Edging on the mill question

[Larry]

This may be in the really dumb question category but I'll ask anyhow.

Sawing 4/4 for something like random width siding.  You have a good idea what your log is going to yield and not real interested in grade.

Just for example, on your second face leave two or three flitches laying on the cant.  Rotate the cant and flitches as a unit to the third face.  The flitches get edged as you saw boards off the third face.

Trying to figure out if it is possible or practical.  Seen some guys do some amazing things with the WM 2-plane clamp but never this trick.

[Minnesota_boy]

It's possible but not terribly practical.  Each time you cut, you will have one or two edged boards to remove.  Unclamp the cant, remove the boards and stack them, reclamp and make the next cut.  I think it's better to push the flitches off and make a stack of them to do all at once.  I usually drop mine on the hydraulic log loader.  If it is one or 2, load the next log over them.  When it gets difficult to load the next log, load the flitches instead and edge them.

[Coon]

Larry,
   
    What you are talking about can be very dangerous at times.  We have tried this in the past while sawing spruce.  While running it through the saw the edging strips from the flitches can break and fly off before you can get out of its path.  I have had one hit me in the back of the hardhat whilest turned around putting another board on the pile.  I was fortunate that it did not stab me in the back or elsewhere for that matter.  Safety is No. 1 concern around the mill in my books and I do not allow such to be done anymore (atleast when I am around).

[customsawyer]

I have done something like what you are talking about but what I do is as I cut the board that is going to need edged I push it off the cant but leave it on the bunks then when I turn the cant up and open that face I will continue to put the boards needing edged on the bunks one on top of the other. I will do this on all four sides then when I get the cant down to the size I want for my boards I turn it up to start taking boards off if it is a 10" cant but the boards that I need to edge is only going to yield 8" boards I will trim the cant down to about 7" then use the clamp to go under the edge boards and flip them up and edge them that way the edge boards are against a solid face in the cant and it will make your boards more square and true.

[Brucer]

Most of the time I lever the flitches onto a pair of horses beside the mill and then saw them in a batch.

Once in a while I'll use a version of the method you suggest. Most often I'll be sawing an 8x8 out of a 14" log. I'll square it up to a wany 10x10 (setting aside the first flitches for batch edging). Then I'll saw a 1" board off the top, rotate it with the can't, and saw a 1" board of the 2nd fence. This will edge one side of the first board, and give me a 9" board that's already edged on one face. Then I'll rotate the cant along with the board on top of it, walk down the mill and flip the first board so the live edge is up. Saw another 1" board off the top of the 3rd side (at the same time edging the first two boards down to 1x8's) and rotate the cant and 3rd board. Then I'll saw a board off the 4th face. This will give me 3 edged 1x8's beside cant and another one on top.

It's a fast way to edge 4 boards off a square cant (especially with a good helper). It's not nearly as fast with a rectangular cant and it gets cumbersome if you're trying to take 2 boards off each face.

I did a job last year that involved a couple of dozen 8x8's. All we had were 14" logs so we used the above method. The customer didn't want side lumber that was less than 8" wide, but was happy with heavier slabs -- so no smaller flitches to deal with. The helper (supplied by the customer) would flip that first board at the appropriate time, and the two of us would lift the 4 edged 1x8's onto horses together. Then we'd roll the 8x8 timber off the mill onto a set of wide horses. She'd run a 13" power plane down each face of the finished timber while I was sawing the next one (AND she'd pull the slabs between passes of the plane). She'd also stain the finished timber while I was loading the next log. Made the guys in the yard look like a bunch of wimps ;D.

I've never had any edgings go flying with a band mill.

[Percy]

I tried the 'flitch(s) agaist the cant" technique and it works well but takes time clamping and unclamping.   Before I got the edger, I used to stack similar length flitches of  similar width together till I had a pile about 10 inches high. With a bit of attention to  stacking, all I had to do was C clamp the stack at each end and the grunt and I would lift the flitch cant  ;D onto the mill, and two cuts later we had a stack of boards.      ;D                                           

[dad2nine]

I stack the flitches between the cant and the clamp and edge as I'm squaring up the cant. Seems to work ok but makes a lot of 4/4 square mess, sometimes if the squares are in good enough shape I use them as stickers between layers of boards and trim to length later with a chainsaw after I'm done stacking. Perhaps not the best way in the world but seems to work ok. I tried stacking flitches between the cant and the dogs, but edging always wanted to fall on the rail which is not good for head movement.

[Brucer]

Percy, I'd love to have a twin-blade edger. I've done the math and if my major customer increases his production by 20%, it'll make sense for me to buy one. Even if I work alone, I'll make more money with the edger than without.

Meantime, I'm stuck with edging on the mill :(.