A Fine CSM Morning (Pic Sequence)

[duffontap]

Well, it was another fine morning of enjoying the aftermath of the worst storm in 50 years. There are nice, big logs everywhere and in a lot of cases people are dying to give them away. This is a sequence of a 8' hemlock butt cut being milled into 1x12" boards to side my shed.

People talk about what hard work this is but for me it was a totally relaxing morning. There's some hard work involved--sure--but most of the time your just walking the saw through the cut and that just gives me the time I need to think about stuff. Every board that comes off the cant looks different.

About all my little truck will handle:

From the time I pulled up to the deck to the time I left, I spent between 3 and 3 1/2 hours of pure milling pleasure. I ended up with 13 perfect boards and some good firewood. When my wife saw the boards in the back of the truck she said, 'wow, that thing was a good investment!'

J. D.

 

[woodshop]

Nice... great little sequence of pure pleasure. Don't ya wonder why more people don't do this????? I envy you having all those nice huge softwoods out there on the west coast. But then I guess you wish you had more of the hardwoods we have here, like the maple tree I milled today, so...

Good post... thanks.

 

[duffontap]

Thanks woodshop! I do wonder why more people don't take CSM more seriously. I've wanted to be able to mill lumber for years and I would get the bandmill dvd's and just drool. That fact is, I will never be able to afford that kind of milling. I don't have that size of need, I don't have the space, I don't have the money, I don't have the truck, I don't have the...etc, etc...

I can now do something I've wanted to be able to do for years in a simple and portable manner. It's the best possible match for my needs, budget, location, etc.

J. D. Duff

 

[BobL]

Nice... great little sequence of pure pleasure. Don't ya wonder why more people don't do this?????

Yep and Yep. But we don't want too many people getting into it and hogging the logs!

And thanks for posting your pics DuffOT. It certainly looks like a productive morning.

 

[oldsaw]

Thanks woodshop! I do wonder why more people don't take CSM more seriously. I've wanted to be able to mill lumber for years and I would get the bandmill dvd's and just drool. That fact is, I will never be able to afford that kind of milling. I don't have that size of need, I don't have the space, I don't have the money, I don't have the truck, I don't have the...etc, etc...

I can now do something I've wanted to be able to do for years in a simple and portable manner. It's the best possible match for my needs, budget, location, etc.

J. D. Duff

You have just told my story. You at least have a mini-truck. I've got a VW station wagon and a trailer hitch.

Mark

 

[duffontap]

Yep and Yep. But we don't want too many people getting into it and hogging the logs!

My problem is keeping the firewood cutters off these things. I was running around with a can of spray paint writing 'no cut' and 'save' on all the good stuff at a friend's house. The best 34' Hemlock log was still taken in comparatively worthless 16" lengths. Bummer.

Mark, I must look pretty funny driving around in a wheelie position with my little pickup. Ha, ha. I love this little thing. $687.00 was the strange but reasonable price I paid for it.

J. D.

 

[dustytools]

I can relate to your story too. I "stumbled" into chainsaw mills while searching the web for bandsaw mills. It didnt take me long to realize that a bandmill would not fit into my budget and that for the portability that I was looking for the CSM was the tool for me. I too find that milling lumber is very satisfying and relaxing. Cool pictures, thanks for posting them!

 

[zopi]

When my wife saw the boards in the back of the truck she said, 'wow, that thing was a good investment!'

J. D.

i heard that one the other night...my wife is the one who made me get
the lt15 instead of something lighter...she said the littler mills looked cheesy...get something bigger...then said NO! to the lt40hdg510ra...:greenchainsaw:

she likes the hydraulics tho...

it's good to marry a big hearted engineer...

I do wish i had some of that hemlock...but this cypress is alot of fun, and stupid easy to cut...

 

[duffontap]

I can relate to your story too. I "stumbled" into chainsaw mills while searching the web for bandsaw mills. It didnt take me long to realize that a bandmill would not fit into my budget and that for the portability that I was looking for the CSM was the tool for me. I too find that milling lumber is very satisfying and relaxing. Cool pictures, thanks for posting them!

The way I see it, how much extra 'time' do you have to spend at work to pay for the 10,000 dollar mill? I'd rather spend that time milling the slow way.

Zopi, I don't think my wife would be super happy when I told her she would have to park out on the street because the big mill liked being in the driveway. Ha, ha. Congratulations on your mill though!

J. D.

 

[rayvil01]

Nice... great little sequence of pure pleasure. Don't ya wonder why more people don't do this????? I envy you having all those nice huge softwoods out there on the west coast. But then I guess you wish you had more of the hardwoods we have here, like the maple tree I milled today, so...

