Thread: I would appreciate your comments and advice on milling these.

Originally Posted by phill-nz

firstly I'm thinking they are some type of Gum? - they have been down 18months
daves logs.jpg

Rear log: 5mtrs long diameter 400mm tapering to 300mm after removing about 1mtr at each end
Front log: a good 4mtrs before the bend diameter 180mm tapering to 150mm

The mill - Lucas 6-18 so that will determine the maximum dimensions

What we are planning:
- they belong to a mate and he would like some "sleepers" to surround his gardens (we both want to have a play with the Lucas as well but as grown men we probably shouldn't say that)

As I'm completely new to this I'm not sure I want to comment on how I'm thinking of going about this, thus would really appreciate those with experience telling me how they would tackle this little project.

I'm hoping you all won't come out and say firewood only, as payment we will carefully document the operation mistakes (if any) and all.

thanks
phill

Very small logs Phil,but you could still dimensionally mill them with the lucas..have a play and learn by the experience...watch as the boards rise and bend like bananas..small logs,particularly Eucs,can behave poorly,so beware ...make sure the log is securely anchored on the skids,eliminating the chance of any movement,and mill slowly and carefully!!Keep your blade razor sharp too. I have milled logs as small as yours Phil,you will be surprised what you recover,i say go for it and enjoy the thrill of milling..MM

As Mapleman sead,
Get in and have a "play", keep it sharp and take it steady.
Only other peace of advice I could give would be, to position your bearers under the logs about 1/3 from the ends.
ie 4mtr log 1mtr from eather end. the reason for this is as mentioned the small ish logs will spring and this will average out the that movement.
Hapy playing.
Mal.

Phil, go for it mate, remember to dock your logs then set your endframes up so they can roll in freely.
I prefer to set my log supports in the last 8-10" of any log regardless of size or length.
Also being down so long, they may cut a lot nicer than we think, maybe not so much bow and spring off the log.
Once the logs are rolled in, try and get rid of the bark/dirt from where they lay on the ground. Or at worst orientate the dirt so it is on the 'exit' side of the log(when looking at the log from operators position, you want the dirt around the 7 o'clock to 10 o'clock position) but try to get rid of it.
In horizontal cuts, as your logs are on the small side, take two passes for the horizontal cuts, so for a 4" face make two 2" cuts rather than make the horizontal cut in one 4", this helps not place as much side 'stress' on the log.

Post a heap of pics mate

Thanks all just waiting for the next fine couple of days and we will swing into it, will post photos here when we do

Finally got the chance to have a go with the mill, loading the log up onto a couple of bearers, in the end used the tractor to lift the end.
IMG_4989.jpg

Taking the top off, already noticed the tension in the log
IMG_5049.jpg

Jammed her trying to take to big a bite, backed off and did a shallower cut, the predictions of tension were spot on
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A deep back cut as the intention was to cut sleepers to be used for landscaping
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second pass in the horizontal and she splits out to the edge, starts to take on the form of a banana
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Close up of the split and the tension beginning to lift the end
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Bugger that was heavy the bend is not entirely as a result of the way its being handled
IMG_5093.jpg

banana sleepers
IMG_5097.jpg

We rolled what remained of the log upside down to then cut the new top, afterwards rolling again to make this final cut to form the second length of sleeper
IMG_5138.jpg

Bending away and chainsaw approaching to cut same.
IMG_5149.jpg

Really enjoyed this although the tension made for some interesting moments.
Some lessons learnt, including being aware of what any helpers are doing all the time.

Good to see some pics,well done lads..MM

Great to see,
I take it you know a lot more about "spring". Best lessons are always from expeareance.
Mal

Excellent pictorial.

It's a shame, from your point of view, the log wasn't as good. Many species are not worth cutting in smaller diameters.

Regards
Paul

excellent post mate. loved all the pics, really gave me and idea of how a home mill works. great job!

how much does a rig like that cost? just curious.

