BobL]

Nice pics, but it looks cold?

I forget, do you always mill with a dust mask?

 

[MR4WD]

I'm pretty jealous! English Bay/Burrard Inlet? How do you get access down there? There must be tons of gates! I do a lot of work on the coast, maybe I'll give you a heads up one day and bring the mill down. I currently have no interest in anything but softwoods, but I'd like to learn from another miller.

Thanks,
Chad.