good night sawing...

[zopi]

did in four logs tonight...would've gotten through the five I had set for myself,
but, short logs suck. iffit had been a foot longer it would've taken half the time.

sawing stickers if fun...like tetris..

did some nice live edge pecan..destined to become bookshelves for my
chiropractor...good barter deal there..

i'll get some pictures of the pecan before I sticker it..

 

[wdchuck]

Enjoying your mill are ya, how are the mods going?

 

[zopi]

Enjoying your mill are ya, how are the mods going?

lovin' it...the re-plumb worked well...I must work out a bracket to mount the
valve differently..and flip the valve over..you have to push the handle up
to turn on the water and pull down to stop it..ought to be the other way..once you start the water, your hands ought to fall naturally to the controls..less wasted motion..process improvement..gotta love it.

i may also move the water nozzle to the drive side roller guide...Wm did that on some of the bigger mills..i just want to know what the ins and outs are..less mess i hope, less water (and pine sol) injected into the logs..I'm told the blades run cooler and the belts stay cleaner...less water used..we'll see.

 

[stonykill]

but, short logs suck.

shorts are the best. No one wants them. They mill up fast. Well with the csm anyway they do. Bing bang , boom, before you know it, you can have a huge pile of great shorts, that would have become firewood.

For instance

this was supposed to be firewood. 4 foot log, 30 inches in diameter. Shorts are the best.

 

[zopi]

shorts are the best. No one wants them. They mill up fast. Well with the csm anyway they do. Bing bang , boom, before you know it, you can have a huge pile of great shorts, that would have become firewood.

For instance

this was supposed to be firewood. 4 foot log, 30 inches in diameter. Shorts are the best.

i don't mind sawing shorts..but i need to move one of my log clamps, and maybe buy a couple more...i'll likely build a bed bunk to hold short logs more securely...i couldn't clamp this one worth a damn..

I saw a mod the other day..guy took a trucker's load clamp and shortened it
to fit between short logs and the mill frame...ratcheting log dog...

 

[Sawyer Rob]

did in four logs tonight...would've gotten through the five I had set for myself,
but, short logs suck. iffit had been a foot longer it would've taken half the time.

sawing stickers if fun...like tetris..

did some nice live edge pecan..destined to become bookshelves for my
chiropractor...good barter deal there..

i'll get some pictures of the pecan before I sticker it..

I don't mind short logs at all, very fast to saw... My Lumbermate has a manual hydraulic toe board, that with a couple pumps of the handle, comes right up to support one end of a short log.

With a couple more pumps, you can remove or allow for the taper in a log, to get "higher grade" lumber out of the log... Or, like when i needed to saw the taper out of a red oak log for stair treads... (i made big $$ on that job)

The debossed beams allows you to "easily" and "quickly" move the log post, dogs or toe boards any place along the entire length of the mill... This a "great" design that really works well...

Also, the longer dogs on my Lumbermate, will swing right over and allow you to dog even short, or odd length logs...

The amount of water put on a band does make a difference in how clean the band stays... Lumbermates have two valves... One for ajusting the flow to your liking, and the other one just for on and off... They work very good..

Anyway, how much "wavy" lumber are you turning out?? CSMer's always say we band millers turn out wavy lumber that has to be planed to get it smooth... I'm wondering how much wavy lumber "you" are turning out, with you being a newbie, your lumber should look terrible... lol

Rob

 

[zopi]

NICE! I do like the bossed design on the norwoods..much more modular..

i will come up with some aux bunks for short stuff, just don't have time right now..

I am about to be sawing longer stuff anyway...I'm loving cypress..it's fun to saw..

wavy lumber...nahh...I dinged a tooth early on with this first blade, so i'm getting a few scratches...but no waves..the rope feed on the mill is very smooth.

here is the pecan I dismantled last night...virginia bandsaw massacre..no tree is safe!

I cut it live edged because the weathered sapwood is so nice..gonna be
live edged shelves...eventually..dunno if I mentioned but this tree came down in Isabelle in 03...and the trunk has been suspended in the air for all this time..still wet, but well seasoned.

 

[lmbeachy]

shorts are the best. No one wants them. They mill up fast. Well with the csm anyway they do. Bing bang , boom, before you know it, you can have a huge pile of great shorts, that would have become firewood.

For instance

this was supposed to be firewood. 4 foot log, 30 inches in diameter. Shorts are the best.

Wish I could get some of the shorts I have to you, I just spent the afternoon bucking and stacking a truck load of wild cherry. Down here it does not grow nice and stright, so I cut some curves out. Some of the chunks were 22 inches in dia. BTW it is amazing how heavy a 22 inch log of wild cherry is. Didn't have my camera so I didn't get any pic. Will try to get some uploaded of the stack of logs that I now have.

 

[mayor]

We've got an older norwood.....works great. Keep that water flowing...the cooler the blade stays...the longer the set will stay and also the temper......once they start making curvy lumber....it usually means that you've let the blade get hot and the set has changed.....I can never seem too get them back either.....tried all different sets and angles of grind......once the temper is gone...the blade is done!
I use a lot of water and dawn dishwashing liquid with ours......I am adding a second hose too the bottom of the blade also.....actually, I'm thinking of adding a pressure washer with two nozzles right at the blade!.....this way, it will remove soft bark and most dirt in front of the blade and should also cool the blade. Its worth a try....might become the best thing since peanut butter!.
Might crash and burn....just never know till ya try!.

 

[Sawyer Rob]

We've got an older norwood.....works great. Keep that water flowing...the cooler the blade stays...the longer the set will stay and also the temper......once they start making curvy lumber....it usually means that you've let the blade get hot and the set has changed.....I can never seem too get them back either.....tried all different sets and angles of grind......once the temper is gone...the blade is done!
I use a lot of water and dawn dishwashing liquid with ours......I am adding a second hose too the bottom of the blade also.....actually, I'm thinking of adding a pressure washer with two nozzles right at the blade!.....this way, it will remove soft bark and most dirt in front of the blade and should also cool the blade. Its worth a try....might become the best thing since peanut butter!.
Might crash and burn....just never know till ya try!.

I've never, not even one time, had a band so hot i couldn't stop the saw and grab the band... It's never hot... Not even once, and i don't flood my band while sawing either...

Rob

 

[zopi]

I've never, not even one time, had a band so hot i couldn't stop the saw and grab the band... It's never hot... Not even once, and i don't flood my band while sawing either...

Rob

I tend not to either...i am still thinking of moving the nozzle to the drive side
roller though...WM's big mills are built that way now..they say the blade stays
as cool, but with less play dough sawdust gunk to deal with...b-57's stay cleaner too..

 

[flht01]

Blade lube

I might be one of the few using this combination for blade lube, but when sawing pine I use a mix of 75% diesel and 25% bar oil. I set it to drip about one drop per second or two and usually end up without any buildup on the blade or tires. I did go to the urethane tires shortly after getting the mill and they don't show any wear.

And, since I started sharpening and setting my own blades, I tend to change them as soon as they start to show signs of dulling, sometimes sooner. It has really helped eliminate wavy cuts. Only advice here would be change the blades fairly often, even before you feel like they need to be.

Nice pecan, way to go.

(keeping all that sawdust off that HD?)

 

[zopi]

(keeping all that sawdust off that HD?)

pftt...my bike stays dirty..I flog the sucker..i do need to wash it tho'
and the truck, and the car and the tractors...meh...too busy for that stuff,
i'm doing good to keep oil changed and tires rotated..

the body is not a temple..it is and amusement park..you only get one ride,
so have FUN!