Single best sawmilling channel on YT. I don't know about others, (I don't "think" I'm slow lol) but I often find myself watching your vids multiple times as with the wealth of information and tips, I don't feel like I can absorb all of them in one viewing. Think I'm going to start a notebook and pause the vids to try to keep up. I really do appreciate what you are sharing and hope others realize what an awesome resource you are. Thank you Mr. Milton.
I know you tend to stay away from cutting timber/beam sized stuff but would love a vid on it at some point if you ever get the chance. Hoping to have the lt15 wide by next year to start sawing for a timber frame. I’ve said it before but really appreciate your videos!
Always a joy to watch a Master enjoying his work and quick deciding how to maximize the yield. Takes a whole lot of experience to do. Thank you for all the extra time to put together these lessons, Professor. I sadly realize I lack a similar background to fully appreciate your skills. The visit always goes by too quick quick.
Great work as always....could we get more videos like this showing how you diagnose a log on the fly? Really made sense and could easily apply to my situations.
I was wondering if anybody was hearing that. I reheard the sound as I was doing the editing, and yes, it did sound sweet! I love the ringing of a saw band.
I have enjoyed watching you "having fun". What I have observed during your sawmilling session is several special techniques (tips and tricks) that you apply playing in this game of "Sawer verses Mother Nature", with her hidden tricks growing her wood, to produce the best of the best boards.
That's a great way of putting it, and the reason I enjoy it so much. She does what she does, I try to counter and do what I do using the techniques and tools I have, and hopefully everything works out well.
I liked that. As an about to be newbie Sawyer(just recently purchased a mill),I got a lot to learn. I just hope I've absorbed enough of your experience and knowledge to help lol. I know I'll have to get hands on and hours on the saw to get it all, but yes I see this as fun especially with a bit of good guidance and always knowingbthere's folks out there like you too help with any problems and concerns. Thanks for your time and effort there Mr. Mentor lol
Hey buddy thanks so much for this great video! Letting us inside your thoughts while milling! I feel like you made this one just for me! You are my sensei!
Excellent video once again sir, your ability to read the wood is paramount. If you would touch on your decisions at some point, I'll be re watching, metal notes taken. Milling dry Spruce is challenging with all the knot clusters and pitch pockets. You've cleaned the mill, appreciate your time. I use Joe for all my bands as well, i keep bee spray close to the mill lol saw safely thanks again
Can you believe it? I was completely out of bee spray! I didn't show the clip where I went looking through all any cabinets and ands shelves and I could not find a single can of the stuff that wasn't empty, which I normally keep everywhere. So all I had was a spray bottle of oil, and it seems to work.
I would cut a cull board to be used in a utility application and a thin slab instead of throwing material away. My old man would roll over in his grave. Lol.i would say you don't want to handle cull stuff on money in it .Growing up we would use them boards for the hog pin or something. Thanks for the video I like sawmilling I was raised up at a mill and ran one for a while early in in my life circle mill of course 440 Corley pulled with a Detroit. It wasn't much but it payed the bills sort of .
This was a good comment, and I will probably make a video on this. The thing I don't mention is that although the boards are destined for the burn pit, we have customers who know I discard them, and will pick them up (I give them away for free) as a free perk for shopping with us. We do the same with all our edgings, culls and stuff that we trim off. It's kind of like a feeble for shopping with us, buy some high grade from us and they get access to all our scrap piles, whether it be boards, sawdust, edgings, log cutoffs, etc for free. Some people even buy wood from us in the winter simply because they can load their pickup with free firewood. We make money, they save money, and everybody wins.
Great video, educational and entertaining as always. I personally like the voice over of your thoughts as you saw. How about a video of you doing the vertical sawing ,maybe let chip do the voice over.
God's trees and your expertise sure makes for some beautiful wood! I know very little about your trade but I watch another guy with a round sawmill and I think the band mills do a faster and better job!
Yes, it matters a lot. The backstops need to perpendicular to the bed, as well as the log clamp ram. Using both I can quickly get a right angle and verify it, also.