Good post... thanks.

I had my first long session with the mill today...and it's amazing fun. Had a couple of 20" X 9' Yellow Pines that the neighbor wanted cut. Six-quarter stuff...best-part clear. Pretty. Great way to spend a winter day.

Now I have to break down and buy a digital camera so I can post pics.

 

[zopi]

The way I see it, how much extra 'time' do you have to spend at work to pay for the 10,000 dollar mill? I'd rather spend that time milling the slow way.

Zopi, I don't think my wife would be super happy when I told her she would have to park out on the street because the big mill liked being in the driveway. Ha, ha. Congratulations on your mill though!

J. D.

I honestly would like to spend that time that way too...I just got lucky..the $$$ is justified by the amount of time I have vs. the amount of lumber I need..and I have room....my big problem right now is the time..my schedule sucks..hate working for someone else...

nahh.just tell her it's easier to get a car fixed when some drunk careens into it than it is to get a sawmill fixed...I can just see the look on the insurance guys face..."you broke a WHAT?!?" :hmm3grin2orange:

 

[irishcountry]

Nice!!

Very nice pics and scenery in the background!! Real nice to hear someone is satisified with the time involved in milling with a chainsaw,, When I first started searching into milling almost every site I found someone or everyone just said no don't get a chainsaw mill its way too labor intensive or its way too slow which is dicouraging but I figured if some people do it all the time it must be because they enjoy it and it is a very reasonable way to make lumber not just because "time is money" which didn't apply to me but budget does especially with 3 kids and a wife and something constantly breaking something around the house or a vechicle. I hate to say but I still have yet to mill I have got the saw but no attachments yet I have the means but feel real guilty just plunking out more right now cuz it just about planting time for me and I know that at some point i'm gonna start stressing about capital to do some new stuff plus who knows what its gonna cost with gas this year!! Its killing me to see all these pics but I love it at the same time so please keep em' coming and ZOPI like I said your one lucky fellar with that LT15!! Wish we had some hemlock around here nice stuff Duff!!

 

[aggiewoodbutchr]

Nice work. Good pics!

 

[duffontap]

I honestly would like to spend that time that way too...I just got lucky..the $$$ is justified by the amount of time I have vs. the amount of lumber I need..and I have room....my big problem right now is the time..my schedule sucks..hate working for someone else...

nahh.just tell her it's easier to get a car fixed when some drunk careens into it than it is to get a sawmill fixed...I can just see the look on the insurance guys face..."you broke a WHAT?!?" :hmm3grin2orange:

Zopi,
If I were in your situation, I'd get it too. It looks like a really nice mill. Time's usually tight for me, too. I feel blessed to be able to do this at all.

Irish,
It took me a long time before I even considered a chainsaw mill because almost every site I found was full of people ragging on chainsaw mills. If hadn't found this forum, I don't know if I would have considered chainsaw mills a viable form of milling. But, they are. I can make fine boards this way. I cut 104 board feet this morning before lunch. That's about 1/4 the top speed of the smaller bandmills but I'm not in a situation where I need production. I'm just going to get a stack of nice boards now and then and enjoy the process.

Thanks for the replies,

J. D. Duff

 

[stonykill]

Thanks woodshop! I do wonder why more people don't take CSM more seriously. I've wanted to be able to mill lumber for years and I would get the bandmill dvd's and just drool. That fact is, I will never be able to afford that kind of milling. I don't have that size of need, I don't have the space, I don't have the money, I don't have the truck, I don't have the...etc, etc...

I can now do something I've wanted to be able to do for years in a simple and portable manner. It's the best possible match for my needs, budget, location, etc.

J. D. Duff

that is well put. This explains why I mill how I do as well. People who already own the bobcat, tractors and bandmill don't get it. Not everyone has that kind of money to invest.

Personally, even if I did have the money, I'd stick with the csm. Getting out and milling is down time for me. I enjoy it. I enjoy running my saws. Using a bandmill just wouldn't have the same effect on me.

 

[wdchuck]

I had my first long session with the mill today...and it's amazing fun. Had a couple of 20" X 9' Yellow Pines that the neighbor wanted cut. Six-quarter stuff...best-part clear. Pretty. Great way to spend a winter day.

Now I have to break down and buy a digital camera so I can post pics.

It's a bylaw of the firewood/milling forums, pics must accompany posts, we don't like relying on descriptions as much, pics are way nicer. :hmm3grin2orange:


DuffonTap,

Thanks for having us along, just like being there, nice lumber too.

