Mill kicked my butt today

[carvinmark]

After about 3 hours of labor,grinding chain and trying to save the bar,I have come to the conclusion that sometimes when the bar is worn out,you gotta toss it.I have another bar coming,but I wanted to mill some siding for a tree fort.It's 93 degrees today in northern Mich,way to hot and humid for me.Don't you just hate it when you can't mill-I do.Guess it's beer thirty

 

[CaseyForrest]

Yes, HOT today in MI. Only 39% humidity here in Lower MI though. Ive got some white oak Im milling tomorrow, need to get it done, its been down for about 6 months now.

 

[poleframer]

I went through my first bar pretty quick, the winch will pull the saw down a log even with a dull chain, but it eats the bar. Live and learn, and sharpen often!
Around here we will be going into Dept. of Forestry mandated saw shutdown soon, 1:00 at first, then 10:00am, then total later in the summer (unless you have a waiver). Do you deal with that there?

 

[CaseyForrest]

Ive never heard of that, but thats not saying those regs. dont exist here.

 

[aggiewoodbutchr]

Misery loves company

Here's how my day at the mill went.

8:00 - arrive at mill yard, PM mill, install new blade, all is well

9:00 - mill small pine to temper new blade, all is well

9:15 - load 36" x 12' pine on mill, 1st cant comes off with out a hitch, intermittent showers begin, duck in and out of barn, roll log for second cut

9:30 - start second cut, start hearing knocking noise coming from drive wheel bearing, finish cut, drop cant on hydraulic hose and bust the fitting (just the loader which we don't use anyway), re-grease bearing, set up for third cut

9:45 - knocking continues, finish third cut, rain, duck to barn, heavier rain, decide to pull a log too big for the bandmill (pine, 40" butt, 38" top, 12' long) into the barn to work on it with the CSM. Log rolls over chock blocks and heads down hill toward CSM. Concrete block saves the day.

10:30 - rain eases, back to bandmill, knocking in bearing worsens, decide to shut it down and go back to CSM. Move log back out of barn, set up guide rails, warm up saw and tension chain

11:00 - 1st cut w/ CSM, 3" in to cut chain throws, binds in mill

11:20 - chain back on, cut slowly for about 6", tensioned chain, cut 2", chain throws and binds in mill:censored:

11:30 - 3:00 repeat previous 3x, try new chain, won't fit (discover it's 1 link short), try another old chain, same result, fix damaged spots in chain and bar, adjust every thing imaginable, drop bar in dirt:bang: , clean bar and chain, adjust some more, problem persists, make about 2' total cut:angry2:

3:15 - notice bar is cambered up by about 3/8" when mounted in mill, investigate, discover manufacturing defect in mill that hasn't showed up with shorter bars, make "adjustments" (use dull razor blade for a shim), reinstall bar, chain and mill

3:45 - mill back on rails, adjust, cut

4:00 - finish cut that was started at 11:00, put log away, cleaned up, called it a day

6:00 - arrive home, wife wants to go to town, express desire to stay home, :sword:, concede

10:30 - home again

Not every day can be a great day at the mill.
I'll post pictures tomorrow. I'm beat.

 

[carvinmark]

Yes, HOT today in MI. Only 39% humidity here in Lower MI though. Ive got some white oak Im milling tomorrow, need to get it done, its been down for about 6 months now.

Casey,Sunday it's supposed to be 77 here with rain.You know how wrong the weathermen are in Mi. Milling Oak sounds like heavy work,But still enjoyable.

 

[carvinmark]

I went through my first bar pretty quick, the winch will pull the saw down a log even with a dull chain, but it eats the bar. Live and learn, and sharpen often!
Around here we will be going into Dept. of Forestry mandated saw shutdown soon, 1:00 at first, then 10:00am, then total later in the summer (unless you have a waiver). Do you deal with that there?

Never heard of that.Hope I don't. That sucks. Even on your own property that may already be cleared? Must of had some bad fires where you are.You better get to milling while you can. What time in the A.M. can you start?
You are sure right about sharpen often.

