Tractors and wood! Show your pics

[Yogi05]

I managed to cut 4 6"x6" today. I think maybe I've got this. I finished off the few tree sections I had cut up till now.
Now I've run out of already downed trees. Big enough to get 6x6 out of anyway.
I'll check with the landowner tomorrow and see if he's been knocking them down somewhere else I don't know about yet.
If not, he did say I could cut the whole place down but I'd prefer not doing the extra work.
I had the forks on the telehandler today. Very different process loading the mill with forks. I just wish the vehicle wasn't a POS
and the dump/curl function worked properly.
Anyone shaking their head yet at all the crap machinery I'm trying to get efficient with? LOL
I tried lifting one out of the bush and the weight on the boom was lifting the back wheels up and it's a big machine. It was a big tree though and sideways amongst
other trees. Not like the other smaller ones I could drag straight out.
For fun I raised the boom as high as I could and lightly pushed against a standing tree. Looks like a friggin'
dangerous way to knock one down. If the top ever broke off and came down...........
Oh, and my chainsaw wouldn't start even though I used it flawlessly yesterday.

 

[Creamer]

It sounds like you are having a lot of fun just playing! Enjoy!

 

[hunt4570]

I freakin hate chainsaws on those days they do not want to start!! You put gas in it right?

 

[Yogi05]

I freakin hate chainsaws on those days they do not want to start!! You put gas in it right?

I know, right?
Yeah, put gas in right out of the case. But thanks.....

 

[Yogi05]

It sounds like you are having a lot of fun just playing! Enjoy!

There is something satisfying about making a nice piece of lumber out of a tree.
A police officer stopped and asked me if I could move the mill. The way he worded it seemed like maybe he had a problem with me using it there.
Turns out he has a son that wants 40 foot beams milled. After I stopped chuckling I pointed out there were no towing options on it, it only has a 14 foot deck, and
his son lives 2 hours away..... not to mention my lack of skills, I suggested he hire someone local to his son. He had no idea there were professional portable mill operations all over the place.
Nice to be asked I guess LOL.
This property is a shooting range. I run the private member club on the property (1700 members) and we have a huge facility we rent to law enforcement of various types.
That's the area I'm working in and there is a steady stream of police vehicles slowing to look as they go by.

 

[Yogi05]

In Today's "Adventures in Amateur Lumber Milling"

Picked up a starter rope for my chainsaw.
Stopped for gas for the mill.
Gas can tipped over in the trunk of my car, spilled about 1/4 gallon.
On site, took chainsaw recoil off, got replacement from trunk, wrong size. I thought they were all the same
and they only had one size in the store.
Put saw back together, and despite it not starting yesterday, went on first pull today. Even with 6 inches of starter rope.
Cut a couple logs out of a tree I set out yesterday. Went well but VERY slow. (I'll have a question or two on how I think I'm
wasting time.
Decided to go again at the large tree from yesterday that was lifting my vehicle wheels off the ground.
Broke my log tongs that I bought 3 weeks ago.
Chained the big tree and lifted/dragged it out of the trees.
Cut it in 9 foot lengths and got 27 feet of usable lumber out of it.

 

[Yogi05]

One log I milled today had a little wobble when sitting on the deck. I didn't try too hard to find a different position on the deck because it was friggin heavy to manhandle.
I seem to have come up with the idea that centering the pith on both ends is mandatory, so I shimmed to make the pith equal on each end, within a 1/4" or so.
The log was jiggling a bit while cutting and i didn't like that much but i went very slow and total eagle-eye on anything bad happening. Nothing did.

I watched a lot of vids before touching this sawmill, and I only remember one or two that measured and centered the pith. The rest seemed to eyeball for level and
have at 'er.

Questions.
Is centering the pith really important, given I am just milling landscape timbers?
And do you have to re-center pith every time you turn the log? I can't see how you wouldn't have to. Take wood away and everything changes and needs to be reset.

I seem to be spending a lot of time walking back and forth measuring and centering the pith.
Can I eyeball for level, making sure I can get 6x6 out of the log, then just cut, flip 180 degrees, and measure 6" from the flat bottom?
Then do the same for the sides? I guess that risks cutting huge doorstops.

