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Milling a redwood

Started by backwoods sawyer, February 22, 2009, 03:52:46 AM

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backwoods sawyer

 


The first thing that had to be done when we arrived was the logs needed decked.



The bark was slipping and needed to be removed to give the guides some clearance.



The first two logs require minimal trimming. The third log is 13' long and 42" on the small end so it required a bit more chainsaw work.



The end result is just over 2,000 bft with out counting the butt cut.

Backwoods Custom Milling Inc.
100% portable. . Oregons largest portable sawmill service, serving all of Oregon, from our Backwoods to yours..sawing since 1991

jdtuttle

 :o  WOW! nice logs, great job
Have a great day

thecfarm

I take it,it was a yard tree?I only see 3 logs.What happened to the rest?Looks like 4 foot log and the smallest 2 -2½ foot?Those took some planing to be sawed.Good job.
Model 6020-20hp Manual Thomas bandsaw,TC40A 4wd 40 hp New Holland tractor, 450 Norse Winch, Heatmor 400 OWB,YCC 1978-79

backwoods sawyer

Yard tree no sign of metal.
One whole side of the tree was limbed up by the power company. This left all the branches on the house side. The homeowner got very concerned about the safety of his house and had the power company finish removing the tree. He cut every thing he could with his saw into firewood. For the next year, this tree took up four parking spaces in his driveway. Then he gave me a call and paid me to remove the tree. The butt cut is just over five foot. The small end on the big log was 42". We came prepared to with all the tools and manpower to remove the tree in one day and we unloaded and stacked it the next. The small log was squared up at 20x20 then cut into four 10x10 beams, the second log was cut into 6x12 s and 6x15 s with a couple of 2" boards. The big log was milled into a stack of 1x24" siding boards. By cutting into the larger sizes, it will allow it to be cut into custom sizes at a later date. The butt log was loaded into the trailer as two rounds. When we rolled out, we left a clean, freshly raked space ready for a fresh load of gravel and a very happy homeowner that now has plenty of parking spaces again.
The only problem we ran into was a blow out on one of the trailer tires, and that was quickly remedied.   








Backwoods Custom Milling Inc.
100% portable. . Oregons largest portable sawmill service, serving all of Oregon, from our Backwoods to yours..sawing since 1991

Tom

That's quite a hunk of wood.  Did you have much trouble sawing it?   Do you have more pictures of it on the mill?

What are the plans for the board?  I can picture a bunch of pretty tables  or one-board seat and back chairs.

Dodgy Loner

Wow, and to think that's just a baby compared to some of the virgin redwoods :o.  Thanks for the pics! :)
"There is hardly anything in the world that some man cannot make a little worse and sell a little cheaper, and the people who consider price only are this man's lawful prey." -John Ruskin

Any idiot can write a woodworking blog. Here's mine.

backwoods sawyer

There is a whole stack of bench and table pieces on the right side of the stack. Some I will sell as is, some will be remilled into custom sizes and some will go for a couple of my own projects like shed for the garbage cans, a shed for a bus stop. The only real problem I have with redwood is keeping enough in inventory for my own projects like this telescope cover.

I have an order for a king size bed made with redwood that will hold up for a rodeo. It is just one of those custom things.  

I also plan to build a "pine box" with some of the wider boards.







Backwoods Custom Milling Inc.
100% portable. . Oregons largest portable sawmill service, serving all of Oregon, from our Backwoods to yours..sawing since 1991

Riles

Wow. "A king size bed made with redwood that will hold up for a rodeo." Sounds fun.
Knowledge is good -- Faber College

fishpharmer

That's some awesome logs and boards.  Nice job. 

Those are the type logs I made my mill to cut :D :D ;D ;D

Just out of curiosity what does redwood sell for?

Also, about how old is a tree of that size?

