Actual mill production: swingblades

[doublecut]

NZJake
Well we have lots here. In a 200 mile radius of where we live there are 1100 fresh water fishing lakes.  Most of them you can see some 30 feet down into them .All prime fly fishing. So next year come on and we will hit some of them!!!!!!!!!!!!
doublecut

[Hammy]

Hey doublecut - count me on that one too will ya!!

Like NZjake I've done a bit of trolling on our lakes here in Rotorua & Taupo but never given fly fishing a go. Always fear I'm gonna loop that line around me own head    .......either that or the bloke next to me!!

[Fla._Deadheader]

 Practice without the fly, first, Hammond 

[Hammy]

Now thats some good ol Southern wisdom there FDH.

[Part_Timer]

My dad hooked the dog one time with a fly. My brother hooked my dad.  I flyfish alone now.  Seems safer to me

[DonE911]

I'm surprised my dad survived teaching my to fly fish.....  I hooked alot of stuff before I got the hang of it.  He had me start out with little tiny bugs we used to catch bluegill.... I guess he thought it was safest for him.

You might consider going to FL to learn to fly fish.  In the saltwater the flys are heavier easier to get moving.....  When you can throw a sinking line with big fly... it's easy to throw a dry fly with floating line... just can't get the distance you get with more weight.

Now after you've hooked up a 100lb plus tarpon on a fly rod, you may not get very excited about a little fresh water trout. 

[Arthur]

Lindsay

best you start a travel company for the FF  members wanting to fish.  Im sure most of them will enjoy the plane ride as well as the fishing.

Countryside views are amazing up there.

arthur

[BOSS]

Hi guys, sorry to get back on topic but im the guy who milled those pines jakes was talking about, the most ive ever done in one day is 11 m3 of Bluegum, cut  into 6 x 2 in 9 hrs, dont know how many boardfeet that is but i know the lake looked good as well as those trout,but had to find my taler as he was last seen under that 6 x 2!, production is generally anywhere from 2 - 6m3 depending on log sizes,cutting specs, terrain and loading gear for the logs,and these figures are based from milling 4- 5 days a week at a steady pace compared 2 flat out weekend warrior stuff,as why you can acheieve high production over short spurts doin it week in and out doesnt do the body any favours, I'd better go find my taler now i think hes still breathing!

[jpgreen]

Fishing in Italy!.. oh my,  I never thougha such a thing.  I'm packin' as we speak.. 

I read about that salt fly fishing back there DonE.  Man that sounds like fun.  I wanted one of your east coast boats.. a Shamrock, but it was going to cost to much to get it back here, So I settled on a SKipJack, which is very simuiliar, but it's a west coast made boat, and lots of em out here.  Rough water off shore small boats for sure.

[getoverit]

Tom, I think I have come up with a good way to get the same depth of cut each time with the ATS.

On each of the uprights, I cut a piece of magnet strip about an inch and a half long and stuck them to the uprights. Since the uprights are galvanized, they stick pretty good. I place the magnet strip right at the top of the red sliding clamp, and then lower the tracks 1 1/4" and lock it back in. This gives me perfect 1 1/8" boards every time if cutting horizontal. The same principal applies to lowering it any distance... just add the 1/4" to how many inches you want the board, and it gives that thickness plus about 1/16"

In other words, if I wanted an 8" board, I lower the rails 8 1/4".. then the boards come out about 8 1/16"

Guess I'll have to get you some pictures of this and post them, but it works for me. With time I guess I could figure out the scale system on the winch, but the magents are too easy to look at and measure. I also bought a 3 foot aluminum yard stick for use with this method.... total investment in the yard stick and a 4 foot roll of magnet is about $3

My next invention will be some kind of pointer for the vertical cuts in the log. I seem to have trouble telling where the first cut will be on the vertical cuts, and a pointer would be a benefit to me. Maybe with time I will just get a feel for it...

