Sawyers Introductions

[Glenn Clabo]

Why don't we start with an introduction of what you do...how you do it...etc.

[Cody Colston]

I saw and dry lumber for primarily for my own use, both construction and woodworking projects. At the moment, I have 600+ bf of 4/4 SYP air drying that will be used for wall paneling inside a 10' x 20' building that was built from lumber that I sawed...most of it coming from my own Pine trees that were removed during a pond excavation.

I saw with a Logmaster LM-1 manual band sawmill that I purchased secondhand about four years ago. The mill was stationary when I got it but I later had a trailer built for it at Logmaster so that I can be mobile. Log and lumber handling at home is done with a Kioti 30 hp tractor with FEL and pallet forks. After sawing, I treat the lumber with Timbor and sticker-stack in air-drying stacks covered with corrugated metal roofing. Prior to using the lumber for indoor projects, I dry it to 7% in a modified, VT solar kiln that is sized to dry 300 bf charges. Any excess kiln-dried lumber is kept inside the shop on horizontal racks. Surprisingly, the MC stays very consistent with the kiln-dried value since the shop is insulated. I run the A-C in the summer and occasionally the heat in the winter. I use a Lignomat moisture meter for checking MC and also have a thermal hygrometer to monitor RH inside the shop.

I have a very good friend who has a cattle farm with several acres of woods. Among those woods are Walnut trees and when one is dying or dead, he lets me log the timber and even helps me saw the lumber. I have around 2000bf of mill-run Walnut in air-dried stacks now. Since I got the sawmill, logs just come to me. Friends, neighbors, etc. know that I have the mill and I get offers of logs all the time. Occasionally I'll saw up a log or two as a favor but I do not saw commercially.

I'm changing my signature line to reflect my milling/drying equipment. It helps others who ask or answer questions.

[Tom Hogard]

I've been a woodworker for 50 years and in the 80s I started salvaging logs and trying to find a way to get them milled (I was "frugal"). It wasn't always easy to find someone who would mill residential trees, small quantities, etc., but they were out there if you searched. I retired in 2009 after 31 years in law enforcement and purchased a used Timberking B-20, 18 months old and with only 5 hours of use. I formed "Tom The Sawyer Portable Sawmill Service" in 2010.

I am the only active portable sawmill working in the Kansas City area. Most of my milling volume is on the road, probably 90%, covering about 18,000 square miles. I pull my mill with an F350 flatbed - overkill for towing the mill but I still salvage logs and the dump bed is quite helpful. I do mill at home, especially for smaller appointments and my primary support device is a piggyback forklift. Floatation tires, lift capacity of 5000 lbs., and the ability to turn on a dime. It can pick up any log that I would ever put on my mill and is very handy for moving pallets of milled lumber, unloading client's vehicles, organizing my log yard, etc. I am in the process of building a kiln chamber. I purchased a Nyle L200M computerized, dehumidification kiln unit. I realize that custom milling only generates income when there is sawdust flying. The kiln, and a large planer, will enable to me add value to the logs I have and custom dry for clients.

[ian maybury]

I'm very much at the other end of the scale in terms of activity level and experience. Am slowly ramping up my woodworking experience and capability - building up to targeting high end box and related small cabinet work. It's becoming fairly clear that one way to get good control of wood quality is the to install the capability to at least stress relieve and condition it. Having got that far it'd be a pity not to gear up to saw and dry small batches of locally available woods.

It's essentially a retirement project after a career in engineering, manufacturing management and management consulting - with lots of DIY oriented woodwork, model aircraft and custom motorcycle stuff bubbling along in the background. The trigger was a long period of fairly serious illness - uncertainty tends to focus the mind...

[Scott T Smith]

I built my first kiln in 2003 (Nyle 200 with a Delmhorst Kil-mo-trol system), bought my first sawmill (Peterson WPF with 63' of track) at the end of 2005, added a solar kiln in 2010, added a Baker 3638D Bandmill in November of 2013, and built my own dedicated slabber in 2014. I have a second Nyle L200 awaiting a kiln building. The milling operation specializes in quartersawn oak, sycamore, oversize/length timberframe timbers, and live edge slabs up to 72" wide.

We like the big stuff, especially large logs and long timbers, but the day to day operation is focused on quarter and rift sawing oak. We do custom milling and drying for folks as well.

[Danny Hamsley]

I am a professional Forester and have a 200 acre Tree Farm that I manage. I have a Wood-mizer LT40 hydraulic sawmill, a Cooks edger, a Nyle L53 dehumidification kiln, and a Grizzly GO544 planer. I saw mostly hardwood, pre-dry-air-dry it, then kiln dry and plane it. I saw and dry a number of species like walnut, red oak, white oak, maple, quartersawn sycamore, hackberry, chinaberry, pecan, yellow poplar, sweetbay magnolia, quartersawn pine, cherry, persimmon, sweetgum, and anything else that I can find to saw. I saw and dry thick, wide slabs of a number of species.

