Edgers, what do you like or dislike about your edger?

[cnelson1]

I would like to hear about your edger. What you like and what you would like to improve on.  Any problems that you have experienced and how you fix the problem? Thanks, Chris in Northern CA.

[Bibbyman]

We have a Morgan Little Champ.  We've had at about 9 years and it has probably had a million bf of oak ran through it.

We like the small footprint of the design.  We like the split strobe blades that only take a couple of minutes to change out.  We like that it will edge up to 14" wide and take a flitch something like 24" wide. 

We don't like that the company is out of business.  But the design is pretty simple with parts that should be able to find if they wear out.  So far, we've only had to replace the V-belts a couple of times. 

[Dave Shepard]

We have the Wood-Mizer ED26. I have a lot of problems with wide flitches hanging up on the side. I have to edge those on the mill. Overall it's pretty good, with the exception that it vibrates and rattles like a tank battalion. :

[mjl_2007]

We have the Wood-Mizer ED26. I have a lot of problems with wide flitches hanging up on the side. I have to edge those on the mill. Overall it's pretty good, with the exception that it vibrates and rattles like a tank battalion. :

Couldn't agree more about flitches getting hung up on the side. Other than that I haven't had any problems with my Wood-mizer double blade ED21 edger.

[cnelson1]

Thanks for the edger discussion.  Do your edgers cut perfectly straight or is it normal with an edger to produce a board that has a bit of a curve?  Thanks, Chris in N. Ca

[beenthere]

Getting an edger to make two parallel rip cuts in a flitch (with no straight edge to put against a fence) is very difficult to achieve and maintain. Takes a drive mechanism like found in a straight-line rip. With rollers, the slightest wear or non-alignment will cause the flitch to skew, as well as any slight thickness change across the width (including sawdust buildup).

(and the new pop-up in the lower right is annoying but I may get used to it). ;)

[cnelson1]

Thanks "Beenthere".  I have a new Cook's edger and am having problems getting it to cut straight. It has a belt in and out feed and the rollers that run the belt are crowned (maybe 3/16 to 1/4" from side to middle of roller).  I guess this is supposed to help keep the belt in possition as crowned sawmill wheels keep the band blade in possition (centrifugal force?). It seems to me that this crown for the belts would not be needed as the roll RPM is at most 60 RPMs and usually runs around 30 RPMs. Any thoughs on this?  Thanks, Chris in N. CA

[beenthere]

Chris
No particular thoughts, but would suggest getting in contact with Cook's as they would be most familiar with the particulars of the design. I'm sure they have the ability to come up with the solution.

[customsawyer]

The cooks edger will cut strait if set up right. If you call cooks they will help you sort through it.

[Cedarman]

Our's is an S&W edger from Elba Al, now out of business.  We have run 8 or so million feet through it since 1992.  It is a small edger with 7" blades that is good for 1" or thinner cedar.  For best results we have to make sure it is level, very level across the whole machine, good bearings in the hold rollers and sharp blades.  Blades good for 120 hours of running plus or minus.  We use one stationary blade and 2 blades set at 3 1/2" apart that slide.  We make a large number of 3 1/2" boards.
Every so often a board will curve a small amount.  More than a small amount, we look for solutions.
95% are 8' boards.

[Bibbyman]

 



Our Morgan Little Champ does not take up much room. About 3' wide and 8' long - not including infeed rollers and outfeed deck.





It will take a flitch 30" wide.  It's 8" from fixed blade to side and will edge a board 16" wide.  Seldom do we have something that won't feed through it.  Just 4 bolt on each hub that you can get to from the top - no problems!





The split strobe blades are easy and quick to change out. 

[cnelson1]

Thanks all for the great discussion and pictures.  I have my new cook edger adjusted fairly close. It's hard for me to know if should be happy with how straight the boards are or should I keep tinkering with it. The board thickness is very close and I am happy with the thickness. When I measure from the blade shaft to the in and out roller shafts, there within 1/32" I am guessing. Do I need to be more percise with this or is it more important to adjust based on the resulting board straightness (I am using a piece of 1/4" all thread with nut coupler and a jam nut to do this measuring).  What do you all think?  Maybe a breif discription of how you edger owner each adjust your edger would be helpful.

[Bibbyman]

Maybe a breif discription of how you edger owner each adjust your edger would be helpful.

 

Adjustment?  The only adjustments I've made is to drive chain and belt tension. 

