White Oak

[Juicemang]

My brother and I slabbed one of the white oak logs today. The saw went through it fine but the bar was building up heat fast. The 4 or 5 wide slabs over 30" we had to stop a few times during each cut to let the bar cool down. The chain was building up cooked saw dust on it, I figured that was causing more friction. I had my auxiliary oiler running and my brother was putting oil on the tip of the bar... not sure what else could have been done to keep it cool. To get the chain clean my brother would drop some snow on the bar while I was cutting. The water from the melted snow going through the wood did a good job cleaning the cooked saw dust off the chain. We got 9 slabs, 9/4 debarked stacked and stickered in 4-5 hours. So I'm happy with this afternoons work. Does anyone have any tips for reducing heat when cutting wide oak slabs?
I put a piece of the foam stuff you use to insulate water pipes in your house on my mill today. It really helps cut down on vibration and make pushing way more comfortable. You can see it in the first pic.
Me makin sawdust

nice slab

 

[flht01]

That's sure a nice log. What plans do you have for the slabs?

Wish I could be more help with the heat build up. What bar oil are you using? From the looks of all that snow, I'd think the winter weight bar oil would be needed. As for the aux oiler, I use the syn motor oil saved from my oil changes on the pickup. Seems to flow a little better than bar oil and haven't had any problems with bar wear. Just a thought...

 

[computeruser]

Darned nice work!

 

[dustytools]

Nice looking stuff Juicemang, You planning on quarter-sawing any of that oak? What plans do you have for the lumber?

 

[1953greg]

beautiful lumber!!!! good work

"Does anyone have any tips for reducing heat when cutting wide oak slabs?"

keep the chain very sharp so u wont have to lean into the csm. u wil need to sharpen at least after every other cut. attach 4-5 tarp straps/bungie cords hooked end to end together and streach in front of the "off" end of the bar to assist the forward movement of the csm. adjust tension as necessary.

when everything is right very very little force (maybe 2 fingers on the powerhead) is necessary for forward progress. the saw wil practically pull itself.

i use a 36" mill on a 42" bar powered by a modified 066. works for me

 

[daemon2525]

Are you holding the back end up with wedges as you are sawing through the log? No offense, just checking as i Did not see them laying on the ground in the pictures.

 

[Juicemang]

"What bar oil are you using?"
I used shindawa bar oil on that day. I always have sthil bar oil but they were out last time I went to buy oil. It was 35-40 out when we were cutting. Most of the time I don't break out the winter oil unless its under 25.

"You planning on quarter-sawing any of that oak? What plans do you have for the lumber?"
No I'm just cutting slabs until I can get my hands on a bandsaw. Right now I plan on making some long coffee tables, and also try to make a large kitchen table out of 2 slabs.

"Are you holding the back end up with wedges as you are sawing through the log?"
Yes there is a wedge in the back and 2 that I moved up the sides of the log.

I will try the bungee idea and check the chain more on the next log, thanks for the advice.

 

[oakman]

just curious why so many guys flat saw right through the log. especially with the oaks and other figured woods. you wind up with mostly vertical grain boards which are great for stability, but you lose all the ovals and cathedrals that makes oak so pretty. i made this mistake when i first started milling, too. what you need to do is turn the cant 90 degrees about every 2 boards on a big log, and every board on a smaller one. plus you'll find the mill goes down the log a lot better when its riding on a square edge as opposed to a rough log side. cut your bar oil with kerosene or wd40 and it will help keep the chain cleaner. looks like a lot of fun, anyways.

 

[Husky137]

just curious why so many guys flat saw right through the log. especially with the oaks and other figured woods. you wind up with mostly vertical grain boards which are great for stability, but you lose all the ovals and cathedrals that makes oak so pretty. i made this mistake when i first started milling, too. what you need to do is turn the cant 90 degrees about every 2 boards on a big log, and every board on a smaller one.

Not only will you get more attractive lumber, but you will get more clear lumber. 30" wide slab with the center filled with knots seems like a waste of a mint log. At least it was saved from a firewood pile.

 

[toughcypress]

Big oaks

We are logging a track here in Florida with some monster Live Oaks .

Have not decided if we want to sell them as logs or slab them .
several semi loads some as large as 6' dia, .

some 3 to 4' with clear trunks to 20' or better ,

Mills here can't saw this size logs they want them no larger then 36"

we are hauling all the pulp and drag-line matt material .

while we hunt buyers for the big wood .

on the bar oil problem some carvers mix 50/50 canola oil some run it straight
canola oil some use mineral oil .

 

[flht01]

We are logging a track here in Florida with some monster Live Oaks .

Have not decided if we want to sell them as logs or slab them .
several semi loads some as large as 6' dia, .

some 3 to 4' with clear trunks to 20' or better ,

Mills here can't saw this size logs they want them no larger then 36"

we are hauling all the pulp and drag-line matt material .

while we hunt buyers for the big wood .

on the bar oil problem some carvers mix 50/50 canola oil some run it straight
canola oil some use mineral oil .

That would be perfect logs for a swingblade mill with a slabbing attachment.

 

[Juicemang]

I flatsaw through the logs I mill right now mostly for speed. I have cut down a lot of trees the past few winters and most were cut up for firewood or thrown in dumpsters for the big grinder. I came across this forum while looking for climbing info. It made me realize how much good wood we were wasting. 2 months ago I knew nothing about milling but started to save logs. About a month ago I got my 880 and alaskan mill and went to work. I have been through about 15 logs since then and still have about 20 more to finish before the end of march. Once April comes I will be working overtime and the golfers will be out. I have to mill on my own time after work or on the weekends. So at this point I'm not interested in milling for grade or even anything less then 8/4. Next year I plan on having either a ripsaw or a lumbermate. I will have all spring, summer and fall the study up on how to mill boards instead of just slabs. We work with 2 different tree companies at the course and both said they would drop off logs for me this summer if I can get my boss to let me have the space to store them. So by next winter I could have a ass ton of logs to practice on. So until then just pictures of slabs from me.