Too Hot To Saw

[Cody Colston]

I'm currently at work offhore until August 26 and I hope the temps have moderated some by the tim I get back home. For the past three weeks or so it's just been too hot to do any sawing except for maybe a couple of hours right after daylight. We've been hitting the high 90's, low 100's in Tyler and I can't work in that kind of heat anymore. Old age and health issues have taken their toll.

I have some Cedar logs of my own, some from a friend to be sawed on halves and a big whack of Pine logs that three of us will share when sawn. Since I saw only for myself and friends, I can choose when to work and when to sit in the shade and sip iced tea (or Coronas). I'll be glad when cooler weather arrives.

Anybody else sawing anything lately? We need some pics on this site and I'll try to furnish my share but not for another few weeks.

[Dennis Ford]

Too hot for moving logs, turning cants and stacking boards. Guess that is about the same as too hot for sawing. Some shade and a fan make the actual sawing tolerable. I put this log on the mill this morning and sawed it up late today. It was a dead pine, I left most of the bark in the woods. Got several 1" thick boards and a 8 X 10 X 14 ft beam. The butt log is next but I am not in a hurry.

[John TenEyck]

Just before it got hot here (near Niagara Falls so it's never hot compared to TX) I milled a couple of silver maple logs. Looked pretty mundane from the outside. But looky what I found inside:

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Never got any amborsia before. Over 100 BF between the two logs, and those two slabs.

Oh yeah, this is what my mill looks like, with a 32" red oak log.

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John

[Danny Hamsley]

Love the ambrosia.

I am only sawing in the mornings and not everyday at that. It has been very rough here.

[Cody Colston]

John, that ambrosia maple looks great. I've been seriously considering a CSM for logs that are too big for my Logmaster. My free-hand cutting is not quiiiiiite as good as Jake's. (Customsawyer) :D

[Tom Hogard]

The highest we have had this year has been 99.3 degrees but the humidity has been oppressive, heat index has been as high as 126. We had 8" of rain in July, normal is about 2" - everything is still green. Other than wet ground, July was busier than normal but it slowed down at the end of the month. I, too, have health issues with the heat (a lingering effect of chemo 8 years ago) and have found that I need to take extra precautions if the heat index will be over 100 (mobile jobs are only if they really need to get done).
I carry a 9' patio umbrella with stand to keep me in the shade as much as possible, a Ryobi 18v portable fan on the operator's console, and plenty of water - probably 1/2 liter bottle per hour.
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[John TenEyck]

Cody, good luck deciding how large to make your CS mill. I started out being able to handle logs up to 24 inches, both with my log dolly and mill. But I got so many opportunities for larger logs that I rebuilt both of them to handle a 34" log. Of course, as soon as they were done I get a call asking if I want a 40" tree? I think I would have to build a mill to handle at least 50" diameter in order to cover all the opportunities. But I cut it off at 34" because I don't have all the other equipment it would take to be able to handle those logs safely. Even at 30" they are quite a challenge, as are large crotch logs. Here's a couple of photos of necessity being the mother of invention in getting a crotch walnut log up onto the bunks of my little mill.

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It wouldn't roll, so I had to slide it up. Sure had some pretty wood inside:

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BTW, this log was a large lead above the main trunk, which was, drum roll please, just about 50" in diameter. And it looked really clear, too. I shed a tear as I watched it get cut up into fire wood.

John

[Cody Colston]

We had 8" of rain in July, normal is about 2" - everything is still green.

8" in July. Wow. We had record rains until towards the end of June and then they just stopped. We recorded no rain in July. That's the first time we've gone a calendar month with officially no rain since Moby Dick was a minnow. No rain so far in August, either, and the temps are still 100+.


Cody, good luck deciding how large to make your CS mill.

I'm thinking a Stihl 660 with 36" bar. When I had a trailer built for my mill, I kept the old frame which should make a good base for chain saw milling. It has the log clamps still on it. I just haven't been able to pull the trigger on a $1000 saw yet. Lol

Great looking deck. I followed your re-build on that other forum. Nice work.

[John TenEyck]

Thanks, I don't know how that deck photo got in here, nor could I figure out how to delete it. But it did turn out really nice. Was quite a job - far more time than most pieces of furniture would take and a whole bunch heavier.

A Stihl 660 would be a great choice and I wouldn't hesitate to go with a good used saw. I have a 42" bar on my Husky 385XP, BTW. 34" between the frame is it; you lose a few inches on both ends from the mounting, the oiler, and the frame. I don't think you'll get more than 28 or 30" with a 36" bar unless you get real creative mounting it. A 660 should be able to drive a bigger bar than that anyway. My 385XP drives the 42" bar with a full comp. chain with no problem. Slow going in a big log but that's more related to moving all that swarf than the motor not having enough power.

John

[Larry Edgerton]

I was peeling some log rafters a week or so ago when it hit 97 degrees with 95% humidity up here, a rare occurrence. I definitely felt my age but the logs were not going to peel themselves, had to be done.

I lived in Kerrville Texas in the late 70's/early eighties. One month of June it never got under 100. Get up at 5 AM and it would be 104 or so, and then get warm. I could not do it now.

Dennis, I had a friend in Lufkin, Nora Jane Cotton. Lost track of her over the years as we were both wanderers, wonderful girl. Last I knew she was flying bush planes in Alaska.