[Warren]

I have a Baker 2" x 24" portable edger with 20hp Honda gas motor.  One fixed blade.  One movable blade.  Love it !  Especially like the adjustable fence with scale that allows me to take a board to the right of the fixed blade as well as to the left if I have a flitch with one straight edge.  Only dislike is that I wish I had purchased a 4" model to make perfectly square 4x4's out ouf 4" thick two sided flitches. 

If you have a brand new Cook's, I would bet they can help you get it pert near perfectly straight...

Warren

[Corley5]

I like edging with my edger and not on the mill  ;D

[Kansas]

We used to have a Talon edger by Timberking. Very good edger. We sold that when we got a gang rip edger with one movable blade. It works better as a gang edger than as a grade edger. We put just about everything through it, including the first cuts to be resawn on the resaw. That was custom built Logmaster. We also now have a Morgan edger that looks a lot like Bibbys. It has 3 saws, two movable. With either the Talon or the Morgan you can cut a straight board with or without a straight edge on the board. I like the mat type for doing grade. The Logmaster has rollers for a bed. That one is a lot harder to get a straight board with, unless you already have one straight edge. However I'm not complaining about it. As a gang edger, you can't beat it.

Even the best edger is likely to have slight variations in producing a straight board. We have flitches come off the mill that are already curved due to tension in the flitch. Tension in a flitch can change what the board looks like. And bandsaws don't always cut perfectly straight. And as a log is cut, it moves. If your product is finished kiln dried lumber, that board will move anyway. And if its pallet, it usually doesn't matter.

[customsawyer]

Is all of the boards coming out with the same curve in them or is it just one now and then? One other thing to look for is if one of the blades have hit a rock or something and ding up some teeth. This will make one of the blades pull harder which will curve your lumber.

[cnelson1]

Customsawyer said;  "Is all of the boards coming out with the same curve"   I would say yes, for the most part.  My edger is a belt type, in and out.  I can get close to straight (slight wave), but it seems very touchy. A little more adjustment and it curves a bit the other way.  This rollers are all crowned (3/16 to 1/4" from side to center).  Those of you that have belted edgers, are the rollers crowned or straight?  Thanks for all the great coments and helpful suggestions.  Chris in N. CA

[Bibbyman]

Those of you that have belted edgers, are the rollers crowned or straight?  Thanks for all the great coments and helpful suggestions.  Chris in N. CA

The belt infeed/outfeed are flat on our Morgan.  Why would you want a crown in the table?

[Kansas]

That doesn't make sense, at least not to me. They should be flat. And I'm trying to figure this out. They would have had to machine the roller higher in the center than the sides. Seems like on the Talon, there was an adjustment to keep the belt centered by moving one roller front or back. I don't recall we ever needed it, outside of tensioning the belt, or the one time we replaced the belts.

Bibby, do you know if anyone bought out or is carrying parts for Morgan? We aren't using it all that much yet due to space limitations, but we will in the other building. I would like to get a spare set of split blades for ours. For some reason, it seems they are all slightly different hole patterns. I would like to get a set just like them so we can do like our gang edger; change them out every month or so and get them sharpened. Also, it doesn't have a tape on the front of the machine so you can't easily set the width of the blades. They have marks on it now, but would be nice to have the right tape. With the curvature, a regular tape won't work.  

[Bibbyman]

We got a letter from the company some years back when they went out of business and it told that another company (maybe Sawmill Supply?) would be taking over service and parts for the Morgan equipment.  We talked about it somewhere.  But I bet most everything can be found at an industrial supply place.

I got an instant message from a member asking if it were feasible to build an edger like the Morgan (since new ones are not available).

Answer, yes.  But I wouldn't.  There are a lot of them out there on the used market in various forms - Champ, Extended Champ, Little Champ, etc.   Plus,  even though they were great edgers and have some features I like, there are many other edgers out there that will work just as well.

I think people expect too much from sawmill edgers.  They are not straight line rip saws and don't need to be.  When sawing green lumber it's may be important that the boards come out parallel and straight within some reasonable tolerance but perfect?  No.  Why?  The lumber coming of the mill is green.  As the lumber dries it's going to move and shrink and try to do all kinds of things.  

Sawyers see wood move all the time.  It does not stay still until its dry, nailed down or glued up – if then.  I see people at forestry shows come up and pick up a board just sawn and eye down it.  What they're looking for, I don't know.  If the board is of consistent and desired thickness, width, square, parallel, then the mill and sawyer had done about all it can do.  If here is some bow to the board, it's likely tension and only going to bow more as it dries.

P.S.  

