!!! SEPP to Boot: Stephen's Experience (BEL)

My first thought is to go through every bolt on and under that sawmill head and make sure they're tight.  There's a bearing mount under there that was loose and it caused all sorts of side to side rubbing and issues till we tightened it up.

I doubt it's the level or slant of the frame.

It's really easy for a small log like that to rotate with all that vibration.  And it's probably rotating clockwise as you look down the log since the blade puts some downward load on it during the cut.  Maybe mark a vertical line on the end of the log with a small level and after cutting it and encountering the problem, see if the line is still vertical.

For getting logs up on the stands, just get some beefy timbers (4x4x8' long) and cut down the loading side of the stands with 4" deep notches for those ramp timbers.  Then you can easily roll the logs up without putting much side pressure on your stand logs.

Also, once you like the height of the sawmill, the stand logs can be adjusted vertically to maximize wood removed from the logs.  So you don't leave a fat slab when you're done.

Lastly, one thing I struggled with on bigger logs was taking deep cuts when the log is more than half gone.  As you get halfway across the remaining bit of the log, it has all its weight on one side and wants to spin in the stand logs.  I had to screw it down to keep that from happening.  And then remember to not hit the screws with the saw...

Mike Haasl wrote:Lastly, one thing I struggled with on bigger logs was taking deep cuts when the log is more than half gone.  As you get halfway across the remaining bit of the log, it has all its weight on one side and wants to spin in the stand logs.  I had to screw it down to keep that from happening.  And then remember to not hit the screws with the saw...

Thanks for the suggestions, Mike!

We're going over there today, and beyond deepening the posts and adding anchor rebar to them, we'll have a look at the underside of the saw carriage, tighten everything down, then make sure we have secure, beefy ramps for all our logs.

BEL #800

(it's a new milestone...!)

For my octennial post, I wanted to do a video update of our GAMCOD project hugelkultur. Enjoy!



Thanks for watching, and enjoy your day...!

BEL #801

I wanted to archive some photos from our first attempt at setting up the solar-powered sawmill in its (hopefully) permanent location.

Here's fellow Boot Shawn trimming up the log ramps that hold logs still while we process them.



We set up everything at the sawmill for the first time in nearly a year. I was practically vibrating with excitement at the chance to have it running again.



We decided on a larch tree, not further than 50 feet away from the new sawmill location.



Say what you will about electric chainsaws. They do the job.  Note the use of the Tree Jack, off to the right.



That's all for now. Thanks for reading, and enjoy your day...!

Caught up again.  I like how in the group photo, Shawn's moustache is all of him that moves.

I was reminded recently again that information has a lot more meaning when you have some familiarity with the people and places contained within that information.