what not to do

[woodmills1]

here is a shot of what not to do with flitches.  Ordinarily i will put the slices from logs onto the loader arms and edge either every or every other log.  I was in a hurry to finish my post and beam order so I just flung the flitches to the right of the saw. now as you can see I have quite the clean up to do.  Many of these pieces are nice clear red oak so even though this will be a pain in the ___ the lumber will be worth the effort.

[woodmills1]

another view

[Bibbyman]

Back when I was looking at sawmills I found a guy south of me that ran an old Wood-Mizer LT30 manual mill he’d bough second hand.  Pulled it with a rusted out Chevy Lov PU when he did mobile sawing.  When he sawed at home, it was said he’d pile flitches up for a couple of weeks and then he would do his edging.  He was pretty laid back and only worked when there was no hunting or fishing he could be doing.  Worked for him.  

His wife landed a job as the manager of a large restaurant in the big city so they sold out and moved to town.  Don’t know what he does now.

Another guy that does a lot of mobile sawing does almost all his edging on the mill buy making thick slabs to start with and then leaving the flitches beside the cant as he turns it. Thus, he does not pull them from the mill and edge them later.

[woodman]

    So now i know whit your going to do after school tomorow.

[Bud Man]

And the next day and the next day  and the...........

[Gordon]

Ok here is a novice question that comes to mind. Would it be possible to cut the cant and have a flitch beside it edging it at the same time. U know two cuts for the price of one.

Here is another question. If you do have a large pile like that how many flitches can you do at one time?

Gordon

[Bibbyman]

Gordon,

Question one:    Yes, you can drop (or just leave) the flitch in place and let it fall between the cant and the back stops.  Then keep sawing until you get a clean edge.  You can then pull it out or turn it over to clean the other edge.  Or you can pull it out,  turn the cant to a new face, then drop the flitch back in.  When we drop a flitch back in, we generally drop it back behind the clamp because it’s easier to just run back the clamp and pull it out than to have to push the cant back to lift it out.  Sometimes when you turn the cant, it ends up shorter than the where you’d want to edge the flitch to make the board – in that case,  edge the flitch and pull it out,  re-clamp and keep sawing.  (We even developed a hand gesture to communicate this practice to the offbearer: The open hand palm side down is pushed out and rolled down until it is vertical – as in pushing something off a table and standing it on edge.)

Question two:  We usually don’t do more than 10 1” boards or half that many 2bys at any one time.  And then only when they need about the same amount edged off.  If they are all different heights (widths of flitchs) then you end up cutting and turning and pulling and edging and flipping, on and on..,  we find it easer to just edge one board at a time.  

Another tip that helps:   Saw your log down to say a 4x4 or something shorter than the minimum width board you are going to make and leave that on the mill to back your flitchs up against.  It makes it much easier to stand up the flitches and to clamp them square. Then complete sawing of the little cant once the edging is done. We like to edge the flitchs from each log before going on to the next.  That way, when we are done, we are done.

The "edge them as you saw" method under question one works well with grade lumber sawing as you don’t have to come out with exact widths of boards.

[woodmills1]

the only time edge as you go doesnt work is if the logs are dirty.  the blade gets dull too quick passin and repassin through the dirt and mud.  like I said I don't usually pile them up like the picture its a hugh time waster.

[Gordon]

Bibbyman and Woodmills, thanks for the information. What is second nature for you and the mill is new to me that is why I asked.

Ok one more question comes to mind. You guys have all hydraulic mills right? Would the same hold true with a manual bandmill as well?

You see I've got the mill-bug now.
Thanks
Gordon

[woodmills1]

the only difference on a non hydraulic would be the lack of loader arms.  on mine the arms work like a nice storage table that can be raised or lowered to keep the flitches from being in the way of the band.  all of the other operations are similiar though I havent seen the clamping mechenism.  Woodman has a non hydraulic orange machine, maybe he will chime in on edging.  One other note as you get higher temperature sawmill fever.  If you go non hydraulic plan on something to help with loading and off bearing larger pieces and logs, or plan on sticking to small stuff.  even with hydraulic loading I spent lots of time and muscle moving and positioning untill I got my tractor/forwarder.  Big logs only roll easy if they are close to round  flat spots and poor trim means no move with a peavy.  you wont believe how hard it is to reposition even small logs that don't line up with the mill.  notice the car jack I used for help in this situation.

[JoeyLowe]

   Even with my inexperience I can attest to the wisdom of woodmills1 and Bibbyman.  The logs must without a doubt be lined up with the loading arms if you are using a portable hydraulic mill.  Otherwise, the peavy or cant won't help and dragging logs with a truck can be a PIA if you don't have a tractor.

Just to add a trick I was taught last week, if you are sawing through and through, leave the boards stacked in place and then use the hydraulic turner (if available) to turn the flitches 90 degrees and edge one side.  Granted, you still have to flip them over by hand, but that is one less time that you are having to lift the boards.  If you square your cant first, then when you flip the boards on edge with the turner, you can edge to sie and be done.  This cut a lot of time off my milling last week.

[woodman]

   Woodmills1 is write i lost more time playing to get the log on the mill than i did cutting it, Pucked up a used crane move logs now like thay were toothpicks.