Diy timber beams, it's slow.

[MossRoad]

Also, the location is not conducive to leaving a band saw mill set up. We don't live there and there's no security.

 

[oosik]

Around here black locust are found at/around old homesteads. They are not a native tree and were planted by homesteaders. Make great firewood and also fence posts. The problem - there just aren't that many.

I look out my kitchen window and see five Ponderosa pines that have been attacked by Pine Bark beetles. They were green trees last year. Most likely attacked because they were under stress.

In any case - I've got to cut them down and burn them. The beetles can cover and kill large swaths of pine forests.

 

[Egon]

I used an Alaskan mill from granberg to cut two 2" planks, by 7' and used the bottom half for a garden bench.
I have a 20" bar on a 50cc with a ripping chain and it worked pretty well. Used a dead Ash trunk.
Very limiter width (about 10-12") width with that size bar.
First time got some scoring, took down with a flap disk and then orbital sander. Looks pretty good.
Started by screwing on an 8" 2x8 to the trunk, so came out pretty straight.

Egon, that setup is really nice!

Thank you

 

[MossRoad]

Around here black locust are found at/around old homesteads. They are not a native tree and were planted by homesteaders. Make great firewood and also fence posts. The problem - there just aren't that many.

I look out my kitchen window and see five Ponderosa pines that have been attacked by Pine Bark beetles. They were green trees last year. Most likely attacked because they were under stress.

In any case - I've got to cut them down and burn them. The beetles can cover and kill large swaths of pine forests.

From what I was told by our state forester, black locust was planted heavily around here for erosion control. The roots spread out and hold the soil in place.

I heat our home with firewood, almost all of it is black locust. It's a great firewood for long hot fires all night long. It's very heavy wood, can sit on the ground for years and not rot. We have around 20,000 trees on our property, and half of it is black locust. I cut about 6 cords of it per year. I like to take the ones under 12" in diameter that are around 50' tall. I cut about 50-60 of those every year, drag them out to a landing, then saw them into firewood lengths to take home on trailer, where I split them and let them dry for a couple years.

One strange thing about that wood is it can be burnt green. It will light right up. Hisses and pops and you can see the water coming out of the ends, but it still lights pretty easily. I try not to ever burn green wood in the wood burner, but once in a while a piece will slip in and you notice.

Also, if you let it sit on the ground for a year or two, the bark comes right off nicely. It stinks like heck under that bark, though.

 

[shooterdon]

MossRoad,
Looks like in your situation a chainsaw mill is the way to go. Unless you get a "real" tractor...LOL

 

[MossRoad]

MossRoad,
Looks like in your situation a chainsaw mill is the way to go. Unless you get a "real" tractor...LOL

That hurt shooterdon. That hurt.

 

[BubbaLouie]

Yeah, a chain saw seems to work better cutting across the grain.
I have done a lot of lumber-making with a band saw of the following brand and it works very well.
If you have a lot of hardwood trees you want to convert into dollars, after a while this one can pay for itself.

Portable Sawmills and Wood Processing Equipment | Wood-Mizer USA

Mill logs into lumber for wood projects or profits with Wood-Mizer portable sawmill equipment including portable sawmills and band sawmill blades made in USA.

woodmizer.com

 

[/pine]

Beams can be formed from logs with just a foot adze and a hand adze...depending on the application often only the bearing points and points of resistance need to be uniform...(set and gauge with strings)

 

[Mudfarmer]

Harbor freight has a chain saw attachment for less than $20 called the "lumber maker." it's not great for lumber but works just fine for what yo want to do. I have made many a 20 foot beams out of poles off my tree farm. If you need two beams plan to spend 2 hours.

 

[Mudfarmer]

I also have an 'Alaska sawmill" That would work as well, but I usually start with the harbor freight "lumber maker" then proceed to make boards with the Alaska.