Great work Phil

When that board split out, one thing you could have done was do the vertical cuts first. Also doing it that way means you can do the vertical, then half of the horizontal (then see how the log is behaving) if she has 'risen' due to tension, you can wind back up to the top of your winders, and clean off any extra thickness in the top of your board, wind back down to the original depth and finish the board off. This will give you uniform thickness of timber, instead of a 3" board that 'grows' to 3.5" in the middle.

I cut doing my vertical's first all the time. It does mean the weight of the board can drop on the blade at the end of the cut, but I've got that sorted and the benefits I get from doing the vertical first out weighs doing the horizontals first.

but great work mate, hope you had some fun

Originally Posted by Sigidi

Great work Phil

When that board split out, one thing you could have done was do the vertical cuts first. Also doing it that way means you can do the vertical, then half of the horizontal (then see how the log is behaving) if she has 'risen' due to tension, you can wind back up to the top of your winders, and clean off any extra thickness in the top of your board, wind back down to the original depth and finish the board off. This will give you uniform thickness of timber, instead of a 3" board that 'grows' to 3.5" in the middle.

I cut doing my vertical's first all the time. It does mean the weight of the board can drop on the blade at the end of the cut, but I've got that sorted and the benefits I get from doing the vertical first out weighs doing the horizontals first.

but great work mate, hope you had some fun

Good advice Sigidi, its going to be a steep learning curve, just can't wait to get into the poplar now, could be start the preparations this Saturday, will make sure I take lots of photos. cheers

One thing you have got to do while milling, is constantly check the water, sometimes your bottle gets crud in it which can stick in the pipe, or the end of the pipe near the blade can get a mud wasp in it. Always gotta be using water. If I come to a point where I think I might have a pinch (like the underside of a 8x8 or 10x10) then I open the water up full before it.

Also I have a little custom made 6mm thick aluminium "wedge/spacer" that sits in my back pocket that I shove under large boards that may be a problem pinching the blade.

Originally Posted by Sigidi

One thing you have got to do while milling, is constantly check the water, sometimes your bottle gets crud in it which can stick in the pipe, or the end of the pipe near the blade can get a mud wasp in it. Always gotta be using water. If I come to a point where I think I might have a pinch (like the underside of a 8x8 or 10x10) then I open the water up full before it.

Also I have a little custom made 6mm thick aluminium "wedge/spacer" that sits in my back pocket that I shove under large boards that may be a problem pinching the blade.

Did have the water stop because of crud build-up, so turned the drip into a trickle. I like the idea of keeping a wedge handy good idea.

Going to start cleaning up clearing the area around the big poplars tomorrow in anticipation of getting milling those, good fun this.

Well these are the trees I've been really looking forward to milling. They are on our neighbours farm, three of them came down all pretty much the same size, doing the clean up first to make room for the "attack"

This is how it looked before we started, doesn't look that big
poplar04.jpg

All the smaller stuff moved from around the main part of the tree, we have lots of firewood
poplar05.jpg

To give an idea of scale, we slowly worked down towards the real timber
poplar06.jpg

Could easily recover milled timber from the branches already cut off
poplar07.jpg

That piece is large enough that we couldn't drag it with a MassyFerguson 35 tractor
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Next to the stump this is going to provide a bit of timber
poplar01.jpg

Going to be interesting getting this into position to mill
poplar02.jpg

Its sitting on a couple of limbs hopefully with a chain we can roll it a little way towards us and set the mill up around it, after all thats what the mighty Lucas is all about
poplar03.jpg

I can't wait to get started but we still have two more trees to cut up both are as big or bigger than this one.

I'm thinking I will cut it so that it can be dressed down to 6x2 so max cut on my 6-16 with 70mm odd as the "other cut" I'll try for as much quarter sawn as possible but would really like to read your comments on how you all would go about this.

I'm taking this seriously as talked the wifee into letting me upgrade the chainsaw to a Husky 460 rancher with 24inch bar, needed it to get through the last shot