2 x 4's

[John TenEyck]

A guy asked me to make as many 2 x 4's as I could from a 10 ft log that was about 14" at the small end. I got 23 with just a little bark on a few. It took nearly 2 hours to do, so there's no money to be made sawing dimensional lumber with a manual mill w/o a DRO or other accurate indexing method. Counting rotations of the crank didn't consistently give me 1.5" between cuts; I ended up having to measure for every cut, check it, and adjust as needed. Does anyone have a proven method to make consistent thickness cuts on a manual mill? I'm not talking making 4/4, 6/4, etc. where it's ok to be off by even up to 1/16" from cut to cut.



John

[Maurice Mcmurry]

I use the scale and pointer that are attached to the vertical rails on the old Woodmizer. Ours is so old and worn out that it is important to crank down below the index you are aiming for and approach the mark by lifting rather than lowering. It is slow going.

[John TenEyck]

I use the scale and pointer that are attached to the vertical rails on the old Woodmizer. Ours is so old and worn out that it is important to crank down below the index you are aiming for and approach the mark by lifting rather than lowering. It is slow going.

Thanks Maurice. I have scales on my mill, too, but they are for 4/4, 6/4, etc. There is another for 1", 2", etc., with 1/4" intermediary markers, too, but it doesn't include blade kerf. Not sure what it's useful for, beams maybe? But I just looked on the net and found some scales for dimensional lumber that include blade kerf. Sounds like the perfect solution.

John

[Pat Doble]

I've made approx 3x3" blocks in the thicknesses I commonly mill at. After counting cranks to get close I set the block on top of the blade with the blade close to the log and can then quickly feel even the smallest difference between the top of the block and top of the last cut with my finger and make any small adjustments at that point.

[John TenEyck]

I've made approx 3x3" blocks in the thicknesses I commonly mill at. After counting cranks to get close I set the block on top of the blade with the blade close to the log and can then quickly feel even the smallest difference between the top of the block and top of the last cut with my finger and make any small adjustments at that point.

Thanks Pat. That might be the easiest way to go.

John