Thread: Small softwood logs milling

if you can set up a few side by side , although with power feed it not going to male it a lot easier ? what brand is the mill ? looks a good setup cheers bob

sgschwends got a brand X swingsaw bobsreturn.

I have wanted to try multiple logs. In this job there is a lot of double cutting so side by side would be a problem. I carry 2-3 logs to the mill on the forklift and then it is pretty fast to load them onto the frame aligned to the dogs.

The best material handling seems to be scrap adjacent to the log and the boards off the same side but behind.

Here is the rest of that job heading for the customer. 4000 bf, on my Ford F800, a truck that I converted from a box to a flatbed.

Nice load. Hope your customer has a forklift. Cutting 2 logs at a time would be worth a couple of pics. I guess they would need to be uniform size. I have done it on my bandsaw but they become difficult to clamp when you flip them over.

regards
Steve

just a couple of questions steve,what do you use siding for? i'm guessing it's vertical weather board? and, they are shingles on the house in the pic of the truck aren't they?

Charlsie

Siding is the american equivalent of weatherboards. Mostly they are horizontal, but can also be vertical.

I think you are right about the shingles. Technically (pedantically if you prefer), shakes are handsplit with a froe and maul while shingles are cut with the bandsaw. Consequently the shingles look tidy compared to the hickeldy pickeldy nature of shakes.

I hope this is the same on Steve's side of the pacific.

Regards
Paul

so the idea is to cut the board with square sides first then turn it into two weather boards?

That's pretty much it. That gives you a splayed board 20mm at the thick edge and 6mm at the thin edge. This is very easy to do on a bandsaw and some of the manufacturers sell a device to tilt the boards for resawing.

I would not be quite so happy doing this on a circular saw, but I expect it can be done. Also you start to lose too much timber in the kerf and would have to start off with thicker boards.

Regards
Paul

Sounds like you have figured out what I meant. Yes the customer is building himself a home and will use the board vertically, then a 3" wide batten will cover the gap between boards. On anything other than cedar siding boards would be rectangular, if the boards are run horizontally as in lap siding a 1" thick starter cleat would be put on first to tip the board. My Brand X does have a stop to allow cutting of tapered boards, haven't used it, in my experience folks who want tapered boards also want clear number 1s too, which becomes a sticking point.

The photo shows the truck in my driveway waiting for the trip in the morning. I did use shingle on my place, I like using them, they go up fast, and the wife had no trouble installing them either.

Here is a picture of a job for the end of the month. These logs are small and I hope to cut them on-sight with a Lucas mill. I may have passed on this job but I have a friend coming to town and we can use my forklift and his mill and I hope make a decent wage on this job.

not trying to be rude steve, but the recovery would be fairly low on those logs i suspect. is the timber of some value? if so,what size will you be cutting it to?

No the timber is not of high value. The sizes have been selected so that the mill can cut the logs easily. The sizes are: vertical boards up to 6" high and 1 1/2 wide, and fence posts any size between 4 and 6", any side lumber related to post height.

There is always a risk in any job. I have given the customer a good price, if we can convert the logs at a high rate we will make our earning goal. If things look bad the customer knows I will call and likely shut the job down.

Here are a few things in our favor: the job site is large, and level (not too common here), we will be the only ones in there, the logs are clean (have not been skidded), they have all be decked by size and orientation, the scrap can just be dumped where they will be bring in a chipper, and the logs scale at 6000 bf international (4500 bf Schribner).

I hope it works out for you, would a smaller band mill have been any help to you Sgschwend?

From my experience with a bandmill I would not think it would help. There would be at least four passes just to obtain a rectangular cant. Then the cuts to make boards. These logs are long enough to use a mill unloader which my bandmill did have.
My guess is the Lucas sawyer (per his messages to me) will flatten the top, flip and flatten again. Then make the lumber. If I was doing it I would flatten the top, then drop to my board size and cut vertical boards, if there is space I would do this twice to reach the bottom of the log. Then toss out the L shaped scrap.

I have been thinking about adding a third person to move material, I am guessing this will be the area that will affect the bf rate.

Steve