How to Use a Sawmill (H. Freight). Manifesting my Logs into Beams and Dreams...

[Don_P]

I've heard it called that or a run around.
My mill is a Timberking running a 46" blade with no drive pins, an oddball, I think an old Foley Belsaw blade would bolt up. Sometimes the entire mill shows up cheaper than a new blade. Doing that I could add to my track and weld the two carriages together. I can have one made in Richmond or Atlanta for about 2500 and get a really nice one. Guys have worked some of these mills over and run a standard 54" blade. One that was on sawmill exchange turned the thing into a 30' long portable mill, it looked like it would be fun to trailer  . Although the 10' long  trailer/main husk less blade with the carriage secured on that and bolt on extensions and it could probably move and setup in a day. a setup with that and the resaw would be more for a moderate sized site you would be working for weeks or longer. Old Meadows and Frick mills go pretty cheap. I've also toyed with the idea of modifying a bandmill to run on the 30' of track... and then think, oh yeah I need another project 

[garyc]

I thank this blog is going to get into trouble! I,m thinking of buying my own band saw mill It would come in handy I could mill my own siding for my barn and other  buildings that I,m planning on putting up. (chicken coop,fire wood shed & garden shed ) All I need is permission from my wife. 
I do have a question how long should I air dry red oak before using it for barn siding? 

[Don_P]

You won't go wrong if you can sticker it under tin for a year. A mill is fun but is another task. If the list of projects is relatively short I think its better to bring in a portable mill. If sawdust is in your veins, that's a horse of another color  . I've been working on a complicated mostly wooden mechanical project in a friends woodshop, my mind changes on grabbing a stick when I know he has paid for it where if we were working in my shop, have at it and if it doesn't work, no problem, dimensional firewood.

[OlJarhead]

2nd to Don's post!  If sawdust is in your veins.....well it is mine and look what I'm up to! ha!

[garyc]

Thanks you guys for the reply. I do have a lot of saw dust in my veins. The wife and I did a lot of wood working for a living for several years. We built outdoor furniture out of white oak and small tables and nick nacks for inside of the house using red oak. Then after that I worked at a saw mill as a saw filer for several more years. I do have a lot of trees that I will be cutting down some red oak hickory & hack berry.They are in the way where we will be putting a pond. Some of the trees are 3' dia at the base. I would rather cut these log into lumber instead of fire wood.

[Don_P]

That's why I got a mill and I haven't regretted it. We had cleaned up after hurricane Hugo and a couple of years later an ice storm after rain layed over a ton of nice trees. I couldn't see turning them into firewood, I can heat off the tops and slabs easily. It's paid for itself many times over. Those 8x8's we laid off the other day cost $135 ea at the building supply.

A friend about 3 miles down the road shares a knuckleboom we went in on this year. He has a 6' bar Alaskan mill and a Lucas swingblade with a 5' slabbing attachment on it. That is a nice setup. A swingblade can handle a massive log where it sits, you set up the mill over the log. With the slabbing bar you can take off tabletops etc. With the swingblade setup on the same powerhead and track you have a small ~2' circle blade and can nibble through the tree right to the ground taking off boards up to about 2x8's at a time. That's another setup if your logs are too big to move or too big for a different mill. If somebody calls me with a big log I give them the other Don's number real quick. Although that slabbing bar is kind of what led to the knuckleboom. After he cut a 5" thick 3'wide x 12' long oak tabletop, the saw was out of cut for a long time.

In one song from a local band "Son, there ain't no money in... sawdust  "

[garyc]

Don, how did you dry out the 5'' x 3; table top without it cracking up? that would make one big heavy table to move.

[OlJarhead]

   It's official!  And I can't contain myself!  We're buying a brand spanking new WoodMizer LT35HD!

OH YA!  Let the sawdust fly!

[garyc]

  It's official!  And I can't contain myself!  We're buying a brand spanking new WoodMizer LT35HD!

OH YA!  Let the sawdust fly!

That is a beast of a portable saw mill. you are going to love it. I'm Julius How did you talked your wife into spending that kinda money? my wife will let me spend around $5,000 on one. This is the one that I'm looking at. http://www.hud-son.com/products/product-detail/oscar-328

[OlJarhead]

OK things are moving fast!  WM talked me into upgrading to the LT40HD instead   They are on sale and they are sweetening the deal for me...about $4k more overall but worth it I think.

Talking my wife into it?  I've turned down a lot of jobs in the last 18months or so...jobs that would have paid for the mill.  She sees that and I think realizes the potential to earn an income with a highproduction mill

Now I'll be selling my LT10 Super for $6k but you have to come get it! lol

[garyc]

That is going to be a lot of saw dust! I thank you are doing the right thing buying the bigger one. The old saying (Go big or go home). You should be able to make a lot more money pr hr with the LT40hd  I wouldn't mind buying your LT10 but it's to far of a drive to get it and I don't need one on a trailer If I buy one I'm going to put it on a concrete foundation with a roof over it. Keep it lower to the ground so it would be easier to load.

