mass producing Wedges from 2x4s

LumberDrew · January 06, 2016, 05:56:39 PM

I own a wood stake mill in Northern Colorado. I have a few upcoming orders for about 100,000 18" wedge stakes cut from 2x4's. We can certainly cut these on a table saw, RAS, but looking for other options that may be faster and more safe for our guys.

I picked up an older Straight Line Rip saw. I have never cut on one, but like the idea of having someone load the saw and someone catching and banding. Any thoughts on cutting on an angle across the grain, not really a cross cut, but not exactly ripping either.

Other thoughts? Bandsaw where I can stack a few at a time and pass them through? Thank you in advance for your thoughts. I'm getting a little outside of the scope of these machines, don't want to buy a resaw right now.

We will be cutting to length on a package saw, so there will slight variance in the lengths within probably 1/8" either way.

beenthere · January 06, 2016, 06:07:30 PM

Welcome to the Forestry Forum.

Is the wedge face the 4" (3½") width of the 2x4? or is it the thinner 1½" ??

beenthere · January 06, 2016, 06:17:35 PM

A straight line rip should work if you rig up some sort of magazine to load each piece between the drive chains. Say have a stack of blocks the right length, and shove the bottom one in the stack forward to be grabbed and held through the saw. Then follow with the next one. etc.

Gearbox · January 06, 2016, 07:56:45 PM

We cut chock blocks for blocking truck wheels out of 8x8 and ran then through a buzz saw on a tractor . They were cut at a 45 . crude but worked well

west penn · January 06, 2016, 09:18:43 PM

I have cut orders of 10,000 on my woodmizer. I made a fixture from 2x6's 12 ft long. spaced far enough apart to fit 3 2x4's on edge supported by pins and blocks to maintain the proper angle with a toggle clamp that clamps through 1 2x6. The fixture needs to be fairly open between the 2x6's to let sawdust to fall through. with 6 stations in 12 feet I could do 18 2x4's (or 36 stakes) in 1 pass. blade height is maintained along the top edge of the 2x6 fixture.

LumberDrew · January 07, 2016, 12:27:29 PM

Quote from: beenthere on January 06, 2016, 06:07:30 PM
Welcome to the Forestry Forum.

Is the wedge face the 4" (3½") width of the 2x4? or is it the thinner 1½" ??

The stake will be cut along the 4" face. In other words, more like a door stop than a shingle.

LumberDrew · January 07, 2016, 12:30:40 PM

Quote from: beenthere on January 06, 2016, 06:17:35 PM
A straight line rip should work if you rig up some sort of magazine to load each piece between the drive chains. Say have a stack of blocks the right length, and shove the bottom one in the stack forward to be grabbed and held through the saw. Then follow with the next one. etc.

What prevents me from loading the corner of the stake to be cut into the machine and having the chain pull it through all the way? What am I preventing with the addition of the magazine?

Haggis · January 07, 2016, 12:51:49 PM

Off the top of my head I would say a table saw with a jig mounted to it with feather boards holding down the material.

Dan_Shade · January 07, 2016, 12:58:30 PM

Haggis, that setup will cut a cove. The entire jig needs to slide to cut an angle.

Haggis · January 07, 2016, 01:32:21 PM

Quote from: Dan_Shade on January 07, 2016, 12:58:30 PM
Haggis, that setup will cut a cove. The entire jig needs to slide to cut an angle.

ah your right didn't think it through. And a sliding jig will be too slow.

beenthere · January 07, 2016, 02:59:21 PM

Quote from: LumberDrew on January 07, 2016, 12:30:40 PM
Quote from: beenthere on January 06, 2016, 06:17:35 PM
A straight line rip should work if you rig up some sort of magazine to load each piece between the drive chains. Say have a stack of blocks the right length, and shove the bottom one in the stack forward to be grabbed and held through the saw. Then follow with the next one. etc.

What prevents me from loading the corner of the stake to be cut into the machine and having the chain pull it through all the way? What am I preventing with the addition of the magazine?

Preventing misalignment... if that is important at all. If not, then hand feed it.
As I see it, the magazine will align each block the same each time. Unless that is not important.
Feeding that chain is not a simple task, if you have ever done it before. Even aligning a long flitch to be straight-line ripped is a delicate operation to keep it straight until it is grabbed and fed through the machine.

