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Poll

So which do you think ?

Woodland Mills
0 (0%)
Woodmaxx
1 (25%)
Frontier
2 (50%)
Save my money and buy lumber..
1 (25%)

Total Members Voted: 4

Voting closed: February 08, 2018, 03:01:27 PM

Author Topic: Baby mill reccomendations??  (Read 142878 times)

Offline A.O.

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Re: Baby mill reccomendations??
« Reply #250 on: March 12, 2018, 07:54:32 AM »
HEY EVERYBODY

Just wanted to say thanks to all of you for all the advice you have been giving me and putting up with my sometimes stupid questions. It allowed me to chose a mill that will hopefully serve me well for a long time, and get the place set up for it.

Trust me , I'm not done with those questions yet ...

Offline starmac

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Re: Baby mill reccomendations??
« Reply #251 on: March 12, 2018, 04:55:28 PM »
Shoot, by the time you get your beams for the log deck, the boards for the off loading rack, sawhorses, dunnage to stack your drying pallets on, the drying pallets themselvses, don't forget stickers, you will be a pro.

Offline A.O.

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Re: Baby mill reccomendations??
« Reply #252 on: March 12, 2018, 07:10:00 PM »
Shoot, by the time you get your beams for the log deck, the boards for the off loading rack, sawhorses, dunnage to stack your drying pallets on, the drying pallets themselvses, don't forget stickers, you will be a pro.

Well I got a little break in the weather today and got started on my log deck.. probably temporary till I get a better one figured out, or it may be there till it rots!! who knows! Had a couple skinny logs so I just cut them flat on top and bottom. They will work for now.




Offline drobertson

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Re: Baby mill reccomendations??
« Reply #253 on: March 12, 2018, 07:29:50 PM »
Looks like you are moving right along, as to the deck, will you level it off, bring the entry side even or level with the end before you load the mill?  seems like it would make things less likely to move.

Offline starmac

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Re: Baby mill reccomendations??
« Reply #254 on: March 12, 2018, 08:42:50 PM »
Not just less likely to move (roll back off of deck) but much, much easier to roll them on the deck to the mill.

Offline A.O.

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Re: Baby mill reccomendations??
« Reply #255 on: March 12, 2018, 09:00:35 PM »
AH HA!! Deception at work full force me thinks!

Those logs are almost level, the ground drops off that much. I thought I had taken a picture of it loaded but alas I did not. The first log I had on there was a 12 footer about 14" on the big end. Not sure what it weighed but it was easy for me and my cant hook to roll it up there. Heck that second picture is after I had cleaned up, had those two logs on there and they were not trying to go anywhere. The deck does lean slightly away from the mill but that was by design..at this juncture of my great sawmill adventure, I'd rather they rolled away from my mill than toward it when I wasn't ready, or pushing past them.

On a side note: Blade tension.. do you releave it every day at the end of the day, or just if you are not going to be using the mill for a few days? Or not at all??

Offline starmac

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Re: Baby mill reccomendations??
« Reply #256 on: March 13, 2018, 12:13:59 AM »
I do relive it every day IF I remember it, now the big thing is to remember to tighten it back up , if not that one will cost you. Yea Yea I paid for that little bit of info. lol

Offline A.O.

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Re: Baby mill reccomendations??
« Reply #257 on: March 13, 2018, 07:01:21 AM »
I do relive it every day IF I remember it, now the big thing is to remember to tighten it back up , if not that one will cost you. Yea Yea I paid for that little bit of info. lol

Thanks. And yes I have a long piece of orange flagging tape going from the tensioner to my hand control so I dont forget.. at least till I get into the swing of things.

Offline drobertson

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Re: Baby mill reccomendations??
« Reply #258 on: March 13, 2018, 07:26:41 AM »
I can see it now! goofy me, well that kinda makes it more the handy, and it would be good to let off the blade tension at the end of the sawing day.  You will get into a habit of several things regarding the mill start up procedures, the band tension being one of them.
your whole set up is looking pretty freaking good man, I'm sure you will have all kinds of neat tricks working out for you in short order.

Offline Ox

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Re: Baby mill reccomendations??
« Reply #259 on: March 13, 2018, 10:11:06 AM »
Getting a good setup there.  Well done.

