Getting ready!

[beenthere]

;D Sometimes it's more fun to "show your work" along the way. Sorry if it bored you or embarrassed you.  :-[

Certainly didn't embarrass me.
And thought you wanted to know. 

And your pics are looking good.

[PC-Urban-Sawyer]

Okrafarmer,

Nothing boring to me...

Great pictures. My cell phone takes pictures but I can't figure out how to get them out of the phone... And I'm a techie???

Nice to see you've got your son's involved with the operation. Keep them safe and let them learn all they can. My Dad once told me "I'm going to teach you HOW to work. If you're lucky you'll eventually learn to like it..." That was when we were working late Saturday afternoon finishing the 14th set of kitchen cabinets in two years, which was just something we did when he was not working as a preacher/pastor and school teacher...

Be careful!

Herb

[Okrafarmer]

Great pictures. My cell phone takes pictures but I can't figure out how to get them out of the phone... And I'm a techie???
Herb

Well it took me quite a while to figure out too. I think for most phones, you can buy a cable at the store that hooks up to your phone and plugs into a usb port on your computer. However, I didn't have that setup, so I had to learn how to set up to TEXT my photo messages to Facebook, which I'm fairly active on, and then once I had them on FB I could save each picture to my hard drive, and from there, I could upload them onto this forum's photo gallery.  ??? :-\

[Hilltop366]

I send phone pics to my computer using bluetooth, I think I could also remove the memory card from the phone and use the card reader on my printer or the usb cord like Okra said.

[Planman1954]

I got a gold tooth. Would that make my phone pics send to my computer?

[paul case]

I got a gold tooth. Would that make my phone pics send to my computer?
:D pc_smiley lol

[Hilltop366]

I got a gold tooth. Would that make my phone pics send to my computer?

nope, just the pictures in your head. ;D

[ljmathias]

Back to topic, at least one that surfaced somewhere in this thread: sawdust removal.  I find that it really messes up the lumber if left in place, at least for pine, tulip poplar, oaks, pecan.... In my days with a manual LT30, I broke quite a few blades- still have most of them stacked up in my pole barn.  Easy to snap off foot long sections- make great scrapers.  As I pull boards off the mill, I scrape both sides before throwing onto the FEL of my tractor, then move a load over to the pile, check for residual sawdust, and coat with antifreeze-borax-boric acid solution if needed for hardwoods, then sticker.  The toxic mix also helps keep various kinds of mold off, most notably the white kind that just loves pecan.

lj

[Okrafarmer]

I sawed one more tulip log today-- a 14'er. I took y'all's advice and brushed the sawdust off. Actually I had my helper do so. We might have made another 50 bf today, more or less. Anyway, still in the learning stages.  :P :P :P Still trying to learn how to "setworks" my brain.

[redbeard]

Scrap piece of wood  works good for removing sawdust. The best sawdust removal is spray with garden hose if its available.

[Carpenter]

    Congratulations Okra on the new mill!

[Okrafarmer]

    Congratulations Okra on the new mill!

Thank you. It's actually about 10 years old +/- but has been well-taken care of. My boss bought it from a FF member and I'm finally getting to use it. We saw mainly residential take-down logs, as well as whatever else we get from the "worst-first" stuff on his property.

One interesting thing you may see in the photos is that the previous owner modified it in several ways, not the least of which is by adding a horticultural-type squirt bottle for blade lube. It works great. At this time we are using water with dish soap. Maybe there are better things to use. Two decent size logs sawn (and one small oak for starters) and so far no metal hit, no broken blade, no hitting the backstops or log dogs with the blade-- well all those things will happen sooner or later, no doubt. I used a 2x4 for a toe-board today-- worked quite well.

I did have one small mishap in that I didn't have the backstops up enough and the log came unclamped as I started into it-- got about a foot in and the thing came loose and turned on me. Thankfully the blade did not break or become stuck. I was able to back it out and reclamp.

[Okrafarmer]

And here is my boss making his first cut after we got it set up a few weeks ago, before I got a chance to use it. A small oak log was used for the trial run.





In case anybody wondered, that's a firewood pile behind him and the mill. The "good" saw logs were behind me as I took the picture.

[submarinesailor]

Still trying to learn how to "setworks" my brain.

Okra - here is my setworks.  I have it hooked to the head with velcro.

http://www.calculated.com/prd206/Material+Estimator.html

Bruce

[Okrafarmer]

I hope I can saw more today but I may have to go with the crew and tote firewood out of a hole, and / or run around and do miscellaneous errands.

[paul case]

hey okra,
that lube is somekinda great idea. the problem with any of those lubes that you run water and anything is they will freeze and bust. this is the big reason i run diesel. it may gell but it wont freeze and bust my lube setup. pc

[Okrafarmer]

hey okra,
that lube is somekinda great idea. the problem with any of those lubes that you run water and anything is they will freeze and bust. this is the big reason i run diesel. it may gell but it wont freeze and bust my lube setup. pc

Good point. Thankfully it doesn't freeze much around here, and not likely for a while. I'll have to watch it though and bring the (thankfully detachable) lube system inside.

[Okrafarmer]

Just so everybody knows-- I'm not "getting ready" any more, I'm actually milling  8), so I will begin a new thread to continue the saga. It will be called "Adventures of the Turner Mill."

[Piston]

Hey Okra,
If your worried about the water/soap freezing then just pour some windshield washer fluid in there.  I used that trick all winter last year and it worked great, never froze.......well, except the time I forgot to put the windshield washer in  ;D

[customsawyer]

You are doing great keep on learning so you can teach some of us old dogs your new tricks. ;D

[Okrafarmer]

Hey Okra,
If your worried about the water/soap freezing then just pour some windshield washer fluid in there.  I used that trick all winter last year and it worked great, never froze.......well, except the time I forgot to put the windshield washer in  ;D

GREAT idea!

[paul case]

Hey Okra,
If your worried about the water/soap freezing then just pour some windshield washer fluid in there.  I used that trick all winter last year and it worked great, never froze.......well, except the time I forgot to put the windshield washer in  ;D

i guess you  could buy that by the case,or truckload,or switch to diesel for the winter time and no worries andno freezing and busting the valve or plastic tank. i think that i use a lot less diesel than what i would  washer fluid and water or water and dish soap so it is probably not a lot more expensive. on a full days sawing i get by with only about 1/2 gallon of diesel.pc

[Piston]

Hey Paul,
Diesel is a good idea as well. 

[Hilltop366]

https://forestryforum.com/board/index.php/topic,42716.msg619360.html#msg619360

The wick system in this thread sounds like a good idea, it appears to reduce the amount of lube required by only putting it where it is needed.

[customsawyer]

If your mill has V-belts the diesel will make them slick to where the blades won't stay on. Don't ask me how I know. ;D