Thread: cutting large posts

Hey Charlsie,

I have a 6-18, cut myself a couple of 350x350 a little while back... I put up how I did it here While I was cutting them I took out a bunch of 6x2's from the outside of the square, then pulled out the post.

Found the second one pretty easy,first one took 5.5 hours, but second one was much quicker.

Have a look and see what you think

Setup
I have some 200 x 200 spotted gum bolsters that I use for resawing and cutting flitches down to slabs and I would do big posts on these. I was going to do this job using this method but changed my mind when I found there was a level slab to work on as the posts were aready square and only needed resizing. Run the mill over the bolsters just skimming the top of them to get them level (this is my zero level). Once level I would nail a scrap 200 x 50 (or similar) along the right hand side edge, swing the blade to verticle and cut the edge off the 200 x 50 to make it square to the blade.

Cutting

1. Role the log in against the squared 200 x 50 take boards off the top until it is down to the desired size (at this stage you should be at least 400mm plus flitch height off the bolsters if you want to cut 400 x 400's).
2. Role the log 90 degrees in an anticlockwise direction and use a carpenters square to square the cut face against the level bolsters (this is why I like to use big bolsters rather than an open log to resaw oversize stuff on).
3. Take boards off the top of the log until you have your desired face size.
4. The rest is easy now you have two 90 degree adjacent sized faces, role the log back in a clockwise direction so the flat face is down and the other flat face is hard up against the 200 x 50 and take boards off down to your desired final size.
5. Rotate another 90 degrees and cut your final face the same.

Takes a bit of mucking around but I would rather do all the cutting with the mill than use the chainsaw for anything

allan and burnsy thanks a heap the roofing square sounds the go. thanks very much.you blokes have got rid of the problem of the second cut, trying to get it square to the first cut. now with bobl's list i think i'll get a few posts out. which makes me think i should have been cutting these years ago so they'd be dry on the outside surface. now i better go and whack a post on buildertobes thread letting him know i can cut them.now what would be a good idea is make a sticky on this coz it'll work with any mill

Just checked Al's thread, his 90 degree guides are a good idea. If you had a heap of these to do a 200x200 laid across and screwed down with two 90 degree angle braces on the outside (where I say to use a 200x50) would make it really easy as you could clamp the log against it to save having to fiddle around with wedges.

I see everyone uses pretty light weight bolsters but if you have a permanent milling location at home so you don't have to move them and you have a few crap hardwood logs lying around the 200x200's are fantastic because they are so heavy. If I had a more permanent location I would set four of them up and join them together so they could never move. Would also pour 300 x 300 x 300 footings under each of my uprights so every time I set up it was all level and square. I really noticed how nice this was when I did the job on the building slab above, it made measuring for oversize cuts so easy.

Mike I also used a framing square on the second post, to help layout the post on the face of the log, then worked backward and outward from that to get my 6x2's from the outside. The first post, I didn't have the square with me, so to get the first corner, I made the face as wide as I needed then I lined up on the left hand edge of the post, dropped the rails full depth (6" for mine) and did the vertical, so I could roll the log close to 90 deg and line the blade up when in horizontal with the 6" cut I had just made. This is probably why the first post took so bloody long, I had to frig around trying to get my 90 deg corners. both came out pretty good I reckon, only 5mm out of square.

One thing I did with my setup was to level the bottom rail of the end frames and also level the bolsters I was using, this way they where referenced to each other. and as I had 2 posts to do, I kept a close eye on my endframe scales to make sure I raised or lowered each end the same all the way through.

Admittedly if I was more stationary, I'd use bigger bolsters. I've been toying with the idea of using a 5x4 joined to an 8x2 for my bolsters instead of 4x3 and 6x2. It'd give me a bit more dead weight and allow some of the smaller 'logs' to be milled, but also give me an extra inch of leeway before the rails bottom out. And also toying with the idea of making one bolster higher than the other to help me tail easier, but the drawback is getting the log up onto them without it sliding back down the tapers....

mike,your better off pouring 300mmx300mm by 600mm deep footings for the end frames i reckon they wont move as far when you hit them with a machine.iwish i had done this first and like you say big bolsters. i use 8"x8" or 8"x6"