RE: “Big Madrone” Posted On R&PS at:
http://media5.hypernet.com/ubb/ultimatebb.php?ubb=get_topic;f=4;t=002338
One of the lovelies of swing-blade sawmills is that they cut L-shaped sections through the log. That means the log can lay on the ground…it means the mill cuts from top bark to bottom bark without having to make a cant first, which produces more accurate lumber…
…and it means the defects in the log can often be sawed around. For example…
I began this board deck (one horizontal layer of boards…these are 4/4 X 4” CVG flooring stock) on the right of the picture. I made an L-shaped cut in two passes to remove the wane (bark), then another set of cuts to remove a 1X4 board, which took me right to the edge of a pitch pocket. That completed board has been removed, and I merely move the mill horizontally a half inch to cut out the pitch pocket, then begin again to cut a clear board seen along side.
What causes pitch pockets? They are usually windshakes from severe storms…where the tree bent sufficiently to crack the cambium layer beneath the bark…the pitch or resinous sap flowing into the resulting void is a healing action that deters insects. But other injury also causes pitch pockets. Like bullets:
View Image
Lead saws like butter without the characteristic “Zing!” of hitting steel or the “Snap!” of a small nail…so out comes the metal detector, which pegs out…and excavation is required:
Bullets don’t damage the carbide saw teeth…but that nail that held up the target 40 years ago certainly will…so out it comes.
With 20 minutes lost, I continue to mill CVG boards by rift sawing. For the entire 1500BF tree that makes 6 nails, one railroad spike, a dozen or so bullets…and retipping two sawblades…and slower sawing speeds…an extra 4-6 hours added to the cost of the wood. Consider that when pondering what your local “urban sawyer” wants for his stock.
When I arrive at the point where I’ll get no more CVG 1X4’s, I can saw a few flatsawn boards…but this Madrone likes to warp when flatsawn and is great wood for turning, so I switch to turning squares for my final dimensional stock.
Instead of cutting up the small remaining slab for firewood, I flip it over flat side down on the bearers and mill it into a live edge flitch that’ll be more useful….with lots of thickness left for flattening should it cup and twist in drying.
Shown here are the previous live-edge fitches waiting to be stacked and stickered along with pith waste to the right that will also be dried and later resawed to produce more stock for turning.
This 240-year-old tree was near the end of its natural life when we harvested it…the least I can do is to insure minimum waste of the resource.
For more on how the sawmill works:
http://www.woodcentral.com/cgi-bin/readarticle.pl?dir=shop&file=articles_291.shtml
“When we build, let us think that we build forever. Let it not be for present delight nor for present use alone. Let it be such work as our descendants will thank us for; and let us think…that a time is to come when those (heirlooms) will be held sacred because our hands have touched them, and that men will say, as they look upon the labor and wrought substance of them, ‘See! This our father did for us.’ “ –John Ruskin.
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I am looking for someone in my area with a portable mill and have no idea where to look. I have approx. 40' of chestnut ranging from 14" to 6" dia, 16' of black walnut 15" dia but already cut in half, and 40' of cherry 15" to 10" dia.
Can you direct me to a source for people with mills?
You could start by stating your location here, or you can go to this site
http://www.woodweb.com/Resources/RSSDGsawyers.html
Maybe someone there will respond.
Wow, that WAS dumb of me. I live about 40 miles west of Philadelphia, PA.
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Check the phonebook and the mill manufacturers/sellers for portable sawmillers locally. The mill builders are happy to provide names of local guys who own their mills. Local tree service guys will know of them, too. Few advertise.<!---->
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A lot of them sell their excess lumber on the Wood Exchange, which is also beginning a sawyers directory:<!---->
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A whole number of arborists or their employees run their own mills to salvage something more useful than firewood out of the trees they cut....I know 4 arborists here and each one has a mill somewhere in their firm....and they know guys like me with portable mills they sell special logs to.“When we build, let us think that we build forever. Let it not be for present delight nor for present use alone. Let it be such work as our descendants will thank us for; and let us think...that a time is to come when those (heirlooms) will be held sacred because our hands have touched them, and that men will say, as they look upon the labor and wrought substance of them, ‘See! This our father did for us.’ “ --John Ruskin.
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