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The One Man Band - Update

Started by tcsmpsi, June 13, 2011, 04:31:08 PM

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tcsmpsi

Since I first became an FF member, I have seen a lot of posts which are similar to my first postings.  Information for one who is looking to enter the world of personal sawmilling for 'fun and profit', etc.  More specifically, those who are looking to, 'mill some for myself and make a little money milling for others'.

My personal needs were primarily to take care of my own property/trees, but, having been self-employed for the last 40 yrs or so, I have found I seldom do or spend much of anything, if I can't process it somehow into the business as a reasonably viable production and to get at least some deduction for it.

Now that I have no more illusions of any of the children being interested in becoming integral in the business, and it will be a few years before we can pay the bills without my wife's separate income, I have finally gotten my milling process as effecient as possible for a one man operation.  Of course, I found a long time ago, in the building and remodeling business, that the most cost effective, efficient and dependable hand one can 'hire', is a tractor with a front end loader.   ;)



Utilizing the 'helper', I get some logs up on the staging rack.  If they are too big for the tractor to pick up wisely and safely, I can fairly easily roll them up the ramps.  Being wide enough to get the tractor into it, allows me to still get directly to the mill with it, if necessary, and to easily clean the sawdust out.



Once I get a log on the mill, then I raise the loading arms off the mill to begin cutting.  I like having the next logs to cut where I can see them handily, so that I can get an idea of the best procedure on them.



Once the cut is made, boards are stacked on the right, slabs on the left.  The slabs are mostly cut into firewood, and now that I have a genuine covered slab rack, the apprehensive burden being wet/covering/ruinated has been lifted.  Which, for me, has been quite notable.
If the drying rack next to the stacked lumber is full, I load it on the tractor forks to another drying (stickering) spot.
Down at the end of the mill, is the planer, table saw and router table.   And then the woodshop.



Certainly, maintenance, cleaning, blade changing are all parts of the whole.  I keep the work area as uncluttered as possibile, for catastrophe can be only one stumble away.   I find that a leaf blower ( I use an Echo) makes short work of sawdust and smaller debris around the mill.
I have always gotten my blades from the mill manufacuturer.  The last ones they used were Monksforager, which I liked pretty well.  They now have their own logo/blades.  I don't know what they are, and I have only used two of them so far, but they are the best thusfar I have used.   I only bought a half dozen to try, and would have gone otherwhise if they hadn't worked so well.  So far.  I believe it was Tom who mentioned recently that a mill manufacturer usually has blades well suited to their mills.




(I meant to set the date/time on my camera, but....  ;D)

For a fellow who keeps a shop in town open 6 days a week, 70-80 hrs.... managing all the 'spare time' projects keeps him on his toes.  Especially when he's the plumber, electrician, mechanic, etc., etc., etc.    :D








\\\"In the end, it is a moral question as to whether man applies what he has learned or not.\\\" - C. Jung

smwwoody

Full time Mill Manager
Cleereman head rig
Cooper Scragg
McDonugh gang saw
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TS end trim
Pendu slab recovery system
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Peter Drouin

thats one nice setup you have there good job :)
A&P saw Mill LLC.
45' of Wood Mizer, cutting since 1987.
License NH softwood grader.

bandmiller2

Things are very neat and well thought out,do you sharpen and set your own bands?? Frank C.
A man armed with common sense is packing a big piece

Magicman

Nice looking sawmill area.  Since I normally work alone, I completely understand about that helping hand.  We just do what we gotta do and figure out a way.   ;)
Knothole Sawmill, LLC     '98 Wood-Mizer LT40SuperHydraulic   WM Million BF Club Member   WM Pro Sawyer Network

It's Weird being the Same Age as Old People

Never allow your "need" to make money to exceed your "desire" to provide quality service.....The Magicman

stavebuyer

Very well organized operation. Thanks for taking the time to document and share.

WildDog

Thanks for that, Good post and great setup :)
If you start feeling "Blue" ...breath    JD 5510 86hp 4WD loader Lucas 827, Pair of Husky's 372xp, 261 & Stihl 029

tcsmpsi

Quote from: bandmiller2 on June 13, 2011, 09:38:13 PM
Things are very neat and well thought out,do you sharpen and set your own bands?? Frank C.

