how to turn logs into lumber
 

Hello all,

can the transformation of trees into lumber be achieved at home? I mean,
are there some home-installable tools that can be bought for this task? If
so, how much do they cost?

thanks

"Zed Rafi" wrote in message
.. .
Hello all,

can the transformation of trees into lumber be achieved at home? I mean,
are there some home-installable tools that can be bought for this task? If
so, how much do they cost?

thanks

Two ways of doing it. Buy a portable sawmill, or have someone do it for a
fee.

Check out Woodmizer as one of the more popular brands.
http://www.woodmizer.com/en/index.aspx
They also run a referral service to find a local guy to do the work for you.
Probably a half dozen others if you search on "portable saw mill"

There are attachments for chainsaws also, but they are a little clunky and
waste more wood from what I've seen.

Rule of thumb to dry wood is one year per inch of thickness. To get a
finished 3/4" board, you cut it to 1" full, then dry and plane it to proper
thickness.

"Edwin Pawlowski" writes:

"Zed Rafi" wrote in message
.. .
Hello all,

can the transformation of trees into lumber be achieved at home? I mean,
are there some home-installable tools that can be bought for this task? If
so, how much do they cost?

thanks

Two ways of doing it. Buy a portable sawmill, or have someone do it for a
fee.


More than that: With an Axe/Adze/Hatchet you can turn logs into beams,
with wedges and large hammers tinto boards and with a froe into
shingles, and as a by-product wimpy arms into well muscled ones.

--
Dr. Juergen Hannappel http://lisa2.physik.uni-bonn.de/~hannappe
Phone: +49 228 73 2447 FAX ... 7869
Physikalisches Institut der Uni Bonn Nussallee 12, D-53115 Bonn, Germany
CERN: Phone: +412276 76461 Fax: ..77930 Bat. 892-R-A13 CH-1211 Geneve 23

Yes. There's a bunch of ways.You'd need a chain saw or its equivalent,
just to fell the tree, then some type of bandsaw or big 'ol circular
saw, or even a push-pull type ripping saw to cut it into planks. I've
seen attachments for chain saws to allow cutting dimensional lumber
from the logs, too. You can do the math. Tom

On Mon 12 Sep 2005 03:20:06p, Juergen Hannappel -
bonn.de wrote in :

More than that: With an Axe/Adze/Hatchet you can turn logs into beams,
with wedges and large hammers tinto boards and with a froe into
shingles, and as a by-product wimpy arms into well muscled ones.


If I recall correctly, Mr Underhill used a froe to turn a log into a slab,
which he then turned into a shaving horse.

Seems like I remember an old Fine Woodworking article where the author went
through a chairmaking class, all material coming from one large veneer-
grade maple log, cut with a bucksaw, split with a froe and shaved on a
horse to make all the chair parts - seats, legs, spindles. Can't recall if
they bent the wood for the backs.

Zed Rafi wrote:
Hello all,

can the transformation of trees into lumber be achieved at home? I mean,
are there some home-installable tools that can be bought for this task? If
so, how much do they cost?

thanks

Unless you have a lot of time on your hands, get someone with a
woodmizer to do it for you. Especially if this is a one time task, it
will be cheaper and faster than buying a chain saw mill.

The downsides are that you have to either pay someone to kiln dry it or
wait awhile for it to air dry. Also, keep in mind that it's somewhat of
a crapshoot in regards to quality. A lot of the wood you harvest may be
a fairly low grade. Sure, it's still usable, as you can cut around the
knots and other defects, but it adds a lot of time.

For me, it wouldn't be worth the trouble. I can buy FAS grade red oak
for about 2.60/board ft with free delivery. If I want a lower grade,
it's a lot cheaper.
The wood I buy is already kiln dried and can be used immediately. But I
have precious little time to do woodworking, it's not worth the hassle
to me.
It might be worth it for you.

Zed Rafi wrote:
Hello all,

can the transformation of trees into lumber be achieved at home? I mean,
are there some home-installable tools that can be bought for this task? If
so, how much do they cost?

thanks

Yes certainly.

The very cheapest way involves some bracing to hold the log in place
and raise it to allow a saw to be used either horizontally or
vertically to cut slabs of the appropriate thickness.

Possibly less than $100 in equipemnt but a huge degree of labor.

