Logging today

[groundcover]

I have made wax for end sealing by heating up paraffin wax for canning and mixing the liquid wax 50-50 with turpentine . Paint it on while it is still warm.

 

[creekbend]

Nice looking lumber and saw. Thanks for posting. I acquired some knowledge in regards to stacking and curing methods. Best wishes.

 

[Bluegill2]

Good stuff! We have a band mill and do a fair bit of loggin and sawin and a lot of firewood. I've been skidding large white oak logs with the L3800DT lately and it has surpassed my expectations!

If you dont have proper ballast, you can put too much strain on front axle. Chain the log and drag it is what I do if its questionable, especially with the hills here in WV. However, that log is not nearly big enough to hurt that M59.

Listen to these guys about rear ballast on the 3pth. You really can kill the front axle!

 

[oakwoods]

I have had several thousand bd.ft. of red oak milled with a bandsaw mill. All the interior millwork and several pieces of furniture in our house were made from trees cut on our property. Some suggestions for stacking and drying your lumber: Build a raised, level base using concrete blocks or wood cants. Any out of level in your base will introduce twist into the entire pile of lumber. Use dry stickers (not green wood) to prevent sticker stain. Any latex paint will work to paint the ends of the boards. It's a good way to use up the dregs of all that paint you've been holding on to. Try to keep your stacks in an area that is protected from wind and direct sunlight. Too rapid drying will cause defects such as checking. A general rule of thumb is that air drying takes 1 year per inch of thickness. Air drying will not reduce moisture content to less than 18%. For furniture and millwork the MC should be 8-10%. I have had good luck bringing a quantity of boards into my basement during the winter when the wood stove is in use to reduce the MC to the correct level. Invest in a moisture meter to monitor the MC so that your projects will not be ruined by using improperly dried lumber.
Best of luck with your "stash" of almost free lumber.

 

[indianaEPH]

Thanks everyone for the advise on stacking this wood. The pictures are from the cutting process. I've since stacked much of it in the shed. I should be able to finish this tomorrow. I'm using dried stickers.

Man these boards weigh a lot!!

 

[ovrszd]

Listen to these guys about rear ballast on the 3pth. You really can kill the front axle!

Actually, if the loader has the capacity to lift the rear tires of the tractor off the ground with a certain load and that limits what you carry,,, ballast will add more stress to your front axle because with it added, the loader can now carry even more weight. Kind of a misconception in people's minds. Looks like you are relieving weight from the front, but in this Op's case he will be adding weight to the front axle. The only way this isn't true would be if you had enough rear ballast to actually make the front lighter when loaded. If you had that much ballast you would drive around with the front tires in the air or barely weighted when not carrying weight with the loader. When I load my front axle the most is when I have enough rear ballast to offset the maximum lift capacity of my loader.

To the OP, looks like a great logging operation!!! Keep us posted on your progress. Sorry for the hijack...

 

[Piston]

Chain the log and drag it is what I do if its questionable, especially with the hills here in WV.

Try skidding the logs instead of carrying

That is the last thing you want to do. Unless the sawyer has a log debarker on his mill, or you want to pressure wash each and every log once your done skidding, the sawyer would not be very happy about sawing your logs. Sometimes he may even turn a job down, or at the very least, charge extra for dulling and sometimes ruining his blades. I just purchased 5 more blades for my Woodmizer and at $115 dollars for those, I would not be milling dirty logs. I go through a lot to make sure my logs come out of the woods nice and clean. If I can't carry them in my grapple, I use my homemade log arch.
(note: It's hard to tell from the pics, but it looks like your sawyer may have a log debarker, if that is the case then it isn't nearly as important)

 

[vwnotrunning]

Kudos to your lumber process. That would be a great feeling making projects from wood you grew and processed! I am jealous.

 

[Bluegill2]

Actually, if the loader has the capacity to lift the rear tires of the tractor off the ground with a certain load and that limits what you carry,,, ballast will add more stress to your front axle because with it added, the loader can now carry even more weight. Kind of a misconception in people's minds. Looks like you are relieving weight from the front, but in this Op's case he will be adding weight to the front axle. The only way this isn't true would be if you had enough rear ballast to actually make the front lighter when loaded. If you had that much ballast you would drive around with the front tires in the air or barely weighted when not carrying weight with the loader. When I load my front axle the most is when I have enough rear ballast to offset the maximum lift capacity of my loader.

To the OP, looks like a great logging operation!!! Keep us posted on your progress. Sorry for the hijack...

Any amount of weight added to the 3pt (behind the rear tires) will take weight off the front axle. Rear tire ballast will add weight to the front axle, when FEL is loaded. It's a balancing act that one must find for their particular situation.

 

[indianaEPH]

That is the last thing you want to do. Unless the sawyer has a log debarker on his mill, or you want to pressure wash each and every log once your done skidding, the sawyer would not be very happy about sawing your logs. Sometimes he may even turn a job down, or at the very least, charge extra for dulling and sometimes ruining his blades. I just purchased 5 more blades for my Woodmizer and at $115 dollars for those, I would not be milling dirty logs. I go through a lot to make sure my logs come out of the woods nice and clean. If I can't carry them in my grapple, I use my homemade log arch.
(note: It's hard to tell from the pics, but it looks like your sawyer may have a log debarker, if that is the case then it isn't nearly as important)

I did use the graple to move the logs because I did not want them to be muddy. I figured the sawyer would appreciate that. In fact he did have a debarker and that worked really well so in the end he was not that concerned with the few logs that had mud on them.

It was a lot of fun doing this kind of work (at least as a hobby). I'm excited about using the boards in our new home (or barn). I'm not sure where they will go yet.

 

[MIKE R]

Didn't hit any nails in the wood.Did you? We had some pine logs sawn' up a while ago and A few of them were over 30 inches in diameter and 8 inches from the center there was a nail in it. It mush have been there for years.

 

[crazyal]

A debarker is almost required option. A metal detector is also a good option. I've never had any nails in the wood I've had milled up but have hit all sorts of other things. A tap for maple sugar and a bullet. The bullet made for an interesting feature in the wood trim in the house.

 

[59 Sons]

Im sure Ill be scolded for it, but when scooting monster boulders, Ive not only depended on the backhoe on my M59 for ballast, Ive even on ocasion extended it out and grabed a rock for good measure. Crazy I know...

 

[ovrszd]

Im sure Ill be scolded for it, but when scooting monster boulders, Ive not only depended on the backhoe on my M59 for ballast, Ive even on ocasion extended it out and grabed a rock for good measure. Crazy I know...

Heheheheh.... You oughta see my Brother on his full sized New Holland backhoe. He uses his backhoe boom/bucket for ballast all the time, extending it or swinging it up the hill to keep from tipping over sideways. I would think if working room was available the backhoe would be the perfect ballast because of that.

 

[59 Sons]

Yeah, Im always compensating for imbalances with the backhoe. But my seat belt gets a steady work out. I would think that if I filled my tires it would be better, but my whole reason for buying a compact was to have a lighter footstep on the ground.