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Best ways to saw logs, who knows?

Started by Danny_S, May 10, 2003, 07:12:43 PM

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Danny_S

Good evening fella's.(And ladies) I am currently a few steps away from finishing my portable mill and hopefully will be sawing soon. I kinda have an idea on how to saw but I was wondering if anyone knows of a good website that shows the best steps and ways of sawing logs. I will be bandsawing. I have looked around some but havent found anything.  
Plasma cutting at Craig Manufacturing

Bibbyman

There is some info right here on the Knowledge base. :P
Wood-Mizer LT40HDE25 Super 25hp 3ph with Command Control and Accuset.
Sawing since '94

biziedizie

Buck you don't need a website just ask questions here and they will be answered by guys (and girls) that really know what they are doing. :)
  I've gotten some excellent advice about sawing from the guys here that have been around the block when it comes to sawing wood.

    Steve

Jeff

I can't believe Buck is asking for a good website on information on how to saw logs. I best not see any other suggestions here or I'm going on vacation.
Just call me the midget doctor.
Forestry Forum Founder and Chief Cook and Bottle Washer.

Commercial circle sawmill sawyer in a past life for 25yrs.
Ezekiel 22:30

Danny_S

I know everyone knows good sawing tips but I like pictures I can grasp them better., I cant find anything in the knowlege base, I would like to see like a picture with cutaways of the end of log showing where to cut boards,..2x4,2x6, ect.... I cant seem to find anything like this on the web......... ???
Plasma cutting at Craig Manufacturing

Jeff

there is 10 thousand posts at least on the forum about sawing. looking at end views of logs is not a very good tool to learn. Every log is different You will learn from experience and any questions that you have can be answered here. I Gaurantee
Just call me the midget doctor.
Forestry Forum Founder and Chief Cook and Bottle Washer.

Commercial circle sawmill sawyer in a past life for 25yrs.
Ezekiel 22:30

biziedizie

Jeff if you get to take a vacation then so do I ;D All I want is one day off, what are your plans. :D

  Buck I spent 3 years looking at mills and searching the net for advice and it wasn't till I got here that I knew this was the place to be.
  
  Pictures do help but the knowledge here is worth more then any picture will give you. :)

  Stick around and ask some questions and you will be amazed at all the tidbits of information that you will get. I've learned so many things here and I'm sure that I will continue to learn more.

     Steve

Percy

Hey Buck

When I was waiting to get my first mill, I spent alot of time with graph paper and drew circles and plotted out sawing strategies till I was blue in the face....heck, I even based my pricing stucture on these drawings and projected just how many boards I was gonna get from each log...cause....well....I was goofy,anal, and inexperienced in the ways of sawdust engeneering :D. I kept those drawings to remind myself from time to time that Im a putz. ;D :D ;D :D. I bust a gut, everytime I look at them.
 I think the best way to get a handle on it(sawing) is to get a load or two that you can afford to experiment with. It helps if its wood you can sell, tell your customers you are just learning and that you are discounting these boards. You will mess up a few logs, but, with help from the fine folks here, your learning experince will be a pleasurable one.
  Take your time at first and if all the folks watching you operate your mill for the first time make you nervous,(did me), get up real early and get a little practise in before the rest of the world comes to watch.

So what kind of bandmill did you build?? Any pics somwhere on this site??
GOLDEN RULE : The guy with the gold, makes the rules.

Danny_S

OK OK !!  :o Geez ! I will stay here!  Guess that was a sour topic to start. :-X   I know that there is many ways to saw different logs, I want to know where is the best place to saw peices out.... ex: a 4x4 shoud be right out of the center? according to the grain, peices should be sawn out of a certain place if possible...am I right ???  
 
    Percy, I am building one that has the characteristics of a norwood. There are a few pics under the topic "Building a mill, have you?" it is a couple pages back now...

  I will have some "action" pics soon of the temporary chainsaw mount I built on it to resaw some cedar slabs for siding on my camp. It will be ready to go tomorrow, as soon as I get the rakers filed down on the saw. I hope to try it tomorrow.
Plasma cutting at Craig Manufacturing

Fla._Deadheader

Buck. Did you do a search for-- Quarter sawing, centering the heart or pith. Flat sawn, or anything like these words?? I KNOW there are post that refer to these terms.  Good luck. Make a few mistakes and then post. This bunch will tell ya eggzackly what you need to do. ::) ::) :D :D :D
All truth passes through three stages:
   First, it is ridiculed;
   Second, it is violently opposed; and
   Third, it is accepted as self-evident.

