Looks like a small fortune by today’s lumber prices you have there Wayne! Anything above 14" around here is custom cut and commands top dollar premiums!
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Here in Michigan the sawdust would rot and vehicles would not have traction on sawdust. Farmers like it for animal beds.
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Yes, 18 and 20 "will be heavy to do, how do you lift them up on the saw bench Wayne?
The sawdust rots here too, and riding in it with a tractor does not work, but I have a belt machine in the woods, it is so wet almost everywhere.
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Good morning Jan.
I use my farm tractor with front loader and forks to set logs on a ramp sloping down to the log carriage and rolled onto the carriage by hand . I usually will put enough logs on the ramp to do a day of sawing.
The ramp and waiting long can be seen in the background of first picture in this thread .
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I think I’m gonna try to build a stationary sawmill like what Kristijan has. I have a 10hp Yanmar diesel clone I bet could propel a bandsaw mill pretty well. I’m building a little wood skidder mini truck thing with the engine in the center. 3 speed Peerless transmission gonna be a mower type belt clutch, stomp to go. On the driveshaft I put on a double sheave pulley so I could haul my trees, set the skidder beside and hook up the v belt. Just trying to figure out how I’m gonna put suspension in the rear end, using a live axle like a go kart, chain driven.
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Jeff Davis been doing this a lot, for a long time.
Be sure and scroll all of the way down.
Also from his thumbnail avatar bring up and read his other topics.
He’s a real DOer.
Steve Unruh
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His is real nice. I’ve got mine just about done. Just need to buy the golf cart steering box and make a buggy seat for it. Trying to style it after an REO 1911 pickem up truck if you squint your eyes really hard. It wont be purely for skidding but I’m hoping I can use it to haul some trees every now and then. I also want to tag it as a Low Speed Vehicle for snow day icy road riding into town use instead of my Kubota tractor. The lightbulb had just hit when I remembered my engine has a double pulley on it so I could use it to power a stationary mill.
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I keep looking at the motorcycle wheels from a Yamaha dt175 enduro frame that I have laying around. The spokes are rusted pretty bad enough to prevent me wanting to restore the bike. Might use it as the wheels for a bandsaw mill. Bonus that I will have a decent way to drive the wheel with chain.
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Because I made mine with motorcycle parts I thought about just using the chain and sprocket already on the wheel but then you would have to have some kind of centrifugal clutch. Easier to use belts and and a moveable idler pulley to engage the blade.
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I’m going to put in a gear reduction using pulleys, since the drive off of my diesel engine is V belt.
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A welcome dilemma… today I milled the top of the white pine a neighbor gave me…but I don’t think the mill is large enough for the bottom 40’ of the trunk. The diameter is too big. I really don’t know what to do.
Any suggestions would be lovely.
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we mill stuff that is way to big quite often just continually roll the log after every cut or two it is a little wasteful but it makes really nice basically quarter sawn wood. It is also a lot of work. I have ripped the logs in half with a chain saw before or trimmed enough off the edge for the mill to pass by if the log is way to big or just barely to big.
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This is one that is on the mill now to be milled will probably be done by spinning it.
I don’t remember where we were talking about mini skids. This one showed up today for its first service. I have been moving stuff around with it this afternoon.
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Those mini skid steer are just so skookum handy around the house. Used to run a compact power all the time loved that little guy. Rented a Vermeer grapple mini like that once, and now my buddy is building a mini grapple attachment for his, we have a set of swamp dogs and regular tongs for tree work that are great as well
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I think if I borrow a bigger saw, and set the trunks on the ground, I could work the sides like you say. It might not be worth it though. I certainly have a lot of other wood to mill first.
Everything takes too much time for setting up.
What about squaring it with a saw and broad ax? The little cuts I could make with my electric saw. I have to be very careful how long I hold a gas saw or even the handle on the mill. Too much vibration and I can’t feel my finger tips.
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Is it height or width that is the problem? You can make kerfs down the length of the log and then chip them off with an axe. I’ve seen timbers squared up like that for barns.
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Yes it’s too tall and too wide. I will set it aside for now…I have too many logs that fit.
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I have been making saw dust , boards and motor fuel today . Also had a coupe visitors down from Nashville to ride in the trucks .
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How do you deal with the pine pitch when it piles up on the bandsaw? Or is your species of pine down there not loaded full of pitch pockets like mine up here?
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Usually run water drip on the blade when doing pines to keep it off of the blade to start with.
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