# Beginner with trouble sawing cherry



## Fil-Dill (Aug 2, 2009)

I have 25 cherry logs, that have laid on the ground in a pile for 3 yrs. They were give to me, so I bought a jr. EZ boardwalk to saw them. After building leveling feet on the mill, I started to saw the worst looking ones. I am squaring 2 sides, then sawing straight thru to the bottom board. The problem I am having is the last board is raising up off the bed, between the clamps, when I saw the last cut. Is this stress in the log? Or am I suppose to be turning the cant to keep the pith in the center? Thanks


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## TexasTimbers (Oct 17, 2006)

Fil-Dill said:


> Is this stress in the log?


You're dealing with the same kind of issue you'll face when milling a crooked log, especially one like a crooked Sweetgum. Clamp the log with the hump up and just start milling. If you mill them with the crook (or the direction of tension release) parallel to the log deck, those boards are going to release tension for a long time to come. If you mill them 180º to the crook (or direction tension release) the boards will have much less tension in them. 

You can also cut them in half and mill short logs. That will make for much less waste also, but anytime you mill a log with a lot of sweep, or one that releases a lot of tension as you take it down, you're going to have a lot of waste. Most boards are cut short for woodworking anyway so just mill them short and keep the hump up on high swept logs to minimize stress in the individual boards. That's how I do it anyway. 





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## Daren (Oct 14, 2006)

I see this a lot in smaller diameter cherry logs, I assume that is what you have but could be wrong. I do what TT suggested in the situation he is describing. If these are just small but straight logs I have had to flip them each cut 180, mill a board off one side-flip-mill a board off the other. More work...but saves having a board 4/4 on each end and 6/4 in the middle :blush:


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## Fil-Dill (Aug 2, 2009)

I think that is what is going on. As you can imagine, I am starting with the crooked logs first, as I have no experience with sawing and didn't want to practice on the straight ones. I will try this on the next and see what happens. Thanks for the help. Also, I am very impressed with the EZ jr. mill.


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## Gerald (Aug 21, 2008)

Fil-Dill said:


> Also, I am very impressed with the EZ jr. mill.


Fil-Dill, I have been milling a little almost everyweek with my EZB jr. (except when it was to hot/humid) I like it a lot. Q saw a sycamore today. Lots of work but pretty stuff with all the flek.
I have been kicking around a couple of ideas for leveling feet. I just haven't stopped milling long enough to build something. 
I understand the large EZB has leveling feet but I have never seen one. Did you model yours after the EZB or design something else?


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## Fil-Dill (Aug 2, 2009)

I ordered 6 leveling post for foudations from Lowes. They were 12 to 15". After I ordered them, I realized that just propping up the mill on them would not keep them from falling over, so I took the threaded part and the nut and welded them inside a 1-1/4" tube and fastened them to the mill. Now the threaded rod is fastened to the mill facing down, to the ground. I have 4 1/2"s of travel on six points for leveling. I will try to upload a picture, however I like the larger mill version better. It is acme threaded rod with a square foot. It makes you run the mill the same height off the ground each time to screw the feet low enough to clear the carriage.


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