 

[carvinmark]

Wow! guess I'm not the only one that gets beat up,but we are fighters and we will win just cause we love milling wood.

 

[CaseyForrest]

Casey,Sunday it's supposed to be 77 here with rain.You know how wrong the weathermen are in Mi. Milling Oak sounds like heavy work,But still enjoyable.

Not bad here, yet. Its 80 and looks like itll rain, but hasnt yet.

Neighbors across the street having an open house till 2:30, so I figured Id hold off till they are done, try to be a "good" neighbor!

Fortunately the logs arent that big, I might get 3 good 2x6 out of them. Or I may cut some 4x4 posts out of the three I have, and get the last one from work and cut that one all 2x. Thats the neat thing about milling...you can cut whatever you want, or need.

 

[woodshop]

Thats the neat thing about milling...you can cut whatever you want, or need.

Exactly... every log is YOURS to carve up as you see fit. Need some nice quartersawn stuff for a table top where you don't want the wood to move much? Take the extra time to do that. Need some quick and dirty planks a certain custom thickness? Set your mill and go for it.

Anybody ever worked with Pecan? Yesterday I dropped a 36" Pecan that was dying, it was 140 years old. Looks clear and solid for at least first two 8ft logs, so I have to find room for a good 800 ft of it, if not more. My 36" csm will only cut 32" max though, so I'll have to get creative when I go to carve it up.

 

[aggiewoodbutchr]

Exactly... every log is YOURS to carve up as you see fit. Need some nice quartersawn stuff for a table top where you don't want the wood to move much? Take the extra time to do that. Need some quick and dirty planks a certain custom thickness? Set your mill and go for it.

Anybody ever worked with Pecan? Yesterday I dropped a 36" Pecan that was dying, it was 140 years old. Looks clear and solid for at least first two 8ft logs, so I have to find room for a good 800 ft of it, if not more. My 36" csm will only cut 32" max though, so I'll have to get creative when I go to carve it up.

If you look back through some of my posts I've put up a few pictures of pecan I milled. I found, in my setup, pecan didn't like a ripping chain. It produced no chips, only powder. I had better results with a Oregon 30 deg. skip tooth micro-chisel chain (#27 I believe). The quality of your stack and sticker job will be the most important factor in the quality of your lumber. Pecan moves A LOT when drying and it's marginally stable when dry. I'm confident you know how to allow for movement in you work so I won't belabor. Pecan is beautiful wood and well worth the effort in my opinion.

My father and I canted a 36" pine on a bandmill that has only a 28" cut capacity this weekend. The picture illustrates how we accomplished this. Doing the same thing with your CSM will be no problem. Hope it helps.

 

[flht01]

... Pecan moves A LOT when drying and it's marginally stable when dry...

I'll second that, I have five 4/4 x 12 pecan boards cut on a bandmill about 8 months ago that has been air drying since. I checked the moisture content yesterday (down to 18%) and couldn't believe how much cup/bow/waves there was. With so few boards at the time they were stacked, there wasn't enough weight to keep them from moving. I'll probably end up using them for trim if I expect to salvage them.

Something else to consider. One of the guys at work was telling me that one of the local hardwood distributors told him they didn't sell/recommend using southern pecan for furniture or cabinets. All of their hickory and pecan was a northern variety, something to do with growth rings and stability. Anyone else heard of this?

 

[woodshop]

thanks for the info aggie and Kevin... based on that, I will probably slab it thicker than I had planned. Maybe do a lot of 8/4 instead of 4/4 or 6/4. Also, since it tends to be a bit on the unstable side of things, will take the time to do more quartersawing or at least riftsawing to minimize movement later on when making product with it. Did that with a sweetgum I milled month ago, as that tends to move a lot too. I can always resaw later down the road. Aggie, looks like I will be doing the same as your pic with my csm getting that huge thing down to size, then get it down to 14 inch cants for my Ripsaw. Only hassle will be rotating that huge thing where it sits. I usually do that with a floor jack when in the woods. Works but slow careful step at a time process. The wood is a beautiful dark brown color, can't wait to see what it looks like when I open the beast up. As for the northern hickory/pecan being more stable, this tree is near it's northern natural limits. It was 140 years old, in the woods where a house once stood and probably planted by the owner for nuts back around 1865, civil war time. The tree has been dying for many years, still has leaves on some of the top branches, but on its way out. Decided to drop it while it was still solid and safe to do so.

