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Got a VERY old Silver Maple in my front yard. It may end up having to be sawn down some day. The thing is, it is over 4 1/2 Feet in Diameter 3 Feet from the ground. Would love to have that sawn into lumber , when it's time comes. But, most of the portable bandsaw mills have just a 36 inch diameter capacity. Is there a portable sawmill , or a way to saw that log that not result in having to trim it down to fit , say a Woodmizer ?
Silver Maple isn't all that great a wood. Trees that large often have rot in the center, and logs that large are very difficult to move without heavy equipment. Unless it has sentimental value, I'd enjoy all the firewood it would provide.
John
I have had some big logs on the Woodmizer, but not quite that big. Clarence where are you located?
I like the wood as a pitch free substitute for pine and for painted projects.
I keep hoping my friend will post a demo of his soft maple guitar. It has some nice figure and sounds far better than I expected. It helps that he is a wonderfull player.
An old way is to split the log once or twice before sawing. One way to split is to plunge cut a cavity or two into the side of the log, fill with gunpowder, hide somewhere, and ignite it. I think there are youtube videos or a website that shows this done.Quote:
Originally Posted by Clarence Martinn
I’ve trimmed logs a little too big for my mill but never for something that big. My Woodmizer will theoretically handle a 28” log but a little smaller is more practical.
Another option is to hire a swing mill but they are generally limited to dimensional lumber, no wide slabs.
Some Alaskan chain saw mills have very long bars - might check around.
But I’m with John T. I generally avoid silver maple, especially for woodturning, unless it’s ambrosia. If it had sentimental value it might be different.
And based on years of sawing: the bigger the tree the greater the chance of rot inside. If the tree is cut down inspect both ends of the log before you decide if you are going to try to use it.
But do consider the weight: the log weight calculator estimates a 54” Silver Maple 10’ long weighs almost 8000 lbs. https://www.woodweb.com/cgi-bin/calculators/calc.pl
I have some big equipment but the best I could do with something that big is roll it. If reasonably round you could get it on a big trailer by parbuckling. Big logs can be difficult and dangerous to handle.
A friend once asked me to cut up a 48” oak that fell in his sister’s yard. I cut it up into short enough pieces that they could roll it off the way with a tractor. I did haul some saw logs home but they were 20-24” “limbs” that grew straight up from the trunk.
JKJ
It has three strikes. Size. Silver Maple. Yard tree.
Plenty of chainsaw milling videos on the YouTube. There's also a face book group called Alaskan Chainsaw Milling. If your tree is fairly solid someone with a chainsaw mill could slab it for you. Might make some interesting table tops. It's physically demanding, but lots of fun.
As Tom implied, yard trees very often have embedded nails and such. If you saw, use a metal detector to check before each cut. I’ve found plenty of nails, a few screwdrivers, a 1/2” steel rod, and a railroad spike. People like to pound things into trees. Any of these will destroy a blade. Once I found a ceramic insulator for an electric fence - also destroyed a blade but invisible to a metal detector.Quote:
Originally Posted by Tom M King
Some sawyers simply won’t saw a yard tree or a fence line tree (often full of barbed wire and fence staples), or will saw with the understanding that you will pay for a new blade if something is hit. $30+ for each hit.
Metal is usually, but not always embedded no higher than a person can reach from the ground. But there are ladders. Once I cut a yard tree with many dozens of nails - a generation of boys had tree houses up high and over the years had nailed many boards for climbing.
JKJ
A huge maple had already been cut down at a house I bought several years ago but I wanted to get rid of the stump. One of those big truck-mounted stump grinders broke teeth on a horsehoe and the metal part of a pickaxe.Quote:
Originally Posted by John K Jordan
I am in WNYQuote:
Originally Posted by Maurice Mcmurry
I plan to get out and about with the Woodmizer this year but that's a little beyond my range.
https://woodmizer.com/us/WM1000-Industrial-Sawmill Woodmizer has the saw that will handle that & saws that will handle larger. On the off chance you do not have an extra $70,000 to toss around, there probably is a large commercial sawmill somewhere "close" to you. It would be best to have it hauled there and paying them to mill it.
Quote:
Originally Posted by Dave Roock
There is a guy not far from the OP in Lancaster, NY that has a bandsaw mill that cuts 98" wide. The last ad I saw for him on FB Marketplace listed his price as $150/hr.
John
and I'm sure plus blade costs for hitting metal.
A portable Lucas mill is what one local concern uses for "embiggened" logs like that. They can set the frame up around the log without moving it and then do the deed. I do not know the particulars beyond that...I tried to get them out for a massive ash tree butt I wanted slabbed but I couldn't get it scheduled before we closed on the old property. I had to abandon that darn log. :(
That said, John Malecki north of Pittsburg PA has a very large bandmill (not portable) that can handle "yuge" logs like that. You'd have to find a way to get it there, of course.
I‘ve used my large chainsaw mill to cut a large black cherry log down to a cant size that would fit on a friends bandsaw mill which has hydraulics.
That works if one just wants boards, but if it's a premium log and you want slabs...you need a mill with a bigger bite! :)Quote:
Originally Posted by Karl Loeblein
Or a bigger chainsaw. The widest slabs I've ever seen were cut with a chainsaw with a power head on both ends. Crazy wide, over 10 ft. So that's another on-site option for the OP, if he can find someone locally willing to do it.Quote:
Originally Posted by Jim Becker
John
There is a slabbing attachment for that saw. https://www.lucasmill.com/Portable-T...ing-AttachmentQuote:
Originally Posted by Jim Becker
Yes, the resource I was trying to get out was set up specifically for slabbing. I was really, really, REALLY disappointed that it didn't happen as those slabs would have been 40+" wide. So that log sits and rots in a gully at the old property...Quote:
Originally Posted by Richard Coers
There is a company in Kentucky making 70" and 96" wide bandsaw mills. You could probably try to find someone who has one near you. Or hell if you have access to big logs regularly buy one for yourself and make a killing selling huge slabs haha. Their name is Trucut
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