There are some portable mills advertised in Popular Mechanics and some
woodwork magazines starting from about $3,000.

In article shlVe.5128$sa6.3279@trndny06,
Edwin Pawlowski wrote:

"Zed Rafi" wrote in message
. ..
Hello all,

can the transformation of trees into lumber be achieved at home? I mean,
are there some home-installable tools that can be bought for this task? If
so, how much do they cost?

thanks

Two ways of doing it. Buy a portable sawmill, or have someone do it for a
fee.

Check out Woodmizer as one of the more popular brands.
http://www.woodmizer.com/en/index.aspx
They also run a referral service to find a local guy to do the work for you.
Probably a half dozen others if you search on "portable saw mill"

There are attachments for chainsaws also, but they are a little clunky and
waste more wood from what I've seen.

Rule of thumb to dry wood is one year per inch of thickness. To get a
finished 3/4" board, you cut it to 1" full, then dry and plane it to proper
thickness.




If he has lots of time he could always go the axe/saw/broadaxe/adze
route.

--

Larry Wasserman Baltimore, Maryland

"Zed Rafi" wrote in message .. .
Hello all,

can the transformation of trees into lumber be achieved at home? I mean,
are there some home-installable tools that can be bought for this task? If
so, how much do they cost?

thanks


You've already received numerous answers. I turn logs into lumber quite often
using my woodworking tools. First, let me say that for 90% of the projects I do,
a 4' length of lumber is sufficient. So, here is what I do.

I built a sled out of MDF and hardwood. The MDF is about 16" wide and 6' long.
I added a hardwood runner that fits into the miter slot on my 14" bandsaw (w/6"
riser), along wit an additional runner that rides along the outside edge of the table.
It is supported on the infeed and outfeed by roller stands.

I cut to tree into ~4' long sections. If the diameter is greater than about 12" I cut the
log in half length wise with a chainsaw. I then set the log on the sled, position it and
cut boards. They are then stickered and stacked to dry.

It works for me. YMMV.

--
Al Reid

On 2005-09-12, Zed Rafi wrote:
Hello all,

can the transformation of trees into lumber be achieved at home? I mean,
are there some home-installable tools that can be bought for this task? If
so, how much do they cost?

thanks



http://www.ripsaw.com/sawmill.html

$1600+- and you need to provide a chainsaw head to drive it. I use a Stihl
046 that I already had. Works, but it's damn hard work shifting logs around
to get it into action. Probably be easier to hire out a band mill owner as
others have suggested.

I did the chainsaw mill trick on a huge oak. You need special "rip" chain or
you'll be there until old age claims you. You also need a helper and TWO
large '090 or so power heads. It's a gigantic pain in the arse - but my share
was two ten foot by two inch by thirty inch planks. This was for an entire
day of very hard work. There were four of us working in shifts driving wedges
to hold the slabs up and run the two motors. I wouldn't do it again.

--
I can find no modern furniture that is as well designed and emotionally
satisfying as that made by the Arts and Crafts movement in the early years
of the last century.

You have many solutions from 35$ to 45 000$ !

For home use you can try this:

http://www.thelittleripper.com/

http://www.nicks.ca/Lil.rp.html

http://www.leevalley.com/wood/page.a...=1,41131,41139

http://www.leevalley.com/wood/page.a...=1,41131,41139

http://www.leevalley.com/wood/page.a...=1,41131,41139

Try also this:

http://www.right-tool.com/right-tool/graninchains.html

http://www.jober.qc.ca/index.htm

http://www.baileys-online.com/Mill.htm

http://www.mobilemfg.com/

http://www.petersonsawmills.com/

http://www.ripsaw.com/

http://www.woodmizer.com/en/index.aspx

Build your sawmill:
http://www.procutportablesawmills.com/index.html

S.B.


"Zed Rafi" a écrit dans le message de news:
...
Hello all,

can the transformation of trees into lumber be achieved at home? I mean,
are there some home-installable tools that can be bought for this task? If
so, how much do they cost?

thanks

Try also this:

http://www.rd.com/americanwoodworker...ontentId=7 65

S.B.

"Zed Rafi" a écrit dans le message de news:
...
Hello all,

can the transformation of trees into lumber be achieved at home? I mean,
are there some home-installable tools that can be bought for this task? If
so, how much do they cost?

thanks