03-25-2016, 01:15 AM
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Quartersawn lumber
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03-25-2016, 01:52 AM
Why do they swap the log end-for-end when quarter-sawing? Is it to avoid any chance of cutting a taper or is there another reason?
"Truth is a highway leading to freedom" --Kris Kristofferson
Wild Turkey We may see the writing on the wall, but all we do is criticize the handwriting. (joined 10/1999) 
03-25-2016, 03:35 AM
Wild Turkey said: I'm guessing it's down to the type of mill they are using. Looks like a large band saw, stationary blade and the log moving on a carriage. Because of the way the log is clamped on the carriage they need to spin it to clamp and saw the other face. Smaller band saw mills can achieve the same thing without swapping the log end, and my mill I can saw out a similar pattern without moving the log at all. But they may find that the cutting speed of their larger band saw makes up for the extra log handling needed. But the video is a good demonstration of how Q-sawn boards are produced.
03-25-2016, 04:14 AM
Paul,
It is interesting that this is the company who put out the graphic that we had a discussion about a month or so ago, that mis labeled the various sawing techniques, i.e. flat,quartered, and rift (did this on my dest top Mac and the spelling is correct). I have toured the Frank Miller facility and saw the operation first hand. There is actually little to see of the sawing process because the machine is so shielded, but it was interesting none the less. The end of the log is photographed or scanned (can't remember which)and a computer decides the best way to saw for yield. The best part was the grading. They had about 8 burly guys grab the wood as it came off and stack it on the appropriate skid. This was after a person with unbelievable concentration and agility marked the boards for grading. Rob Millard www.americanfederalperiod.com 
03-25-2016, 04:26 AM
ianab said: Think the seeming end swap may have more to do with animation than mechanics. Kicking the half/quarter aside parallel to the carriage to wait its turn demands a lot less room than swapping ends. Most mills here now have optical grading instead of the "last liar" with his scale stick.
Better to follow the leader than the pack. Less to step in.
03-25-2016, 10:37 AM
A better glimpse of FML's current day operation is seen in this very short clip. Plus the history of how they got to be where they are now.
Right when he is saying after 30 years of mutually doing business, you will see one of the small saws, not on the tour. It is from these rigs they made the posted video. It is here they are required to swap the log end for end. That is a time consuming process. Right after the Lady says Bob had just graduated from Purdue you will see the big head saw from the operators viewpoint up in the control pod. The big saw uses the blades pictured below. The saw itself is hard to imagine on the regular tour because of safety regs they cannot allow you to get close enough to see much. Lucky for me I have toured when the plant was down for repair/maintenance, and have been able to walk around, and under it. My impression is it's a lot like T Rex, and it's huge mouth. The maw opens enough to accept logs to 42". The operator has a glassine screen where a projection of up to 8 different cut patterns are projected. He picks the one he wants to use, accepts it and from that point a lot of the machine is on auto, but the operator actually is controlling each cut, and at any time the operator can stop, and reconfigure a log. I was told this is roughly 2 out of 10 trees. While making cuts the head just moves back and forth across the blade (Think huge bandsaw) on the backstroke (non cutting pass) the maw opens and rotates the quartered log to the next cutting position, and once back almost instantly goes back forward again, making the cut. From the distance on the regular tour it looks like T Rex wagging his head back and forth. However with this rig the need to flip the log end for end is not required. It is done by rolling the log to the next logical slice. The maw and the log being cut are somewhere around 22 feet off the ground floor. Below that are hydraulic arms that hold quarters after they are fed in, and they move in and out of the way to take off individual boards that have been cut. It's a lot of activity going on at the same time, and to keep it like the Swiss watch it needs to be they go down fairly often and do maintenance. The area where we had our best view is under and in front of the headsaw. They have a large maintenance shop right there where they sharpen the blades. There is a huge rack that holds the blades, and they were in a wide variety of heights. They start new around 14" tall, and they will use and sharpen down to around 6". I keep meaning to ask Darren how long that takes to wear one down. Time between swap out is controlled by the operator. it appears all Oak is not created equal, and some runs dull a blade much quicker than the norm, and vice versa. On the tour they walk you by a giant monolithic chainsaw sticking out of the ground with a hundred horse diesel engine on a pad nearby. It is very close to the outside yard where the trees are all waiting for sawing. There is always a pile of trees that are visually much larger diameter than the norm. They only run it on nights but the big logs are sent through the huge chainsaw to make them manageable enough to go on the headsaw. Huge operation, huge warehouse, and they flip a million + bd/ft a month. The biggest beauty is they are designed for industry, and commercial accounts only. Yet they are open to, and sell to everyday Joe. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nsB5yiKe-r8  Other vids are available at you tube. The one stacking lumber FM style is a look at the guy taking boards off the conveyor. They will work several different carts depending on the grades, and features that are coming from that run. Generally they will work White Oak all day, maybe switching to Walnut the next day, but they don't work a mix because then their stacking, bundling process would be shot. In the vid it looks like WO the video appears to be a co-worker taking it of the stacker. He is pulling off S&B to one cart, possible QS to another, rift, #1 common, etc NOTE there is STRONG ADULT LANGUAGE used by the cameraman. This vid incorporates the one before, and also has more glimpses of the headsaw in action. There is one view from outside looking back at the maw, you can see it turning the log before the next cut. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0j_A4Lk8Zys This is a flavor piece on Indiana TV. It has other footage, and shows the retail outlet, and some warehouse shots https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=X-liRae573I They are 100% use, the bark, sawdust, and offcuts go to fire, and that heats the kilns, and they also have a mulch pile for clean bark they sell to commercial accounts. For slightly larger offcuts they sell wood bundles. One will about fill a truck bed, and they used to be 55 bux. Firewood, to woodworkers small wood source.
Worst thing they can do is cook ya and eat ya
 GW
03-25-2016, 10:59 AM
MichaelMouse said: No on the first vid I posted you will see how the old saws worked (just the cut portion. It's at about 48 seconds in, shows a half getting quartered, the cut log stays high, the other quarter belts off). They didn't physically lift the log up and flip it, but they did conveyor it away from the saw, and on the back side (think Merry Go Round with an inner, and an outer chaseway) the operators rotated them on the beltway so the next pass it came in flipped from how it went out. It had a fairly steady stream of wood coming at the blade, but the orientation of how it was coming in happened behind the saw, and was done with pushers, shovers, and flippers that were actuated by the operators. On those the operators positioned the quarter how they wanted it before reaching the saw, and the quarter on the belt just fed into the blade. After the cut if it was just quarters they continued around, if it was making cuts they would fall off and route out to a fall where the graders sent them on to the next stage. Sometimes they needed trimming, sometimes just stacking. With the old saws they found it easier to prod the massive quarters with the pushers, and flippers on a roller bed like structure to get it end for end than they could roll a quartered log over. Too lumpy. They still cut a large portion of their quartered wood this way, it's effective, just not cutting edge. The new saw can do any cut, and is really fast, it's almost a blur to watch it when it's going. I think the pics they have for the video are of a really slow speed.
Worst thing they can do is cook ya and eat ya
GW
03-25-2016, 02:44 PM
All those videos are pretty interesting. I cut a lot of my own lumber with a chainsaw mill. In comparison to what these guys are doing, it's like the stone age. In one of those videos it was mentioned that after they went to steam power they could produce 2000 BF/day. I wonder how many BF/day they make now. I might get 200 BF/day, but the lumber is just as good.
Good stuff. John
03-25-2016, 03:09 PM
Of course, you hadn't posted when the observation was made.
Better to follow the leader than the pack. Less to step in.
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