This past week my BIL hooked me up with a coworker of his that had 2 large poplars dropped. I figured I'd mill some into cant's for the GTG @ Kris' this year. Bonus was the guys that were taking the firewood quit after the 12-14" stuff was gone. These trees were quite large. I had to noodle into 6 pieces. 1st pic is the site day 2. The homeowner wanted this gone asap, so I milled pieces in 1/2 so they were light enough to lift with the tractor. We used his Kubota and a chain to load and I had a helluva time unloading without it! This day I had altered my milling chain (lowered the rakers) to speed up cuts. Went down the first log like a hot knife. Moved my guide board to the next stick and went right into a screw! I was bummed. Turns out I had countersunk the screw just enough to hit chain. In my defense, I had just bought new spax and they were longer than I was used to. Lesson learned (considering I've done this 2 times now). All the firewood went to my parents. They were quite surprised when they came home from camping to a nice pile of wood.
These were my first load. Too darn heavy! The Kubota was lifting rear wheels and the trans was screaming! Didn't seem to bother the guy. And for a quickie cant, I needed some shims so... Ended up 8"x13"x a little over 6'. Should be good till we get close to the limb section. I ended up ordering a new chain for the mill bar, so I'll have plenty more by the time we meet.
Sweet. That stuff will make your 394 think it is a light saber. It dries real fast and lays nice and flat and stable.
Well sheet! I was making another cant last evening and my Granberg broke! I've emailed to start a warranty claim, this was only about the 10th cut with it. I borrowed a friends to mill all my other stuff and never had an issue. This just popped! And a pic of the cant After posting on a milling FB group, I learned a bunch of guys have had this happen and they are replacing them without any issue. Claim there was a bad casting batch.
Finally...finally done running for this poplar! That's my 6' 16 year old behind the pile. The last 2 loads, first one was today. And I got an email today from UPS stating my Granberg shipment is due tomorrow.
Wow!!! nice work man that's some big O Poplar That's cool they're going to replace those parts for you
Hahaha, good one Mike! The '94 bucked this stuff like a light saber, and noodled pretty good too. The land owner did buck most of it and noodled some. His 441 wasn't getting through it like I was, so he quit after watching how efficient I was. I really struggled on the mill the last 2 times I was there. I got him one huge 2 1/4" thick slab then quit today. My mill bar groove is very sloppy. Redfin suggested using a sawzall blade and a hammer to get it back tight. I spent a while today trying that idea. Beat the hell out of it and couldn't get results. So I ended my day free-hand milling another cant. It ain't even close to straight but it's just for cookie cuttin' GTG fun, mainly for the guys who don't want to put their chain in bark covered wood that has dirt in it. It's a monster too. Hope Andy and I can lift it! It does have a good 3 weeks to dry. Woodsnwoods I don't particularly enjoy it, but w/ the 36" bar w/ full skip chain, it really went well. These 2 huge trees were live and soaking wet.
I completely wore my boy out with this wood haul. He really had the craps of it and these last 2 loads, I had something up my sleeve. A while back I found a good craigs deal on a 365 special. It wasn't close to me so I shared w/ some of my ope friends. Turns out, one of 'em picked up the saw... so @ Kris' GTG, he's going to bring it and I plan to surprise Andrew with token of my appreciation. I have a nice 24" bar to replace the 20 it has and tomorrow I'm going to send Duane a loop of chain to square grind. It should eat poplar good enough to put a smile on his face.
I had the exact same thing happen to one of my mills - that's why I built the wooden one. I didn't even think to ask about a replacement, cause I kinda thought it was my fault for letting the mill get a little out of square. Nice work on the tree - looks like a biggun! That poplar is every bit as heavy as oak IMO when it's green.
Started to split this load of poplar today. Boy am I feeling it!! If I had to guess, I'd say we got about a 1/3rd of it done. This is where we stopped for lunch. Just my dad and I.
This is @ the end of our day, before covering it with a tarp. Saved some oak to the side for immediate burning. And what's left Hoping to get this off the ground asap. Will probably hit it again the Sat.
Nice score...... I have loads of tulip poplar on my place. We have some really big ones that in protected area's, but in open areas the tops break out of them when the trunks are about the size of the one you picked up.
