Guess I'm a Sawyer now? A 1991 Kasco "The Saw IIA" Sawmill is mine!

[jonsstihl]

Congrats on the saw mill
I find it easier to be gentle with the forks than my grapple. just drop the forks in between two bunks and the log just ends up on the bunks. if you tilt the forks it gets hard to control the rolling speed of the log.

 

[Sawyer Rob]

Why not have the BEST of both worlds and get one of these, so you have total control of the log at all times,

OR anything else you pick up!

SR

 

[deezler]

Yeah the forks-plus-grapple is a pretty neat tool.

ANny suggestions for me on sawing, Rob? And not just bragging about how your stuff is the best?

 

[Sawyer Rob]

ANny suggestions for me on sawing, Rob? And not just bragging about how your stuff is the best?

Yeaaa, I could give you some good ones, but I won't because it would sound like I was bragging.

SR

 

[civilian]

Deezler, I bought a Timbery swmill a few years ago. Nephew gave me a bunch of white and red pine logs, in ranch of 20" diameter. I sawed those up, stickered them in 40" wide bunks. About 7 layers is what my B26TLB would handle. My flat bed trailer has a 84" deck, removable sides. I stacked the piles on 6" x 6" timbers 96" long. Then I covered the tops of the stacks with metal roofing panels to keep the rain off. Threw some slabwood on top to keep wind from blowing metal off.

Also got cherry logs from a tree cutter at my daughter's house and some oak from the fire wood pile. Cut both of those up and delivered to a sawmill to run them through their dryer. Those stacks are now in my workshop/storage building.

Some of the white pine has been moved to the attic for a bit of protection and drying. But the stacks in the woods are air drying and have been utilized as is. Jon

 

[deezler]

Jon, nice work on your milling. Any pics of your setup? Sorry about your B26 axle snafu!

Well I was able to get my load of silver-maple logs home this weekend.

Step one was to transport my tractor over to my folks house for the first time. Also my first time towing my tractor with my F150, which handled it incredibly well. Towed smoother and calmer than my prior 2500HD did, honestly.

First I laid a bed of mulch (big pile from stump-grinding the maple tree) in the bottom of the dump trailer to cushion my logs drops. Then switched to grapple to finely position all the logs in the trailer.

Back at my house, it was pretty incredible to dump the log load out. It all came out silently in one smooth swoop, and somehow all the logs landed atop the mulch again. This is the way!

Was able to fill up a few more IBC totes from my folk's surplus firewood stash (they don't burn wood anymore, might as well snag it before it dry rots).

Hopefully sawing up a log or two next weekend...

 

[redmt]

You'll find a freshly sharp band is good for 2-3 hours and a decent blade is good for 4-5 sharpenings. One thing to pay special attention to is the tooth set. One tooth being too high will scar up a piece of lumber pretty badly.

 

[kneedeep]

You got a full time hobby now

 

[deezler]

You'll find a freshly sharp band is good for 2-3 hours and a decent blade is good for 4-5 sharpenings. One thing to pay special attention to is the tooth set. One tooth being too high will scar up a piece of lumber pretty badly.

Thanks, good tip. I have a woodland-mills tooth setter tool that came along with the sawmill. But I honestly hope not to use it much! Checking and/or setting a consistent tooth-set on a 13 foot long blade seems a bit tedious! Sharpening too, but that is less avoidable.

My saw doesn't have an hour-meter on it. I am thinking about adding a basic one so that I can log my time on each blade, etc.

 

[deezler]

You got a full time hobby now

Whatever you do, do NOT tell my wife this.