I am also an avid woodworker and make a lot of furniture, for family, and others.

[Glenn Clabo]

Hey folks...we need to follow the rules...
SMC has an advertising and marketing program. As such, we seek to provide a non-competitive atmosphere for our advertisers by disallowing commercial posts from our members. Posts made by Members with direct commercial affiliation, and with the apparent intent of using SawMill Creek for the sole purpose of promoting a product or service will be subject to removal. Members with direct commercial affiliation are defined to be those Members who stand to benefit financially from such a promotion.
Links to other websites are allowed in posts. In fact, they are encouraged. However, links for the sole purpose of marketing, generating traffic to a site, or any other commercial advertisement deemed to solicit commercial benefit are not allowed. Links to other public or private forums are not allowed. Links should be submitted as references, for the sole purpose of generating or supporting discussions on SawMill Creek.

[Danny Hamsley]

Understood. Posting the website was intended to add info, but I can see how it would be interpreted as advertisement. Sorry, not my intent to advertize. My participation on SMC has been to contribute to the knowledge base or to benefit from it. That will not change. I edited my post to remove any commercial references.

[Mike Holbrook]

I have been active in construction and wood working projects for around 20 years now. I am very interested in making windsor chairs and green woodworking in general. The wife and I are semi retired running a dog training/ day care business on our 12 acres in North Metro Atlanta. My current issue is, I am working too hard at the home business to put the time I would like into woodworking. I have good size hardwoods falling into our creek or coming down the side of the valley regularly. I have always wanted to harvest a few trees a year and put up some logs and lumber for projects. I have several buildings I can store lumber in once I harvest it. I have talked to a few sawyers in my area but I typically do not have enough trees down to justify going that route. I have a 30 hp tractor with loader but it runs on turf tires now and is not that great at moving logs. I know my way around a chain saw. I have operated quite a few backhoes, excavators, bobcats...over the years, making roads, landscaping, digging ponds, clearing trees.. so if I need to move larger logs I can do it.

Like Ian above I have suffered a physical set back or two over the last year or two. I hope I am leaving those issues behind so I can get back to working a chain saw and harvesting some wood. I have several buildings I can store logs or lumber in once I get them into some serviceable form.

[Larry Edgerton]

I have a small construction/woodworking business and am not a sawyer at all. I do some sawing on my friends Corley circle mill and use his Kiln but that does not qualify me for any kind of expert. I just would like to see conversations unfold that I can learn from so for the most part I will just shut up and listen!

Larry

[Cody Colston]

I do some sawing on my friends Corley circle mill and use his Kiln but that does not qualify me for any kind of expert.

Larry, I have a sawmill but I would not presume to call myself a sawyer. That's why I am pleased to see a sawmilling forum here...so that I can learn and perhaps contribute a bit, too.

[Izzy Camire]

A few years ago when I wanted to build a barn I bought a Logmaster LM2 -- great machine. I sawed out the lumber for the building. Since then I don't saw nearly as much but about once a year I do saw for myself, friends, and relatives.
The loft in barn has softwood on one side and hardwood lumber on the other. Nice to always have a supply of lumber at hand.

[Kent A Bathurst]

Gentlemen:

I don't have a mill. I don't have a kiln. I don't reasonably expect to - - in this lifetime.

But - I find this topic very interesting, so I will be lurking in the shadows. I like the intellectual challenge of learning something new, and I am looking forward to great stuff in the new forum.

Thanks,

Kent

PS - Scott -- any chance you would shoot a video of how you use your equipment to produce QS lumber? That would be fascinating. To me. I use a lot fo QS WO and Sycamore - as you already know. But don't waste time to play to the cheap seats - - I don't expect that.

[Scott T Smith]

Gentlemen:

I don't have a mill. I don't have a kiln. I don't reasonably expect to - - in this lifetime.

But - I find this topic very interesting, so I will be lurking in the shadows. I like the intellectual challenge of learning something new, and I am looking forward to great stuff in the new forum.

Thanks,

Kent

PS - Scott -- any chance you would shoot a video of how you use your equipment to produce QS lumber? That would be fascinating. To me. I use a lot fo QS WO and Sycamore - as you already know. But don't waste time to play to the cheap seats - - I don't expect that.

Kent, I'll see what I can put together. We employ different methods depending upon several factors, including log size, balance between quarter and rift, etc.

I use at least three different techniques to produce QS on the band mill, not to mention the swing blade.

One thing that I'd like to put together is some good info for woodworkers re milling and drying lumber. My plan is to create a rough draft and then invite the other millers and kiln operators on this forum to edit and add in more info.

[Danny Hamsley]

We could do a thread on quartersawing.