As for tension - I let mine off if I'll be walking away from the mill for anything else.  Lunch, fetching the mail, inside for anything.  In my lifestyle I get distracted or something else comes up and I forget about milling for a while sometimes.  It happened enough that once I left tension on for days straight and didn't think of it.  So basically if I think I'll be away from the mill for longer than say, 20 minutes, or if the possibility might be there, tension comes off.
Nothing bad happened when I left tension on for a long time (thankfully) but I don't want to press my luck either because I don't have much luck to begin with.
K.I.S.S. - Keep It Simple Stupid
Use it up, wear it out, make it do or do without
1989 GMC 3500 4x4 diesel dump and plow truck, 1964 Oliver 1600 Industrial with Parsons loader and backhoe, 1986 Zetor 5211, Cat's Claw sharpener, single tooth setter, homemade Linn Lumber 1900 style mill, old tools

Offline starmac

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Re: Baby mill reccomendations??
« Reply #260 on: March 13, 2018, 11:51:30 AM »
When I first got mine  I didn't know I was suppose to loosen off the tension, and didn't, I had no ill effects that I know of even for several days. I really only started doing it because I read that it was the right thing to do, I do not know exactly why, it is just something I do because I was told to do. lol

Offline A.O.

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Re: Baby mill reccomendations??
« Reply #261 on: March 13, 2018, 04:59:30 PM »
Ok, doing some more playing today just trying to get things set up tp actually work!!

Got my area set up to work...



Todays main project, and the first thing I've ever built using green lumber, was what I call my take off table.. its going into place..



Better pic of my log deck.. that cant hook wasnt really needed, I just rolled it on by hand.



My take off table, and the forks for scrap. Little log I needed out of my way.



And cutting up some material for a drying pad.



Dont ever tell me I "cant" do something.  ;-)




Offline furu

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Re: Baby mill reccomendations??
« Reply #262 on: March 13, 2018, 05:07:45 PM »
To say I am impressed is to understate the obvious.  You are well set up and getting more so all the time.
Integrity is not just doing the right thing.
Integrity is not just doing the right thing when no one is looking.
Integrity is doing the right thing when no one else will ever even know.

Offline drobertson

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Re: Baby mill reccomendations??
« Reply #263 on: March 13, 2018, 06:06:12 PM »
 8) man  8)!  looks great,,

ps, would you mind showing a close up pic of the up and down dial,? just curious as to what that looks like,

Offline A.O.

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Re: Baby mill reccomendations??
« Reply #264 on: March 13, 2018, 07:45:56 PM »
To say I am impressed is to understate the obvious.  You are well set up and getting more so all the time.

Thanks.. I seem to get lots of scrap turning logs into cants.. and either that's normal.. or I'll get better. I'm trying to now cut the flitches (correct term?) to 1" thick, and at the end of the day I sliced a bunch of those into 1"x 1" stickers so I get some use from them.

Offline A.O.

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Re: Baby mill reccomendations??
« Reply #265 on: March 13, 2018, 07:47:05 PM »
8) man  8)!  looks great,,

ps, would you mind showing a close up pic of the up and down dial,? just curious as to what that looks like,

Sure , If I remember (a problem sometimes) I'll take a couple shots tomorrow.

Offline furu

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Re: Baby mill reccomendations??
« Reply #266 on: March 13, 2018, 07:58:51 PM »
Thanks.. I seem to get lots of scrap turning logs into cants.. and either that's normal.. or I'll get better. I'm trying to now cut the flitches (correct term?) to 1" thick, and at the end of the day I sliced a bunch of those into 1"x 1" stickers so I get some use from them.

Certainly a potential use is for stickers but be careful that you don't sacrifice your sticker quality by using substandard parts of the flitches.  (don't ask how I would know that but I am very stingy and try to use every piece that I can in order to waste nothing.) 
Sometimes it is better to turn it into firewood than keep bad quality.  I know that I tend to push it pretty hard.  I find  that I can use the lower quality for planting stakes but sometimes I push that too hard as well.  You want your stickers to be pretty good wood, straight and with few knots.
A lot of folks just take off bigger slabs and don't work so hard.  Me, I take the smallest slab I can and then work myself to get as much out of the flitches as I can.
Integrity is not just doing the right thing.
Integrity is not just doing the right thing when no one is looking.
Integrity is doing the right thing when no one else will ever even know.

