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Does anyone have any experience sawing Greenheart????

Started by joejeep, January 13, 2015, 07:44:56 PM

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joejeep

Hey guys...A friend of mine has been dropping off greenheart piling cut offs to me recently. He has a neverending supply of these and doesn't mind dropping them off :).....my question, or questions are...has anyone milled this stuff. What blades would be best suited for milling it. Does it hold up well to milling thinner dimensions. Any help would be great.... I milled a few of these piles into beams with 10degree woodmizer bands..real slow..lotsa water. Seemed to work ok,,,but beat the heck out of blade.
My wife says I do everything in excess

POSTON WIDEHEAD

Maybe it comes with being an Old Goat but not sure what Green Heart is.  :)
The older I get I wish my body could Re-Gen.

beenthere

south central Wisconsin
It may be that my sole purpose in life is simply to serve as a warning to others

POSTON WIDEHEAD

I read your link Brother Been. I think I'll pass on the Green Heart.  :)
First time I had heard of it.
The older I get I wish my body could Re-Gen.

joejeep

My buddy gets barge loads on greenheart from Guyana. His familys company builds commercial docks. Piles come in very long lengths,,some get pre cut before they drive them. The cutoffs I get are between 9 and 18 feet, dry and de-barked. Usually about twice the thickness of a telephone pole.  The stuff is ultra bug, and rot resistant. From what I have read it has such a tight grain that it can explode???? And also has a fire rating..it does burn...and it burns hot,,but takes a lot to get it lit. Also weighs more than any other wood that I have ever dealt with.
My wife says I do everything in excess

POSTON WIDEHEAD

I wouldn't mind having a few sticks of this to put in my neighbors mailbox.  ;D
The older I get I wish my body could Re-Gen.

joejeep

Swing on by. You can tie one to the back of your truck,,,drag it home,,, and I guarantee it will still be there when you get home :D..This stuff is rock hard.
My wife says I do everything in excess

mikeb1079

that sounds like a wonderful problem to have.   8)   i'd probably try a stellite or carbide band for these, i would imagine the price per bf would justify it?
that's why you must play di drum...to blow the big guys mind!
homebuilt 16hp mill
99 wm superhydraulic w/42hp kubota

Kasba

I have milled ecki which is very hard they use it for dock bottom blocks in dry docks for large vessels like cruises ships to rest on. I mill it with lots of water and hope for the best.
Timbery M285 25hp, Husqvarna 570 auto tune, Alaskan sawmill, Nova 1624 wood lathe, Dogo Argentino

mikeb1079

that's why you must play di drum...to blow the big guys mind!
homebuilt 16hp mill
99 wm superhydraulic w/42hp kubota

mesquite buckeye

Supposed to be really toxic stuff. I would Mask and glove up. Seems to me I remember reading stories of greenheart logs exploding on the mill. Might not be an issue with old stuff, but I would still be careful. :-\
Manage 80 acre tree farm in central Missouri and Mesquite timber and about a gozillion saguaros in Arizona.

Rachiano

Hi jojeep...greenheart from south america or ipe are the gold bars in lumber business these days.
First of all you need a mill with at least 35 phonies to saw this wood in a comfortable manner. 15hp if its an electrical mill. The best blade to cut this specie is woodmizers turbo7 blade....there in guyana is in fact where the development of this turbo7 blade started for this kind of wood. After making its success there it came back to the united states to saw other hard stuff. What you also need to add to your lube system is vegetable oil mixed with dishwashing liquid and add that to your water jug. 1 liter soap...2 liter vegetable oil...17 liters of water would be the best mixture.
Dont expect to saw too much of this a day as you will need to change blades frequently...after every 400 or 500 bf....that will also preserve blade life.
Have seen it being cut with an lt40 and soon I will be eating them too on my lt70.

Hope i helped in a way.
Rachiano

WM LT70
WM EG50
Werklust WG25 Wheel loader
DAF 2100 HIAB truck

mikeb1079

that's why you must play di drum...to blow the big guys mind!
homebuilt 16hp mill
99 wm superhydraulic w/42hp kubota

Peter Drouin

I would not want it here at my mill, Sounds like as bad as ATT poles. smiley_horserider
A&P saw Mill LLC.
45' of Wood Mizer, cutting since 1987.
License NH softwood grader.

joejeep

Thanks for all your input guys. Another load dropped off today. That brings me to about 30 or so pieces. Guess I will man up this weekend and mill a bunch of it......Sounds like I will be giving my new TK blade grinder a workout.
My wife says I do everything in excess

taylorsmissbeehaven

Hey Joe, I would be very interested to hear how it goes. I have never heard of greenheart, but have a lot of experience installing finished boards of ipe. That stuff is very heavy and  very hard. I always wondered what it was sawn with. If it works out for you it may be a small gold mine! Ipe cost a fortune around here. Brian
Opportunity is missed by most because it shows up wearing bib overalls and looks like work.

joejeep

Milled up a few of the greenheart piles yesterday. Used the new 4degree bands recommended by woodmizer. This stuff eats blades up. I am using lube and cutting ULTRA slow. I went through a band every log. Then the blade would start to wander. Kind of heartbreaking because I have so much of it, and its not much to look at :-\...Guess I will mill what I have and make decking with it.
My wife says I do everything in excess

mesquite buckeye

I've used both the 4° and 7° blades on mesquite, another notorious blade eater. I find the 7° cuts faster and longer than the 4. No Idea why.

