edging logs

[beaveradict]

Been just slabbing logs and using my table saw to square them up. then i thought well there should be someone out there that has fabed or has an idea how to fab an edger.





Beaveradict

 

[dustytools]

I bought a Granberg mini-mill a while back to edge my logs. Its the slickest thing to come along since sliced bread! http://www.baileysonline.com/itemdetail.asp?item=46555&catID=198

 

[BobL]

I use a home made mini mill.

Full thread in my Mini Mill WIP link in my sig.

 

[mtngun]

I snap a chalk line and cut with a worm drive circular saw. Pretty quick, but it works the saw hard, so you need a good saw with a ripping blade. A 10" saw might be better.

A mini-mill is on my wish list.

 

[Woodsurfer]

I use a circular saw too but I clamp on a guide to follow. I have another board cut as wide as the blade offset so it is fast to find the best place to clamp the guide. Really straight, fast, efficient and leaves a nice surface.

Good for 1" and 2" stuff anyway.

 

[dallasm1]

:agree2:I lag bolt a long length of superstrut and use that as a guide for the worm drive saw. If you need to edge thicker than 2 inches or you are in the woods, the mini mill would be the best option.

 

[beaveradict]

Good stuff guys I work my table saw real hard also thats why i'm looking to do something different. I have an old table saw I'm not using thinking about fabbing a mount for a smaller chain saw to use in it that way when I'm in the woods building the cabin (no power there) I can rip whatever I need.
Keep the ideas coming. "mini mill looks good though"





Beveradict

 

[Brmorgan]

I use a home made mini mill.

Full thread in my Mini Mill WIP link in my sig.

Show-off!!! Just buggin' ya, I wish I had the facilities at home to make all the parts for such a rig.

The easiest in-shop edger consists of a known straightedge for a rip fence, such as a jointed 2X6, a couple C-clamps, and a handheld circular saw with a high-quality ripping blade (I use a Freud Diablo thin-kerf). I've edged a number of flitch slabs this way and it works quite well; I can cut almost 3" thick slabs with the 7-1/4" blade and since it's a thin-kerf it hardly slows down at all. Setup can be tedious, but I generally only square one edge of a bunch of pieces, and run them all thru the tablesaw later to square the other edge.

I have seen in-the-field makeshift edgers/ripsaws using chainsaws, one in Malloff's "Chainsaw Lumbermaking" for example, which don't look too complicated. His is only useful as a ripsaw really, as it needs an existing straight edge to guide the board. I guess you could screw a straight board to the edge of an irregular and guide it that way though. Upside to this kind of rig too is that you don't need a big saw, maybe 50cc at most for 2-4" stock.

Having said all that, a Mini-Mill is a great option for edging a whole log before slabbing it. But, flitch-cutting some logs instead of squaring them can result in a significant reduction in waste, so the circular-saw option comes in handy in those situations.

 

[excess650]

I used the Alaskan and Mini Mill yesterday to slab and square a log too large to fit on my bandmill. For this log I used the Husqvarna 357xp 20", but I've used a Stihl 026 16" for smaller stuff in the past.

The Haddon Lumbermaker and beam machine clones are OK, but nowhere nearly as accurate as the Mini Mill.

I've been cutting DF, and it has significant taper in it. What I've opted to do is mostly square up the logs and then cut lumber. The outer slabs are sometimes heavy, but not worth the effort to cut relatively small pieces of lumber from. If this were clear hardwood vs knotty softwood, I might think differently. The landowner seems satisfied to have the waste to burn in his OWB.

 

[BobL]

Aussies have the same problem cutting wood with Tables saws and hand held circulars as they do with chain saws . I can rip about a 12 ft of 2" thick dry aussie hardwood with my Makita 9 1/2", 2.5 HP circular but then its starts to get too hot and I really can't do another rip until it cools down. Some of this is because I don't have a purpose blade and I do need to get myself a proper ripping blade for it.

For my 12" table saw which is 3HP I have a decent ripping blade and I can rip 3" thick stuff OK but it really struggles with 4" of dry Aussie hardwood. That's one reason why I made the mini-mill.

 

[Sawyer Rob]

A GOOD "worm drive" saw with a ripping blade will eat right through thick flitches. That's what i used long ago, because it's fast, and much cheaper than using my chainsaw. A cheapo saw won't take a lot of this though...

I didn't like doing them on my tablesaw, as you have to muscle the flitches into the shop, or muscle the saw out of the shop. Then there's the fact that the green flitches are wet, and that means your tablesaw will need more maintance to prevent rust. Maybe this wouldn't matter to you "if" you have an old junk tablesaw that you don't care about? My saw is better than that.

Rob

 

[Brmorgan]

Rob, you just described my old tablesaw! It's doubled for everything from a chainsaw repair bench (has a big homemade sheet-goods extension) to a welding table.