Resawing old barn Beams

[1031Nuc]

I have a large stack of old Barn beams i want to mill. The beams are riddled with nails. I pulled all the nails that i can find, however, there may be a few nails that were broken off and rust left in the wood as well. I want to mill it into usable lumber.

I have heard of people milling old wood the term now is "reclaimed" wood. Just wondering if there is a sawmill out there that can handle very old and hard wood. This stuff is so old and hard you can bearly pull a nail out of it or even drive a nail into it for that matter. The other concern is the rust, dirt, and nails left in the wood.

 

[stonykill]

I really doubt any proffesional mill will touch it. They won't mill residental lumber because of nails, so I doubt you will get them to mill old beams. I mill old beams myself with a chainsaw mill. Yes you waste a little, and spend a lot of time changing and sharpening chains, but its worth it. Rust in the wood is what we call "character". Its a good thing. Dirt is going to dull your chain, but not as fast as a nail will. If you are going to mill it yourself be sure to wear eye protection as well as your other ppe. I have hit nails and had a piece fly right at me. It hit me in the cheek. I immediately purchased a chainsaw helmet.

 

[1031Nuc]

I'm planning on buying a Bandsaw mill, like a Wood Miser, or a HudSon. I know they have Bi-metal?? or something?? blades. Just want to know if those blades will hold up to the punishment. I've ruled out a chainsaw mill. The chain just won't hold up. I hit a fence wire in a log once, let just say,"time for a new chain". I've also thought about the circular saw type mill, Ijust have major doubts on that one too.

 

[stonykill]

I can't help you with the band mill. I know nothing about them except that a local guy that owns one tells me he hits a nail and the blade is finished. Not sure on bi metal blades either.

I've hit more nails while milling than I care to admit, and have always cut right thru them,Usually before I knew what happened, finished the cut, sharpened the chain, and milled the next slab.

Barbed wire will really screw up a chain. I haven't had the same catastofic results with nails. I did hit concrete in a log once. Ruined the chain and the log became firewood.

 

[Backwood]

I wouldnt rule out a chainsaw mill. I have a csm and a bandsaw and although I have never tried milling old beams full of nails , If I was to try one I would probably use the chainsaw. Like Stonykill said a csm will go through a nail and keep going , then a few minutes with a file and you are ready to go again. I can buy a new chain for the chainsaw cheaper than a band for my bandsaw.

Just for the record I have never used a bi-metal blade either. But I have cut nails with the chainsaw.

 

[MJR]

I looked at Hudson a couple of years ago – JUNK. There are many other band mills that are better made (I went with the Norwood LL24). When it comes to metal get a good metal detector. A CSM will do better with nails. Good luck.

 

[BlueRider]

on a lucas mill the blade has 5 carbide teeth. they will cut through a nail just like a CSM and you will need to resharpen for the next pass. the problem with a carbide tooth is when you hit a dry wall screw it will shatter a tooth or three. they can be replaced but you will need to send the blade out for that. A drywall screw will tear off a few cutters on a chain but it will still be usable for the rest of the day.

 

[slabmaster]

I was milling a 8x8 ash beam with my csm yesterday and hit 2 nails and didn't notice them til i went back to take the guide board off,and there they were sticking out of the log.I got lucky though as they were aluminum nails and didnt even dull the chain . I have hit regular ones though and they have broken cutters before but still had a chain to keep useing just replaced the cutter.

 

[1031Nuc]

Hey thanks for all the input. You guys are a great help. I'm new to the chainsaw mill process. I understand you can make one fairly easy. The waste factor of the blade is not an issue. I'm more interested in the "smoothness" of the cut. Like Stonykill says "i'm looking for the charecter of the wood" so would like a fairly nice smooth cut.

The beams are 20-30' long and about 12"x12", so I'm thinking about 10 cuts per beam. Am I going to be sharpening my chain with every pass, or is there a special chain out there I should know about.

I'm all ears.opcorn:

 

[slabmaster]

I don't think you will get 10 cuts per beam.How thick do you want the boards to be.Even with a bandmill,you won't get 10 cuts.With a csm you get less as the kerf is about 1/4".To get a smooth cut you will have to use a milling chain with the cutters at 0 degrees. Mark Ps.If you don't hit any nails you should go all day without sharpening the chain.

 

[trimmmed]

I have a large stack of old Barn beams i want to mill. The beams are riddled with nails. I pulled all the nails that i can find, however, there may be a few nails that were broken off and rust left in the wood as well. I want to mill it into usable lumber.

I have heard of people milling old wood the term now is "reclaimed" wood. Just wondering if there is a sawmill out there that can handle very old and hard wood. This stuff is so old and hard you can bearly pull a nail out of it or even drive a nail into it for that matter. The other concern is the rust, dirt, and nails left in the wood.

Try and sell the beams.........then buy usable lumber with the proceeds, you'll be way ahead of the game.

