White Oak milling project Update 7/1/11

[smokinj]

I know you need a special chain for this

A rep at Bailey's told be that the ripping chain isn't really much faster, just makes a cleaner cut. Seems several regular chains all sharpened and ready to go may do the trick, then run the rough stuff through the thickness planer once it's dry (in about a year or two).

+1 ripping chain is cut at 10 degrees just to make it smoother speed may be a little quicker if the rakers are a touch lower....
Progressive raker filling depth will change everytime you sharpen the chain is best!

 

[Battenkiller]

I also have a kiln so hope I can keep the warping to a min.

Jay, you are truly a man who seems well equipped for any eventuality. ;-)

What kind of kiln do you have? I'm always thinking of getting a small band mill and building a solar kiln. Did you design your kiln, or is it from plans available somewhere?

Cut that table slab real thick, because it will warp a lot no matter how you dry it. Then plane it down with one of these:


Makita 1806B 6-3/4 Planer


We used this on the ship building project, and it's a bear. Fairly affordable as well.

 

[smokinj]

I also have a kiln so hope I can keep the warping to a min.

Jay, you are truly a man who seems well equipped for any eventuality. ;-)

What kind of kiln do you have? I'm always thinking of getting a small band mill and building a solar kiln. Did you design your kiln, or is it from plans available somewhere?

Cut that table slab real thick, because it will warp a lot no matter how you dry it. Then plane it down with one of these:


Makita 1806B 6-3/4 Planer


We used this on the ship building project, and it's a bear. Fairly affordable as well.

I can pump heat into the garage from my wood-burning furnace 120 degrees this time of year is easy....I have a big blower and dehumidifier. I will run this for 30 days and then let the summer do the rest....My place is very windy so after the 30days or so I will open up the garage and let the wind take over. (everything I do re vols around wood just ask my wife) She says I will dye as the man with all the wood!

 

[mikefunaro]

Hi it's mike...flat bed's friend with the mill

Usually the Alaskan mill is reasonably fast--you could do each one of those cuts in about 2 minutes, tops. Not as fast as a band saw mill but there aren't many in our area.

This wood was wet unlike anything I had ever cut. Certainly nice stuff, but it needs time to dry out a least a bit. The saw dust coming out was so wet that you could make a saw dust ball the same way you'd make a snow ball. Normally with the 3120 I can get quite a few boards done in a relatively short amount of time.

The chains were also plenty sharp. And sharpened between cuts a few times.

 

[smokinj]

Hi it's mike...flat bed's friend with the mill

Usually the Alaskan mill is reasonably fast--you could do each one of those cuts in about 2 minutes, tops. Not as fast as a band saw mill but there aren't many in our area.

This wood was wet unlike anything I had ever cut. Certainly nice stuff, but it needs time to dry out a least a bit. The saw dust coming out was so wet that you could make a saw dust ball the same way you'd make a snow ball. Normally with the 3120 I can get quite a few boards done in a relatively short amount of time.

The chains were also plenty sharp. And sharpened between cuts a few times.

Hey glad your on the site! I will have mine up and running Tuesday and the logs I have are atleast a month old..The hickory I have may be a bad thing but it is what it is....You seem to be pushing very hard is that just because it was so wet? Very nice set up. We will be trying to set up to mill down hill by jacking one end up. Oak going to be tough no matter what.

 

[mikefunaro]

You really don't have to push that hard, and the mill isn't that hard to move. This business of putting it on a slant is probably helpful, but again, it seems unnecessary. You can make things go faster by pushing harder, it seems, so long as you don't really stop the chain. especially on the 3120 it seems faster the harder you push. I do not think milling chain can be made to be self feeding in the way that chain is when you cross cut.

 

[smokinj]

You really don't have to push that hard, and the mill isn't that hard to move. This business of putting it on a slant is probably helpful, but again, it seems unnecessary. You can make things go faster by pushing harder, it seems, so long as you don't really stop the chain. especially on the 3120 it seems faster the harder you push. I do not think milling chain can be made to be self feeding in the way that chain is when you cross cut.

Awww you must go to the aborist site they have a section just for milling and these guys have been doing it 15-20years+ There still a push no drought even down hill.....But when your doing it at someone elses place that tough to do....By the way not knocking you! You know your way around a log Thats For Sure....Have you seen the Aux oil-er?


http://www.arboristsite.com/forumdisplay.php?f=62

 

[mikefunaro]

Awww you must go to the aborist site they have a section just for milling and these guys have been doing it 15-20years+ There still a push no drought even down hill.....But when your doing it at someone elses place that tough to do....By the way not knocking you! You know your way around a log Thats For Sure....Have you seen the Aux oil-er?


http://www.arboristsite.com/forumdisplay.php?f=62

No worries man. I'm on AS---user mikefunaro. Seen you around there before.

I just don't want people to get the idea that Alaskan milling is really difficult or not worth the time. Things are normally smoother and easier than this.

 

[smokinj]

Awww you must go to the aborist site they have a section just for milling and these guys have been doing it 15-20years+ There still a push no drought even down hill.....But when your doing it at someone elses place that tough to do....By the way not knocking you! You know your way around a log Thats For Sure....Have you seen the Aux oil-er?


http://www.arboristsite.com/forumdisplay.php?f=62

No worries man. I'm on AS---user mikefunaro. Seen you around there before.

I just don't want people to get the idea that Alaskan milling is really difficult or not worth the time. Things are normally smoother and easier than this.

"white oak" may have been the big issue. Like I said the hickory I have is now over a month setting there it could give me some real trouble as well...(or I should say MMAul problem lol) Little tough for me to run a saw at this point in time...So I will take pic's of him Tuesday and see how he does. Running a 880 41in. bar- 36in. alaskan on it aux oiler, for edging it will be the mini mill and 460 all down hill easy peasy! lol If the rain will ever STOP!

