Where does your lumber come from?

[jteneyck]

It's amazing such a beautiful piece of wood came out of that ugly looking log, Ian.  But I guess Acacia is somewhat like Ipe' and other woods that don't rot.  

How did you cut it that wide with your Swing mill?  Two pass cutting?  

John

[ianab]

How did you cut it that wide with your Swing mill?  Two pass cutting?  

John

The trick is to saw just over 1/2 way though the log, then flip it over and saw from the other side. You can only make one live edge per log, but they can be pretty big.

[MauleSkinner]

THanks for posting that. I have never seen a mill quite like that, with two blades running together. Sort of like a predecessor of the Peterson Swing Mill. Looks like a good set up for making construction lumber and beams.

John

A lot of 2x4s.
on up to 2x12s for roof trusses.

I think the biggest thing we cut was a 14” square beam for the top of a shed door frame.

[Arlin Eastman]

My stuff comes either from people here by way of scrap or a local farmer who has been milling wood for 45 years and gives us some scrap which is not really scrap to a turner just others will not buy it.

[EdL]

Some older pics of our mill....

   

   

   

   

[jteneyck]

Some older pics of our mill....

That looks like a really nice mill.  I had never heard of Dyna Tech until your post.  Are they still in business?  

I'm super jealous of that Bobcat.  That would make handling logs SOOOOOOO much easier.  

John

[jteneyck]

I'm whittling down that log.  21" wide cuts at the moment, and then I'll flip it one more time when I get to the centerline.  




John

[EdL]

Thankfully Dyna no longer makes mills, some stuff on it is just a little to backwoods Amish.

The Bobcat & grapple make life easier and safer. Sadly we load from the wrong side of the mill. I'm loading over the stops instead of into them.
I can set the log on and release the grapple without worry of the log rolling, using pallet forks was scary.

Ed

[stav]

You all make this look fun. And you get some great wood. Wonder If I can sell this idea to LOML?

Like Arlin, I get most of my lumber from scrap sources, although, all of my projects have a really scrappy feel.

[WoodworkerTom]

My lumber comes from someone else's sawmill. Lot easier and less taxing on my body.

If I was younger, had a mill and land with mature trees I would probably do what you are doing but alas I am an urban boy.

Nice wood and thanks for pics.