Offline starmac

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Re: Baby mill reccomendations??
« Reply #267 on: March 13, 2018, 09:37:09 PM »
I get a lot of waste too, I'm not sure what a guy can do about it other than burn it. The more taper a log has the more waste a guy is going to have too. I thing some guys make short boards off the logs with more taper, but so far I have not experimented with trying to make short boards. We need firewood too. lol

I do cut some bats for board and bat siding, that helps cut down on waste some.
Just curious, on your mill how thin can you cut the bottom board, mine will go down to an inch, but it is scary close to the clamp, and I mean scary close.

Offline Stevem

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Re: Baby mill reccomendations??
« Reply #268 on: March 13, 2018, 09:42:28 PM »
Try and keep the same thickness boards in the same layer.  Don't mix 2" with 1" with 4".  Too much movement room to move around and when you go to get boards for use they are all mixed up.
I think cutting edge addressed the loosening the band when done for the day, but what happens is the blade tends to take a set and if you have belts on the drive wheels they get flat spots on them and act as it they were out of round.  Cooks make a big deal about out of round wheels.
Stevem
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Offline Stevem

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Re: Baby mill reccomendations??
« Reply #269 on: March 13, 2018, 09:48:21 PM »
And yes you might want to get into the firewood business.  Gonna be a lot of waste.

Just for fun you might want to go to a lumber store and get a price on the beam shown in the picture above. Make a good earnest money payment on an edger.  lol
Stevem
Because you can doesn't mean you should!

Offline starmac

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Re: Baby mill reccomendations??
« Reply #270 on: March 13, 2018, 11:08:23 PM »
Just for giggles, here is a price list for rough cut lumber and beams , from our only mill/lumber yard that deals in rough cut here in the interior. This has the Alaska premium added, prices where you are will be cheaper.

https://northlandwood.com/roughlumber/

Offline A.O.

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Re: Baby mill reccomendations??
« Reply #271 on: March 14, 2018, 06:42:26 AM »
I get a lot of waste too, I'm not sure what a guy can do about it other than burn it. The more taper a log has the more waste a guy is going to have too. I thing some guys make short boards off the logs with more taper, but so far I have not experimented with trying to make short boards. We need firewood too. lol

I do cut some bats for board and bat siding, that helps cut down on waste some.
Just curious, on your mill how thin can you cut the bottom board, mine will go down to an inch, but it is scary close to the clamp, and I mean scary close.

Yes, If you look in the background of those pictures you will see a burnpile close by.

Seems about 1 1/2 inch is about the thinnest. I've not tried to get too close yet.. as I lower it down the height crank hits bottom around there.

Good call and reminder on the batts.. I've got a outbuilding needing some repair batts.. hadn't even thought of that.

Offline A.O.

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Re: Baby mill reccomendations??
« Reply #272 on: March 14, 2018, 06:49:33 AM »
And yes you might want to get into the firewood business.  Gonna be a lot of waste.

Just for fun you might want to go to a lumber store and get a price on the beam shown in the picture above. Make a good earnest money payment on an edger.  lol

Almost all of my wood is pine, not so great for firewood. This is the first place we have had in a long time without a wood stove. But we will have one next year.. already been looking. Pine wont sell very good as firewood, but it will heat my house just fine!!!

Offline A.O.

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Re: Baby mill reccomendations??
« Reply #273 on: March 14, 2018, 06:51:43 AM »
Just for giggles, here is a price list for rough cut lumber and beams , from our only mill/lumber yard that deals in rough cut here in the interior. This has the Alaska premium added, prices where you are will be cheaper.

https://northlandwood.com/roughlumber/

I'm not even aware of anywhere around here that sells rough cut lumber..

I know I bought a 16' PT 6x6 a couple years ago cheaper than the one on your list.

Offline A.O.

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Re: Baby mill reccomendations??
« Reply #274 on: March 14, 2018, 07:35:54 AM »
Try and keep the same thickness boards in the same layer.  Don't mix 2" with 1" with 4".  Too much movement room to move around and when you go to get boards for use they are all mixed up.

Yes I understand that, I know you are saying that as you look at that one picture. That was at the end of the day, and was materials I'm going to use this morning to build a drying platform, but thanks.