 

[duffontap]

that is well put. This explains why I mill how I do as well. People who already own the bobcat, tractors and bandmill don't get it. Not everyone has that kind of money to invest.

Personally, even if I did have the money, I'd stick with the csm. Getting out and milling is down time for me. I enjoy it. I enjoy running my saws. Using a bandmill just wouldn't have the same effect on me.

I'm with you Stony. It's nice to think that I can mill things anywhere, too. I could put this thing on the back of a pack animal and take it two miles from a road if I wanted to. I may end up doing that some day to salvage some Pacific Yew for board bows.

---------------------------------------------------

Thanks for the replies everyone.

J. D.

 

[woodshop]

Personally, even if I did have the money, I'd stick with the csm. Getting out and milling is down time for me. I enjoy it. I enjoy running my saws. Using a bandmill just wouldn't have the same effect on me.

One of the nice things about this forum is how we all seem to get along even though we don't all have the same mindset on some things. Stony I like your down to earth attitude on things. I do part company with you on this one though. If I had the room, I'd beg borrow or steal and I'd have a bull blown medium range bandmill set up in a heartbeat. And I mean a heartbeat. I'd still have my csm/Ripsaw combo for those trees back in the woods or neighbors back yard where I just couldn't get to or get the log out easily without tearing up the place. However, I'd also have a trailer/winch to load/transport logs, build me an open sided enclosure and I'd have a bandmill set up to mill lumber in all weather situations. Don't get me wrong, I truly enjoy running my chainsaws and milling lumber with my csm/Ripsaw. Yesterday when I fired up my 395 on the csm and heard that unique throaty sound that the 395 has, chills ran down my spine, I just love it. I get to burn couple thousand calories and bring home 2-400 bd ft of lumber. In my case though, milling is not downtime. Stony works in his woodshop for a living... but for me downtime IS spending time in my woodshop. I spend my day at work either behind a computer or in my little truck running all over NJ servicing obervation wells and thinking about what I'm going to do in my shop when I get to go home. Milling wood, while I enjoy it, is still a means to an end, that being relatively cheap custom sawn lumber for my shop. I generally only get to mill weekends, which means time is my most treasured comodity. So in my case, the increased speed of even my little Ripsaw bandsaw over my csm means I get to go home with that much more lumber.

Different strokes...

 

[stonykill]

One of the nice things about this forum is how we all seem to get along even though we don't all have the same mindset on some things. Stony I like your down to earth attitude on things. I do part company with you on this one though. If I had the room, I'd beg borrow or steal and I'd have a bull blown medium range bandmill set up in a heartbeat. And I mean a heartbeat. I'd still have my csm/Ripsaw combo for those trees back in the woods or neighbors back yard where I just couldn't get to or get the log out easily without tearing up the place. However, I'd also have a trailer/winch to load/transport logs, build me an open sided enclosure and I'd have a bandmill set up to mill lumber in all weather situations. Don't get me wrong, I truly enjoy running my chainsaws and milling lumber with my csm/Ripsaw. Yesterday when I fired up my 395 on the csm and heard that unique throaty sound that the 395 has, chills ran down my spine, I just love it. I get to burn couple thousand calories and bring home 2-400 bd ft of lumber. In my case though, milling is not downtime. Stony works in his woodshop for a living... but for me downtime IS spending time in my woodshop. I spend my day at work either behind a computer or in my little truck running all over NJ servicing obervation wells and thinking about what I'm going to do in my shop when I get to go home. Milling wood, while I enjoy it, is still a means to an end, that being relatively cheap custom sawn lumber for my shop. I generally only get to mill weekends, which means time is my most treasured comodity. So in my case, the increased speed of even my little Ripsaw bandsaw over my csm means I get to go home with that much more lumber.

Different strokes...

Yep, we all think different, and still get along. If only it was like that in "real" life.

1) For me, I don't want a band mill, partly because, I don't want to be milling all the time. Once you get one, seems you get roped into more and more milling.

2) I would never invest in one.Can't justify it. (see point #1, I don't want to be milling all the time to justify buying it) But thats just me. If I found one for free, I'd take it. Otherwise, its not for me.

with that said, those who have band mills love em, and I'm happy for their happiness.

Me, I'll go kartin, drag logs, plow the garden, chip brush and bark, cut firewood, brushhog the feild, or a thousand other chores I enjoy. Ok, Kartin is just fun, although we have used my kart in low range to york rake.

 

[TNMIKE]

Nice logs

Your pics were great. Gives me ideas about all the hemlock that is dying here in the east. Ive had a lot of it offered to me and this gives me second thoughts for sure.