Yes, there is a lot to getting it right, but as a general rule, the stacks need to be under a cover, with open four sides, on flat concrete, in an area that “feels comfortable.” It’s hard to explain, but if you stack wood in a spot you don’t want to be in, such as too hot, too humid, too windy, too stagnant, your wood won’t like it either. 16 inch centers for the stickers, 24 layers high, two packs per stack.
On this video you are turning the cant and then it looks like your going directly into the next cut. I'm curious how the setworks knows where to go if you haven't indexed the saw to the top of the cant. If turned 180 I can see it being the same but it looked like when just turning 90 you were also able to go right into the next cut. I just put after market setworks on my mill, Micron LT 350 Pro. It knows where the saw is in relation to the bed and is also capable of doing pattern cutting. I haven't ran it yet and I'm in the process of putting an outfeed table and roller bed similar to what you have set up.
You are correct and with a combination of bed mode and pattern mode on your setworks, you'll be able to do the same thing. Being able to switch between both instantly is a game changer.
Do you alien the pit to the saw bed as I have heard ? I see you don't do that so you wine up with two boards with pit in it I have learned a lot for you about how to look at you log to see where to start and where the stress might be.
You are correct, only time I align the pith to the bed is when sawing center cut Timbers, beams or quartersawing. All hardwood grade sawing is aligned with the edge of the log, or called “parallel bark sawing.” It’s almost impossible to get the pith contained in one cherry board anyway, so having it in two boards saves time. It all goes to the burn pile.
Again another great and informative video. Jumping in here somewhat off topic but if I remember correctly in a previous video you discussed running smaller wheel belts, am I correct in that? Anyway I have an LT 40 that takes B-57 belts the next size down is B-56. After somewhat of a struggle I got them on. The last 6 or 8" rolled and were basically upside down. Using a round bladed screwdriver and inserting it under the belt where it was in the pulley correct and then pulling it along the belt rolled back and is now in the groove correctly. The reason I say all that is now I'm wondering if I created high and low spots around the circumference. There now seems to be more blade vibration between the guide rolls. Maybe I'm just now noticing something that was always there.
Yes, I run smaller belts and they can be difficult to put on. However, they should be more uniform on the band wheel and eliminate high spots. If you use diesel or any kind of oil in your band lube, they will swell just tad and be much easier to take off. If you squirt some Dawn soap on your wheels and belts, they will go on much easier.
@@HobbyHardwoodAlabama Thanks for replying. I used a little dawn on the belt, next time I will use more and also put some on the wheel. I have not ran diesel before but set it up to run diesel now. I have installed a fuel filter inline and a needle valve with a sight glass no pump just gravity fed. Planning on just letting the diesel drip directly on the blade and not use any felt like I see on the Cooks mill. Looks like it just makes a mess with sawdust building up on the felt. Does my plan make sense? How many drips a minute would be a good starting point?
Yes, that's exactly what I do. Every now and then there will be one worth saving, most times they just get a ride down the roller table to the burn pit.
It's almost brand new, never been used hard, and only driven by a little old lady on Sundays to make tomato stakes. If I put my thumb on the correct place on the hour meter, it's only got 5 hours on it. That's my story, and I'm sticking to it. It's for sale....if the price is right.
You are correct, just cut through to save time. They would be graded as Number 2 Common at best, the lowest of the low, so I send them to the burn pile.
The fundamental difference is that in quartersawing, the log is aligned to split the medullary rays to get the quartersawn fleck, while vertical grain sawing purposefully avoids fleck, and is basically very fast rift sawing that can be done on a half cant at a moments notice. As with quartersawn wood, the stress is out in the edge direction so is a very good way to get flat wood out of unbalanced and highly stressed logs, very quickly and easily.
You have won the prize! That is the the whole point of how I saw, it is not color by numbers, it isn't hard and fast rules, it's use the head on my shoulders and think about what I'm doing, think about what I have in my bag of tricks, and make adjustments without missing a cut! One very experienced sawmiller spent some time using my techniques and he said it was "Freestyle Sawing."