 

[Flatbedford]

Hey Mike, Good to see you here. I've been busy. I'll have some down time at work tomorrow to comment.

 

[Flatbedford]

Last week I cleaned up a little. I ripped the planks that we made into lumber just a bit wider than I will need for the the truck bed. I used my Bosch 10" contractor's saw. I kept it low to the ground and used 2x limber for the "tables".

The tablesaw blade loaded up pretty quickly too, but I was able to clean it with WD40 and a wire brush. It was tough going. I will use a new blade next time.
I stacked the lumber in the loft of my barn.

I will restack and sticker it on my next day off. I just wanted to get it off the lawn.
I cleaned up the yard and dragged the partially milled log to the side.

The Oak saw dust did quite a job on the grass. I hope I can get it green again with some watering.
I was able to roll the smaller log back up to the driveway with my timber jack. The bigger log required some rigging. I tried with the tractor first, but had to use the F250 to get it moving. I made a video because my wife didn't believe that I could get it up the hill without tearing up the grass. Here's the rig. I went with the double purchase system because I was hoping to use the tractor. These are some military surplus snatch blocks that I acquired a few years ago. All the wire rope is extra cutoffs from work. (Click the picture for lousy video)

The tractor just spun it's wheels. The F250 could only move it in four wheel drive. Those are some heavy logs.Here's the pull. Nice, slow, and gentle. (Click the picture for lousy video)

Once they were on the driveway, I was able to push them around with the back bumper of the old truck and roll them with the timber jack. Here they are waiting to dry a little. They can stay here until just before the snow starts.

 

[smokinj]

How did you square it up?

 

['bert]

Flatbed, you may want to put some old carpet (or floor mats etc) on that cable when you are pulling like that. If it ever snaps it will take out the front of the F250 in a hurry. Sometimes the old rug can absorb the energy so that no damage is done to the trucks.

 

[Flatbedford]

Flatbed, you may want to put some old carpet (or floor mats etc) on that cable when you are pulling like that. If it ever snaps it will take out the front of the F250 in a hurry. Sometimes the old rug can absorb the energy so that no damage is done to the trucks.

I thought of that, but got lazy. The rug or mat works by making the cable or rope drop to the ground quicker if it breaks. The 1/4" wire rope that I use has a safe working load of around 3000 lbs for overhead lifting. With the double purchase system I used, the rope wasn't dragging much more than 1/2 to 2/3 of the SWL. All of the hardware was of a higher rating than the rope too.

 

[Flatbedford]

We made a sqaure edge when we were milling by rolling the log. Check post #14.

 

[smokinj]

We made a sqaure edge when we were milling by rolling the log. Check post #14.

yea I seen that after I post it.

 

[Flatbedford]

We did a little more last week. A combination of a very hot and dry summer and refining our technique gave us much better results. We finished the one that we got only 1/2 through and left in the yard.

We went with the 10° ripping chain and got some supper nice planks.

We then moved the operation to the ones that I dragged onto the driveway. This time we started with one deep pass with the mill and them did the sides with the beam machine. I thought I had had a picture, but must have deleted it by mistake. The beam machine is a little crude, but much quicker than rolling the log. We started the second log but ran out of time. Hopefully, we can finish before the logs are in the way of snow clearing. You can see the one we started and the third which is now firewood in this picture.

It is amazing how much sawdust this makes!

I have more than enough for the truck bed. What ever we get from log #2 will be trucked to mgfunaro's place. I may even drag the logs onto th etruck and deliver them to him that way.
This is time consuming work and I don't have much time these days.

 

[smokinj]

We did a little more last week. A combination of a very hot and dry summer and refining our technique gave us much better results. We finished the one that we got only 1/2 through and left in the yard.

We went with the 10° ripping chain and got some supper nice planks.

We then moved the operation to the ones that I dragged onto the driveway. This time we started with one deep pass with the mill and them did the sides with the beam machine. I thought I had had a picture, but must have deleted it by mistake. The beam machine is a little crude, but much quicker than rolling the log. We started the second log but ran out of time. Hopefully, we can finish before the logs are in the way of snow clearing. You can see the one we started and the third which is now firewood in this picture.

It is amazing how much sawdust this makes!

I have more than enough for the truck bed. What ever we get from log #2 will be trucked to mgfunaro's place. I may even drag the logs onto th etruck and deliver them to him that way.
This is time consuming work and I don't have much time these days.

Nice Work!

 

[Flatbedford]

Yes, it has been just over a year! We finally had the time to finish up. The logs cut like butter after a year of drying. We didn't have to stop once for sharpening.
We made these
(broken image removed)
into these
(broken image removed)
All loaded up for the ride down to my friend Mike's house. It is nice to have my whole driveway again after a year.

 

[smokinj]

I like those big cants like that then hit it with a mini mill set up. Amazing how much less horse power you need at that point.

 

[Flatbedford]

Yup! We flew through this stuff. We ran some of them through the table saw after to give them a nice edge.

 

[gzecc]

Flatbed, I bet after all that work, you have an appreciation for how inexpensive demensional lumber is at the lumber yard.

 

[Flatbedford]

Flatbed, I bet after all that work, you have an appreciation for how inexpensive demensional lumber is at the lumber yard.

Inexpensive! It sure shows first hand the difference mass production can make. On the other hand it is pretty cool to make lumber with only a couple chainsaws and about $150 worth of accessories. Oh yeah and some hard work too. I don't think that my friend and I see this as a way to make or save money, but it was kinda cool to load up the old flatbed with some home made lumber at the end of the day, well, year!