Creative Woodworks & crafts 2002-09, страница 35

Subjects Saw Milling

mmmwm

If you want something done right... It started like this- some time ago I had been cutting down trees on my property and had accumulated a sizable pile of logs. I knew I had a treasure-trove of wood just for the milling. At the time, my wife, Alice, and I were committed to the craft show circuit and cutting constantly to keep up with the demand for our pieces. One thing we needed was a better source of live edge or slab wood for the designs we were making, and it seemed that we could solve that problem with our own timber.

Well, 1 got the number of a guy that did custom milling on site with his Wood-Mizer saw mill. I scheduled a day for him to come out and mill, assuring him that everything would be conveniently located so he could saw without interruption and that we had clean logs with no hardware on, or in them. Clean logs and no hardware make for a good day for the sawyer and a lower cost to the log owner. "Clean" means that the logs were not dragged through the mud or dirt and do not have stones, gravel and dirt ground into the bark or wood. This debris takes the edge off the saw blade very quickly. "Hardware", in this case, is any type of metal object in the log which will also ruin the blade. You would be surprised al what can be found in trees. The reason that tire cost goes up for cutting the wood is that the log owner is responsible for any damage to the blade or mill.

Well, our miller showed up at the appointed time, set up and double checked with me: "You're sure there arc no nails or other garbage in these logs?" I reassured him that there were none. But guess what! On the second cut he hit a nail from an old birdhouse. He slopped milling, got out his metal detector and found several more nails. "That's it, I'm out of here," he staled. 1 forked over h is fee and listened to his parting words; "You want to cut this #%*@, get your own mill." So I did!

My first log

We bought a small Wood-Mizer. tin LT15, and have never regretted it. Ruined blades? You bet! Dulled blades? A whole bunch more! Did we get some real fine wood'? Absolutely! In fact, we were able to use wood that no commercial mill would ever consider touching.

My first walnut log measured nine feet long and 48 inches across the small end. Unfortunately, it would not fit on our small mill, so we reduced the size of Ihe log by slabbing it with a chain saw attachment called an Alaskan mill, powered by my cousin's Stihl 086. To that end, we removed four slabs from three sides of the log —and never hit a nail. However, when we were finally able to set it on our Wood-Mizer we struck an iron mine. It

My source for slabbed wood, the Wood-Mizer LT15.

turned out to be a very large strap hinge, folded over with a number of 16 penny nails that had held it to the tree about 60 years before it was cut down. There were blue stains on the butt cut, indicating the presence of iron, but a log that size has a whole lot of good lumber, and we tried to cu t around the stains. We quickly learned that not all nails leave telhale stains. In the final tally, however, we ended up with over 600 board feet of useable grade lumber. And that was just the beginning. In retrospect, a metal detector would have been a good investment.

The LT15 is a manual sawmill. We do not have a machine with a lifting device, so we roll or slide the logs up with cant hooks and crowbars, or cable and snatch blocks. Turning logs on a mill this size is also a challenge. If it drops too hard, it can knock the mill out of level, especially if it is on soft ground. We dig a hole fCJIunder the ccnlcr of the logs and use

Sjfan automotive 2-ton floor jack to lift J.nul turn them.

|You can do it too!

|Have you ever considered buying |such a mill? There are now more |than 70 manufacturers of portable |sawmills as well as a number of plans f for building your own. It's no won-|der that more and more small milling ^operations are springing up all over |'the country. With your own mill, ^whether it is an Alaskan attachment |for a chain saw or a carriage mounted jband saw mill, you can accumulate a f valuable pi le of lumber that will keep you busy indefinitely. Many who arc reluctant to make the cash outlay themselves can consider forming partnerships with a friend or two, or perhaps with a woodworking club or guild. An advantage to this, besides the obvious savings, is that usually a network of people will develop more sources for logs than an individual.

Of course there are always safety considerations If you decide to start milling your own lumber, always be sure you have enough help for doing the heavy stuff like moving the logs into position and handling the cutting, stacking, and removal of waste. Everyone should be properly dressed. By that I mean, do not allow anyone near the operation that has loose fitting clothes. Safely shoes, gloves and eye and ear protection are also a must. It may seem unduly restrictive, but in this case you arc moving extremely heavy objects that mandate respect.

One final item to consider is a dusl mask. Yes, wood dust at the sawmill is just as much a hazard outside as it is in your shop. In fact, I found just as many references to incidents of nasal and respiratory ailments in saw mill workers as there were for all other woodworkers. 23!

38 • Creative Woodworks 6. Crafts September 2002