Hopefully your saw has the debarker, which is a huge help on blade life. Also don't be stingy with the lube, especially on dry wood.

Greenheart is suppose to rot like never, so could be a good one for decks or other projects requiring rot resistant wood.

I wouldn't give up yet....
Manage 80 acre tree farm in central Missouri and Mesquite timber and about a gozillion saguaros in Arizona.

joejeep

Thanks for the advice and words of encouragement.. This wood really puts my patience to the test. I have the track speed at a crawl,,,and the minute I cant stand it anymore, and turn speed up a bit, the blade dives in the cut. I am going to saw what I've got, but don't plan on taking any more.  :-\   Does anyone want a good deal on a load of nasty wood that will last forever? Its a shame because the logs come to me debarked and perfectly round. Beautiful stuff until you try to cut it.
My wife says I do everything in excess

mesquite buckeye

Also have plenty of tension on the blade. that helps.
Manage 80 acre tree farm in central Missouri and Mesquite timber and about a gozillion saguaros in Arizona.

mikeb1079

if you have a reliable supply of free greenheart logs you gotta figure something out.  from what i can see it's a very high dollar wood.  snoop around maybe there's a swing blade mill in your area that you could test out.  if it performs better maybe that's the route to go.  if you can mill and find a market i could see making some nice $
that's why you must play di drum...to blow the big guys mind!
homebuilt 16hp mill
99 wm superhydraulic w/42hp kubota

joejeep

MikeB, Thanks for the great advice. Never even thought about that. There is a guy real close with a swing mill. I think I will drop by one day and drop him a log. He may jus have better luck. My buddy just called to say his dockbuilder has another 100 greenheart cutoffs coming. Its killing me not to be able to process these. :-\
My wife says I do everything in excess

mikeb1079

yeah i hear ya...that would bother me too.  especially such a premium timber.  i don't have any first hand experience with swing mills but have heard that for whatever reason they stand up better to the extreme tropical hardwoods.  i think it's definitely worth a shot, this is a unique situation for sure....let us know how it works out.   :)
that's why you must play di drum...to blow the big guys mind!
homebuilt 16hp mill
99 wm superhydraulic w/42hp kubota

Jemclimber

Is it worth buying a carbide tipped blade to find out the results? Just a thought I don't have any experience or knowledge with a carbide tipped band saw blade.
lt15

joejeep

It may be worth buying carbide or stellite,,,if I had a buyer for this wood. Don't yet though.. The price for these blades was around $76 each. And I don't believe I can sharpen with regular stone wheel.
My wife says I do everything in excess

Bluejay27

I don't know much about greenheart, but my dad cut some long beams for a pier in Boston about 10 years ago. Because of family issues, all I have of the story is that he had to get some carbide blades directly from Wood-Mizer.

I'm assuming it's tungsten carbide (WC) that's used and apparently alumina (aluminum oxide) is harder. However, it would probably still chew through the grinding wheels. I don't know if CBN is hard enough to grind WC without wearing the wheel excessively, but it definitely handles stellite fine (I've sharpened a few without any issues). I know Wood-Mizer has diamond wheels available and specified only for sharpening carbide blades. They aren't at all meant for sharpening normal steel blades because diamond (carbon) will diffuse into steel at grinding temperatures, eroding the wheel away. Given all that, if you don't already have a CBN sharpener, I would go with the carbide blades and use Resharp. Otherwise, the stellite blades might work well enough to end up being cheaper.

As far as using the lumber, I have the scraps from what my dad had cut, and despite sitting basically on the ground and partially in the woods for about 8 years, they had little or no rot. So definitely good for rot resistant applications and maybe an easy sell to people trying to avoid the chemicals in pressure treated lumber.

And I realized a quick way to see how grinding WC would work. If you have a worn carbide-tipped circular saw blade lying around, try grinding a tooth with a bench grinder (note: no idea if this is unsafe in any way).
'98 Wood-Mizer LT40HDD42 Super, '08 LT40HDG28, '15 LT70HDD55-RW, '93 Clark GPX25 Forklift, '99 Ford F550

customsawyer

If you are getting these logs for nothing or next to it I would recommend trying other blades to get them cut. You have a opportunity to develop a nitch market here. Don't pass it up. ;)
Two LT70s, Nyle L200 kiln, 4 head Pinheiro planer, 30" double surface Cantek planer, Lucas dedicated slabber, Slabmizer, and enough rolling stock and chainsaws to keep it all running.
www.thecustomsawyer.com

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