Resawing logs on Minimax MM20

[Barry Londrigan]

Good morning! Question for anybody experienced with resawing logs on a MM20 bandsaw. I was (am) planning on building a sled to resaw 7 to 8ft logs. (similar to a smaller one built here on another post where a bandsaw sled was built with bookends and and sharpened bolts that dug into the ends of the log to secure it)

As I went to my local woodworking supply store and mentioned what I was using the t-track and the rest of the supplies for, they got very alerted about what I was about to do with my bandsaw. Their concern was that I "would burn up the motor on it in no time"! The logs I was planning on resawing are pine, apple and sassafrass. They are anywhere from 8 - 14 inches in diameter (at max). I would be using a Lenox tri-master blade. There would be roller (industrial sized) tables infeed and outfeed, the sled would be 1 1/2 inches thick, 16 inches wide and would ride approx 1/8 inch above the bandsaw table surface. The sled will have dados cut in the bottom and the sled will be guided across the bandsaw table by a long "key" made for the bandsaw miter slot (out of ultra high molecular plastic to reduce any friction). The sled will only be guided across the table and then immediately be supported on the outfeed side so that it remains 1/8 inch above the table at all times.

My question is this. Is there concern that I may burn up the motor? They also asked "Is it a European motor"? I believe it is... Are there any other precautions I may need to take. Should I just "nix" this idea? Any thoughts are appreciated!

[tod evans]

barry, i regularly resaw 10-16" kiln dried hardwood using a powerfeeder on a mm28. not just a little bit either, usually several hundred lineal feet at a crack. the longest i`ve run the saw continously is 3 days 10-12hrs each day stopping only for coffee(and the creek) and lunch. the only problem i`ve had was the belts stretched and needed tightened. still using the same saw the same way today.....for green wood i would suggest changing blades to a bandmill blade 1-1/2 to 2 tooth just `cause green wood tends to be stringy.......good luck and enjoy giving your saw a workout.......02 tod

[Jim Dailey]

Hi Barry,

I've got the same MM20 bandsaw, can't say I've tried this however if I recall correctly Laguna sells a similar setup for their larger bandsaws. It seems if you have the correct blade & a proper sled it would work however raising & controlling that heavy a log that far off the ground is not to be taken (sorry for the punt...) lightly.

Good luck, jim

[jerry cousins]

i've been resawing on a mm16 for 4-5 years - no worries about the motor.
saw-on garth.

jerry

[Barry Londrigan]

Tod

What size motor is on the MM28?

[tod evans]

Tod

What size motor is on the MM28?

nine horse.

[Mike Wilkins]

Barry, you should have no problem resawing logs on a machine of this capacity. I have sawn logs 8 to 10 inches in diameter on my Laguna LT18 using a sled-type arrangement with no problem, using Laguna's Resaw Master blade(carbide).
No sure why the store would have a concern with this activity; my only concern is with any metal hiding inside the log.
Good luck and watch those fingers.

[Steven Wilson]

Your local woodworking supply store doesn't know what they're talking about. Your MM20 will do fine. I'm not sure if I would use the trimaster though. I might use a more radical blade (say Timberwolf AS)

[lou sansone]

barry
have you considered using the services of a local band mill operator? they are reasonable and you dont trash your saw. I have a 3000 + lbs 36" band saw in my shop and would not consider resawing logs on it. I have on rare occasions resawn logs on my saw and always regret it. I guess that is why I also have a band mill.

best wishes
lou

[tod evans]

lou, i`ve never had the desire to try and lift logs onto my saw but if the weight wasn`t placed on the trunions and a correct blade was used how would a fellow hurt his saw? maybe sap and or moisture or metal are the hazzards that come to mind???? just curious...tod

[Barry Londrigan]

Lou,

The subject of your reply also concerns me as well as the worry of burning up the motor. I bought this saw not specifically to do the log resawing but to be able to resaw boards for bookmatching and veneers and such as well as the many other things a bandsaw is capable of. I came across quite a few logs and now have them residing on the side of my house. It would be difficult to get them to and from the sawmill (although a good idea).
When you say you regret it every time you do occassionally resaw logs, what are some of the things that take place that you regret having done the logs? Other damages?
As per the blade I was going to use, will I ruin it as well? I do have another blade I specifically bought for resawing logs with. It is a radical looking 1 1/2 inch but I am not sure of the tooth count. Minimax sold it to me as I specifically asked for a blade that would work well in this application. Concern here is that I know the Lenox will probably go through the logs easier and thus less stress on the motor? Hmmm...

[Barry Londrigan]

Tod...you beat me to that question!