-- Arthur Schopenhauer (1788-1860)

Norm

Woodmizer has a booklet that is called "from woods to workshop" it is just a few pages but gives some nice pointers. Call em up and tell em I said to send you a copy (just kiddin) if they won't let me know and I'll send you my copy. Percy is right about getting some junky logs and just givin it a go, when we first started cutting we made lots of mistakes but learned by this what to do right. Some of the best info I have learned is by reading the posts here on the sawmilling board, it takes a while but spend some time going through the old posts and you'll learn a lot. Good luck.

Minnesota_boy

In one (or more) of their catalogs, Woodmizer showed the end of a log with the various cuts that would yeild the most lumber.  The problem with that is, IT'S WRONG!  Oh, not really wrong, it would yield that amount of lumber from that log, but I'VE NEVER SEEN A LOG LIKE THAT!  Most of the logs I saw are different species, with crooks and knots and humps and bumps that challenge the sawyer to find anything useable.  You really need to saw a couple of logs, then ask what went wrong.  If you use a bandsaw, take a slab off the top to get a flat face the full length of the log.  Didn't work?  Try again until you get a flat the whole length.  Turn the log until that flat is against part of the mill, either 90 or 180 degrees and make another flat surface.  Turn again and make a good square corner by removing wood, either as slabs or boards to be edged (bark on one or more sides).  Got a dimension you like yet?  If not remove some more until you like it.  Now turn the log again and start removing boards.  After you have done a few thousand logs like this, it will start to make sense or else you will have sold the mill. :D

After you get the hang of sawing, then comes the part about getting the most yield or the best quality or the most value from the log.
I eat a high-fiber diet.  Lots of sawdust!

BW_Williams

Buck, the right way to cut lumber is how the customer wants it.  If you are just starting, you are the customer, make stickers, dimensional lumber and blocking, you can never have too much of that around.  Cut nice hardwoods 4/4, sticker and stack well, cover with some metal roofing and come fall put an ad in the paper and woodworkers will find you. That's just one way to skin a tree!  BWW
Support your local Volunteer Fire Dept.  (not by accident)
Support your local Ski Patrol (by snowboarding:)
Mayor of Millerdale, Washington, USA (by God)!

woodmills1

you know it is just like the sculptor once said.  If you want to cut a 4x6 just remove all the wood that isn't a 4x6. :D :D
James Mills,Lovely wife,collect old tools,vacuuming fool,36 bdft/hr,oak paper cutter,ebonic yooper rapper nauga seller, Blue Ox? its not fast, 2 cat family, LT70,edger, 375 bd ft/hr, we like Bob,free heat,no oil 12 years,big splitter, baked stuffed lobster, still cuttin the logs dere IAM

Kevin

I try and use all my cedar tops for posts, 4,5 and 6" when milled.
My logs get milled through and through unless one board takes a jump as the band exits the cant then it's time to turn the cant to reduce the stress.

Bibbyman

Here is one of the articals in Knowledge base with pictures.

Using the Wood-Mizer Accuset Setworks

It's pretty generic.  At least it has pictures of the end of the log.

Here is a picture slide show showing about the same process.

Sawing slide show

Probably some kind or level of apprenticeship program is needed to learn the basics of sawing logs.  If a person has not worked around a mill and studied how it's done and had an opportunity to talk with a sawyer to get answers, I think it would be pretty tough to get started with just books,  diagrams, etc.
Wood-Mizer LT40HDE25 Super 25hp 3ph with Command Control and Accuset.
Sawing since '94

Danny_S

Thanks for the tips fellas. I plan on making most of my first lumber for myself so when I go to use it I will only be able to curse myself for a crooked board  :D I do want to cut some hardwood blocking for the mill and I need 4x4's for fence panel posts. I hope to get a few little jobs for friend's projects to get started. I kinda figured it will just be a trial and error thing to get started.  What would be best for hardwood for blocking? Anything better than another? I was thinking on Maple or beech. Maybe that dont grow where some of you fella's are from  ;)   Thanks again.
Plasma cutting at Craig Manufacturing

Jeff

Don't curse those crooked boards cause sometimes the only one you can blame is God. :)

I would say I have probably sawed more logs on here then anybody and honestly, I don't know how I am going to saw a paticular log till it rolls up and I look at it. I really don't decide, it does, or at least it tells me what it won't cut.

Shape and form of the log, species, defects, what orders we have at the time all play a role in how the log gets cut.
Just call me the midget doctor.
Forestry Forum Founder and Chief Cook and Bottle Washer.

Commercial circle sawmill sawyer in a past life for 25yrs.
Ezekiel 22:30

Kevin

Oak would be one of the better block materials, I think they use oak for flat beds on transport trailers.

Haytrader

I made some blocks from elm. One of the first things I did when I got a saw. I got mine from the tree dump at the farm and not knowing how hard they were, was thinkin I didn't have enough motor. Sure got a pleasant surprise when I tied into a fresh cut cedar.

 :)
Haytrader

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