 

[flht01]

... based on that, I will probably slab it thicker than I had planned. Maybe do a lot of 8/4 instead of 4/4 or 6/4. Also, since it tends to be a bit on the unstable side of things, will take the time to do more quartersawing or at least riftsawing to minimize movement later on when making product with it. ...

Since this tree is around it's northern natural limits, you might not have the same problems the southern pecan will have, something to check on. Might save a lot of resawing.

You know we'll want pictures, maybe a sequel to "milling lumber woodshop style".

 

[aggiewoodbutchr]

A few more things I've learned about pecan...

I've had better luck at getting 3/4" finished stock out of heavy 4/4 or 5/4 rough than resawing 6/4 or 8/4. The thicker the stock, the worse it cups and warps. However, until it's completely dry, 4/4 pecan can be straightened fairly easily. The pictures show some pecan I milled in January. When I moved last month, it set on a trailer for about a week before I could get it re-stacked and looked pretty bad. As you can see, the 4/4 is fairly straight now. If I make some adjustments and add some weight I probably can improve it further.

Something that may interest you...

Pecan spalts quickly. I set a few of the larger limbs aside under a shade tree, covered them with leaves and kept the pile moist. The bark will slip in a month or two. Once this happens, decay sets in quickly so you have to check it often to keep it from going too far. Just dry it normally after you mill it to stop the decay. I cut some nice bowl and carving blanks from the limbs.

 

[flht01]

A few more things I've learned about pecan...

I've had better luck at getting 3/4" finished stock out of heavy 4/4 or 5/4 rough than resawing 6/4 or 8/4. The thicker the stock, the worse it cups and warps. However, until it's completely dry, 4/4 pecan can be straightened fairly easily. The pictures show some pecan I milled in January. When I moved last month, it set on a trailer for about a week before I could get it re-stacked and looked pretty bad. As you can see, the 4/4 is fairly straight now. If I make some adjustments and add some weight I probably can improve it further.

Something that may interest you...

Pecan spalts quickly. I set a few of the larger limbs aside under a shade tree, covered them with leaves and kept the pile moist. The bark will slip in a month or two. Once this happens, decay sets in quickly so you have to check it often to keep it from going too far. Just dry it normally after you mill it to stop the decay. I cut some nice bowl and carving blanks from the limbs.

Nice stack you've got there, are those stickers cut from dimensional pine? If so, have you had any problems using them?

 

[aggiewoodbutchr]

Nice stack you've got there, are those stickers cut from dimensional pine? If so, have you had any problems using them?

Thanks. They're 1x scrap from some pine furniture I built. I've used 1x rips before for light colored woods and they've never given me any problems. Being kiln dried I don't think staining will be an issue.

 

[woodshop]

Nice stack of lumber you go there... I LOVE lookin' at stacks of milled lumber. Makes me want to mill. Kinda like when an alcoholic sees somebody with a drink maybe? Aggie I do have a skip tooth for that 36 inch bar that I use for bucking stuff too large for my 365 with its 28 inch bar. I'll probably start with my milling chain since its on there now, and see how it goes. If I get same results as you, will try the 30 degree skip tooth. I did take some before and after pics when felling it, as soon as I get them out of the camera will post a few. This thing is a monster. Opened up the whole canopy when it fell. Too bad is was sick. Don't know how long Pecan trees live, but I'd guess 140 years is getting up there for that species, especially since it's a bit north of its normal range. Over half of its 36 inches was put on in the first 50 years, large rings. I figure the woods around it might have been open space, maybe a yard or meadow so it had little competition for the Sun. Then I figure around 1910 the woods were allowed to grow up around it, and the rings got thinner for the last 80-90 years. It's been dying for the last 10 years, getting worse looking every year.