My milling adventure begins (HM130)

[Roundhouse]

So near the end of the day Saturday after I got the trailer out of the shop, checked it over, road tested it, hoisted the mill onto the trailer, checked it over, carefully set up the new engine, and moved the works to the back yard and I was very eager to finally make some sawdust. As the first milling I'd ever done I decided a baby log was appropriate.



Needless to say the little 9" dia x 4.5' maple didn't challenge the HM130 much but I didn't care, I had made my first cant!



After that I had my first board.



Has anyone put up their first board the way some businesses do their first dollar? I'm still thinking about some suitable sign/use for it. It's exciting to see after a long time of planning, scheming, building.

It was a busy day but I didn't sleep all that well that night, I had two "real" logs ready to go the next day.

[Magicman]

Way to go !!!  Small successes are also important.   8)

[Ljohnsaw]

Has anyone put up their first board the way some businesses do their first dollar? I'm still thinking about some suitable sign/use for it. It's exciting to see after a long time of planning, scheming, building.

That's a great idea.  What about making your business sign out of it?

[Kbeitz]

Has anyone put up their first board the way some businesses do their first dollar? I'm still thinking about some suitable sign/use for it. It's exciting to see after a long time of planning, scheming, building.

It was a busy day but I didn't sleep all that well that night, I had two "real" logs ready to go the next day.

Yep... Hung it on the mill...




 

[Roundhouse]

On to those "real" logs I was talking about. As I mentioned I loaded them easily with my skid steer but at home I lacked that capability. Instead I had to determine a different, more manual, method.

Years ago when I was starting to get into chainsaw carving I needed a way to get a log out of my pickup and then work on it. I built these large frame sawhorses that fit over the box of the truck, I could use straps to lift the log then drive out from under it. With the truck out of the way I would put the log down on some cribbing. One side of the horses are hinged so I can store them away against a wall. They have come in handy many times when taking a truck cap on or off by myself. The cribbing too has been very handy for may more uses than originally envisioned. Now I would try them for taking logs off my trailer in order to mill them. I had some concern about them being large enough. It turned out the legs touched the trailer fenders on each side but didn't bind and I was still able to drive the trailer out from underneath.

To make sure the legs didn't dig in due to the weight I laid boards down parallel to the trailer, the ramps have been removed to allow me to pull the trailer out:


With the straps in place I rolled a log onto them and then raised it up off the bed of the trailer:


With the trailer removed the log is suspended:


The cribbing is positioned under the log:


I used the top three pieces of each cribbing with plywood underneath for stability. Each one also has a base piece with caster wheels underneath for use on the concrete shop floor.
With the straps released and the frames taken down my cribbing will be a mini log bunk until it's time to put it on the mill:


Next I back the trailer up along side and repeat the process for the second log:


Instead of going on cribbing this log went directly on the mill. Once the log was suspended and the trailer moved out of the way I came back with the mill and backed it under the suspended log, raised the mill to the log and removed the straps. As you can see, I ran out of daylight at this point, milling up this maple would have to wait until tomorrow:

[Ljohnsaw]

Pretty neat.

Looking at the first picture with your cribbing in the background, am I correct in assuming your cribbing is all bolted/nailed together?  That would sure make setup fast!  Before you pick up any heftier logs, I would suggest some diagonal struts on those legs to keep it from wanting to collapse on you.  That looks pretty scary to me.

[Roundhouse]

Pretty neat.

Looking at the first picture with your cribbing in the background, am I correct in assuming your cribbing is all bolted/nailed together?  That would sure make setup fast!  Before you pick up any heftier logs, I would suggest some diagonal struts on those legs to keep it from wanting to collapse on you.  That looks pretty scary to me.

Thanks, it's lag bolted into a square for each layer. At the bottom of each corner on each layer a large dowel extends out about a quarter inch and fits into a hole in the top of the layer below. The 3 layer pieces you see here go together quickly and come apart easily. If you look at the 5th picture you can see a yellow stripe on the cribbing that helps line up the pieces in the right order and orientation. There is a red stripe on the other set but I don't see it in any of the photos. I don't plan to go any bigger with this rig and 99% of my logs will be put on the mill where my machine is available for loading. As stable as it was I make sure not to go under the frames or logs when the log is up. The frame that looks to be bowing in fact has a permanent warp.

[Magicman]

Yep... Hung it on the mill...

That may be your first board, but if it is flat on both sides, it is not your first "cut".   ;D

[Kbeitz]

Yep... Hung it on the mill...

That may be your first board, but if it is flat on both sides, it is not your first "cut".   ;D

OK... First board out of my first log...

[thecfarm]

More good ideas.

[fishfighter]

Congrats sawing your first log.

[Roundhouse]

After some more fabricating and too much waiting, there was finally some more action on the sawmill front last week. I traveled up to my woods with the mill, about 290 miles. I was very happy with how it towed, very stable on the two axles. Here is a picture from on the way:



Once we were there and set up, some short tamarack logs were brought over to kick things off with stickers and timbers for under my piles.



