Lumberlite 24 Saw Mill by Norwood

Started by desdawg, December 18, 2006, 07:57:48 PM

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desdawg

My sawmill arrived. Here is what it looks like:

This will be the foundation. Waste not, want not. It is an old 20' long trailer chassis. I will build it here and transport it to the mountains when the weather gets warmer (like in the Spring):

desdawg

Assembly is underway. That is as far as I have gotten. Stay tuned:





desdawg

If you are going to have a sawmill you have to get logs. I built this a while back out of my scrap pile:

This is a behind the quad skidder. It will perform the same function as this one which is available commercially.

As you pull the skidder forward the slipring slides up the sloping pipe and raises the front of the log off the ground. This keeps the log cleaner, not picking up dirt and rocks as it skids along.

desdawg

I also dug into my scrap pile and pulled out this old cart frame:

And turned it into one of these:

glenn-k

It's all good, desdawg.  Be sure to get all the rocks out of the bark after skidding.  Does it have a water jug to run water on the blade while sawing?  Makes the blades last about 4 times longer and cut better and faster.


desdawg

As you can see I have been scheming on this for a while now. It is about to come to fruition. I pulled my old Harbor Freight $99  truck crane off the Dodge and will build it onto the sawmill for lifting and turning logs. I gave it a fresh coat of paint since it was pretty faded. The arm on the right pivots up and the hydraulic jack in the middle pivots up and pins into that arm so you can lift with the jack or crank with the winch or both. This is the kind of stuff that keeps me off the streets, safe and sane instead of how I used to be. But that is another story.

desdawg

QuoteIt's all good, desdawg.  Be sure to get all the rocks out of the bark after skidding.  Does it have a water jug to run water on the blade while sawing?  Makes the blades last about 4 times longer and cut better and faster.
Yes, it does have the water jug. Lots of guys use Pinesol or some kind of detergent to keep the pitch from building up.  I still have lots more to assemble. Many there are lots of little parts and pieces. But you are right, it is all good.

Amanda_931


benevolance

Good looking cart....Nice scrap pile you have there....

I recommend giving your welder/painter as raise ;)...Good job so far


desdawg

I probably won't get back to it before the weekend. Tis the season.............

glenn-k

I'll bet you and I would really have a good time looking at each other's junk pile, desdawg.  Nice use of resources.

benevolance

Glenn

when I saw the nice job he did welding up the cart and trolley out of scrap I thought it was you posting....

better ask permission before you and Desdawg hit the junk yard....might be a long trip ;)

I love to build things... but who has the time for that sort of thing? I did get a homemade forge built this past year and a couple of fire burners....sort of half finished a used oil stove.....my junk pile is all antique cars...so I cannot just cut them up....too hard to replace.... though I am going to junk a 81 chevy half ton in a few months and take all the steering and brakes and bolt on my 48 five window...So I  guess I will have a frame and a few pieces to mess around with...

I have always wanted to build a bandsaw style sawmill....There are always great deals on ebay for brand new V twin honda motors....and there are a couple companies that sell plans for a decent looking band saw mill using a couple trailer tires...

but I have no land to log....So until I get some land to cut it will remain a pipe dream in the back of my mind...

Maybe when I go home I can take some time working at the family shop to build a sawmill....Father has 50 acres of woodlot...we used to borrow a friends chain saw mill and it worked damned good....he had the husky saw that was 119 cc....that puppy was enormous!

desdawg

When I see "stuff" that looks usable I bring it home. Sometimes it sits around for a couple of years before I figure out what it's function is supposed to be. That is why I have a pile.  ;) For both of those two little trailers about all I had to buy was paint. I still have a couple of mobile home axles left out there. That is what I used for hubs on the trailers. Mobile home axles are easy to work with. They can be cut down to whatever width you need by removing a section from the center and then a piece of 4" pipe sleeve fits tightly over them to make the two pieces solid again. They are 6400# axles so will work for most of my little applications.
I have another small trailer that is in the works right now. I was awarded custody of the little bed a couple of years ago and have had it sitting around. I pieced the frame back together using 1-1/2" square tube (off the pile) and a MH axle once again, found an old tongue (which just happened to be the same color as the bed) and here we go. It is rolling now and has a plywood floor but isn't complete. It still needs body & fender work, paint and lights. And of course a purpose. I just attract stuff like this. And when I attract it I drag it home. This is one of the bennies of having acres of storage. I don't know how people live on little city lots. With HOA's. Gawd! I would have to hurt someone. Anyway, my "pile" is a many splendored thing. Yeah Glenn, one day I have to come and compare notes. Benny Valence you may have to come west young man.  :)

glenn-k

I've been self employed for 32 years - I'm sure I have stuff from the start.  I think I still have at least 3 well drilling rigs left and an antique wood one.  I had bought the sawmill several years before the underground complex-- grand dad had 3 sawmills when he was young - I should be allowed one when I'm old, eh?  Probably an acre of stuff at the other place - 1280 horse Cummins, anyone?

