# Small Milling Fix



## TexasTimbers (Oct 17, 2006)

I threw an old nasty stump and a small scraggly log on the mill. They both looked like 9 miles of bad road before milling. Wish I had take a picture of them before opening them up. Nothing super spectacular like James log, but it gave me a brief respite from withdrawals. I might try and throw another on later this evening. Right now I have to tend other irons . . . . 









































I can do better than this, but it's all I could scrape together for now. I'll try and squeeze in some twilight milling later.


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## Daren (Oct 14, 2006)

Nice ! You guys are killing me. Yes I did mill in the rain the other day...boring old cedar. Between you and James I am really going to have to get on the ball to keep up around here.


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## greg4269ub (Sep 1, 2009)

i know the feeling daren, i have only gotton my hands on some bass wood lately talk about boring. they were big though about 26" diameter got a good mixture of 4, 6 and 8 quarter out of it.


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## TexasTimbers (Oct 17, 2006)

Twilight milling as promised. 


Wonder what's going to come out of it?


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## James04 (Nov 3, 2009)

Never mind the wood. I drooling over the big iron. Nice rig TT! What is the max width cut?

James


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## James04 (Nov 3, 2009)

TexasTimbers said:


> I threw an old nasty stump and a small scraggly log on the mill. They both looked like 9 miles of bad road before milling. Wish I had take a picture of them before opening them up. Nothing super spectacular like James log, but it gave me a brief respite from withdrawals. I might try and throw another on later this evening. Right now I have to tend other irons . . . .
> 
> View attachment 11687
> 
> ...


That is some pretty wood. What is it? Does it keep that color or does it change?

James


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## dirtclod (May 7, 2008)

More gifts God has hidden for you to find. They ain't allways obvious are they?

I haven't been milling much lately either. Rain and other obligations. Got more logs available than I could mill in a year. Hope to get back at it in a few weeks.


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## jeffreythree (Jan 9, 2008)

I can't wait to get back out and mill! Finally had some free weekends and my kid gets the flu on the first and me the second along with a nice throbbing earache. Of course, I was offered a pile of big ERC logs in the middle of this and had to turn it down:sad:. My only fix is what I get to see cut here. No chance in sight with deadlines looming and Thankgiving.


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## mdlbldrmatt135 (Dec 6, 2006)

James04 said:


> That is some pretty wood. What is it? Does it keep that color or does it change?
> 
> James


 
Red Box Elder........... and it is some niiiice stuff......


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## TexasTimbers (Oct 17, 2006)

James, don't get too impressed with the hardware. It ain't what ya got but what ya do with it. There's no better example of it than what you just pulled off recently, and what Daren and others with small manual mills do on a regular basis. And even when ya have big fancy iron, if it ain't working it ain't doing ya any good, as you'll see later......

The first stuff is Flame Boxelder like Matt said. Red Boxelder, Red River Maple, Manitoba Maple, Ash Maple, Sugar Ash and a few more. Like most trees it has many regional names. It's a Maple though . . Acer Negundo. It's commonly misspelled as Box Elder. Almost always that way even in books, the name of some towns etc. but it is correctly one word Boxelder. Same as Honeylocust which is usually incorrectly shown as Honey Locust. I even do it sometimes in error. 

The big twilight log is a Sycamore. I took it a little farther last night than what I posted pictures of because I was deaddog tired. Me and my son in law moved roughly 10,000 BF of lumber out of my shop into a dry bin by hand. But then I had to wrestle that sycamore around manually after he left. 

I knew when I fished it out of the pile it wouldn't be spalted much yet but I figured what the heck qtr sawn syc is pretty all by itself, and I have the rest of this tree in the pile and part of another so I I'm good for spalted sycamore in a few months. 


























You can't tell nothing is amiss from this photo unless you look real close. The clamp is on the wrong side of the log. Is the log even clamped? :huh:








Nope it ain't. Because my side support is broke so I cannot use my hydraulic log turner. So really I ain't got one, other than the two plane clamp, me, and a long board to wrestle the log with . . . .


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## TexasTimbers (Oct 17, 2006)

So, it's just resting on the clamp and the wedge I managed to insert at the other end, on the other side. But with a sharp blade and the log being so dern heavy, I figured i could take the pith cut without the log moving. If it had, it would've eaten the blade and who knows what else. 








It could've taken an act of congress to get the log leveled to the blade manually, but I guess I had just enough energy left, and luck, to do it on the first try. Surprised me too. 
























They'll be some decent lumber from this log. Even though this cut isn't good perpendicular qtr sawn yet, you can already see why Sycamore is often referred to as American Lacewood . . . . . .


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## Daren (Oct 14, 2006)

TexasTimbers said:


> And even when ya have big fancy iron, if it ain't working it ain't doing ya any good,


I had an old boy tell me years ago about the sawmill business "If you don't have something broke down...you are about to" He was right. My mill is pretty simple, but I have still broke it a couple times. I am having skidsteer troubles right now, a bunch of little things. Or it's a trailer, or a chainsaw or...This stuff is hard on machines and bodies.


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## greg4269ub (Sep 1, 2009)

murphy seems to live near my sawmill or something:thumbdown: i am constatly fixin' something my pettybones gives me the most greif. i have a carburator that has sticking floats and floods the thing out quite a bit. i hope the skid steer doesn't keep you down too long:smile:


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## APJ (Nov 10, 2009)

I'd be proud to be able to work on it let alone own iron of any size.
I don't have the room for a mill on my property or in my wallet.
I have to keep plastic wrap on the key board 
to keep it dry while looking at members equipment, machinery. If I could only keep my month closed to stop the drool .


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