[Don_P]

A friend made a good sideline biz using a Norwood, might be worth looking at theirs too. As I was toting the welder around yesterday, one tool leads to another  . An email circulated through our little group yesterday morning a shop of tools had come up for sale, had to chuckle when I got home last night, they lasted 16 minutes from when the email was first sent.

[flyingvan]

[OlJarhead]

Guess I just like Orange and the WMLT40HD is the workhorse of the industry.  Probably the industry standard.

I'm stoked...I mean busting at the seams wide out stoked!

I will pick it up next week some time and then drag it into the mountains to mill my own lumber with it before I'm tied up milling for others!

[OlJarhead]

Holy cow!  Lots of interest in my mill already (kinda shocked at how fast they came in).  3 emails on it off CL and two cash offers though both below asking price.  I think I'll have the little mill sold in a week!!!

So stoked I can't stand it...going to be a LONG weekend! lol

[garyc]

OlJarhead,  When you get your new mill in we would like to see pic's of it in action or maybe a short video. 

[OlJarhead]

You bet!  I pick it up Wednesday!!! 

[glenn kangiser]

Mine is now working great since I changed the drive wheels to 16" from 14".  Haven't broken any more blades.  The Timberwolf blade people know what they are talking about.  Also instead of water lube, I use a 50/50 mix of chainsaw bar lube and diesel oil in a spray bottle. Water causes rust and cracking eventually.  Also per Timberwolf.  Water is not bandsaw blade lubricant. 

[Watch Ryder]

Mine is now working great since I changed the drive wheels to 16" from 14".  Haven't broken any more blades.  The Timberwolf blade people know what they are talking about.  Also instead of water lube, I use a 50/50 mix of chainsaw bar lube and diesel oil in a spray bottle. Water causes rust and cracking eventually.  Also per Timberwolf.  Water is not bandsaw blade lubricant. 

Wow, lots of interest in this thread!

About the lubricant, is using diesel and bar oil not spoiling to the wood by the stink it leaves on it etc?

[OlJarhead]

Woodmizer pretty much swears by using water, water and windshield washer fluid and their lubemizer mix.  I've used mostly water for the last 4 or 5 years and it works well for me.

[Don_P]

It doesn't leave enough on the wood to be noticeable but it is not a great thing. Log builders used to spray the logs with diesel to slow down bluestain, the owners of those homes don't notice. I've been through a gallon of oil in one spot in a day with a chainsaw mill, I'm more concerned with what that does to the site. Generally use the least toxic blade lube you can get away with, if water works, use that, if it needs a little pine sol, that is probably more friendly than old oil. My circle blade uses no lube, if you're cooling a headsaw you have much deeper problems. The old tractor that drives the mill.. we're back to the oil problem  .

[glenn kangiser]

The reason Timberwolf recommends bar oil and diesel mix is because it does not do damage to the blade.  Water can start rusting and pitting the blade then cracking and failure.  These blades are thin high strength blades with hardened teeth and possibly  back edges as Timberwolf does. Any pit along the edge of the blade or between the teeth can cause failure then there goes $30. The oil mix also works as a bit of a solvent to remove sticky residue from the blade.  It relieves sticking immediately and makes the blade run smoothly, lightening the load on the engine.  I do not use a continuous flow.  I just mix it in a spray bottle and spray it in a stream as I see build   up on the blade or pulling down of the engine. 

The sawdust removes most of it from the cut and blade.  You will see a bit when you first spray it but in a day or two you wont see anything as the oil spreads through the wood.  There is nearly no noticeable smell.... you use much less than you would in a chainsaw cutting the trees down.  A pint of mix will last me around a thousand board feet.  Typically I use a few sprays every few feet of cut... occasionally on the bottom of the blade, but generally on top near the teeth as I move forward cutting.  Mine is a hand push saw.

You will also have less mold problems if you don't get it stickered right away.  Water actually swells the wood more and makes it grab a bit.  Its not really slippery... try it in your engine in place of oil... no.. don't.  [ouch]

Also, oil is a great wood finish in itself... haven't you heard of a hand rubbed diesel.... ummm Danish oil finish? 

[Don_P]

Actually after I wrote above about not watering a headsaw, Rick and I pm'ed back and forth a couple of times. Western mills do use water on circular saws... I need to pay more attention to those around here. The ones that I know of that were trying it really had alignment issues and were trying to solve the resulting heating problem with cooling water, you ain't gonna get out of the problem that way. I suspect on the mills around Rick they have found it helps with pitch buildup. That might help when I'm sawing something like ash, most of the guys around here will run a poplar or basswood log through after a few ash logs to clean the blade up and then continue. I did run a huge ash through one time without knowing better and ended up at the sawdoc getting the blade rehammered. One of those jobs where I kept going till the money ran out  . Hmm, that might be a neat pictorial sometime. I loaded that tree onto the trailer solo by parbuckling it up over the side. A handy trick when there isn't lifting equipment around.

[OlJarhead]

I'm using water with pinesol and dish soap now -- as recommended by WM....

Never did post vids did I?  Who's interested?

[glenn kangiser]

I'm interested. 

I rebuilt my saw with 16 inch wheels from the factory 14" wheels.  No more blade breakage and may get to sharpen them a couple times before throwing them out.