I rescued some more trees from the big construction project last week. One of my neighbors lives right across from where the trees were cut so we dragged them over to his house. Besides a cool tractor he also has a bandmill!
Today we cut one and a half logs (of five) from the three white oaks I salvaged. Actual cutting time was very short compared to what I'm used to with my chainsaw mill. Set up for the first cut was kinda long since we had to fetch logs, gas, water and tools to the mill (and change the old band out). Some things don't change! The big speed bump came when the bandmill sliced cut after cut pausing only to raise the head and pull back for the next cut. I envy that part, along with not 'rasslin a big chainsaw and CSM every slab. Cut one 3"+ slab for leg blanks, all else 6/4. This would have been an all day job with my CSM. We cut this much in about 1.5 hours, including chasing around after our stuff and moving logs.
The finish left on the boards was not better than my CSM. When the bandmill was spot on with a new sharp blade it did well but knots caused a little undulation. Overall I'd say I can cut truer lumber with my CSM but I work a lot harder for it. And once the wood is planed this does not matter at all.
Anyway my neighbor had to stop and go run the bush hog so I edged and trimmed out what we'd sliced and ended up with a pretty nice haul. I usually save this part for later but today seemed a good chance to get some "finished" wood with all the sapwood and defects cut away. When I saw it all loaded in the trailer I momentarily thought that I had in front of me "The-World's-Hardest-Do-It-Yourself-Furniture Kit". Edging and trimming it took way longer than milling and it was steamy hot today. I'm whipped.
Today we cut one and a half logs (of five) from the three white oaks I salvaged. Actual cutting time was very short compared to what I'm used to with my chainsaw mill. Set up for the first cut was kinda long since we had to fetch logs, gas, water and tools to the mill (and change the old band out). Some things don't change! The big speed bump came when the bandmill sliced cut after cut pausing only to raise the head and pull back for the next cut. I envy that part, along with not 'rasslin a big chainsaw and CSM every slab. Cut one 3"+ slab for leg blanks, all else 6/4. This would have been an all day job with my CSM. We cut this much in about 1.5 hours, including chasing around after our stuff and moving logs.
The finish left on the boards was not better than my CSM. When the bandmill was spot on with a new sharp blade it did well but knots caused a little undulation. Overall I'd say I can cut truer lumber with my CSM but I work a lot harder for it. And once the wood is planed this does not matter at all.
Anyway my neighbor had to stop and go run the bush hog so I edged and trimmed out what we'd sliced and ended up with a pretty nice haul. I usually save this part for later but today seemed a good chance to get some "finished" wood with all the sapwood and defects cut away. When I saw it all loaded in the trailer I momentarily thought that I had in front of me "The-World's-Hardest-Do-It-Yourself-Furniture Kit". Edging and trimming it took way longer than milling and it was steamy hot today. I'm whipped.