Single best sawmilling channel on YT. I don't know about others, (I don't "think" I'm slow lol) but I often find myself watching your vids multiple times as with the wealth of information and tips, I don't feel like I can absorb all of them in one viewing.
Think I'm going to start a notebook and pause the vids to try to keep up.
I really do appreciate what you are sharing and hope others realize what an awesome resource you are.
Thank you Mr. Milton.
I really appreciate the comments and I will try to continue to make them interesting.
I know you tend to stay away from cutting timber/beam sized stuff but would love a vid on it at some point if you ever get the chance. Hoping to have the lt15 wide by next year to start sawing for a timber frame. I’ve said it before but really appreciate your videos!
I will maybe do one. Good suggestion!
Always a joy to watch a Master enjoying his work and quick deciding how to maximize the yield. Takes a whole lot of experience to do. Thank you for all the extra time to put together these lessons, Professor. I sadly realize I lack a similar background to fully appreciate your skills. The visit always goes by too quick quick.
I don't know about that, you seem pretty darn sharp! Anyway, I appreciate your comments and watching the videos.
Thank you 👍🏻👍🏻👍🏻👍🏻👍🏻
Thank you too!
Great work as always....could we get more videos like this showing how you diagnose a log on the fly? Really made sense and could easily apply to my situations.
That's the plan! However I have to mix them up with some other stuff.
Just have to love the sound of that blade sawing through that wood good video Robert
I was wondering if anybody was hearing that. I reheard the sound as I was doing the editing, and yes, it did sound sweet! I love the ringing of a saw band.
I have enjoyed watching you "having fun". What I have observed during your sawmilling session is several special techniques (tips and tricks) that you apply playing in this game of "Sawer verses Mother Nature", with her hidden tricks growing her wood, to produce the best of the best boards.
That's a great way of putting it, and the reason I enjoy it so much. She does what she does, I try to counter and do what I do using the techniques and tools I have, and hopefully everything works out well.
I liked that. As an about to be newbie Sawyer(just recently purchased a mill),I got a lot to learn. I just hope I've absorbed enough of your experience and knowledge to help lol. I know I'll have to get hands on and hours on the saw to get it all, but yes I see this as fun especially with a bit of good guidance and always knowingbthere's folks out there like you too help with any problems and concerns. Thanks for your time and effort there Mr. Mentor lol
Excellent video Robert thanks for the taking us along,
Glad you enjoyed it, I wasn't sure what people would think about it.
Cuts and grain looks great
Thanks!
Let’s go!!!!!
Yes, let's get er done1
always a pleasure watching you work thank you
My pleasure
Love the talk over . Very informative .
Glad you enjoyed it!
Even with the all the background noise the video had so much information about cutting around stress. Loved the video keep them coming.
I will keep the cameras running as long as people keep watching and commenting.
Hey buddy thanks so much for this great video! Letting us inside your thoughts while milling! I feel like you made this one just for me! You are my sensei!
I’m glad you liked it, there are a lot of decisions that have to be made real fast, but it’s fun and each one makes the wood come out better.
Excellent video once again sir, your ability to read the wood is paramount.
If you would touch on your decisions at some point, I'll be re watching, metal notes taken.
Milling dry Spruce is challenging with all the knot clusters and pitch pockets.
You've cleaned the mill, appreciate your time.
I use Joe for all my bands as well, i keep bee spray close to the mill lol saw safely thanks again
Can you believe it? I was completely out of bee spray! I didn't show the clip where I went looking through all any cabinets and ands shelves and I could not find a single can of the stuff that wasn't empty, which I normally keep everywhere. So all I had was a spray bottle of oil, and it seems to work.
@@HobbyHardwoodAlabama glad you didn't get stung!
Really liked this video explaining as you went. Appreciate the time it takes to do videos. Good information
I appreciate that!
I had fun! Great video.
Thank you!
Really enjoyed you explaining what your doing, your mill setup is amazing. Thanks for sharing it with us, have a great day.
Glad you enjoyed it
Saw milling is fun to watch if you are watching someone that knows what he is doing.