As far as production is concerned, I can cut boards out of hickory faster than my wife can stack and sticker them... I have to keep stopping sawing and go over to help her with a new row of stickers> I've only got the 13hp Honda too... if I had more HP and could cut them faster, then I would have to help stack and sticker them more too.

I cant wait to try my luck at SYP.... I can immagine that stuff cuts like butter compared to the hickory 

[jpgreen]

Ken-

Your improvements will probably take the ATS to new heights and be ready to go just about the time I own one..   

-and then again I might find a lucas for about $2,000.. 

[getoverit]

I spent several months looking for a bargain on a used mill before I bought the new Peterson. I thought I had found a good deal on a D&L demo mill that was fairly close to me, but my offer was refused and I backed off of it.

In between the time I placed the order for my mill, DonE911 decided to sell his 10" WPF, and also there is another owner with an 8" WPF listed in the commerce section. Neither one mentioned price, but I would suspect they are reasonable asking prices.

I also looked at bandmills. After going with a fellow sawyer for a day with a hydraulic bandmill, I'm *SOOOO* thankful I didnt waste my money on a manual bandmill. I cant imagine having to turn the logs manually, and getting them on the bed of the mill in the first place would be a real chore without hydraulics. If you plan on cutting any significant amount of logs, I definitely wouldnt recomend any manual bandmill, no matter what the brand. An occasional log once in a while might not be too bad, but any kind of production quota at all and you would be one tired puppy with a manual bandmill.

I'm sure that if you have the time to wait on a bargain, one will turn up sooner or later (like the one jpgreen stole bought ) Maybe even a good used swinger may turn up at a reasonable price.

[Part_Timer]

Ken

I understand.  sounds like a good idea. 
     I'm thinking about taking my dremel and engraving the sticker pattern into the face of the upright.  I tore up part of my sticker the other day and need to replace it.  Then I got to thinking why do that just to rip it again.  when I get a chance I'll get it done and take a picture of it.  If it turns out that is.

Tom

[solodan]

JP,

If you find at Lucas for $2000 I'll take it off your hands.
I know you really want that ATS
Plus, I would like another Lucas

[Tome]

Last fall I cut several 36-46 inch red and white oak longs,  I never keep an accurate account of the bf per hour but I do know that it would take me about 2 1/2 hrs to cut one of the logs.  I would usually cut two of them a day and quit.  They were cut on a 8"ATS.  Kept me in pretty good shape. 

Tom

[jpgreen]

One thing I have noticed, it seems there are a lot more WPF framed swing mills come up for sale used than the ATS.

I'm wondering if the flexability and weight (lighter) of the ATS has something to do with that?

[TN_man]

Tom,
Did you have an offloader? or is that by yourself?
That is doing pretty good if it is by yourself.

[Captain]

There are just flat out more WPFs here in the states than ATS mills.

Until recently, I sold WPFs 5:1 vs ATS models.

Lately, ATS sales are more brisk.  We are at about dead even these days.

Captain

[Tome]

Tom,
Did you have an offloader? or is that by yourself?
That is doing pretty good if it is by yourself.

No I didn't have an offloader, but I wasn't stripping them either, I was selling the lumber to a local buyer.  I didn't think I was doing that good to tell you the  truth, I believe if a guy will stay busy and not take a lot of breaks he can accomplish a lot more.  Another thing I do is I start at the wrong end of the log for my initial cut, I make my vertical cut first then my horizonal so my lumber is right beside me when I finish the cut.

[solodan]

That is the way I do it when working by myself too.

you will only walk all the way around to off load boards once. then you either find yourself a helper or do it the reverse way.

I cut this incense cedar  last week, and got about 500 bf in about 1 hour 15 min with a helper.


 a helper is nice and makes things easier but does not cut your man hrs in half unless the helper is doing other things like cleaning up and refueling ect.

we could have done it way faster if it were anything but incense cedar.
the big end was 33" and the small end was 27". that's some pretty good taper. but ya know, incense cedar sure makes nice siding and outside trim.