Sawmill Day

After removing distressed trees from the forest a couple of times, we have enough logs to have a sawyer with a portable Wood-Mizer band sawmill spend the day milling them up into boards.  This was the longest we have ever sawed for in a single day.  We went from 8am until 8:30pm with just an hour break for lunch.  We had 2 stacks of logs:  one stack was all cherry, and the other was a mix of ash, maple, box elder, and some more cherry.  There were around 60 logs when we started and we ended up with about 10 left.

Find a sawyer in your area:
http://bit.ly/1GAfhgr

Lets look at the process of turning a log into boards
The hydraulic lift on the mill makes it really easy to get a log onto the deck.
The hydraulic lift on the mill makes it really easy to get a log onto the deck.

Once it’s up there the hydraulic clamp clamps the log in place against the side supports.The goal of these first cuts is to turn the log into a cant which is essentially a beam.

The first cut starts the process of removing the roundness of the log.
The first cut starts the process of removing the roundness of the log.
The log can then be rotated 90 degrees and reclamped against the side supports. This second cut is also waste.
The log can then be rotated 90 degrees and reclamped against the side supports. This second cut is also waste.
Since the second cut didn't meet the first cut, Bruce makes a second pass on this face which produces a live edge board. We will set this aside for now and trim the edges off later.
Since the second cut didn’t meet the first cut, Bruce makes a second pass on this face which produces a live edge board. We will set this aside for now and trim the edges off later.
This fourth cut further removes the curvature of the log
This fourth cut further removes the curvature of the log
A second cut is also made on this face which produces a board with one live edge
A second cut is also made on this face which produces a board with one live edge
The log is then rotated a final time and we place the live edge boards in with the log.
The log is then rotated a final time and we place the live edge boards in with the log.
Now the mill can run back and forth producing boards and edging the other boards from before.
Now the mill can run back and forth producing boards and edging the other boards from before.
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