OK, who makes those videos? I'm kidding, I'm glad you enjoyed them. Robert
Always informational.
Thanks!
good video and job nice cherry. take care, be safe and well.
Thanks, you too!
Enjoyed, I'm a slow learner sometimes, but you help speed up the educational process for me and reduce my mistakes.😮
Thanks!
Enjoyed it
Thanks!
I would like to see the extended version, i.e. the material handling.
I will make one, or maybe a several on the subject.
I would cut a cull board to be used in a utility application and a thin slab instead of throwing material away. My old man would roll over in his grave. Lol.i would say you don't want to handle cull stuff on money in it .Growing up we would use them boards for the hog pin or something. Thanks for the video I like sawmilling I was raised up at a mill and ran one for a while early in in my life circle mill of course 440 Corley pulled with a Detroit. It wasn't much but it payed the bills sort of .
This was a good comment, and I will probably make a video on this. The thing I don't mention is that although the boards are destined for the burn pit, we have customers who know I discard them, and will pick them up (I give them away for free) as a free perk for shopping with us. We do the same with all our edgings, culls and stuff that we trim off. It's kind of like a feeble for shopping with us, buy some high grade from us and they get access to all our scrap piles, whether it be boards, sawdust, edgings, log cutoffs, etc for free. Some people even buy wood from us in the winter simply because they can load their pickup with free firewood. We make money, they save money, and everybody wins.
Great video, educational and entertaining as always. I personally like the voice over of your thoughts as you saw. How about a video of you doing the vertical sawing ,maybe let chip do the voice over.
I will ask him. He will probably ask for raise. I do need to do a video on vertical grain sawing. It’s a very valuable technique to know.
Looking forward to the video, as far as a raise, you know as well as I good help is worth it.
Good video Robert, thanks.
Glad you enjoyed it
Great instructional and informative sawing. Appreciate the video.
Glad it was helpful!
God's trees and your expertise sure makes for some beautiful wood! I know very little about your trade but I watch another guy with a round sawmill and I think the band mills do a faster and better job!
That means a lot to me! I always try to do the best I can, it's what I owe Mother Nature and to my customers. Also, I owe it to Ricky Bobby!
I enjoyed the hell out of that! 😁
You're the best, Robert!
Glad to hear it!
You looked like a real gunslinger with that spray bottle! 😂 Thanks for another great video Robert!!
I was shooting to kill, they were after me. I won, they lost. It was fun.
Mr. Milton, enjoyed this one a ton! Can you tell me where I can buy a drag back system like yours?
Some parts came from Woodmizer, some I had to build.
When you turn the log after the first cut, how do you know that you have a right angle on the stops?
Doesn't it matter how you cut into thin boards?
Yes, it matters a lot. The backstops need to perpendicular to the bed, as well as the log clamp ram. Using both I can quickly get a right angle and verify it, also.
Can we see how you have your air drying stacks? We’re building pallets from your last few videos as we speak. Thanks for all the info. Love the videos
Yes, there is a lot to getting it right, but as a general rule, the stacks need to be under a cover, with open four sides, on flat concrete, in an area that “feels comfortable.” It’s hard to explain, but if you stack wood in a spot you don’t want to be in, such as too hot, too humid, too windy, too stagnant, your wood won’t like it either. 16 inch centers for the stickers, 24 layers high, two packs per stack.
@@HobbyHardwoodAlabamamakes total sense. Thank you for your time.
On this video you are turning the cant and then it looks like your going directly into the next cut. I'm curious how the setworks knows where to go if you haven't indexed the saw to the top of the cant. If turned 180 I can see it being the same but it looked like when just turning 90 you were also able to go right into the next cut. I just put after market setworks on my mill, Micron LT 350 Pro. It knows where the saw is in relation to the bed and is also capable of doing pattern cutting. I haven't ran it yet and I'm in the process of putting an outfeed table and roller bed similar to what you have set up.
You are correct and with a combination of bed mode and pattern mode on your setworks, you'll be able to do the same thing. Being able to switch between both instantly is a game changer.
I'm new to milling. I was wondering how you know how far to raise your head for the board return to work properly?