 

[Mike Van]

A bimetal blade for my bandmill is about 80.00, it'll cut roughly 50 - 75 nails off before it's too dull to go on. The bimetal tip is hard enough that the metal from the nail doesn't weld a chip on every tooth like the standard blades do. I'm guessing you don't need 20 to 30 foot lumber? As most common bandmills do 16 1/2' Extensions are available but cost $$$$$. Unless you're going into the lumber reclaiming business, a bandmill is a lot of moola for a few beams. I could get 10 one inch boards from a [straight] 12" beam. You can powerwash the beams to get the crud off, it won't hurt them, as sawing into dirt is going to dull anything much faster. A metal detector is worth a box of blades. I use an old White's Coinmaster, not fancy, but it finds most of them.

 

[Backwood]

Hey thanks for all the input. You guys are a great help. I'm new to the chainsaw mill process. I understand you can make one fairly easy. .opcorn:

Check out the thread on here by Brmorgan about chainsaw lumbermaking. He is scaning a copy of an out of print book that is great. I am not sure if he has got that far yet but the book shows how to make a real simple mill out of 2x4's.
You can also do a search on here and come up with some good ideas on building a mill. I think BobL's BiL mill is about as good as it gets.
I get my ripping chain from Baileys. It will give a smother cut vs. regular chain.

 

[Brmorgan]

I wouldn't think about tackling them without first passing a metal detector over them, and even then the beams are big enough that it might miss a couple. After that, if dirt on the beam surface is a problem, I'd recommend putting a knotted wire brush wheel or sanding disc on an angle grinder and scrubbing all the sides down so you can see what you're working with a bit better. A pressure washer will work too but the high pressure could also force dirt into any cracks in the wood. Of course, you could always get a carbide chain ($$$) though from what I understand that stuff cuts slow as molasses in January. If you do use a chainsaw, I'd recommend getting semi-round chain as the cutters will stand up to a lot more abuse than full-square chisel. A couple weeks ago I cut clean through a 3/8" lag bolt with the 090 and semi-round chain; it didn't even slow it down, and it only took the edge off a couple teeth and friction welded some metal shards to a few others. But all things considered it didn't really do that much damage. 15 minutes with a file and I was going again.

Try and sell the beams.........then buy usable lumber with the proceeds, you'll be way ahead of the game.

Nah, where's the fun (and/or frustration) in that? It's true that time is money, but nothing beats raw experience and that unique DIY satisfaction!

Check out the thread on here by Brmorgan about chainsaw lumbermaking. He is scaning a copy of an out of print book that is great. I am not sure if he has got that far yet but the book shows how to make a real simple mill out of 2x4's.
You can also do a search on here and come up with some good ideas on building a mill. I think BobL's BiL mill is about as good as it gets.
I get my ripping chain from Baileys. It will give a smoother cut vs. regular chain.

Unfortunately the DIY mill part of the book is pretty much the very end - page 190 and on, and I'm only done up to p.75 at this point. I should be done within a week or so though. I agree about BobL's mill, his is probably about the most user-friendly handheld mills I've seen. I'm curious what the "BiL" means though, the only thing I've seen that used for before is to abbreviate "Brother in Law".

 

[1031Nuc]

I'm a DIYer/Jerk-of-all-trades so a "little" work always turns into A LOT of work. I was hoping for a silver bullet answer and pretty much got what I expected, A LOT of work and $$$$$ to do this project.

I own a Poulan Wood Shark and that baby keeps my wood stove cookin. Love not having to burn Propane this year. Maybe I just like to make more work for myself, but I don't see that saw holding up to that much abuse. I used it to cut these beams in half but not sure how well it will do on a rip cut.

Here is one more thought, I found a mill that literaly uses a "skil saw" not a "stihl saw" that is mounted on a contraption and runs it through a pc. of wood. The local tool shop has a 10" circular saw. I used to be a framer and with a 7" blade we'd cut EVERYTHING from drywall to concrete. My question is 1st of all minimum amperage on the motor and 2nd blade wable with that much of a workload.

You guys are great at thowing out ideas, and I LOVE IT. It's a lot better than throwing out $$$$. Let me know what you think.

 

[1031Nuc]

Wanted throw out a big thanks to MikeVan on the bandsaw mill. I'm taking your advise and scrapping that idea. I'm not ready to drop several thousand on that.

Trimmmed I've been thinking these beams might do me a better service in the wood stove. If I was Day Trading my stop loss would have kicked in long ago. Just not ready to give up yet.

Brmorgan Great idea on cleaning things up with the wire wheel. I'm definately going to need some protection with that phase of the project.

 

[Mike Van]

A Lucas Mill, or Mobile Dimension might look like a SKilsaw, but there's no comparison. I don't think there's a "skilsaw" made that would stand up to ripping old beams, hour after hour. They have universal type motors with brushes, they just can't take the load/heat for a job like yours. Too bad you couldn't find a buyer for them, 20 to 30 footers aren't that common. Wood stove seems a shame.