Milling in winter?

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Oldtoolsnewproblems

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Title says it all. Is milling in the winter a good idea? My saws are a little smaller so I like the idea of colder ambient temps to help them live long healthy lives, also I don't like sweating. Downside would be the moisture in the wood would have frozen and may just make it even harder on the saw? It's that a real thing or an I just making stuff up? Aside from ice and snow in the ground, are there other non obvious issues?
 
Title says it all. Is milling in the winter a good idea? My saws are a little smaller so I like the idea of colder ambient temps to help them live long healthy lives, also I don't like sweating. Downside would be the moisture in the wood would have frozen and may just make it even harder on the saw? It's that a real thing or an I just making stuff up? Aside from ice and snow in the ground, are there other non obvious issues?
A good idea it is. No insects, milled lumber won't stain/degrade easily, sap is out of the trees.

Let the saw warm up so the bar oil flows. If you get cold, your are working too slowly
 
Oh yeah, I switched to the biodegradable oil because I'm on a well and the amount of oil I went thru last year it seems the responsible thing to do. Hopefully it really is just as good as the "real" stuff, and does temp extremes ok. Last winter I made sure to store my oil bottle in the basement, to keep it flowing and pourable, plan to do the same this year
 
mine is a Timber-Tuff 20" model,---small compared to what others have but I have cut thousands of board feet with it over the years.
I cut a lot of short stuff that others wont mess with and that is where the money is now days. A lot of guys dont want a 20 foot long board just to make something small and with shorter logs and smaller wood there is a good market in this area for it.
There is a ton of work in it and nothing is fast or free like doing the big stuff, but I dont have 50 or 100 thousand dollars in equipment either so for me it works since I am not afraid to do the extra work involved.
 
Oh yeah, I switched to the biodegradable oil because I'm on a well and the amount of oil I went thru last year it seems the responsible thing to do. Hopefully it really is just as good as the "real" stuff, and does temp extremes ok. Last winter I made sure to store my oil bottle in the basement, to keep it flowing and pourable, plan to do the same this year
Make sure you don't long term store that bio-oil in the saw and clean up the clutch area too. It polymerizes a into a gunk that most solvents won't touch. I used it in my saw so I could mulch the berry plants with the sawdust.
 
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