Big J
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Everything posted by Big J
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Excellent video Rob, though that is only one way to quarter saw. When I've done it, I quarter the log, and then stand each quarter at 45 degrees on the mill and cut through that way (hard to explain, though I do have a big lump to QS soon, so could video). Essentially, if you imagine the quarter is a cheese wedge, I cut 2 inches off the end of wedge (where the heart shake is contained). That flat edge then sits nicely against the clamp with the back of the wedge against the back stops. None of this is especially easy without hydraulics I suspect. Anyway, the upshot of cutting the log with the method (badly) detailed above is that you get sequential boards, for those customers that like to book match. Jonathan
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Stoves all just seem to be a stupid shape now. Honestly, what is the point in having a stove that is tall and narrow? Yet most stoves seem to be that shape. Ideal is narrow and deep so that you can stick long logs in without danger of them falling out. I've just ordered a little stove for a small office I'm building at the yard and even at 4kw you can still get a 16 inch log into it: Nice little range of stoves the chap makes. I spent ages trying to find an inexpensive British made burner, and these seem to tick all the boxes: Champion Stove Company Products Page Jonathan
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I've started doing most of my offcuts at 18 inches. They fit my stove (21 cube a year), they fit the fireplace of my one proper firewood customer (another 20 cube a year) - everyone else just needs to get bigger burners!
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Many types of elm - some split very easily, others not. I tend to find that it's the English elm that is a cow to split. The heartwood and sapwood seem to have spiraling grain that goes in opposite directions. Split off the sapwood first, using your axe to cleave it off. Then proceed with the heartwood as normal. Great firewood.
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Excellent!
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10mm kerf on my 088 with a 0.404 pitch chain (most common setup for chainsaw millers) versus 2mm with the band mill. My band mill doesn't deflect either, so not wastage in that respect. On a 40 inch butt cut to two inches, you get at least an extra two boards band saw milling. Big Stenner mills like that certainly don't deflect at all. Lovely boards Andrew - did you take the butt to Helmdon? Looks familiar to me!
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We have a Bullerjan Type 01, which is a truly superb woodburner. Very efficient, huge firebox, very high heat output. Also not as expensive as some if you import from Germany. For an 8kw requirement, get the Type 00:
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I sell dimensioned oak and elm at £25 cubic foot. So £75 a beam.
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Sold 30 cubic foot of fresh sawn lime this week. It sells, but slowly.
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I'm £55 a cubic metre on sawmill offcuts, and I think that we will get through the full 21 cubic metres I threw into the store in August before next summer, so £1155 for a years heating/£3.85 a day for the 10 months a year the burner is likely to be on at some point. I should stress though that even when the temperature drops below freezing (this is our first winter in this house, so some reservation is applied) the house is roasting from the one stove. We are still on the summer duvet, for instance.
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It's the moisture content that is the issue. It will not burn - it's fresh sawn timber sawdust. Briquette makers all require low MC sawdust too.
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That is what I do now - it's just a bit wasteful I feel. A few of my customers are adamant that I ought to be producing briquettes, but on my scale I think that it wouldn't pay.
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It's always a complete mix of species though Stephen, so no use for smoking. Would farmers be interested as it's high moisture content?
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I produce a lot of sawdust and need to find a solution which doesn't involve the farm taking it away and simply dumping it (all organic I suppose, but still a little wasteful). I probably produce about 10 tonnes a year, all in. Biomass isn't likely due to high moisture content. Animal bedding wouldn't work as it's fairly fine (and wet) dust. Any ideas? What do you other sawmills do?
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I'm using 2 inch Ripper 37 bands on the Logmaster and they are superb. I'm on one band at the moment that has cut 180 cubic foot of poplar sleepers/posts, 45 cubic foot of sycamore, some spruce and is still sharp. Excellent!
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Beech is certainly millable, and is a beautiful wood to work, however it isn't terribly fashionable at the moment. You might find it easier to sell if it's spalted or flamed, though I'm very fond of pure white beech, if I'm honest. If you are selling the log, you wouldn't get any more for it selling it as a sawlog, but at least it won't be burned. Jonathan
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Selling unseasoned at any time of the year is perfectly acceptable so long as you make it very clear that it is unseasoned. The nature of selling sawmill offcuts is that they are cut off the saw logs, processed into firewood and sold as soon as possible to clear space. My timber is rarely fully air dried but this is always made very clear. Jonathan
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There was a bit of tension in the logs that we were cutting yesterday, but the Logmaster just cuts flat. Don't need to pay any attention to feed speed through knots, or angle of grain. All I do is listen to the engine to judge my speed and go from there. For cutting kindling, you don't want to be doing any turning unless it's completely necessary. It just becomes uneconomical. Tension will only cause inconsistent board thickness - it shouldn't cause the band to wander. Time to step over the to the dark side and get a Logmaster?!
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Should work now
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Even a manual bandmill is very easy going compared to chainsaw milling. If you think about it, you are using twice as much horsepower to remove 5 times less wood. No wonder it's easier! As I've always said though, chainsaw mills have their place for the occasional sawmiller and for those of us who mill more in order to get back garden trees out and to halve/quarter larger lumps. Jonathan
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Sensible policy for a better society - I fail to see the problem with that!
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Right, finally some videos! We were cutting poplar for garden sleepers yesterday, so here are a few videos. Firstly, a tour of the mill: And then a couple of action videos: It was damned windy - I am very much looking forward to installing the extractor. Jonathan
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That's cubic feet Steve. 180 cubic foot is about 5 cubic metres, so 500 bags of kindling. Sleeper cutting is very time consuming though (as I've found out), as there is a vast amount of handling and very little repetitive cutting. You take a cut, off load the firewood slab, rotate. Take a cut, off load the firewood slab, rotate. Take a cut, off load the firewood slab, rotate. Take a cut, off load the firewood slab, take your cut at 200mm, rotate. Finally cut at 306mm, 203mm and then 100mm. That's assuming you are starting with a fairly large log that you can get a 400mm x 400mm block out of. If I were just cutting through and through at 80mm (which is about what you are cutting?), I'd get through 4 logs an hour with a couple of guys off loading (2 cubic metres an hour). What really slowed me down was pressure washing and helping stack the sleepers. Jonathan
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I thought that the debarkers rotated the log but apparently not: [ame=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=H5hjaxQ2xuU]Log debarking machine | Exports of round wood pine logs from Ukraine - YouTube[/ame] Skip to about a minute to see it in action. If you can get the timber for free, then consider it, but it's not worth it otherwise. It would take an age to pressure wash it.
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Assuming the crates are stacked, rather than loose, you have 1.6 cubic metres (which equates to just a touch over 2 cubic metres stacked). I'd aim for around £220 for that. It's daft money, but that seems to be the going rate. Jonathan