Antique one lunger engines - tractors - steel - lots of good treasure -

Only about 1/2 acre up here as I have to make my own flat spots on top the mountain, but it's coming along. :)



benevolance

Glenn

do not make me regret getting married...My father has an auto salvage...He would junk backhoes, bucket trucks...Plus all the cars and trucks

I must have  made adozen trailers for people with K car rear axles and with 2 small pieces of plate a rear hub off a cavalier is the best for an axle as it has a flat face with four bolt holes arleady drilled...you just drill 4 holes in the  piece of plate and bolt the hub up...And then mount the plate to the trailer on each side and instant axle...Changeable in case it ruins a wheel bearing.

as I said...I gave up acres of scrap pile....We had a pile where the public would dump scrap metal....all kindsof treasure in that pile...fixable cast iron radiators...Lawn mowers...washing machines....You would not believe all the gold that comes from a pile like that... I have had several homemade tractors...last one had a 200 ford 6 cylinder engine...Used the power steering pump and brackets to power the snow plow on it....Scavenged an old Davud rear axle....the front axle I hauled off for nothing....From a 40's desoto.....Bolted it to a 4 speed Saginaw from a Jeep and man it worked Great...All kinds of Power... We made our wood splitter from a 76 toyota corolla powertrain automatic runs the hydralic pump in reverse.... oodles of power.

Been over 2 years since I was home...I miss that junk pile :'(

Married life has it's advantages....I guess ::)....The wife puts up with me having 35 old cars...She would freak out if I had a scrap metal junk pile.... Divorce would be a possibility I think. I need another piece of land in the middle of nowhere....So I can do what I want.....The wife would have a fit if I dragged home some junk to the new house we are fixing

But man it is fun to build stuff out of the junk pile....If it has to be explained I am thinking the other person would not understand

you guys know what I am talking about.....

desdawg

Quote

you guys know what I am talking about.....

benevolance, I discovered long ago that I could have all the toys anyone else has without the expenses if I was willing to do a little work in this throw away world.
This is my alternative log skidder for when the going gets tough. I got this last year for $500 and got her going. Lots of fun here. Tis a 1945 D4 Caterpillar. It has a gasoline pony motor for starting. Get the gas motor running and use it to crank the diesel engine. Get the diesel going and shut down the pony, go to work.


glenn-k

I had that same D4 30 years ago, desdawg.  I put a ROPS on it sometime after 86 and sold it.  I installed roll bars and sloper blades for about 6 years for Saf-T-Cab.  They made and gave me the ROPS.


desdawg

I think this one made it across the pond and back in the big one, WWII.

benevolance

I don't care how much work needed to be done to the dozer it was a steal at $500...It was worth more than that to take to the scrap metal place!

The amount of work that can be done with an old machine like that is unreal...It is equal to 500 dummies..(me) working with pick and shovel... :o

that is a great find at that price....Sweet... :) I am a little envious....No dozers here in my yard to go play in the mud with... not yet :-?


desdawg

Benevolance, being a mechanic you would have a much easier time than I do with these old machines. I like working with them lots more than I like working on them. I also have a 1954 #12 motor grader that I haven't got going yet. That was a $750 purchase but you have to have a way to get it home. And I spent another $700 for two tires.  :'(

I just happen to have a truck and a couple of trailers. However it takes a second mortgage to keep one registered and insured so it currently isn't. There is a fair amount of this old equipment out there on some of the older farms if you can ferret it out.

benevolance

You hit the nail on the head eactly...Getting equipment moved around is usually the killer.. To a lesser extent it is a killer for me with automobiles....they want a fortune to move a car a small distance and it is much worse once you start to get into larger machinery.

When I buy something online out west it usually costs me more to ship it back to South Carolina than it does for me to purchase it.

As for ferreting out farm equipment....This is not the place for that...Maybe a little further west.....They want $3000 for a run of the mill mostly worn out unrestored ford 8n tractor without a front end loader on it here.

And everyone wants old tractors...Lots of open land and most everyone does their own bush hogging.


Time for a small christmas confession....I dislike working on Diesels...Definately not my forte...necessity has forced me to work on them a fair bit in the past and one of my best customers who is my neighbor has a small fleet of diesel trucks so I do all of his work like it or not....

I wish there was more gasoline powered machinery

desdawg

When a gas engine can deliver the power a diesel can I suppose that may happen. Course we keep burning wierder stuff all of the time. Diesel, if I understand it right (and I probably don't) is a byproduct of gasoline production. Yet this byproduct is more expensive than gas.  :-/
Pretty soon I am going to have to go back to assembling my sawmill so I can get back on topic. The week before Christmas is pretty hectic. I try to get around to some of my regular customers with a little X-mas gift in addition to the normal stuff I do. I stopped by and delivered some goodies to a not so regular customer yesterday and got 6 new jobs. Gotta rush to get them permitted. Guess I will work straight through. Damn, I am a good salesman.  :-/ Too good sometimes.

Amanda_931

Desdawg wrote:

QuoteI stopped by and delivered some goodies to a not so regular customer yesterday and got 6 new jobs. Gotta rush to get them permitted. Guess I will work straight through. Damn, I am a good salesman.   Too good sometimes.

I know more than one person who ended up with a job instead of working for himself just because of that.

I was never one of them, though.

glenn-k

#24
I think you got me, desdawg-- All I have is a Kenworth with a 41 foot knuckle boom, a Cat 112 motor grader but only a 20 foot tilt trailer--- KW's non-opped and parked - kept my arm and leg. --- OH - and a Hino with a 31' knuckle boom -- both have been used to load logs on my Wood Wizard saw mill. :)

Peter - there is about twice the power in a gallon of diesel -- diesels are much more pleasant to listen to, and work on. :)

OK - Cummins diesels are nice to work on, and so much more power, and such beautiful black smoke. :)