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First big project

Started by Ocklawahaboy, January 25, 2013, 09:43:03 AM

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Ocklawahaboy

So, I've made a few practice cuts, greased the fittings on the mill etc. 
Now I am about to embark on my first big personal project.  I have a friend who has 3 acres of medium size pine trees he wants gone.  I haven't gone to look at them but I'm assuming they are slash pines. 

My basic plan is to go tomorrow and drop some of them and get a stack started.  I'm hoping for some knotty ones to turn into paneling. I plan to let them sit about two weeks and then mill them to 4/4 and stack and sticker them.  I don't have access to a kiln so I had planned on spraying them with a boric acid solution to try to kill the critters.  I plan to try out my off-brand 12" planer on one side of them after they dry.  I know it will be slow going.  If it doesn't work at all I can put it up rough cut or just belt sanded. 

I'm also going to attempt to somewhat T&G them with my router table. 

The end result I'm am looking for is a rustic backdrop that I will build a nice bar out of ERC and sinker cypress in front of. 

Any suggestions to help me along the way, keeping in mind a non-existent budget?


captain_crunch

Only kind of budget I understand ;D ;D
M-14 Belsaw circle mill,HD-11 Log Loader,TD-14 Crawler,TD-9 Crawler and Ford 2910 Loader Tractor

Tree Feller

Sounds like a plan to me. The only thing I would question is why let them sit for two weeks after felling and bucking?
Cody

Logmaster LM-1 Sawmill
Kioti CK 30 w/ FEL
Stihl MS-290 Chainsaw
48" Logrite Cant Hook
Well equipped, serious, woodworking shop

Magicman

You have a good plan, but I do not believe that you will get very far with a belt sander.  I am having better luck with the router free handed instead of using the router table because I do not have a suitable in/out feed setup.  My attempt at T&G work is in the Cabin Addition thread in the General Woodworking board.
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

Ocklawahaboy

Belt sander isn't my first choice for sure.  I think I figured to be using 150+ 10' boards.  Main reason for letting me sit after bucking is I wont be able to get back to them.  I thought about free handing with the router.  I'll try both ways. 

dboyt

Sounds like a good plan and a good way to get started on serious milling.  If you get pitch build-up on the blade, throw a little pine-sol or simple green in the water lube.  Check the threads on air drying-- stickers about 20" apart for 1" thick boards. I've used my band mill to straight-line rip air dry lumber, and it gets it close enough for an edger or router.  Figure on a 20% over-run-- better to come out with a little left over than to come up short.

What mill are you using?
Norwood MX34 Pro portable sawmill, 8N Ford, Lewis Winch

Ocklawahaboy

I have an old LT40 manual with the 20hp onan gas engine. 

ellmoe

   If the pine has any age to it, expect alot of pitch problems when planing if you don't kiln dry. I you don't want "blueing" in your boards you need to saw them and stack as soon after felling as possible. With the warm winter we have been having, my logs are "blueing" in 5-6 weeks. Personally, I like the look.
Mark
Thirty plus years in the sawmill/millwork business. A sore back and arthritic fingers to prove it!

francismilker

Sounds like you got a good plan.  All plans tend to get modified during operation for me.  I just make a plan and then go with it.  Whatever comes up as situations change I just deal with as they come.  I've always had the philosophy, "Fix em' if you can, if you can't; don't worry about it"

I'd love to try my hand at milling some pine.  I've got a track on some for next weekend.  I'm taking the Boy Scouts camping down near Stringtown, OK and there's lots of pine there on the gentleman's land that's letting us camp.  He told me I could bring a trailer and take down a few.  I'm going to try three or four 16" trees for starters.  Maybe my new skidder will be put to work.  There's lots of rocks there and it's not neccessarily easy access for the jeep.
"whatsoever thy hands finds to do; do it with thy might" Ecc. 9:10

WM LT-10supergo, MF-271 w/FEL, Honda 500 Foreman, Husq 550, Stihl 026, and lots of baling wire!

WDH

If you fell and cut the pine green, you do not need to spray with a boric acid solution.  You would if it was oak or ash or hickory or pecan.  Powderpost beetles that do so much damage in ring porous hardwoods do not infest pine.  That will save you a step and a few $.
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

Ocklawahaboy

You can often hear crunching from the beetles in pine after you fell it down here.  The advice about the blueing is good. 
I thing the trees will sit right at two weeks.  I will fell them tomorrow and I think I have my first paying job for next Saturday.  A neighbor of our youth paster has a white oak and a cherry log he wants milled.  It's close enough to the house that I can run the mill over and do it on the cheap for the experience.

bozzaa69

I T&G lots of pine paneling. I've never tried it freehand. I do shiplap freehand some times. I don't see T&G working too good freehand. If your router table has a fence and a couple feather boards it works good. You can pump them right out pretty fast and accurate. I got a big router though too.

