No doubt. It's wearing me out moving the 066 and 36" mill. I'm learning that staying on top of all aspects of maintenance will make my life a whole lot easier though.
I may build a set of stabbing brackets and use them for the big mill. It will support the mill before it gets into the cut.
One other thing I've learned is that the next item on "to buy" list is gonna be one of those mini-mills. Making beams with just the 36" mill is a pain in the arse with having to make two cuts using the ladder guide. I'm living and learning.
That would be nice. Might make for a good beginners welding project for me (if there's any welding that is).
If you do not mill much longer than 20-24 inch wide ,the little norwood mill i have takes a lot of the work out of it ,and gets nice boards without a lot of sweat ,about 1k in price for the mill new
Yeah, those look pretty slick. I assume you have the one that uses a chainsaw? I was perusing their website and man, one of those little bandmills they make would sure be the ticket. Kind of a soggy old morning around here. Just got my last doug fir log onto the ponys and gonna try for one more beam today. If I can finish the milling and get my radishes, lettuce and bush beans into the ground, I will be admiring my handiwork while sipping on a cold PBR. That's a promise my friends.
Well dammed if your 'ol buddy Trundle didn't manage to make a friggin 6x6 beam today. Logs on the ponys and ready to go. Got er' sawed to two sides. Too late to quit now. 3 sided now. This is where I screwed up before. Nailed it! It's only a 9 footer, but she measures out at 6x6 all the way down so I'm declaring victory!
i saw a mini mill on northern tools site ,seems like once you made the first cut ,it would do the other 3 sides nice without the ladder to move around ,i want to get an alaska and a mini mill for larger logs some day
Yeah, the mini mill is definitely on my list. It would sure make beams easier and faster to do. On the plus side though, I'm getting pretty quick with setting up the ladder so it's not THAT big a deal for now. On the docket for today I've got to get some more logs down to where I'm milling. I've got another 5 or 6 doug fir trees that are pretty well infected with mistletoe right up the slope from my house. I should be able to drop them downslope and pull them with my truck to where I'm milling. I'll see if I can't get a decent pic. Be right back.
Ok, here's what I'm dealing with. This pic is sort of deceiving as it makes the trees look smaller and the slope look steeper. It shouldn't be too tough to get 'em where I need them. I'll probably be eating those words, but we'll see.
I agree. Green doug fir is about as good as it gets (in my experience) as far as steering it with hinge wood. These ones are inclined to go either straight down-slope or quartered down the slope. The ones on the right side of the pic I'll put quartered down and the ones on the left I'll put straight down just cause that'll give me the easiest pull angles from the road.
Got my milling area cleaned up and the cut offs from the last few days sawed into stove lengths. Nice by-product of milling your own lumber for sure. edit - yes, that is bird crap on the rock at the bottom of the pic. The robins have been going crazy around here lately.
Hey Trundle. Just found your thread and the parbuckle idea. Here's what I did this winter with not a lot of hassle or pull needed... Pulled with the ATV. Because you'll be only using nice straight logs for milling... parbuckling should work perfectly for you.
i have been getting so much of that from the first cuts ,i ended up putting most of it in a bon fire ,hated to do it ,but they were thinner scraps and hard to stack ,i make 1x4 ,2x4 ,2x6 out of the first passes ,so my scraps do not end up making too good of firewood ,with an alaska mill it ,may be a lot of work to get the smaller boards ,i have never actually run one yet
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