Sawing Walnut Part 2

[Drilling Man]

 I finally got back to milling more of the walnut logs a friend gave me.  This is a pretty nice log going on the mill.
 

 
  So i got started with taking the slab off, and a couple 5/4 boards...
 

 
  Once that was done, it's time to turn the log...
 

 
  Even with the sapwood, the boards look pretty nice...
 

 
  So i took more 5/4 boards, and kept working my way around the log...
 

 
  Untill i had a nice "cant", that's nearly 14 inches square...
 

 
  I'm sawing this walnut for "grade", so now it's a matter of turning the cant to keep getting the best lumber possible, and pulling 5/4 boards off...
 

 
  I have a friend who loves to scrool saw, so i took a couple thin boards to surprise him with!
 

 
  Then i put the first boards that came off, back on and edged them...
 

 
  And here's the "tally" from this log...
 

 
  As you can see, i even took a couple 10/4 boards for thicker projects...
 
  That's it for today...  Hope you liked Part 2 of "Sawing Walnut"...

  DM

[Glanceblamm]

Very Nice Work!

Once you completed that "cant" and had your 14" square did you switch blades or is the rougher stuff such as the bark of little or no resistance? In other words, once that log starts to look pretty, do you switch to a finer toothed blade?...What is the typical life of a blade or to be more specific, if you had X amount of identical walnut logs of this size, how many could you complete?

Question two (or should I say question four) has to do with your mill it'self...do you have to shore it up & level it?...Is your blade mounting bracket (read blade) set up to stay parallel to the mill frame regardless of the angle of which the frame is sitting or do you have to adjust this?

This IMO, is some interesting work for sure with the end result being greatly rewarding!

[Drilling Man]

Very Nice Work!

Once you completed that "cant" and had your 14" square did you switch blades or is the rougher stuff such as the bark of little or no resistance? In other words, once that log starts to look pretty, do you switch to a finer toothed blade?...What is the typical life of a blade or to be more specific, if you had X amount of identical walnut logs of this size, how many could you complete?

Question two (or should I say question four) has to do with your mill it'self...do you have to shore it up & level it?...Is your blade mounting bracket (read blade) set up to stay parallel to the mill frame regardless of the angle of which the frame is sitting or do you have to adjust this?

This IMO, is some interesting work for sure with the end result being greatly rewarding!

  I use the same 1-1/4" wide band for all of my milling, and it slices through bark or wood like a hot knife through soft butter!  Yes bark is harder on bands, as bark has wind blown dirt ect. in it.  To make the bands stay sharp longer, de-barking would be better, but it's not easy and is time consumeing, so i just saw through it and sharpen the band a bit more often.

  As to how long a band last, it all depends...  If there's a stone or a lot of dirt on the tree, it will dull the band much faster...  Some species of tree's, like "cedar" dulls bands faster too...  In on average, in clean logs, i can saw several logs per band...  It's a LOT better to take a band off early than it is to run it untill it's dead...

  I keep the mill level "side to side" to make sure there's no twist in it over it's length, not much else matters...  This keeps the band parallel to the mill bunks so you get even thickness lumber over it's entire length...

  I'm glad you enjoyed the picts...

  DM

[Graybeard]

What is the plan for those planks of walnut? Do you use them for gun stock blanks or for lumber to make furniture and such?

I'd love to have one of those saws but if I did I'd need more equipment to move the logs around. There is a fellow about a half mile from me who has one and does a lot of cutting for folks. I really have no trees on my place worth cutting up for lumber at this time. I had a lot of the larger ones taken out a few years back when I was clearing for my pond.

I do have one pine at the far back corner of my land I'd sure like to have turned into lumber. I might could build a shall shack from it. It is an enormous tree so large two tall men would not be able to reach around and touch each other's hands and it's tall. I have no clue how many board feet of lumber is in that one. I also have no clue how you'd move it from there as it's the most remote spot on my land. At the other back corner is a large cedar tree not nearly so large as the pine but it's the largest cedar on my land. I'd love to have a totem made from it.

[Drilling Man]

What is the plan for those planks of walnut? Do you use them for gun stock blanks or for lumber to make furniture and such?

I'd love to have one of those saws but if I did I'd need more equipment to move the logs around. There is a fellow about a half mile from me who has one and does a lot of cutting for folks. I really have no trees on my place worth cutting up for lumber at this time. I had a lot of the larger ones taken out a few years back when I was clearing for my pond.

I do have one pine at the far back corner of my land I'd sure like to have turned into lumber. I might could build a shall shack from it. It is an enormous tree so large two tall men would not be able to reach around and touch each other's hands and it's tall. I have no clue how many board feet of lumber is in that one. I also have no clue how you'd move it from there as it's the most remote spot on my land. At the other back corner is a large cedar tree not nearly so large as the pine but it's the largest cedar on my land. I'd love to have a totem made from it.

  GB,

  I'm just stacking the walnut up to air dry it for now, but i use to own and run a custom furniture/cabinet shop...  I still have all of my wood working machinery to use for "hobby" woodworking, so i may build something out of it myself? BUT who knows, maybe someone will come along and offer me more for it than i can "refuse", before that happens??? 

  Those really huge tree's are best dealt with with a "swing mill", you drop the tree and saw out the logs...  Then set the mill up over the log, and saw the log right where it lies...  Swing mills have there limits, but they were designed to be used exactly for the purpose you have...

  DM