How do I stop the logs from moving?

[wayne186]

Hi,

I am very new to this sawmill thing.. as I stand here with a huge grin on my face admiring my Lucas 618 swingblade mill that I bought 2 or 3 years ago; (I never had the time to run it until now).. I have been practising and really getting the hang of it but one thing is bugging me..

how do I stop the logs from shifting while I am cutting?  The mill is setup on a concrete pad and I have four wooden sleepers bolted to the floor perpendicular to the sliding rails of the mill.  I was using some sliding clamps to hold the logs in place but the last log I put on there crushed the poor things

I need something that is low profile (an inch max) so I can recover as much lumber as possible from a log and it can't be metal because I don't want to screw up any blades.. I though of wedges but how do you stop these from moving?  I don't want to pay a small fortune for any kind of system so if any of you have any ideas I would much appreciate it.. pictures or videos work very well for me I am a very visual kind of guy

thanks

Wayne

[sgschwend]

How about wood wedges, won't hurt to hit them with the saw.

I have been told some folks use aluminum which won't damage the saw.  I haven't seen what these look like, so I would be guess:  a 3X3/4" bar, with a sharpened end, hammered into the log over your crossbars.  Then spike or screw these down. 

[timbatrader]

I have a different approach to the same problem
I use wedges and some large steel z  nail shaped dogs  to cut the log down to about the half way point then flip the log over flat side down to the bearers and start cutting from the top again generally I can get away without  holding it down for the second half as the weight on the flat surface is enough.
Apart from avoiding cutting into my dogs the main advantage is that I get one large slab per log that I can cut to any width I want.  This is a bonus on a small swingsaw mill which otherwise has difficulty cutting wide beams etc

[Tom]

Wayne, the only advice I can give is an echo of what I've heard the swing mill operators say in the past.  The log should rest on two wood bunks that have each had a square bottomed trough cut in it. the corners of the trough keep the log steady.  It's been advised to not use a "V" trough because the log will move in it.

Most of these experienced swingmillers can saw logs with a bed like this without the use of clamps, nails, screws or other paraphernalia.  There have been clamps offered for those who like them.

That'll give you something to chew on until you get some more info.  I'm not saying one way is right or wrong, so the info above is digestible too. 

[WildDog]

Hi Wayne and welcome, Tom's nailed it, square bunks not V. Occassionally I have had the last of the log move as I get to the end, reason being as you step down and leave the steps on the off side (to stop sag) this can then "off balance". I havn't had the luxury of using Lucas's sliding clamps etc. 

[weisyboy]

we use bolsters that are about 10" high (8" would do for a 6" mil) at one end about 10" in cut a square notch out that is about 6-8" long.

dont bolt them down you need to keep them out near the ends of your logs, they need to be moved for each log.

the log wont move once its droped into these groves, we cut logs from 10" up to 4' on them.

[weisyboy]

when doing lots of logs of the same length like for feed stock.

we lay down 2 - 20' long 10" diamiter logs,

to cut the notch in the big end. i lower the mill to skimm the top, flaten off about 1/2" then drop it 4" come in 8" from the edge, mave a verticle, move over 6" and make another verticle, cut this bit out with the chainsaw, now your notch is dead inline with the mill, and so will your logs be.

we than load up the bolsters with the mill logs, enough for the days milling, then we just roll them in all day long, no setup time, no hasstle.

[Meadows Miller]

Gday

First of welcome to The Forum Wayne  ;) ;D 8) It took you only three years to get around to  use it  that would have driven me nuts   :D :D :D It will take you a while to wipe that grin off your face too I still get it  ;) :D ;D ;D ;D 8) 8)

I use a set of lucas alloy  log chocks these days they are the best thing i have used in 12yrs of swinging  ;) ;D 8)

and I have used both methods square chock which works great on 6" to 2' dia and wedges for larger logs the method Tom describes is great when dealing with larger tapered logs or ones with large but flare make sure when you take the notch out take it out of the rough side of the log Mate  ;)

also with the blocks just take a 4x1&1/2 or 2" and cut it into 12 to 18" lengths then you can nail them down where you wan them which is good for doing runs of logs about the same dia and punch the heads in under the face of the timber with a nail punch that way if you are trying to pinch a last board of the bottom flitch and you go aitlle low you are not going to hit the nail same goes for wedges you can whack a nail in to hold it in place but I only to that on the back side of the log  ;)

I hope this is if some help Mate

Regards Chris

[ErikC]

 I have a set of the aluminum dogs, and like those for small logs under about 10". Other than that I use bunks with square notches, and they always hold. Go a little slower on the last board though.

[wayne186]

thanks a lot for all the helfpul tips guys   I will try the square notch approach and see about ordering some of those lucas alloy log chocks from baileys

[logboy]

I learned to use my Lucas Mill from the same guy who runs the mill for Baileys in the Sawmill Shootout every year.  I asked about dogs and he said he doesn't bother (at least a couple years ago). He taught me to saw up some bunk logs big enough that I can just saw into them with Lucas Mill at the lowest depth. Place them about 2' on center.  Roll a log or 2 into the mill, throw a piece of scrap on each side to keep them from moving around, and flatten the top. You don't need to flatten them much, just a few inch wide face for the log to rest on and be stable.  Then just flip the logs over, slide them to the center and commence sawing.  The downside to this approach is that logs like to shift when you get down to the bottom. It helps to stand on them and cut slow. This approach doesn't work well with small logs either. But since small logs slows the sawing output of the mill to almost nothing I generally don't bother with them (I keep thinking a bandsaw would be nice in those situations). Just my 2 cents.

[barbender]

Small logs slow my bandmill production down to almost nothing, too. I think a small scragg mill to break them into cants and then resawing them is the only way you'd ever get any kind of production with small stuff.