Thanks for sharing that.
Built my own band mill with the help of Forestry Forum. 
Lucas 618 with 50" slabber
WoodmizerLT-40 Super Hydraulic
Deere 5065E mfwd w/553 loader

The reason a lot of people do not recognize opportunity is because it usually goes around wearing overalls looking like hard work. --Tom A. Edison

backwoods sawyer

I sell redwood based on the quality of the board and the board footage combined. The least desirable wood would start at about a dollar a bft some of the wide boards will be much more then that a bft. the longer I keep it in inventor the higher the value as well as redwood will dry rather quickly in this climate. The 1" stock will be air dried by the end of august. Which will basically, double the value of the wood.

A large portion of the redwood in this area seems to have been planted in the late 50's thru the mid sixty's. All of the nurseries seemed to have had a big sale on container redwoods in that time frame. I got one in my front yard as well, about five years ago it topped out taller then the 350-400 year old, Doug fir that is on the other side of the driveway and is 40' taller then the 150 year old red cedar tree across the road. I have milled six redwood trees of this caliber over the last couple of years and not found any metal in any of them. There bark is so thick that hanging a bird house or anything else on them is not an easy process, so they hang the bird house in the walnut tree that is on the other side of the yard that will take a nail with out any problem.

I got an eye on another redwood tree across town, it will be coming out this summer some time. I don't charge as much as the tree trimmers to remove the tree and we are low impact.

I will have to get ahold of the muleskinner and have him bring his mule over for that one.   
Backwoods Custom Milling Inc.
100% portable. . Oregons largest portable sawmill service, serving all of Oregon, from our Backwoods to yours..sawing since 1991

fishpharmer

Thanks, looks good for a fifty or sixty year old tree.
Built my own band mill with the help of Forestry Forum. 
Lucas 618 with 50" slabber
WoodmizerLT-40 Super Hydraulic
Deere 5065E mfwd w/553 loader

The reason a lot of people do not recognize opportunity is because it usually goes around wearing overalls looking like hard work. --Tom A. Edison

backwoods sawyer

Quote from: Tom on February 22, 2009, 01:18:59 PM
Did you have much trouble sawing it? 
The first log was milled with the bark on. I had to lower the dogs a bit to get it to roll over far enough to let the guides clear, this let the limb stubs stick out in the path of the carriage so I had to bump knots on that side. The next log was skinned and the knots bumped before it went on the mill. The second log had to have a trench cut for the guides for the first to cuts. The big log was trimmed up before it went on the mill. I did not want to split it in half and loose the wide boards so I took an 8" thick slab off one side and trimmed the butt swell on the other side. I had to cut trenches for both guides on two sides of the log then squared up the chainsaw cuts.
The only other problem we had was since there was no equipment to move these logs it was all done with bars, pee-vees, and chains. We lost both ends off one chain, both ends and pins were found and the cotter pin had just worn off on both ends from being tossed, poked and just being used in general. I installed a new set of cotter pins and the chain is good as new.
Backwoods Custom Milling Inc.
100% portable. . Oregons largest portable sawmill service, serving all of Oregon, from our Backwoods to yours..sawing since 1991

Meadows Miller

Gday

Backwoods thats some Nice Looking Redwood you got hold of there Mate  ;) ;D 8) 8)  and got paid to do the job what a bonus  ;) ;D
Ive got 4 Redwood min dia about 5' & A few D/fir's about 80 to 100 yrs old to take out of a cemetary in Ballarat about 80 miles away I was thinking of running most of the redwood into 4,6 &8x5/4" inch stock for linning boards but im not too sure how the knots wold be in an open grown tree but they should be OK as most would be tight live knots the other lot i cut years ago was like that pretty sound apart from the dead knots

Reguards Chris
4TH Generation Timbergetter

backwoods sawyer

The last batch of redwood trees that I milled up the knots wanted to jump right out of them when they were planed down.
Backwoods Custom Milling Inc.
100% portable. . Oregons largest portable sawmill service, serving all of Oregon, from our Backwoods to yours..sawing since 1991

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