LumberDrew · January 07, 2016, 05:35:06 PM

Quote from: beenthere on January 07, 2016, 02:59:21 PM
Quote from: LumberDrew on January 07, 2016, 12:30:40 PM
Quote from: beenthere on January 06, 2016, 06:17:35 PM
A straight line rip should work if you rig up some sort of magazine to load each piece between the drive chains. Say have a stack of blocks the right length, and shove the bottom one in the stack forward to be grabbed and held through the saw. Then follow with the next one. etc.

What prevents me from loading the corner of the stake to be cut into the machine and having the chain pull it through all the way? What am I preventing with the addition of the magazine?

Preventing misalignment... if that is important at all. If not, then hand feed it.
As I see it, the magazine will align each block the same each time. Unless that is not important.
Feeding that chain is not a simple task, if you have ever done it before. Even aligning a long flitch to be straight-line ripped is a delicate operation to keep it straight until it is grabbed and fed through the machine.

Understood. I will let you know what I end up with... Thank you for your feedback. It really is appreciated.

LumberDrew · January 07, 2016, 05:39:35 PM

Quote from: west penn on January 06, 2016, 09:18:43 PM
I have cut orders of 10,000 on my woodmizer. I made a fixture from 2x6's 12 ft long. spaced far enough apart to fit 3 2x4's on edge supported by pins and blocks to maintain the proper angle with a toggle clamp that clamps through 1 2x6. The fixture needs to be fairly open between the 2x6's to let sawdust to fall through. with 6 stations in 12 feet I could do 18 2x4's (or 36 stakes) in 1 pass. blade height is maintained along the top edge of the 2x6 fixture.

I have seen similar set ups. What was your production rate... roughly? Wedges/Hr?

beenthere · January 07, 2016, 07:18:04 PM

Curious, how critical is the point end? any blunt tip end allowed?

Just Me · January 08, 2016, 08:03:42 AM

How about a jig made out of plywood that you drop angle cut pieces of 2x in. Kind of a zig zag pattern with the angles you need, with fences on each side of the drops. This would depend on whether the strait line you have will allow you to pick the blade up so you do not cut through the jig. Run through, rinse and repeat.

Larry

beenthere · January 08, 2016, 09:30:26 AM

The straight-line rips I've seen, the blade is under and is raised to the desired height.

LumberDrew · January 08, 2016, 10:51:03 AM

Quote from: beenthere on January 07, 2016, 07:18:04 PM
Curious, how critical is the point end? any blunt tip end allowed?

Its a good question. I think I actually have more leeway in the length of the actual stake. Since these have to be driven into the ground, I think the point should probably be a good point. However, if the length can be slightly off, up to a quarter inch or so, I think I can cut a slightly harder angle across the 2x4.

This would leave a small flat section before the cut across the 2x4, if that makes any sense.

LumberDrew · January 08, 2016, 10:53:32 AM

Quote from: Just Me on January 08, 2016, 08:03:42 AM
How about a jig made out of plywood that you drop angle cut pieces of 2x in. Kind of a zig zag pattern with the angles you need, with fences on each side of the drops. This would depend on whether the strait line you have will allow you to pick the blade up so you do not cut through the jig. Run through, rinse and repeat.

Larry

My SLR does have the blade at the bottom. Something like that would be pretty awesome though. We have a couple of gang rips that if we wanted to sacrifice one of them to the cause, we could do this exact thing.

beenthere · January 08, 2016, 12:01:22 PM

Quote, I think the point should probably be a good point.

Then the diagonal cut will have to be pretty precise from corner to corner.. or else one of the two stakes will not have a sharp point.

But then you just have to trim the length to get that point.. I almost missed that. ;)

LumberDrew · January 08, 2016, 12:33:17 PM

Quote from: beenthere on January 08, 2016, 12:01:22 PM
Quote, I think the point should probably be a good point.

Then the diagonal cut will have to be pretty precise from corner to corner.. or else one of the two stakes will not have a sharp point.

But then you just have to trim the length to get that point.. I almost missed that. ;)

I'm more thinking to start the cut slightly below what would be the top of the stake. Then cut at a sharper angle than I had originally planned. This should give me the little margin of error I need I think.

21incher · January 08, 2016, 01:11:18 PM

I would start with a longer peice so each cut would yield 2 stakes which would save quite a bit of lumber and time.

LumberDrew · January 08, 2016, 04:57:31 PM

Quote from: 21incher on January 08, 2016, 01:11:18 PM
I would start with a longer peice so each cut would yield 2 stakes which would save quite a bit of lumber and time.

Thanks 21incher. You are correct. At the cost we need to sell and the speed at which we need to manufacture, that is the only way to do it. The stakes will need to be cut fairly symmetrical in order to get 2 out of the 18" 2x4. Thank you for your feedback!