Magicman

My problem with the table was because I was doing it alone and did not have enough infeed/outfeed support to control the 16' 1X12 boards.  Handheld is working fine with the boards laying across sawhorses.   ;D
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

WDH

The crunching sound that you hear is coming from the ambrosia beetle.  It usually infests drying or dead pine.  If you cut them green and then saw them within a couple of weeks, you should be fine.  They cannot survive in the pine once it begins to dry on the stickers, and any that are in the wood will be gone in fairly short order.

Hardwood, especially the large pored ring porous hardwoods are a different story altogether.
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

thecfarm

 When My father and me started cutting here,some sort of bug moved right in on the slash and any of the cut offs we left. Those critters can do some damage. we could see the sawdust fall out of the hole they was boring.

http://www.forestryimages.org/browse/detail.cfm?imgnum=2167048

They did not get onto the logs because the logs would not be on the landing much more than 3 weeks. But any limbs these bugs was busy. There would make a nice kinda round ¼ inch hole.
Model 6020-20hp Manual Thomas bandsaw,TC40A 4wd 40 hp New Holland tractor, 450 Norse Winch, Heatmor 400 OWB,YCC 1978-79

francismilker

When I T&G boards on the router table, I not only use the fence with lots of makeshift infeed and outfeed support, but I also clamp down a straight edge on the outface of the board as well.  It keeps things to where you only have to push it down a trough and not work to keep it up against the cutting edge as well.  It takes a few minutes to set up but it's worth every penny's worth of time IMHO. 

If the boards are longer than about 8', I also clamp down a "top" board between my permanent fence and the outface fence.  This way, when the board starts trying to sag as it's being pushed from you, it don't ride upwards and try to climb the fence.  It's kinda tough and ugly when you have a board climb the fence and cutting edge and you end up with a groove shallow in a spot or two.
"whatsoever thy hands finds to do; do it with thy might" Ecc. 9:10

WM LT-10supergo, MF-271 w/FEL, Honda 500 Foreman, Husq 550, Stihl 026, and lots of baling wire!

Ocklawahaboy

I was having quite the trouble with my old chainsaw yesterday so I only got 6 trees cut and bucked in the couple of hours that I had to work.  If I'm doing my math right, they will give me about 40% of the wood I need.  Now to find the time to go back and saw them. 

Most of these trees are about 12' in diameter.  I need 9'10" lenth to panel my room so I bucked the logs just over 11' and got three out of most of the trees.  There are probably 100 more trees that size that are there for the taking as I want them.  They are about 20 years old.  I'm hoping that if I take the bigger ones, my friend will leave the smaller ones for a few years so they can grow.  He's wanting them all gone though.

WDH

Be sure to center the pith in the boards and do not put the pith on one edge or the boards will bow.  Keep us posted on the project.  I really like pine paneling. 
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

Magicman

With that log size, I imagine that you will be dealing with juvenile wood and will have to turn the cants 180° as you remove each board.
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

Ocklawahaboy

Quote from: Magicman on January 27, 2013, 09:50:24 PM
With that log size, I imagine that you will be dealing with juvenile wood and will have to turn the cants 180° as you remove each board.
I counted and the trees were 20 yrs old. they were planed about 24" apart and never thinned so they are tall and skinny.  I'm assuming that turning the cant somehow helps fight warping.  How exactly?

Magicman

No, not to prevent warping.  As boards are removed and the stress is relieved on that side of the cant, the cant ends will lift up off of the sawmill bed.  This will give you thicker board ends because you are "stealing" wood from the bottom (dog) board.  If you see any daylight under the cant end, turn it 180°, re-clamp, and take the next board off.  Sometimes the cant will now behave, and sometimes it has to be turned again.  And sometimes after each board is removed.

I often have my helper stand on the center of the flipped cant to get the center in firm contact with the sawmill bed before re-clamping.  I have had a couple of folks standing up on the cant, and if all else fails, I have a very large pipe clamp that I have used to squeeze the cant down before clamping.

Your goal is to produce uniform thickness lumber.  In the picture below, I failed to notice the cant raising up off of the sawmill bed.  I flipped it, but it should have been done at least one board sooner.


 
Notice the gap under the cant.  This means that after the cant is flipped, the next board will only be 3/4" or 7/8" on that end instead of 1".
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

Ocklawahaboy

Thanks for the explanation.  These are super straight trees so hopefully I'll have less problems but i will watch out.  I have my first paying gig Saturday so that may help me with his stuff too.  It's just one white oak and one wild cherry log so I can take my time.  I told him it was my first job for someone else so hopefully he'll be understanding if one board ends up off. 

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