(This is a little tutorial I made up for another site of non-sawyers. Ya'll probably know most of this, but some might find it interesting)
How to saw lap siding without an expensive "lap siding" attachment:
Put a log on your mill.
Here, I put a 15+" x 12' poplar log on mine. The small end (shown here) is on the far end of the mill. The other end was about 16-17" (sorta egg shaped. Many logs are not round). I painted the other end with some black paint to show the cutting easier.
Making the first cut, I opened a face about 7-8" wide. Then I dropped down 5/4 (1 1/4") because I want all my side lumber to be 5/4 x 6" for roof stripping for an upcoming project. The initial slab from the first cut is laying to the right.
Now I peavy the log counter clockwise against the dogs, and make the second cut.
Then I roll the log again for the 3rd cut. Before making THIS cut, I move my quarter scale (the 4/5/6/8 one on the right) so 5 (for 5/4) lines up with 8". The inch scale is not movable, and is base off the height from the saw bed. The quarter scale can be moved up and down. I want all my side lumber to be 5/4, and I want to end up with an 8" wide cant, and this 3rd cut is where that happens.
You can see 8", then one of the 5's lined up with it. The small 12v motor to the left of the scale is what moves the saw head up and down.
Then raise the saw head to make the slab third cut on a 5...in this case, the best choice is the 5 at about 13 1/2". You want the most yield you can get, meaning the thinest slab. It's an eyeball guess.
Now I have a 3 sided cant 13 1/4" by whatever height you can get out of that last side. I make two more cuts with the log in that position, yielding two un-edged 5/4 boards. I set them aside to be edged later. That gets most of the bark off the cant on that side, leaving a square edge.
Now I roll the cant 90 degree, and cut that last slab side off. I ended up with about 12 3/4" (no picture, was busy)
Now I have a 4 sided cant that is 12 3/4 tall, and 8" + 2 more 5/4 boards wide. I roll it 90 degrees, and saw those two 5/4 boards off the original first slab cut side.
That leaves me a cleaned up, 4 sided cant, 8" wide, and 12 3/4" tall.
Ready to start making lap siding:
I roll the cant towards me, and stick a plywood shim under it on the bed rail side, cocking the cant toward me at an angle. This causes the horizontal blade to cut a tapered cut. You have to simply 'eyeball' the amount, but after a while, you get pretty consistent. I go for about a 1/4-5/16' on the thin side, to 3/4-7/8" on the thick side. This is determined by raising or lowering the saw head.
First cut:
The remaining cuts, you simply remove the shims on cut 2, put them back on cut 3, remove on cut 4, etc, lowering the saw head each time.
Show are the first 3 cuts, and pcs of siding. ( see why I painted that end black now ? ) (
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You just keep on going until you run out of cant. In this case, I ended up with another 5/4 board, 8" wide on the bottom. Sometimes it's a 2x, sometimes it's a 1x, whatever....depends on how tall the cant was to begin with giving you the leftover board on the bottom.
SO, this log yielded 14 pcs of siding, and 6 boards 5/4 x 6" x 12'. One of the edged slabs yielded 2 finished boards as it was over 12" wide with the bark.
Once I get the cant below 6", I turn those 5/4 slabs up vertical against the cant, and run the saw down it at about 9" to square them off, then flip with that edged side down, and drop the saw head to 6", and make it a squared board. You can edge a whole bunch of boards at one time this way.....not uncommon to do 5-8 at a whack.