Once things were rolling I took down a nice straight pine to feed the mill:



With no limbs in the bottom 12 feet, there was some very nice wood in this first log:



A whack of lumber on the skid loader is ready for the short trip over to the piles. It is sure nice to have all my equipment on hand to shuttle the logs and lumber to where they're needed:



After working through a number of logs (including my first metal strikes that wrecked a blade), I had to test the outer limits of my set-up and cut a 20 foot log:



The last couple inches had to be trimmed by chainsaw:



In October I always seem to be racing against darkness and so it was by the time I got the beams cut to size:



Here is a better look at the extension I put together that rests on the tongue of the trailer, this buys me a couple extra feet of cutting for a long log:



Not the best picture of my lumber piles but 10 and 12 footers on the left and 8 footers on the right. They're put away under the tin and waiting for assembly into the sawmill shed:



It was a great few days of milling and putting into practice a number of the things I've learned here this year.

[tnaz]

Roundhouse; looking very good.  Thanks for the pictures. 8)

Terry

[ChugiakTinkerer]

Great to see another HM130 in action.  smiley_clapping

How does that extension work out for you?  I plan on sincerely flattering you by doing the same for mine so that I have enough room to cut an 18' log.  Could you perhaps answer a couple questions?  What size angle iron is that, and did you put attachment plates on the side rather than the bottom?  Thanks!

Edit: I think I just answered my last question.  I bet the angle iron is not the same thickness so you can't use the attachment plate on the bottom.  Attaching the plates on the side allows you to align the top edge at the height you need it to be so that the rollers move smoothly across the junction.

...
Here is a better look at the extension I put together that rests on the tongue of the trailer, this buys me a couple extra feet of cutting for a long log:


...

[OlJarhead]

Great thread!   8) Love seeing someone else enjoying our hobby :D

My first milled lumber went onto the face of my shed (milled by CSM)....my next stup went up inside the cabin :D

[Roundhouse]

Thanks Guys! It's really getting fun now.

Great to see another HM130 in action.  smiley_clapping

How does that extension work out for you?  I plan on sincerely flattering you by doing the same for mine so that I have enough room to cut an 18' log.  Could you perhaps answer a couple questions?  What size angle iron is that, and did you put attachment plates on the side rather than the bottom?  Thanks!

Edit: I think I just answered my last question.  I bet the angle iron is not the same thickness so you can't use the attachment plate on the bottom.  Attaching the plates on the side allows you to align the top edge at the height you need it to be so that the rollers move smoothly across the junction.

The extension works but there's still room for improvement. I want to say the angle iron is 2 1/2". Same size as the vertical on the track but not as wide as the bottom on the track. The edge is rounded like most angle not squared like the track. The stock is about the same thickness as the track rails. I did grind the top edges a little bit to narrow them slightly since the wheels felt like they wanted to pinch at first. I put connections on the sides (using the same holes that the stopper/bumpers use) because of the way my track is bolted to the trailer and how that limits access to the bolts that would normally be used for a bottom plate connection. Presuming this isn't an issue on your mill I would recommend going with a bottom plate. The clearance between the side plate bolts and the bottom of the saw head frame is almost non existent, to the point where I had to turn the bolts so that the flat portion of nut was parallel to the top of the track. There is a little drag but it works. I wasn't going to put the small extension on right away but once I noticed how easy it would be to add it over the trailer tongue I had to do it.

[Kbeitz]

My extension sits on top of my tongue also. Three bolts and it all comes off.



 

[Roundhouse]

Some long delayed updates.
I got the roof put up last November, made a winter visit just to hear it run, and this month got some time to finish up the details of the milling shed, get the mill set up semi-permanently, and mill some more lumber.

Before heading out to the woods I picked up this running gear at an auction, $175, it'll work for slabs with the box on it and logs when the boxes come off. It is small enough to fit on my skid steer trailer. Seen here with its first log that happened to need a ride from one property to another:


One of the first steps was moving the mill out of the shed so I could move the base in. The base is the upper part of the pontoon trailer. Once the mill was lined up onto the base the arms would be pinned to the base and raised into position:


It was a bit of an ordeal to get the alignment perfect and all the pins in place, here is a look at the two pieces put together where they'll be working for quite a while under the roof:


Here is a look at the outside of the mill shed as I start to put the finishing touches on. Here I have put up the braces for the small roof-eve below the clear panels:


Finally, here is a picture of the mill and shed after I finished up installing the eve and the clear end panels. Also the wagon can be seen parked where I can toss trimmings directly into the box:


While it seems I spend as much time setting up as I do milling, things are just about where I want them and visits from now of should yield more production. Next up may be a log deck. It would be set up to move logs directly off the running gear onto the log deck, then onto the mill. The only reservation I have is how I would need to change up my workflow a bit. I'm still very much in the learning stage and cut fairly slowly. I bring over a log on the forks of the skid steer, load it on the mill, and park the machine right there where I can set the lumber right back on the forks and drive it back to the drying piles when the log is done.

