Thread: lucas mills cant rival traditional sawmills!?

If you think a lucas can cut off the log the same quality straight timber as a bench saw you should really get out more & experience the other half of the story like go & work in a sawmill for a while. I cut nearly every day with my lucas producing straight timber & to get it I have to break the log into flitches & resaw just like in a conventional sawmill. Grading rules & tolerances really mean SFA when it comes to building & producing straight flat plumb walls, flat level floors & non undulating roofs.
lucas mills are great for efficiently producing timber for everything other than what I have just mentioned, they are the absolute best thing for producing railway sleepers quickly & cheaply if you have a 9" or 10' model.
regards inter

As I siad before - guess I've been luckier than the Irish by getting the best quality logs in all of Australia

Originally Posted by Sigidi

As I siad before - guess I've been luckier than the Irish by getting the best quality logs in all of Australia

I do remember a while back you saying that you cut 20 odd posts & only half of them were usable, is that an irish memory too??
regards inter

ha ha - Yeah I recall, no Irish memory, I cut around 20 posts and was only happy to use about 11 of them even though many of the other 9 where within grading rules - so I know what the grading rules mean and how applicable they may be in building.

In that particular instance (as I have stated quite often) the posts didn't come from logs over 600mm diameter, that's all the logs I had. I have found over the years you get crappy 4x4's if you try and pull them from anything less than 600mm. Maybe if I cut oversize and resaw them I could use smaller logs, but I haven't needed to resaw.

Look the truth is I haven't played with band mills, haven't played with Petersons or Mahoe's, traditional mills etc etc blah blah blah, but I know milling with my Lucas and I know the timber I have produced is bloody good timber and outshone any timber I have bought from traditional mills.
First thing I do when milling to sell, is apply grading rules as they are definitive and the standard to which I would be called to account on.
Next I apply the thought 'would I use it?' if there is any hesitation then I keep the piece to use on the farm or some project which doesn't matter so much.

How about you keep doing what you are doing - I'll keep doing what I am doing

if you cant get streight board off teh log with a lucas perhaps you should learn the correct way to saw with one.

i belive grading rules are far to lenient i am currently cutting an order of 150mm x 50mm x 3000mm f14 i am permitted 9mm of spring and 25m of bow.

80% of the timber i cut has zero spring and i keep bow to a minimum by running off hump and bulge.

Come on you blokes!!!!

What you are arguing about (IMHO) is no argument
You are talking about cutting timber- a natural material. a material that has grown as individually as we have! How many times has a piece of timber been cut straight and true to be left out in the sun and wind to find it 2 days later slightly bowed and twisted? It is because of its very nature is what keeps us interested in it! It is not steel, concrete or plastic making it very predictable in every way, it came from a living thing subjected to the elements and ended up being what it is because of those elements. Even craftwood, as far from its original form as you could get, exibits nealy all the chacteristics of timber when the humidity changes. It can cup and bow and twist and can resemble a saucer in wet weather.
All types of milling has its draw backs! Which ever one is chosen the operater has to make money out of it with the logs he has on hand!

Another thing that comes in, is how well a bloke can work. I know some days I could set the world on fire while other days I couldn't care less if it burned to a crisp

You know what your mills can do and you do it! Who cares if today you do more than the bloke next to you and the day after he does more than you.

Originally Posted by chambezio

You know what your mills can do and you do it! Who cares if today you do more than the bloke next to you and the day after he does more than you.

I guess that's the difference between people who are make a living out of it and those like me that fart around all day cutting a dozen or so slabs . Some days I'm sitting in my office thinking, I'd rather be milling, but I know I would not want to be making a living out of it.

You know what your mills can do and you do it! Who cares if today you do more than the bloke next to you and the day after he does more than you.

I DO

i means the diferance between making a living and struggling to keep food on the table.

i have been turned down orders because i run a lucas mill and cowboys calling themselves sawmillers passing off #### as sawn timber have given them a bad name.

i can produce the same quality of timber as any other mill on the market.

sure its easer to produce straight even timber on a bench than a swing mill likewise its easer to produce streight even boards on a swing mill than it is on a twin blade mill like a mahoe.

just because its harder dosnt mean its imposable you just have to know what you are doing.

i'll ask a question. if a log (that's green) needs to be fully quarter sawn to fill a particular order, how can you cut it and not have to resaw it to get timber to fit into the grading requirements. personally i dont mind resawing hardwoods and yes i do get paid by the hour. as for quality the lucas can keep up with all mills, it's the operators job to know what to do (and how to do it)

why are you quater sawing?

what grading are you aiming for and what sies are you cutting and what size logs are you cutting.

th biggest problem most people have is they try and get timber outof a log that jsut isnt there.

carl the reason i quarter saw, is for joinery reasons.it's a lot easier to match timber grains and in the case of all the oak trees it brings out the medelary rays (hope that's spelt properly) the only time i back saw is if i'm in a hurry ie; sleepers or garden timber or blackwood. if i'm cutting hardwood for framing timber i would also backsaw that as well purely for strength

there are no official grading rules on joinery timber.

when quarter sawing you will get no bow but you will get spring witch is the one we try and get away from.

Agreed, it is much harder to get rid of spring in a piece of timber as compared to getting rid of bow

?????????