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

[redmt]

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.

I have a woodland tooth setter also. I find it cumbersome but necessary.
I'm running a 130max

 

[Fxfymn413]

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

That's how I made mine. The only drawback is you cannot use a third function valve since they do not feather well. (At least I cannot) I use the rear remotes to control the grapple.

It makes it really easy to load logs into a dump trailer without dropping them. Plus I can carry multiple 10 to 15 inch logs at a time.

 

[ning]

I started clearing it out even though I wasn't certain I was buying the mill just yet....

 

[Noah]

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...

I have a Wood Mizer band mill that I picked up about 5 years ago, prior to that I had a circular saw portable mill for over 20 years. The cleaner your logs the longer a blade will stay sharp. Most of the time I will debark the entrance side of the cut. I have a blade lubricant system, usually water and dawn dish soap in the summer and windshield antifreeze in the cold months. A sharp blade will produce nice flat lumber, once the blade starts to dull the cut can turn wavy. There are different tooth angles which work better on soft and hard woods. The smell of fresh sawn wood, especially pine, is one of my favorite aromas. Enjoy your new tool.

 

[deezler]

The cleaner your logs the longer a blade will stay sharp. Most of the time I will debark the entrance side of the cut. I have a blade lubricant system, usually water and dawn dish soap in the summer and windshield antifreeze in the cold months. A sharp blade will produce nice flat lumber, once the blade starts to dull the cut can turn wavy. There are different tooth angles which work better on soft and hard woods. The smell of fresh sawn wood, especially pine, is one of my favorite aromas. Enjoy your new tool.

Thanks for the tips! Will definitely always be trying to de-bark and clean my logs before sawing.

I tell you what, the smell of fresh-sawn ELM wood is disgusting (the only log I've sawn on this so far). Smells like a weird mix of poo and vomit, not joking.

 

[redmt]

Thanks for the tips! Will definitely always be trying to de-bark and clean my logs before sawing.

I tell you what, the smell of fresh-sawn ELM wood is disgusting (the only log I've sawn on this so far). Smells like a weird mix of poo and vomit, not joking.

Be aware that some sawdust like Black Walnut is actually toxic . Wearing a mask is a PITA but sometimes necessary.

 

[deezler]

Be aware that some sawdust like Black Walnut is actually toxic . Wearing a mask is a PITA but sometimes necessary.

Hmm I know Black Walnut poisons the soil with Juglone to affect other plants, but I never thought about the sawdust for human exposure! Thanks for another great tip - I definitely plan to saw Black Walnut, I have a whole grove of them on my property. I had 30 walnuts logged for veneer-grade wood back in 2014 as a select-cut. Now the trees they didn't fell, and left behind are getting huge.

 

[fustsgt]

Good luck on your adventure. We have 100 acres of woods, all hardwoods. I have had a local Sawmizer guy out twice to saw logs that I salvaged from blowdowns that were just too good to become firewood. So the former tobacco barn has some 4000 bf of rough cut poplar, oak, cherry and walnut. I'm 83 so probably more that my lifetime supply. I do envy you having your own mill, but time using the mill could be used in building things with it's product.

 

[redmt]

Hmm I know Black Walnut poisons the soil with Juglone to affect other plants, but I never thought about the sawdust for human exposure! Thanks for another great tip - I definitely plan to saw Black Walnut, I have a whole grove of them on my property. I had 30 walnuts logged for veneer-grade wood back in 2014 as a select-cut. Now the trees they didn't fell, and left behind are getting huge.

Think about 1/4 sawing for gunstocks. They take a long time to dry correctly but it's worth the time.
I'm in the process of making a cross for a buddies grave. The trees have been down for several years. After I cut the 4"thick 32x18 slab from the center it was at 32% still. It took another 6-8 months to get it to naturally dry to 15% to cut to rough shape and another 4-5 months to get it to -10% for final cut and shape. It twisted less than 1/8" overall. I'm in the process of final sanding for finishing. It's definitely a labor of love.

 

[deezler]

Good luck on your adventure. ... I do envy you having your own mill, but time using the mill could be used in building things with it's product.

This is a good point. The sawing of logs is basically the hobby.

My coworker and his dad that I bought it from were this way also, they sawed logs just to saw them, and filled up their shop with stacks of boards, but only used a few of them here and there for projects. Since I don't have 1,000 sq ft of indoor storage to dedicate to lumber stacks like they do, I plan to be more judicious about what I saw up, and why.

Right now I feel more interested in making utility-grade 1x6s and 2x4s than I do live-edge slabs or anything fancy like that.