No...I don't sharpen them.  I would like to, and was about to step that direction, when the bottoms rusted out of all our financial buckets, among other dilemmas these last couple years.  Keeping the lights on has been a more pressing endeavor.   

Hasn't been a problem, as the milling has slowed, too.   

But then, every day is a new opportunity.  So who knows?.....    :)
\\\"In the end, it is a moral question as to whether man applies what he has learned or not.\\\" - C. Jung

Lud

Nice Operation.  Well thought out.  I concur on the leaf blower as I got a Shindawa recently.  I was bragging to my wife haw well it worked and she said,

       "Some Blowhards work well, honey,  look at you..........."

Aren't they special?   Ego downsizing seems to be one of the tasks pursued with vigor on a continuous basis.  I've tried to adjust that particular carbuerator but never seem to be able to get it to IDLE. :D
Simplicity mill, Ford 1957 Golden Jubilee 841 Powermaster, 40x60 bankbarn, left-handed

submarinesailor

Quote from: Lud on June 14, 2011, 07:08:53 AM
I've tried to adjust that particular carbuerator but never seem to be able to get it to IDLE. :D

Ditto and double DITTO.  Lud, I completely understand what you are saying.

Bruce

tcsmpsi

Careful with the idle....that brings thinking...and PLANS!    :o    ;D

It is, from here...the beginning days of my association with the FF, getting ready and awaiting the 'finally decided on mill' to be built...



To the mill's finished production day, sitting in front of the shop in town....



and the intial mill set up and first milling....


and using its production...



...as well as any and all else it may be, a testament to the Forestry Forum and all the industrious folks hanging about here.     


\\\"In the end, it is a moral question as to whether man applies what he has learned or not.\\\" - C. Jung

LOGDOG

Great pictorial Tcsmpsi. You're, without doubt, a very industrious fellow. Good to have you around.

WDH

T,

I have always been desirous of such a saw shed, and I have said so on here and personally.  Now you have went and concocted a covered slab rack.   Sheesh, keeping up with the Jones and the Tcsmpsi's is getting harder and harder to do every day  :).

That is just plan slick.  I am sure that the little yaupons are proud (as long as they stay off the rack) :D.
Woodmizer LT40HDD35, John Deere 2155, Kubota M5-111, Kubota L2501, Nyle L53 Dehumidification Kiln, and a passion for all things with leafs, twigs, and bark.  hamsleyhardwood.com

tcsmpsi

Quote from: LOGDOG on June 15, 2011, 09:18:41 AM
Great pictorial Tcsmpsi. You're, without doubt, a very industrious fellow. Good to have you around.

Why is it then, that I always consider I am lagging behind?     :D


So far, the yaupons are safe from that....well, except maybe one that I noticed the other day back close to the first little bridge.   ;)

I do have about a 6' section of one of the little beeches that I'm going to look in to, though.   :D

You know, with the youngest daughter bottoming out, and coming back to the place recently, she told me one of her stronger motivatons was relationship with the trees.

In many ways, the FF and the folks here, with the trials, tribulations, inspirations, knowledge and general willingness, are much the same.
\\\"In the end, it is a moral question as to whether man applies what he has learned or not.\\\" - C. Jung

jim blodgett

Yeah, seeing that slab rack has my mind working. Nice.  Looking forward to expanding my saw shed this summer and that's something to consider.

Thanks.


Jim_Rogers

Slab rack question.

My logger keeps telling me that I should make a "slab rack".

Something that I can carry down to the end of the driveway and place there for passerbys to see and get wood from for their fireplace/stove/camp/ whatever.

I keep all the hardwood for my own shop stove, and I dump all the pine at the local tub grinders pile to be ground up for "his own" bark mulch products.
I mix in my sawdust to the load of softwood slabs going to the tub grinders pile, but I could make a rig to carry down to the street.

I was thinking about doing something like that.

Can you take a picture of it to show me what it looks like and how you built it?

Thanks,

Jim Rogers
Whatever you do, have fun doing it!
Woodmizer 1994 LT30HDG24 with 6' Bed Extension

paul case

 


jim,
this is what i use. actually 2 of them and i put 2 of those cheap(less than a penny a foot) straps around it. they hold it together real well to move a couple of times.
i try to get one end of the stack even and then i cut the other end off if they are too long to fir thru my door.
pc
life is too short to be too serious. (some idiot)
2013 LT40SHE25 and Riehl edger,  WM 94 LT40 hd E15. Cut my sawing ''teeth'' on an EZ Boardwalk
sawing oak.hickory,ERC,walnut and almost anything else that shows up.
Don't get phylosophical with me. you will loose me for sure.
pc

tcsmpsi

Here you go, Jim.





