Calibrated eyeballs for exact 18" cuts ??

[adamc]

Hi all,

I drilled a hole 18" from the end an old strip of vinyl siding and use a can of line marking paint to spray through the hole. It makes a nice small dot, and the brightly colored line marking paint is very easy to see. The trunk obviously goes pretty fast, but it is suprisingly efficient for marking limbs and branches as well. I just mark as many as I can reach, cut them all and them mark another section. It is much faster than using the saw bar (which I used to do) and is very accurate.

I bought a couple of cans of marking paint for $3 a piece in the bargain bin at the local hardware store and the scrap of siding was free. At the end of the day, I scrape off the glob of paint that accumulates around the hole.

Adam

 

[Vermonster]

Mingo Marker if'n I'm sellin wood,...eye ball if it's for my consumption. :greenchainsaw:
Better to err on the short side rather than having an unburnable long piece of wood. :monkey:

 

[DJ4wd]

Most of the time I cut my wood pretty close to the 20"mark and I thought about getting some of thoes sticks that bolt on,but I just realalized that I dont cut from the right to the left so these wouldnt work anyway. Im left handed so maybe thats why.
Maybe Ill have to get a mingo after all,or have the kids go ahead and sidewalk chalk it lol.

 

[2FatGuys]

Maybe Ill have to get a mingo after all,or have the kids go ahead and sidewalk chalk it lol.

The mingo is definitely worth its cost in saved time. Keep the paint nozzle clean and you will get good sharp paint dots...

 

[Oldtimer]

I have a variety of pre-made sticks in 16-18-20-22-24" lengths, and either use a "wood crayon" from the hardware store, or just measure each chunk with the stick...if the wood is wet (rain) the crayon will not work, so I use the stick. Otherwise, I like to mark each chunk off with the red crayon.
Usually works out so that after I cut a bunch, then toss it out off the pile to expose the logs again...I need a break. So I mark the next batch out while I take the break.

If any customer should ever find fault in a chunk being 1/2" off, then they don't get any more wood from me. No complaints yet. actually, they all marvel at how uniform it is. They also like how "clean" it is, since I toss it on the truck by hand. Conveyor fed trucks get a lot of shmegpah, and no one wants to rake up a yard of shmegpah after a wood delivery.

EDIT:

Doing my own wood, I just eyeball it. Anything under 26" is fine. I can usually keep it within 1" of my target of 20" though..

 

[mickeyd]

18" bar on the saw....

rotate saw 90 degrees after first cut and see where end of bar is, thats where you have to cut the log...

repeat

etc

works out quite well and you dont have to mark or carry something extra.

:agree2:

 

[banshee67]

i just hack the hell out of every thing and hope for the best in the end
all my pieces usually come out between 12" and 24"

 

[2FatGuys]

I have a variety of pre-made sticks in 16-18-20-22-24" lengths, and either use a "wood crayon" from the hardware store, or just measure each chunk with the stick...if the wood is wet (rain) the crayon will not work, so I use the stick. Otherwise, I like to mark each chunk off with the red crayon.
Usually works out so that after I cut a bunch, then toss it out off the pile to expose the logs again...I need a break. So I mark the next batch out while I take the break.

Been there, done that... and it worked well for us for a long time. We bought the Mingo just out of curiosity 2 years ago and haven't marked wood differently since!

Think through the time involved in marking with the stick method, or the delay in cutting by having to rotate the saw to sight bar length each time...

My partner marked a 72' tulip poplar trunk in 16" segments Saturday in the time it took to walk the 72', while I started cutting at his first mark. So, we had everything marked in seconds. No delay for putting down the saw and grabbing the stick and... wait... where'd that crayon go? No swinging a running saw around to eyeball length vs bar length. It's really a simple decision when cutting a LOT of wood and wanting to become more efficient.

Something extra to carry? You mean a 20oz paint can in a 8 ounce plastic device is burdonsome? Yet we all get CAD and keep carrying bigger and bigger saws? LOL (for the record... I was slicing through that poplar with my Husqy 394, 32" bar and full skip chain).

 

[2FatGuys]

i just hack the hell out of every thing and hope for the best in the end
all my pieces usually come out between 12" and 24"

Only because YOU ARE THE MAN..... LOL

 

[alderman]

Most of the time I just eyeball it, and I tend to cut on the short side anyway.
If I want to get precise I use the mark on my bar.

 

[esshup]

I've eyeballed, used the bar, and used a stick and a can of paint. When I bought my chaps I thought "what the he.. is this Mingo marker thing?" So I threw it on the order and I'm lovin' it.

Last year I didn't have a lot of free time, and a neighbor's friend was out of work and selling wood. I bought 5 cords from him and won't do it again. The wood was seasoned, but it varied in length from 12" to 24", and my insert is supposed to max out at 22".....

 

[DJ4wd]

i just hack the hell out of every thing and hope for the best in the end
all my pieces usually come out between 12" and 24"

Now thats funny , Im in the college library, and now have people leaning over trying to figure out whats so funny
:greenchainsaw:

 

[CWME]

I have been eyeballing my stuff. Shooting for 20" and although not exact I bet it will still burn next winter.

Tip, When I have the 4 way wedge on my splitter the max length is about 21". If an errant piece won't fit, I stick it in sideways and run the ram up to hold it in place. The splitter is now the saw buck holding the wood for me to cut. I cut the piece off and then go back to splitting.

 

[injun joe]

i just eye ball my cuts but then again i have to cut all kinds of different lenghts it varies from 12'' all the way up to a 28'' piece of firewood so i just eyeball it no ones complained of it being to long but its little short.

 

[gwiley]

I try to cut them as long as I can and still split them. On thinner stuff I go for 36"+, on big rounds I go for 12-18". The OWB will burn stuff up to about 48" and my theory is that the fewer pieces I have to handle the more efficient I am. My stacks are irregular, but then so are a lot of other things at my house

 

[indiansprings]

For the firewood business, we have to maximize cutting production, don't have the time for a mingo marker. Over many years of cutting firewood, I think I can cut within +or- 1 inch, prolly better than that on 18" wood since that is what we cut the most of. On any of the hired hands we start them cutting using the method of comparing the bar length to the wood. If they are really slow, I'll grab a can of paint and mark off where I want them to cut for several logs. Then they are on their own to cut it right. We have very consistent results just using the "calibrated" eye results. Why spend 25 percent of your time marking them, just try the calibrated eye approach, you'll find it more accuarate than you thought it could be.

 

[Oldtimer]

Sometimes I do measure a section with the stick, then cut the next 3 by eye, then measure, then cut the next 3 by eye...doing it that way keeps you honest and increases the speed too.

 

[just a dave]

I Eyeball 18" every time, most of the time!

 

[BarkBuster20]

I will measure a 16 inch stick, and then grab my screw driver and make slashes in the bark for my marks, on trees with bark too rough for this method i generally use a wood crayon. It doesnt take long to mark firewood lengths, and i sell firewood. It makes for BEAUTIFUL stack too.

 

[howellhandmade]

Tip for OP: when stacking,

1. line up the cut ends on one side of the stack perfectly, then

2. photograph the stack from that side only.

Voila! Nobody has to know what the other side looks like.

Jack