Woodworking

So I’m not at the point where I’m making fine woodworking slabs. Rather, I’m turning pine trees into fence posts and soon I’ll be turning them into timbers for timber frame building a shop.

I took a couple pictures to show the difference between my process and Cutlery process and had a realization. You know how in Unbreakable, Mr. Glass searches for his equivalent opposite and finds Bruce Willis? I think I might be the Mr. Glass for Intrinsic .


I use a scrap 2x4 to get a roughly consistent dimension on both ends, drive a screw, hook a chalk line over the screw, snap the line, take out the screw, and free hand cut following the line.



My cuts were much better with the lighter stihl m260 (20” bar and ripping chain). This thing weighs 25 lbs and has a 28” bar on it. The biggest problem I’ve had (besides the sloppier cut caused by fatigue) is accidentally dipping the tip of the bar into soil. I’ve got a small tractor now so if I don’t end up making a sled like Cutlery I’ll at least make something to get the logs higher off the ground.

This log (and the dozens of similar sized trees) are the reason I wanted a bigger saw. This is on the smaller size of the big pines I’ve got on my property and is 24” diameter.

Here’s some pics from the end of last year when I was working on one of the fence runs:

Yeah, that looks like exactly what I would have been getting into if I didn't make the sled. I cut that tree down last spring, and then work got shitty and I couldn't get to it until the fall. And I sat all winter with a bar mounted mill in the shed wondering how in the fuck I was going to get those 500lb logs up to a height where I didn't need to be kneeling or bent over them. Both options are absolutely unsustainable for me for very long. Shit, even just BEING on my roof these days fucks up both my knees and my back for a week from having to stand on that angle. There was literally no way I was gonna be able to do that.

I will say however, if you are planning on milling a ton of lumber, Izzy Swan's design is absolutely worth the couple days it takes to put it together. He's got a whole series on youtube of the upgrades he made too - he's got a winch to roll the logs up onto his mill, a boat winch to pull the saw thru the cut, and some other QOL stuff he's added to it to give you some ideas. My mill is coming apart when I'm done, so I don't really think I need to spend a bunch of time doing more upgrades to it, but you might.

Now, after 2 weeks, i'm finally heading out to the garage to my saw put back together. Just one goddamned thing after another. Get the cylinder head and piston, and then I need to torque the screws down, and I figure I should actually probably do it right and not guess on the torque. So, had to go buy a torque wrench, which I've been putting off for many years. And then I realized I can't actually attach said torque wrench to the screwdriver needed to mount the cylinder to the frame. And then I realized it's a T27 Torx bit, which almost nowhere sells, and then I realized that any extension I buy won't fit thru the holes in the cylinder. So yesterday was going all over town looking for a frigging 6 inch T27 bit and I ended up getting it overnighted from Amazon. $8 bit, $10 in shipping. FML.

Piston and cylinder replaced, saw back to running smooth. Now I just need a day where it's not 1000°

Odd thing though - it literally started up first pull. It did not do that when I bought it. Wondering now if I didn't actually blow it up and got a dud.

I guess we'll see when I tune it down to 25:1 and get back to milling

Back in business.

Because I know you guys wanna see this shit, uploading the video now while I run to the hardware store and let the saw cool down. Should be up in 10 or 20 min.

It's about 10 minutes to make a cut, but I'm babying the throttle for a good chunk of the time to not run it full bore for 10 minutes straight.

3 day weekends are awesome!

It's Chinese. It would probably work.

Also, I'm about 98% sure the original piston/cylinder was shit, because it took me about an hour of pulling to get the thing started after I took it outta the box. After the replacement, I've had no issues and it just starts right up.

25:1 smokes up the garage real nice if the wind is blowing the wrong direction though.

Stack I managed to get done yesterday....not sure what happened with the top one, the saw dropped at some point during the cut, one end is significantly thicker than the other. I had that all worked out and everything had been going good. Not entirely sure what the fuck is causing that. Doesn't matter too much, because those pieces are meant to be benches/tabletops anyway, but still confounding.

Log #3.

This one I will cut into 2 inch slabs for live edge tabletop stuff I think.

Also, the log is wider than my 36" bar, so looks like I'll be finishing the cut with a rip saw!

Fun facts - I've run out of a gallon of bar and chain oil. I also got a full pint of 2 cycle oil and I will run out of that as well before the project is over.

Yeah, this log went pretty well. One small issue, but that will plane out.

I will probably turn these into tabletops, or sell them for such purposes. They are about 38" long, 22-24" wide. I cut them all into 2ish" thick.

One log left, the guys just came over to help me get it up.