Of course, this being part of the mill shed, and its particular purpose, is a bit different that what you mentioned.  My rack is designed as an integral part of that particular system.  The longer slabs, I go ahead and cut off before the end of day, so the roof will still cover.  Coming out any further, would begin to get too low.  It is the plan, one day, for the rest of the length of the mill shed, save for the 20' mill loading opening, to be covered/utilized at the same extension.






The only thing different, not showing in the photos, is the middle joist has two more attached to it to make it thicker as that is where I strap them before I cut them.
\\\"In the end, it is a moral question as to whether man applies what he has learned or not.\\\" - C. Jung

Jim_Rogers

Thanks for the pictures.

So, what both of you are saying is you rack your slabs, strap them up and then move them out of the rack?

What I was thinking about was to make a rack that I could carry to the street with the slab in it loose, not strapped, and let the public pick out what they want, all or just a little.

I was looking for a picture of a rack like I have described to carry to the street.  Anyone got any ideas about one like this?

I may make two, one to be at the street and one to be next to the mill being loaded.

Jim Rogers

PS. I do have a strap setup as I use straps to hold my bundles of grade stakes together.
Whatever you do, have fun doing it!
Woodmizer 1994 LT30HDG24 with 6' Bed Extension

tcsmpsi

I strap them only to cut them into firewood lengths.  My cuts are between the uprights, and I strap in the middle and cut from both ends.

Anyone wants them full length are on their own.   ;D
\\\"In the end, it is a moral question as to whether man applies what he has learned or not.\\\" - C. Jung

Jim_Rogers

Right now I'm cutting them to about 6' lengths as I load them into my backhoe front bucket to dump into my 1 ton 6 wheel dump truck, to haul to the tub grinder pile.
I was thinking that I'd cut them to 6' lengths as well to carry to the street, that way whatever doesn't get "given away, or sold" will be the right length to haul out...

Jim Rogers
Whatever you do, have fun doing it!
Woodmizer 1994 LT30HDG24 with 6' Bed Extension

paul case

mine are all hardwood and will sell a bundle for $15 or more for firewood. i cut a lot of firewood to length and deliver it also. pc
life is too short to be too serious. (some idiot)
2013 LT40SHE25 and Riehl edger,  WM 94 LT40 hd E15. Cut my sawing ''teeth'' on an EZ Boardwalk
sawing oak.hickory,ERC,walnut and almost anything else that shows up.
Don't get phylosophical with me. you will loose me for sure.
pc

tcsmpsi

One of the aspects at the mill, are larger logs.  Those that do not fit the mill without 'pre-sawing'.  I do not like working them, but sometimes, under circumstances that just add up to be necessary, I do.  Also, since I intentionally have a small tractor/fel, there are many logs that I do not lift to the rack or the mill.
This customer had one tree, 4 logs, first two needing split.  He has been a customer/student for many years was a special consideration.  He wants 2" slabs from all of it for different projects.  Good, solid, rich, knotty good old SYP.



 

When the logs are too heavy for my fel to safely pick up, I drag them over to the ramp and carefully push and lift simultaenously getting them on the rack/mill.



 

With these 2" slabs being a bit heavier and more awkward than I care to manhandle much, I slide them off either on to the rack or the tractor.  I'm just taking one slab in the picture for photo purpose.  As the stack is only two slabs wide (little over 4'), I take two at a time. 



 



 
\\\"In the end, it is a moral question as to whether man applies what he has learned or not.\\\" - C. Jung

Peter Drouin

Nice job tcsmpsi, do you cut the ends off the logs be for milling, I see all the cookies ?
A&P saw Mill LLC.
45' of Wood Mizer, cutting since 1987.
License NH softwood grader.

tcsmpsi

For the most part, I do.  Especially my own logs, as I cut them long enough to do that very thing...square/clean the ends.  On others' logs, most of the time, they're not too generous on their length.   ;D  Oh...and most those cut offs get burned in the woodstove.   ;)
\\\"In the end, it is a moral question as to whether man applies what he has learned or not.\\\" - C. Jung

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