Handy things around the mill

[Bibbyman]

If you got one of the older Wood-Mizer mills without the rollers on the top of the backstops,  you've probably had problems with big or rough logs trying to climb over them.  

I made up a pair of extensions out of 3" channel iron.  They are 18" long and have two chunks of 3/16 x 1-1/4 bar stock welded across the toes.  Probably rectangular tube stock would work even better but that is what I had.  

We just slip them on the outer two backstops when we get a climber.  Once we've got the log down to size,  we pull them off throw them under the mill until next time.




 8)

[Bibbyman]

A couple of years ago,  Mary and I developed a mounting bracket to attach a dust collection hose to Wood-Mizer mill.  It worked great because it kept the hose in tight to the sawhead and did not interfere with the operation or maintenance of the mill.  

Well,  I can't think of an idea that couldn't be improved upon.  While the old design worked really well, there were two weaknesses;  One,  the mounting location on the front corner of the water/gas tray made it difficult for Mary to remove and replace the water tank.  Two,  mounting of the bracket to the top of the scale frame was not very sturdy.  

When we swapped out or LT40 for the LT40HDG35 Super,  I spent a few hours thinking up some better way to mount the light 4" water pipe we had use in our first design.  I finally decided to move the drainpipe back to the centerline between the fuel and water tank.  I found that there was already a bolt and hole in the water tray on that center edge that held a fuel line mounting clip.  The lower end of the 2"x2" section of angle iron was mounted off the two bolts that hold the sawhead dust chute funnel.  

A piece of 3/4" x 1" tube about 10" long was use to connect the from the dust chute to the angle.  A chunk of 1/4x1.25x2" bar stock was used as a tab at the top to bolt to the water tray.   The bracket was bolted onto the mill using existing holes.  The two bolts holding the hinged chute funnel were replaced with 2" long bolts and the fuel line bolt was replaced with one 1/2" longer.  This design required no hole to be drilled in the mill.

I think I can get the side cover off and do minor adjustments, etc., without removing the dust tube assembly. But if I have to,  it only requires removal of thee bolts that are easy to get to.


Overall picture of dust collector tube mounting.

Left side view of dust tube mounting bracket.


Right side view of dust tube mounting bracket.


More info and more pictures

[Kevin]

Bib,
Do those extensions on the supports throw the cant out of square?

[Bibbyman]

Naha,  Kevin,  

The pressure of the log tends to push the channel irons up tight against the uprights.  

Besides, you only need them for a couple of 1/4th. turns – buy then, you got the ugly off'n the logs and you can slip the extensions off.  

[Tom]

There is a tool I use around my mill that becomes more important as I get older.  It is called a Hookaroon.  It looks like an axe that has had the blade replaced with a spike and it has a bolt through the head and handle so that it can't be pulled off.

It's use is to move small blocks of wood without bending over.  you stick it in one end and lift it so you can hold it in your free hand. then you stick it in the other end of the small block and walk to where you want to drop it.

It is also handy for moving small to moderate sized logs to line up with the mill. once stuck in the end of the log, a hefty tug will pull the end of the log toward you and the energy expended is very little since weight does the work.

I also find it useful to get slabs off of the top of the cant on my bandmill. Sometimes these are thicker than I can handle easily or are stuck to the cant with sawdust.  I stick the hookaroon in the top of the slab, lean back and it follows me to the ground.  With a little practice, one can drop the slab into the log loader where it can be cut to manageable sizes with a chain saw.  It sure beats trying to pull a slab off of the cant with your fingers.

[Kevin]

Tom,
Funny you should mention that, I just bought one today.
It has the hole in the head for a pin or bolt but there isn`t one.
I thought I was looking for a pickaroon but I discovered it`s a hookaroon.


pickaroon


hookaroon

[Jeff]

Hey thats a "Pickaroon"

[Tom]

Good picture, Kevin.

you'll find that you will really like it.  It's a back saver.

Don't forget to put the bolt through the head.

[Ron Scott]

I salvaged one of these from a sunken lumber schooner in Lake Superior back in the early 1960's. It is a favorite tool. I still carry it in my pick-up. I agree that is a most useful tool and back saver, especially when picking up firewood blocks and pulling pulpwood size sticks.

I'd be lost without and came upon it by accident.

[Frank_Pender]

   Jeff, that is the way I was learned, too, by both my father and his father who was the Bull of the Woods for years in Western Washington.   :P

[Frank_Pender]

  Sorry guys, old age creeping up.  :D   I took one  with a broken handle and designed my own for  "my hand" and extended the handle by 12".  I used curly Western Big Leaf Maple.  I have only broken one in 4 years.  I designed the handle for better balance by enlarging the holding end for weight.

[Jeff]

We have several around the mill. I don't see it on this picture, but the ones we have have the pointed end a little more hooked. We also keep some one hades tongs around for grapping cants that may end up flat on the floor. Those are really handy for stock up to 12 inches. 2 guys with hand tongs can carry a log pretty easy.

