Sawmill action

[Admin]

Man if there's one thing I did right in this world it was buying this little sawmill. It's a ton of work but very rewarding when I start building stuff from the trees that I cut down. It's definately a great thing to have around the homestead. Everytime I spend a night at the camper I get anxious for the cabin that I'm going to build there and start banging out some more lumber for it.

These are going to be the ceiling joist. They're 16' long and flat on only one side. These will span the cabin and being round and hand peeled they'll look awesome from downstairs with the worm holed boards above them. ;D They are fricken brutes to handle though





Peeling them is fun but hard work, plus ya have to take a bath in fast orange to get all the pitch off ya



Wasn't sure what to make out of this ballbuster log



So I zipped out a nice batch of 1x12's ;D



What would these cost in a lumber yard

[cj]

That is a nice set up. Like you said, alot of hard work, but the end result will be very gratifying. Looking forward to seeing the progress of the cabin ;D

[bowhunter1970]

Looks like fun! Dont forget to build a guest room ;D

[Admin]

I was at Home Depot earlier and went to price the 1x12's. A 12' 1x12 is 43.00 That mill sure has paid for itself. ;D

[badger]

Those 1x12's would make some nice shelves for the cabin ;D

I'd love to have a sawmill, that is too cool

[trapperjoeak]

Nice!

What do you have for a mill? I helped a guy once who had a "Wood Miser" or something like that and I wasn't super impressed. It was a bandsaw type, and it didn't allways cut the straightest. But I really don't know too much about or have much experience in the matter.

I am curious though, because I have a remote piece of property that I will be building a cabin on at some point, and I have pondered the idea of hauling a small mill in there and cutting in place. I think it would be feasible, but my main concern is moving the logs around. I would need some sort of a tackle system and a pretty big winch. Maybe the pot-puller off the boat? I would have to figure something out. But these are Sitka Spruce and some are real bruisers. 3 feet plus at the base and TALL.

[Admin]

Joe,
I have heard that (woodmiser wave) problem from a lot of people that have them. Mine is a Timber king. I have the bottom of the barrel of the timber kings. It's knicknamed the (Amish Mill) because aside from that blade spinning around, everything else is manual. No hydraulics what-so-ever. Load the logs, turn the logs, unload the logs all by hand. If I wanted to spend 10 more thousand I could have had levers to push and pull. It sounds like with the size timber you have you would burn up a lot of blades and these bandsaw blades dull fast. Now that I have the kubota, moving my logs and lumber around is a hell of a lot easier and cuts most of the work out of it. None the less, it's still ball busting work but I enjoy it immensely. All my timbers, trim, bar top slab, doors and ceilings in my house are from trees I cut down. ;D The logs and lumber that I'm milling will be for my new deer camp. I'll be buying the spruce to frame the floor system with but the rest of the cabin project will be entirely from the trees on my acreage. One thing that I want to make for my mill is a device so that I can zip out multiple cedar shingles in one pass. I've got it in my head but haven't tried to build it yet. Good luck with those Sitka spruce.

[treerodent]

That looks like some real work. I doubt the price of lumber will ever go down either. Real good investment.

[hounddog25]

there you go haveing all the fun again without me.good job pal...keep it up


joe...there is a sawmill that you could use.it is sold by bailys.you set it up over the log and it cuts going down into the log.you dont turn the log and has a small circular type blade.check it out on the web.

www.baileys.com

[ADC]

Very cool! Too much work for a fat guy from Iowa but very nice results you can be proud of. I'll bet you've sawed up more trees on that thing than I have within a 5 mile radius of my house. LOL

~ADC~

[bigpat]

Usually if your band is sharp and has the right set, you won't cut wavy lumber unless you try to go too fast. Big knots or hard changes in the grain can move the blade a little too. The best time to saw lumber is in the winter. When the wood is frozen the knots are only slightly harder than the rest. I've sawed logs 3' across but they are a bear to handle. If you're gonna saw logs like that get a mill with all the bells and whistles. They are worth the money.

[trapperjoeak]

Yeah, well the other issue is that I have to haul everything in by boat. I wouldn't try it with one of our setnet skiffs, probably hire someone with a medium sized landing craft. Then it has to make it up the hill. I am figuring that I would have to build a platform to cut on, in addition to the weighs for handling the logs.

I agree, the problems I saw with the wood miser were entirely due to dull blades. But then they said you were supposed to change the blades every 500 board feet or something ridiculous like that. Hah.

How many board feet do you figure you can cut JC before you have to switch blades out and get it sharpened? Or what is the recommended amount for your mill. Also, do you sharpen the blades yourself?

[Admin]

Joe, do you know anybody that has ever used one of those (alaskan chainsaw mills?) I've seen them in catalogs and always wondered about them. Sounds like getting a mill to your site would be a great undertaking. Perhaps you should learn the scribe method of log building and forget about the mill alltogether. Yes, you are right about the blade changing on the mills. If there's any mud or dirt on your logs or an excessive amount of knots they will dull fast. Since my mill is all maunual I don't worry too much about production and am usually pretty tuckered out by the time I dull too many blades. I also tend to keep running the blades after they've dulled considerably . If the blade is dull it will definately go askew when it hits a cluster of knots, or a 16 penney spike . Spikes are always fun as it snaps the blade into flying razor toothed fragments that'll make you run back to the cabin for a beer to calm your nerves.

I don't have the equipment to sharpen my band blades but intend on bringing them to someone to get them done. I really have no idea how many board feet I can cut before they dull out.

[wrightbrothers]

I have a Granberg g555 chainsaw attachment thing here. I'll take 50 bucks or trade for some good Alaska fish or ? ;D

I've never used it as IMO I don't have enough saw to rip what I use. That, and I have access to a circle sawmill right down the road.

I have some oak beams that were cut on a band mill, the finish is a lot smoother than circle cut, and less kerf waste.

Forestry forum has a lot of info about these things.

[bigpat]

The guy I sawed for had a sharpener for his bands, and I just changed the band whenever I needed to. Some days I went thru 5 or 6, other times I could saw all day or more on the same one. On a good day I was sawing a couple thousand board feet. Depends on the logs and how clean they are.

[trapperjoeak]

Yeah, I have used one of those chainsaw mills. If you are careful and go slow, you can cut decent lumber, but it is REAL slow. I can't imagine trying to do a bunch.

This whole project is probably a few years out anyways. I have the property, but I have some other priorities in life that need to be finished up first. Anyways, my parents also have a cabin in the area, and I can still use it. Thirty something years ago when they built it, they rolled logs off of beaches and rafted them up to haul to a sawmill a few miles away. They helped with the cutting and the lumber was split 50-50. Then they hauled it all back and up the hill. I imagine it was a pretty interesting deal for a newly married couple in their very early 20's...