What? No bandsaw milling threads?

[Czed]

I have a chain grinder....I figured I could find a way to use that.

Yes look at the ad
They put a simple channel for the saw blade to ride in
On a regular grinder
I think mine was 45.00 it's a Oregon clone.

 

[Mastermind]

Yes look at the ad
They put a simple channel for the saw blade to ride in
On a regular grinder
I think mine was 45.00 it's a Oregon clone.

I can probably make something to replace the chain vise.

 

[junkman]

The Stihl usg grinder has an attachment to do bandsaw blades ,may be able to copy it and make one.

 

[dall]

Now I'm thinking about a shed for the mill that I won't hate in a couple of years.

make sure you can get in to either side

 

[Mastermind]

The Stihl usg grinder has an attachment to do bandsaw blades ,may be able to copy it and make one.

Good to know.

make sure you can get in to either side

That's why I decided against setting it up in the old chicken house.

 

[dall]

Good to know.

That's why I decided against setting it up in the old chicken house.

saw dust will gather quickly along with slabs

 

[Woodpecker]

make sure you can get in to either side

That’s what she said

 

[Mastermind]

That’s what she said

Pictures or it never happened.

 

[Stump Shot]

When my cousins band mill was here I bought blades form Kasco Sharptech and had them sharpened at the closest Woodmizer dealer near me. Was about as economical as I could get it. Dirt obviously being the enemy needs to be kept to the best minimum possible, I pressure washed some logs, nothing will beat debarking.
Practice cutting with your mill and get used to everything and how it's supposed to be set up properly. Then keep your eye out for an edger at a later date, this was a game changer for me, along with a planer for uniformity of size after the wood dries. So for example you have not only a straight outside wall, but inside as well when making wall studs.
With a horizontal mill always place the log with any hump facing upwards, this way a board cut will flatten easy the thin way, the wide way not to much. Always cut stickers when the opportunity presents itself, as they are always needed, not to worry there will be plenty of scraps for the wood stove.
It's not a bad operation with two men and you can have a lot of fun making some really neat stuff.

 

[JIMG]

You can do a fair bit with one of these.
I just helped a friend who builds guitars book match a spalted sugar maple slab I cut a couple years ago.

 

[JIMG]

Here's the opening in my shed for loading logs.

 

[Mastermind]

When my cousins band mill was here I bought blades form Kasco Sharptech and had them sharpened at the closest Woodmizer dealer near me. Was about as economical as I could get it. Dirt obviously being the enemy needs to be kept to the best minimum possible, I pressure washed some logs, nothing will beat debarking.
Practice cutting with your mill and get used to everything and how it's supposed to be set up properly. Then keep your eye out for an edger at a later date, this was a game changer for me, along with a planer for uniformity of size after the wood dries. So for example you have not only a straight outside wall, but inside as well when making wall studs.
With a horizontal mill always place the log with any hump facing upwards, this way a board cut will flatten easy the thin way, the wide way not to much. Always cut stickers when the opportunity presents itself, as they are always needed, not to worry there will be plenty of scraps for the wood stove.
It's not a bad operation with two men and you can have a lot of fun making some really neat stuff.

All good advice. Thank you.

 

[Mastermind]

You can do a fair bit with one of these.
I just helped a friend who builds guitars book match a spalted sugar maple slab I cut a couple years ago.

Now that's cool.

 

[junkman]

May be common knowledge ,but if pick logs with the heart in the center vs offset hearts the boards will dry straighter. ,offset hearts logs usually wind row trees will bend as they dry

 

[Mastermind]

May be common knowledge ,but if pick logs with the heart in the center vs offset hearts the boards will dry straighter. ,offset hearts logs usually wind row trees will bend as they dry

Makes sense.

 

[Stump Shot]

All good advice. Thank you.

There's all different manor of aspects of such and endeavor, ask plenty of questions as it looks like there's a wealth of folks with good information for you and The Bubba.

 

[Only the Tony]

@Sawdust Man posts a lot in the 4 state GTG thread. Need to get him to post in here.

 

[Sawdust Man]

@Sawdust Man posts a lot in the 4 state GTG thread. Need to get him to post in here.

I'll post here for a small fee....

 

[Only the Tony]

I'll post here for a small fee....

Bribery? I don't go toward Branson for obvious reasons, LOL. Now if you were traveling through the area I might be able to pull something out of the oven if I know in time.

 

[Sawdust Man]

A sawmill is an excellent investment if you like busting your back and not making much money at the same time...lol

Woodmizer blades are about the best I've used in my 35 ish years of sawdust manufacturing.
Not all their blades have hardened teeth, but I only run their "double hard" blades which are hardened.
I get anywhere from 200 to 2,000 bf per blade before they need sharpening, with 500 to 600 being more of an average.
The wood type makes a huge difference in blade life, pignut hickory is on the 200 bf end of things, and red cedar being about the best for blade life.
Blades with hardened teeth cut best/longest before being sharpened because you generally lose the hardness during grinding.....at least I think that's the case.
I run .042" x 1.25" 10° blades for softwood, and .045" x 1.25" 4° for hardwood.
Engine HP makes a difference on blade selection as well (my mill is 25hp).

We pressure wash most all of our logs to get rid of as much dirt/rocks as possible.
The only exception is cedar, because we go through so much of it it's not practical to wash it unless it's super extra dirty.

Just don't saw through nails or other foreign/metal things.... it's not worth it...lol

One more note on blades... woodmizer is doing 15% off and free shipping for the month of August on their double hard blades.

I always tell people that bad logs make bad lumber, so unless you're looking for interesting grain patterns or something for slab furniture and such, make firewood out of ugly logs and lumber outta the nice ones.

As others have already mentioned y'all will have lots of sawdust and slab wood.

Edgers are great machines and definitely increase productivity, but a mill is totally capable of producing good lumber on it's own.

When I'm sawing lumber for framing I spend more time making sure it's all the correct dimensions & nicely square (I shoot for within 1/64" of specified dimensions) so as not to make myself mad when I'm building with it.
Anything that's going to be dried and planed doesn't matter so much because it's all going be resized before use.

For stickers I use 3/4" material, never more than 1.5" wide so as not to inhibit air movement.
Anything less than 3/4" and you are asking for mold /stain problems.
Ideally stickers should be dry before using them or they will likely stain the lumber.
I never make my stacks wider than 4' again, because of air movement.
A fan blowing through your stacks is well worth the cost when dealing with high grade hardwood.
I like to make "chimney" in my stacks for additional air movement.
Stickers should be located as close to directly on top of each other as possible.
Good stacks translate to better finished lumber.

A building over the mill is not required.....(but it outta be), my mill finally got a roof over it just last year.... it's so nice to be out of the sun.
Make sure you have at least one side open enough to load the longest logs you'd typically cut.
My building is 32' wide (open the whole width), but we usually load through a 12' opening on the side, just because it makes better use of our available space.
My 14yo boy loaded a bunch of 20' logs through the 12' opening last week just by swinging in from an angle....he made it look simple...

Something else I've learned over the years is, you gotta throw stuff away or you'll be buried in low grade boards before long.

Some recent pics.....