I found the post that talked about Morgan going out of business.  I think you can find contact info for parts and service there.

https://forestryforum.com/board/index.php/topic,44104.msg635616.html#msg635616

[xlogger]

Old topic new question. I'm a one man show here. Do you think an edger is worth it working by myself?

[Sawmill Man]

Old topic new question. I'm a one man show here. Do you think an edger is worth it working by myself?

I don't think so unless you need extra excercise . I have two plane clamp that will retreive flitches from the loader arms and stand them up and flip them over. Most of my edging is done without taking a step.

[Banjo picker]

xlogger maybe you should ask:  How many of the sawyers here that still have their mills have sold their edgers because they didn't need one... ;)  I hope I am never without one again...I too am a one man show....sorry to have to disagree with our counterpart from la...Banjo

[Brucer]

If you'r running an edger by yourself, that's what you'll be doing -- running.

Working alone I find I can cut slightly more wood in a day than if I edge on the mill. The one nice thing about using an edger is I can saw out an entire order of timbers and just stack up the flitches. Once the order is complete (and I get paid for it) I can do the edging with a lot less material handling.

[Okrafarmer]

I'm looking for a used edger. Budget is in the $1,000- 3,000 range. I prefer gasoline-powered, but I could convert it or use another power source if need be.  Portability is a plus, but not a necessity.

So are there any I should definitely avoid? Any I should definitely look for?
I saw Customsawyer's Morgan in action, and it looked like a good little unit, very simple and functional. Any more thoughts?

[JustinW_NZ]

Another Question - Do people find a big need/reason to go from a single blade edger to a twin blade? i.e woodmizer eg50 vs eg200?

(im leaning on portable for myself)

Any input there?

Cheers
Justin

[CCC4]

I think it depends on what you are used to. If you have always run 2 and three blade setups, then going to a single will make you want to punch yourself in the face. Cheers, mate!  ;D

[learner]

I allways thought older was better, but maybe I'm wrong.   ;D


  

 
Still waiting for the modified bearing assemblies to be finished. 

[POSTON WIDEHEAD]

It can be brought back to life.

[Okrafarmer]

I usually need it for pine. I usually keep most of my live-edge stuff. I might also need it occasionally for other things.

[CCC4]

I allways thought older was better, but maybe I'm wrong.   ;D


  

 
Still waiting for the modified bearing assemblies to be finished.

Nice! Little bit of sheet metal and good to go!

[boman1]

I have a Wood Mizer ED26. I have prolly run close to a million bd ft of oak thru it. The only time it hangs a flitch up is if i dont have it far enough to the center of the machine and it catches on the side.  No fault of the machine...... use the straight edge if you have hang up issues.Mine has been a very reliable machine. Could be better if it was split blades to make easier changing.....but the good thing is I sharpen the teeth with the blade installed so very seldom do I remove them. Its noisy...but hey its for a sawmill....I wear ear plugs :-) I would purchase another one if I needed an edger.

[Logosol Malte]

When it comes to edge perfectlt straight, take a look at Logosols new design for a two blade edger. With one circular sawblade coming from above and one from the machine table, gives a controlled sawing process. The board is pressed against a long straight edge after the fixed sawblade. This aligns the board and gives very straight cuts. Read mor at the UK-site. www.logosol.co.uk/all-products/board-edger-c210/

[Brucer]

Nice things about that Logosol:
- thanks to one open side, it will handle any width of flitch.
- the guide in the fixed kerf will keep the board straight.
- easy to change the blades.
- the price is attractive.

Not so great things:
- it won't handle anything over 1-3/16" thick.
- it won't edge wider than 8".
- the feed rate is OK for one person operation but slow for 2 person operation.
- requires electrical supply.
- not very portable.

It would fit very nicely into some operations, and why pay more for extra capacity that you don't need.

[Okrafarmer]

If you can remove or disable one blade, you should be able to edge wider than 8 inches. One edge at a time.

[Brucer]

Kind of defeats the purpose, though.

[Okrafarmer]

Yes. I would demand that a two-blade edger be able to at least edge up to 12" wide. That's kind of a minimum, when you consider a lot of my stuff would make good boards wider than that.

[Brucer]

That edger would actually do 90% of my edging. My stock sizes are 4", 6", and 8", all 7/8" thick. Anything else is a custom size. I edge nearly all my 2" stuff on the mill (to save my back mainly). I've run the odd special order for 10" stuff through the edger but I usually don't produce flitches that wide.

That particular machine would actually work for me, except that it's A) electric, and B) not very portable.