[Barry Londrigan]

...and Lou....I want a bandmill....BAD....just can't afford it ...yet :)

[lou sansone]

hi guys
here is what I have found with sawing green wood. First of all is the bark issue. Most bark will have some grit in it, you can power wash the log or try to knock off the bark in the area that the blade enters. What most sawyers do is to open up the log and then turn it 90 so you don't have to keep sawing through that crappy bark. I am sure someone here will disagree but so be it. Bottom line with logs and dirty bark is it will dull your blade. The band mill blades are about 1/2 the cost of the vertical saw blade and only have ~ 1 tpi or less. So you got the dulling factor, unless you turn the log and saw into the fresh face. not a big deal


#2 It is a lot more clumsy when you are using a vertical band saw, I would imagine that you would be thinking to process the log like using a fence or something like that. If you make a slide how are you going to "dog" the log and index it. Can be done, no question, just seems hard to me compared to getting a pile of logs and having a guy come over for a few hours with his band mill.

#3 Green wood is wet and the sawdust is also wet. you will find that that nice cast iron table gets darkened from the moisture. It may not be an issue with you.

#4. It is just plain messy for my liking. Will it "kill" your saw. no probably not. But I try to saw logs in the 14 to 20" diameter and man they get real heavy real quick. You will just need some big rollers on the front and back of the saw.

don't get me wrong, it can be done. all the wood in my house was sawn in ~ 1725 with a one guy in a pit and the other guy standing on top of the log. I just would not want to be the guy in the pit.:)

best wishes

lou

[Doug Shepard]

When I bought my Tri-Master from Minimax, they advised me not to use it on green wood as it tended to dull the carbide pretty fast. They suggested using the other low TPI 1-1/2 wide blade I also got from them for resawing green stuff. Not sure how accurate their advice was - just passing it on.

[Lars Thomas]

There is also the not so little (depending) issue of the creepy crawly bugs scurrying from the wood while you are cutting it (DAMHIKT).

[Pete Bradley]

As others have said, the folks at your woodworking store have no idea what they're talking about. It's likely they're on loan from my woodworking store. :)

The comments about miminizing cutting bark are right on. Also, cutting logs makes a huge mess and a tremendous amount of dust. Some species (I find white oak is one) generate dust that wants to stick to everything. It's a good ideat to clean up the area and especially machined surfaces with a shop vac right after you're finished cutting.

The one thing you need to avoid is the log twisting or rolling as it will grab the blade. Your sled should minimize this, though this can be done with fences alone. You may also need to stick a wedge in the kerf to keep it from closing up on the band.

Pete

[Ted Calver]

Barry,
What Lou said. I had the same idea in mind when I bought my Laguna 24 several years ago-- even bought the heavy duty rollers for in feed and out feed tables. It worked OK for the apple I was sawing, which was usually less than 4' x 15", but even with the sled and rollers there was a lot of muscling logs around. Lou’s point about the bark quickly dulling the blades is right on I only tried one small piece of green pine and the sap made such a mess (it took hours to clean it off the tires), I said never again for that stuff. . I will still occasionally slice up a small log if it’s an unusual species or has the potential for great figure, but if I had a bunch of 8’ plus logs to slice up I’d find someone with a bandmill.

[Alan Turner]

I don't have occassion to cut green wood, but my saw, with a carbide 2-3 tpi Lennox, has been used by one of my shop neighbors on billets of sitka spruce. It is quite hard on this blade.

He later ordered green wood blades from Suffok Machinery, and his cutting experience is much improved.

Mine is a 9 hp. 800 mm Zimmerman. Go with a purpose made blade for the green stuff!

[Jim Becker]

Ok...let's assume you can safely saw the logs on the machine with the right blade, etc, without taxing the motor too much. And let's say you are able to build an appropriate sled to hold the logs safely, et al. How you you plan on actually lifting said logs? Those are not small objects and even when not totally green weigh a LOT!!! The 3pt on my tractor can barely lift a wet log of the size you describe and it's capable of lifting 1000 lbs.

I think that were it me I'd hire a band mill from time to time to process the logs rather than utilize the band saw for this purpose.

[Timo Christ]

Woodmizer sells low tpi (7/8 TPI) blades, i'm planning to get some, for green wood and resawing taller pieces.
T

[lou sansone]

Many but certainly not all, band mills regularly use a coolant on the blade. the exact mixture is hotly disputed depending on the type of wood one is sawing. I have regularly used just plain water. Bottom line is that the water helps cool the blade and carry the dust away. This is fine when you are sawing outdoors and all that, but it is more difficult when you are doing that indoors.

don't get me wrong.... Stu in japan seems to love sawing logs on his indoor band saw, but I would think if I gave him a nice band mill for free and a new tractor to load the logs on it, along with some nice land in beautiful new england he would probably want to try sawing outdoors :)

lou

[Jim Becker]

Lou, Stu isn't sawing logs of this size on his bandsaw, if I'm recalling correctly. Much smaller.