And just for fun.... I mentioned the blade lightly touch the cutting head housing (the whole cutting head and carriage had been knocked to the ground once or twice I was told after).
I tried to bend the housing for a little clearance, then couldn't get the individual covers back on. Luckily I had my hammer. The blade is still touching a hair. I'll live with it. No scrape marks.
Blade guide bearing started smoking. Waited for it to cool down then re-positioned the one horizontal bearing the blade was riding low on. Added a washer to center it and backed it off
just enough the blade wasn't running on it steady.
Heard a fairly loud bang that made me stop dead and shut it off. Still no idea what it was but everything checked out and worked fine the rest of the day.
I accidentally cut some decent looking 1"x8" boards today too.

Can't wait for tomorrow LOL

The guy who owns the mill stopped to see how it was going. Asked how much I've cut. I pointed to the 6 beams I made. He laughed his ass off.
I reminded him my first week was spent installing a new engine and some bearings, and freeing up a bunch of seized parts just to try his antique sawmill out.
The beams were cut in a couple days. And still learning as I go.

 

[hunt4570]

So here is my procedure, it works for me.
Small end of the log to the left , the head end of the saw, I have my scissor jack mounted on that end. I toss a 2x4 on the deck on each end of the log and measure up to the pith on the large end, then raise the small end to match and lock down the log. Then I take a slice or two or three off the top to get to a width that i think will work for that particular log. Then I roll the log 90 degrees... Your backstops need to be at 90 degrees to the bed so you can roll that first flat cut you just made up tight against the stops which will give you a 90 degree cut on the next (top) cut. When you roll it the first time you have to level the pith again for that axis lock it down and cut. Drop the jack below the level of the bed and roll/cut the log 2 more times.... then you have an even, square (90 degree corners) square cant. Then you can cut whatever you want out of it.
Then adjust your cutting to what you want.

TA DA!

 

[hunt4570]

Same thing different day

 

[Yogi05]

So here is my procedure, it works for me.
Small end of the log to the left , the head end of the saw, I have my scissor jack mounted on that end. I toss a 2x4 on the deck on each end of the log and measure up to the pith on the large end, then raise the small end to match and lock down the log. Then I take a slice or two or three off the top to get to a width that i think will work for that particular log. Then I roll the log 90 degrees... Your backstops need to be at 90 degrees to the bed so you can roll that first flat cut you just made up tight against the stops which will give you a 90 degree cut on the next (top) cut. When you roll it the first time you have to level the pith again for that axis lock it down and cut. Drop the jack below the level of the bed and roll/cut the log 2 more times.... then you have an even, square (90 degree corners) square cant. Then you can cut whatever you want out of it.
Then adjust your cutting to what you want.

TA DA!

Thanks hunt.
I was doing 90 degree turns at first and then the internet said that wasn't right. Soooo much conflicting info out there. It didn't seem to make
much difference in result by changing methods as far as that part goes.

But

As well as loving your setup (wish I had a newer mill to use and the space you have to work) you triggered my common sense gene I wasn't using.
I am going to start loading my logs on deck with the small(er) end at the cutting head. Seems that way there's no chance
that with the pith measured I'm going to run small at the end of the cut.
Only one of my backstops has a "locking handle" where I can raise it and lock it in place, making for a little instability. I'll have to make
another locking handle so i can raise both.
Whether I turn it 90 or 180 I have been using a level to make sure it's square to the backstop.

So once you make your first 2 cuts you no longer need to measure pith?

My process was measure pith, first cut, flip 180, measure overall desired width, 2nd cut.
Flip 90, measure pith again, check level on backstops.
Then to get a 6" beam I measure from the center (pith mark) up 3 inches and mark that for 3rd cut.
Flip 180 and measure for overall desired width, and done. Sometimes successfully, sometimes not quite LOL.

I'll make some changes today based on your details.

Appreciate the help alot.

Hope people aren't PO'd at me kind of dominating this thread lately.