Too big for the mill...

[czechsonofagun]

I know a fellow, who looks like he fell off a mountain, that has a been sawing for years with a band mill. He does the big logs like you said, some saw kerfs, some gun powder, a little cannon fuse and some mud to seal the kerf. I have an LT 30 band mill, but I have not felt the urge to try that procedure myself, but it does work.

I have never actually seen it, but learned about it on some lumber milling email list.

 

[20 20]

I've cut a few logs that were oversized for my mill, 28" mill handling 36" logs, trim them down with a chainsaw and buzz away. I did notice you left the butt knots{lack of term}, why? they'll just cause an issue with better grade lumber later. If it has rot in the center then maybe half it with a chainsaw then go from there on the mill? If it is pine and rotten in the center you might just have a crap piece of timber also I have had that happen a couple of times, log looks great on the outside just to find out it really wasn't worth squat once milling begain. The rot has a tendency to travel through out the cant{log} that can not be seen until milling has begain, which inturn leaves a bunch of worthless lumber.

 

[Egon]

Keep us updated on the milling process please Lloyd. Thanks.

Hear you gona get some rain today. I'm looking out the window at -26 C this morning.

 

[dking]

Nails, clothesline pulleys, other "unique" things... I went on one mill tour that the sawyer told about hitting an electrical insulator that was like an explosion.

Not just from urban wood. I was cutting firewood and as I was about to split it, I noticed something shiny...turned out to be a fork. I'm lucky I didn't hit it with the chainsaw. I guess someone had their lunch in the woods a long time ago, stuck the fork in the ground and the tree grew over it. A friend of mine was cutting wood on an island in the river, in the middle of a large maple was a sword that dated back two centuries.

 

[sandman2234]

I was wondering where I lost that fork when I went camping, lol
David from jax

 

[Lloyd_E]

Jst,

The mill is a home made job. My buddy and another friend bought it. I supply the tractor for hauling logs and general mill work. My buddy is the guy in the plaid. The photos are from a previous session. We plan on removing the crotch section before milling.

In the close up of my buddy sawing... who can spot the design flaw with this mill?
He is sawing and selling some material and will replace the mill next year. It has its limitations. The price was right for us to begin with but we quickly found a major flaw within the first hour of milling.

Lots of fun... last year we milled enough material - which only put a dent in our pile of logs - for me to make a green house addition to my workshop.

Lloyd

 

[jeffreythree]

In the close up of my buddy sawing... who can spot the design flaw with this mill?

Hmm, I see a couple. Guards in front and back would be nice if you break or throw a blade , the bed looks really light weight(especially if you are getting those big logs), and where is the tensioner for the belt?

I think I see the tensioner now behind the brace just above the log, but does this mill have a clutch? How do you stop the blade?

 

[Egon]

Looks like you will not be cutting big balk's out of a log.

 

[clemsonfor]

If you make a fresh cut on the but end of your logs, metal will usually put a small black spot/stain in the wood where the iron is tranported throught the tree as the object rusts. Stainless i sont think will do it. This is how the small time sawmills still do it. All the larger ones have metal detectors that throw the log out to the grinder if metal is found. Some mills though will have a man with a hand held that once a suspect log is found he will se if it is possible to slvage any of it after the metal is cut out.

 

[jimmyj]

Nice big pine! I'd love to see a thick table made of that wood.