[Chris Livingston]

Once I started moving up in the quality, and size, of my power tools I quickly learned that the people working at my local WoodXXXXX store knew next to nothing. I said MiniMax and they went huh? I trust them to show me where stuff is in the store and that's about it. They can hardly handle the cash register let alone figure out how to re-saw on a 9HP monster.

After screwing up my first Lennox Tri-Master the 2nd day I had it I am very leary of using it on just anything and would be using the $20-40 cheap blades ($40 dollars is cheap after buying two Tri-Masters) to cut anything like a log.

[Tom Sontag]

I have done this kind of stuff. I now have older somewhat dull Trimasters around and I would use one of them for this; the bark and grit does dull the carbide faster than you'd want for a new blade.

But I would say that by far the biggest issue is handling the log. Even if your sled is secure enough to not worry about the log rolling in the cut and kinking a blade (happens, I know), you have at least a two man operation getting that log through the blade. Infeed, outfeed setups, does not matter. Logs that long are heavy. If you really need boards that long, a bandmill is the correct tool and you will spend lots of time 'making do'.

Okay, fine, you knew it would not be a cakewalk. I think this is something everyone should try, perhaps on a smaller scale with hard-to-buy-retail species. Stu did this just right for all the right reasons. The other issue that I don't think has been mentioned is the mess. There is a large amount of waste in this process. If you lack a woodburning stove, this could become a sizeable problem in a hurry. And of course you need room to stack and sticker.

The motor can take it; just be reasonable with your feed rate.

[Jim Becker]

The thing you need to be concerned with relative to the TriMaster or similar carbide tipped blade in this application is that they do NOT like to be twisted in any way while in operation. That's hard to avoid when slicing large, heavy, round objects, especially when it's wet wood. A band-mill blade or Timberwolf AS is probably a better choice as they are more forgiving when it comes to twists, turns and so forth. They are also more forgiving (cost wise) when you nail a nail, as it were... ;)

[Stu Ablett in Tokyo Japan]

Well since I'm getting mentioned here, I'll add my two yen's worth ;)

I also think the idea of getting a bandsaw mill guy to come by is a good one, if you can get a reasonable price. I did not have that option, so I did the chainsaw mill thing, with only some log sawing on Big Blue in the Dungeon.

Now if you are dead set on doing it, I'll add what I can.

Yes it can be done, and Yes, I'm sure your saw can handle it, but as others have said, them is BIG logs you are talking about.

I'd want a hook on the ceiling and a chain hoist to get the logs up there, and no "rollers" but SOLID tables on the infeed and outfeed, just wax the freak out of them, and use some laminate on them, wax the freak out of your saw's table etc too.

http://www.ablett.jp/workshop/images/jackpot/bb_slicing_with_endge_guide.jpg

http://www.ablett.jp/workshop/images/jackpot/bb_slicing2.jpg
That log is about 150 cm long (60") and is about 9 or 10 inches thick, and wet and heavy and HARD!!! (Sakura!)

It is messy, it was also fun (I know, I'm nuts ;) :D )

I need to ask, do you REALLY need 8' boards? I find I VERY rarely need boards that long, so you could cut them down to 4'....?

There is one more thing that you HAVE to have if you are going to attempt this...........

http://shopuncleharrys.dukestores.duke.edu/images/bake%20025.jpg
Yep, works like a charm, just keep spritzing the blade, inside and out, and the blade will slice through the wet wood WAY easier. When you spritz it, you will hear the motor's rpm pick up, no kidding.

With the right infeed and set up, the right sled and the ability to put the logs in place, of course you can do it, but, do you really want to?

One more thing, if you do go ahead and try it, like others said, you have to IMEDIATELY clean the saw, open the doors, blow it out with compressed air, and vacuum it, the green wood will rust anything it touches in minutes!

Oh yeah, pics, don't forget the pics!!! :D

[Barry Londrigan]

Thank you so much for all your responses! I am thinking this....I feel comfortable that the motor will now take it. That being said, I also have nodded my head and said...."oh...yeah....that pine sure WILL make a mess on the tires and such..." I just may shy away from sawing those logs. I think that I will however give the rest of the logs a try. I will change the blade to a 1 1/2" - 2 tooth per inch that I got with the saw. I have sawn one short 2' log of walnut with my lenox blade...think that will have dulled the blade any?

Right now I am working on getting the 1 1/2 inch blade on the saw. It is on but it hangs over the bottom wheel more than the top. I am looking into how to correct that. I also have all the parts to build the sled...just need to knock that out and then once I get started I will try to post some pictures. Also, the pine was the bigger of the logs. The others will be a little shorter so the won't be 8 ft. long.