For the smallish-time/home/hobby guys out there, have there been any drawbacks to setting up a log deck? does it ever get in the way? did you opt to forego a log deck? are you planning to add a log deck after milling a while for the productivity boost? Thanks!

[btulloh]

Good progress Roundhouse.  What kind of running gear is  that?  Are those the original wheels?

[Roundhouse]

Good progress Roundhouse.  What kind of running gear is  that?  Are those the original wheels?

Thanks, The label on it says "New Idea Order W100". I don't think that is the right color for New Idea from what I've researched, likely painted to match something else. I don't know about the wheels, they do match each other although every tread is different. I've been trying to find out more and determine about how old it is but haven't found any resources yet that refer to a W100.

[Weekend_Sawyer]

 Very nice looking setup you have there.
Looks like you could have a solar kiln in that upper area!

Jon

[grouch]

Do I see bark on your shed posts? If so, looks like a good feeding pole.

[Roundhouse]

Do I see bark on your shed posts? If so, looks like a good feeding pole.

"feeding pole"? like for bugs?
This has been an open topic around this project with two opinions having been aired so far.
One take is that with cedar the bark keeps it from drying out too quickly and splitting (I've had one of the posts cut and set horizontally off the ground for years on this lot with no sign of bugs).
The other take is that the bark needs to come off to prevent an infestation.

[Roundhouse]

Update time.
Of course there's never enough time to spend at the mill but I've made a couple trips this fall. For starters, we've had an awful lot of rain this summer and that was evident when I went out to the mill over Labor Day weekend. Despite walking my road first and dropping my trailer the dually got mired on the way in. In the process of pulling it out we got it hung up on a stump, reshaping the running boards on that side.

I had just happened to have brought a 12" culvert with me. The next day I called up a guy with the equipment to do the job right and hired him to set the culvert and place plenty of fill over it. Here is the before pic:

Coming back a month later here's how it looked. Sort of tough to tell with the leaves but there is ditching and a couple feet of fill over the new pipe:

With the mill road reshaped it was time for me to work on finishing it. The fill is a mix of dirt and clay that will hold up much better with a topping of rock and sand from a pit on my lot. My old home-built side dump trailer had seen better days so I mounted it on top of the running gear. It worked pretty good for spreading the sand on the road:

Along with the road work I had the mill yard expanded. I makes the mill look a little small but that's OK, now I have plenty of room for a turn around and a pile of logs.

I had a project in mind for a while that I adding to the mill this trip. I picked up this ATV winch at an auction a few years back, never installed it on the four wheeler, and started to think it could be useful around the mill. I installed it over the center of the mill for turning logs. I had to make sure it would clear the water tank at the top of the mill, it did, then I raised the mill head to make sure it wouldn't interfere. I discovered that with the head raised the first thing to interfere would be the top of the scale, an inch or two short of the top. I marked the post where I need to stop and called it good. It's unlikely that I'll need that much height.

Since I would be mounting a battery to power the winch I decided it was time to put up some lights. I used three "backup lights" to cast light over the mill. They are intended to use a truck chassis for a ground so I did have to run a second ground wire between the lights:

Once it was dark it was pretty exciting to be able to flip the switch and light up the mill. A little surreal when you're miles from the nearest powerline. I couldn't help myself from taking a bunch of pictures:


From the east side you can see into the "attic" due to the clear siding:

Plenty of light to finish that last log of the day when the sunset comes early this time of year:

I usually like to end the day by putting the next log on the mill to have it ready to go first thing. Of course this evening the log was a tad short, the backstops set a little low and the log rolled right off the back. I decided to give the winch its first try. Although only intended to rotate logs on the mill, the winch picked up the log no problem and set it right on the mill:

The next morning I tried the winch for its intended purpose, rotating a maple so I could reclamp it at 90 degrees:

Another project was setting up better drying stacks. I bought a pallet of footing blocks to use as a base. I started with a skid steer bucket of sand to allow an easily leveled surface then arranged 8 blocks to make up the base:

Then I made some maple beams to fit onto the footings:

With all the side projects this trip I didn't get too much milling done, this is hardly a full stack but a start. There are also plans it the works for a better stack-topper:

A maple cant on the mill:

Finally, I had made these fork extensions a few years back for a use that didn't pan out. I now use them at the mill. They both allow more room for sorting of boards on the way to the stacks and prevent staining of the fresh boards through contact with the steel forks:

Sometimes I feel all I do is plan and prepare for milling but in the long run I should have an efficient operation, even as a one man set-up.

[bandmiller2]

Rounder, you have done good mate. Its a little late to mention but if your mill shed was wider with some headland you could drive your truck through and unhook the mill in position. Heavy duty saw horses are handy around a mill, mine are the same height as the mill. I can load 4 or 5 logs and roll them on the mill when needed. Also the horses make a handy place to stack boards needing edging. Its usually not good form to load a mill with a machine directly, sooner or later there will be damage. What are you planning to do to sharpen and set your bands. A new box of bands is like the honeymoon, but won't last. Frank C.