We don't usually carry logs, only when something stupid happens like, ah, the sawyer rolling a log onto the carriage, only the carriage is still 20 feet away. Pretty handy tools for digging a log out of the tracks!

[Tom]

Jeff,

Thanks for saying that.  The same embarrassing moment on a bandmill is when you roll a log onto the bed and the dogs are down.......over the back of the mill it goes and when there is no tractor all you can do is roll it out of the way with a cant hook till equipment arrives.   it has to go all the way back around the mill to the log ramp again and you have to hope you didn't hurt anything.  Some folks joke about your incompetence when you do things like that but I think that if you don't goof up you aren't doing anything.

I always worry about hurting someone when I'm stupid so I try to make everybody aware that I can be as stupid as they can be so pay attention. :D

[Kevin]

Jeff,
I`m surprised to hear you know about these loggers tools.
All this time I thought you just sat in that little cab eating macaroons , listening to Stomp`n Tom Connors while you stomped the plywood floor out of your booth.   :D

[Bibbyman]

Tom,

You're making your slabs too thick!  When we've got a big ol' ugly log,  we take a hit and miss cut just to get the big butt or lumps off.  You learn to be kind to your off bearer when you got to sleep with them and eat their cooking!

Speaking of being kind,  here is a little tool I made for Mary.  While nature made her "horizontally enhanced" it left her "vertically challenged" - leaving her with a short effective reach.   ;)

This tool is just the metal handle from a cheap mop.  I found a little metal bracket and affixed it to the end with a small machine screw.  There was already a threaded hole.  She uses it to straighten boards on the other side of  a pile or to reach under a stack to get a load binder strap, etc.

[Tom]

Bibbeyman,

I tend to be more courteous to my off-bearers than I am to myself.  A lot of the wood I cut is swell butted and there are two reasons I cut deep.  The first is that I want the slab gone quickly when I am sawing alone, so I cut to a face that will produce a board.  As macho as I am, that still means that I get a slab I have trouble handling sometimes.

The other reason is that I use swell butted slabs for sawing supports for mantels and there is a financial benefit to cutting them thick. I usually have to do this when I am by myself because off-bearers think I am abusing them.

If my off-bearer were my sleeping partner and fed me my meals, I would be doggone sure I would make these cuts when I was alone.

If I had the luxery of a big healthy buck that worked for sweet peas, then I'd cut them all day long. :D

[Bibbyman]

You know Tom,  if your mill had came from the factory painted orange,  that big slab would have been about a foot closer to the ground and a little easier to pull off. ;D

[Tom]

                                              ;D

[CHARLIE]

And Tom said, "If I had the luxery of a big healthy buck that worked for sweet peas, then I'd cut them all day long."

And Charlie replied, "Dang it he did too!  Not only did he cut thick slabs, he cut nothing but 2" X 12" X 16' to offload......alllll day!  I can still scratch my ankles when standing straight up for crying out loud!"    

[Don P]

Well Charlie,
If I'm following this correctly you're probably still in hunting blaze. Go change back into Blue jeans and shirt and you'll instantly gain about a foot. :D

[timberbeast]

The "pickaroon"  I have has an axe head on the opposite side of the pick.  Handy for knocking off those stubs you didn't see while limbing.  Haven't seen one advertized,  but mine was my graddad's,  so maybe they don't make them any more.  I wouldn't be with out a cant hook either.  Off-bearer? :D
I thought that was me! :D :D

[Bibbyman]

Speaking of cant hooks,  the only new ones I can find are made by Dixie.  I bet they were good at one time but I don't think the people that make them now ever tried to use one.  They are way too blunt on the bit and the curve us not quite right.  >:( We've got a couple of old ones that "know what to do" and work much better.   ;)

I'm going to round up all the Dixie brand cant hooks we and take them down to my cousin that makes custom Damascus knifes for some "re-training"  :-[ on his anvil – using one of the old ones for a pattern.

[Corley5]

I've got a cant hook that just won't hook.  Dad and I were moving some logs around and Dad had it.  The one I was using was working like one is supposed to.  Dad wasn't having much luck.  It wouldn't hold.  At first I thought it was him :D until we traded tools.  That one stays in the shed now.  A little heat and some hammering wouldn't hurt it any.  It's not worth a #!*^ the way it is and that is how it came from the factory!!  They don't test drive them first.

[Ron Wenrich]

I have the same problem with a new one we bought.  You have to hammer in the dog to get it to hold.  We ordered a cant hook and ended up with a can't hook.    :D

[timberbeast]

Only trouble I've had with mine is pulling out of loose bark,  but that's normal,  take a bigger "bite",  and it grabs.  It's old,  though.  No idea of the brand.  "Can't Hook"  That's a good one! :D