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new technique

Started by hackberry jake, May 20, 2013, 02:57:27 PM

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hackberry jake

Say you have a 12" square on the mill and you need 1x6s. Most people saw it into two 6x12s then flip and start making two 1x6s with each pass. Would it make sense to put a 1" thick spacer between the two cants?  To let the sawdust fall out of the gullets before it enters the next can't. Just a thought. Might try it next time to see if I can tell a difference.
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roghair

Nice thought, but would 1" be enough to release the sawdust at let's say 5000 feet/min?
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Ocklawahaboy

My money is on it working well.  That's just based on how quickly sawdust shoots up and out of small voids on pecky cypress and red cedar. 

Magicman

To answer your question as asked, forget about the space.  For practical purposes, the blade does not know if it is sawing one 12" or two 6" cants.

But to throw an element of sawing technique into the mix, (and not considering the kerf loss) I would never split a 12" cant containing the pith into two 6" cants.  I would take three boards off of each side thus leaving a 6X12" cant and saw through.  Then split the six 1X12's into 1X6's.  They would be subject to crook, but nothing is perfect.  If you split the 12" cant into two 6X12's, all of the boards would be subject to crook.
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drobertson

I don't think I would use the spacer, not a bad thought just don't see the benefit.  There are many ways to accomplish the task. custom cutting for just one dimension is what it is.  There will always be differing widths in order to maximize the log scale, if not then as mentioned crooked boards will follow.  david
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Red Clay Hound

I agree with Magicman.  Best to leave your 6" cant in the middle of the log so that your grain pattern in balanced.  Makes for straighter boards.  If you used the spacer as suggested and the dust did fall out of the gullets, it seems to me you would accumulate a pile of dust under your mill, which would be aggravating after awhile. :-\
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Chuck White

I would just saw the two cants side-by-side!
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bandmiller2

As Chuck says just clamp the two cants and cut,as far as the mill knows its just cutting a 12" board,which is a piece of cake.Try it mate but its just a lot of extra work. Frank C.
A man armed with common sense is packing a big piece

dboyt

The further from the pith, the less problem with crooked logs from off-center pith.  A variation on MagicMan's technique is to cut the 6" x 12" cant in half, then cut the two resulting 6x6 cants side by side at the same time.  I wouldn't bother for 8/4 lumber, but it saves a little time on 4/4 (the difference between 11 cuts and 6 cuts).  The spacers might help somewhat if the gullets are filling with sawdust before exiting the cut.  This would be an interesting experiment.  Let us know how it works.  Then try it with 2", and maybe 3" spacers.
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5quarter

Jake...I think you will get some spillout between the cants, but you will lose a little beam strength having the blade guides further apart than they need to be. the greater the beam strength, the faster you can saw straight lumber. I'm not sure the extra work will be a net benefit, but the best way to know is to try and experiment.  :P smiley_idea
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Peter Drouin

Quote from: Magicman on May 20, 2013, 04:27:07 PM
To answer your question as asked, forget about the space.  For practical purposes, the blade does not know if it is sawing one 12" or two 6" cants.

But to throw an element of sawing technique into the mix, (and not considering the kerf loss) I would never split a 12" cant containing the pith into two 6" cants.  I would take three boards off of each side thus leaving a 6X12" cant and saw through.  Then split the six 1X12's into 1X6's.  They would be subject to crook, but nothing is perfect.  If you split the 12" cant into two 6X12's, all of the boards would be subject to crook.


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