About 3/8" and I can "feel the timing" because it doesn't have to be spot on. Sometimes I can use the bump up functions, as well.
Do you alien the pit to the saw bed as I have heard ? I see you don't do that so you wine up with two boards with pit in it I have learned a lot for you about how to look at you log to see where to start and where the stress might be.
You are correct, only time I align the pith to the bed is when sawing center cut Timbers, beams or quartersawing. All hardwood grade sawing is aligned with the edge of the log, or called “parallel bark sawing.” It’s almost impossible to get the pith contained in one cherry board anyway, so having it in two boards saves time. It all goes to the burn pile.
Again another great and informative video. Jumping in here somewhat off topic but if I remember correctly in a previous video you discussed running smaller wheel belts, am I correct in that? Anyway I have an LT 40 that takes B-57 belts the next size down is B-56. After somewhat of a struggle I got them on. The last 6 or 8" rolled and were basically upside down. Using a round bladed screwdriver and inserting it under the belt where it was in the pulley correct and then pulling it along the belt rolled back and is now in the groove correctly. The reason I say all that is now I'm wondering if I created high and low spots around the circumference. There now seems to be more blade vibration between the guide rolls. Maybe I'm just now noticing something that was always there.
Yes, I run smaller belts and they can be difficult to put on. However, they should be more uniform on the band wheel and eliminate high spots. If you use diesel or any kind of oil in your band lube, they will swell just tad and be much easier to take off. If you squirt some Dawn soap on your wheels and belts, they will go on much easier.
@@HobbyHardwoodAlabama Thanks for replying. I used a little dawn on the belt, next time I will use more and also put some on the wheel. I have not ran diesel before but set it up to run diesel now. I have installed a fuel filter inline and a needle valve with a sight glass no pump just gravity fed. Planning on just letting the diesel drip directly on the blade and not use any felt like I see on the Cooks mill. Looks like it just makes a mess with sawdust building up on the felt. Does my plan make sense? How many drips a minute would be a good starting point?
Just wondering about the pith boards, do you cull through those when stacking and put them in the scrap pile. Thanks Robert, great video.
Yes, that's exactly what I do. Every now and then there will be one worth saving, most times they just get a ride down the roller table to the burn pit.
@@HobbyHardwoodAlabama Thanks for the info Robert.
Good video.
Thanks!
How many hrs are on your mill.
It's almost brand new, never been used hard, and only driven by a little old lady on Sundays to make tomato stakes. If I put my thumb on the correct place on the hour meter, it's only got 5 hours on it. That's my story, and I'm sticking to it. It's for sale....if the price is right.
@@HobbyHardwoodAlabama Armora all the tires and put 2 coats of Wax on it.
A more indepth description of vertical grain sawing would be appreciated
I'll do it in the future, it's an excellent technique to keep in your mental toolbox.
So what do you do with the boards that you cut thru the pith. Are they any good or just cut thru pith to save time
You are correct, just cut through to save time. They would be graded as Number 2 Common at best, the lowest of the low, so I send them to the burn pile.
@@HobbyHardwoodAlabama ty so much for reply i like the way you teach and give back. I think the big guy would approve.
Vertical grain vs qtr sawing, what is the difference? Your videos just aren't long enough 😉
The fundamental difference is that in quartersawing, the log is aligned to split the medullary rays to get the quartersawn fleck, while vertical grain sawing purposefully avoids fleck, and is basically very fast rift sawing that can be done on a half cant at a moments notice. As with quartersawn wood, the stress is out in the edge direction so is a very good way to get flat wood out of unbalanced and highly stressed logs, very quickly and easily.
Encouraging to see you sometimes change your mind after your first pass.
You have won the prize! That is the the whole point of how I saw, it is not color by numbers, it isn't hard and fast rules, it's use the head on my shoulders and think about what I'm doing, think about what I have in my bag of tricks, and make adjustments without missing a cut! One very experienced sawmiller spent some time using my techniques and he said it was "Freestyle Sawing."
Cut up some limb wood for a show and tell!!
I might do that!