Today was a nice warm day, compared to the last few here in our small chunk of heaven.
The thermometer was hovering around 50° and the wind before I started was pretty calm, that is, less than the gale force breezes we've been getting since Thanksgiving.
I decided to get out and slab up at least one of my walnut logs.
I started about 06:30 by going to the shop and attaching the biggest saw I own to my chainsaw mill.
I measured the logs and after taking off the bark didn't need more than the 20" bar so I had to remove the saw from the mill, remove the 28" bar and chain from the saw and reinstall the 20" bar with chain in place of the 28".
Then I found out I needed to adjust the mill frame to the smaller size of the bar.
That prompted me to find that I had the slide bars on bass-ackward and had to take that piece off and swap the ends.
That meant removing the saw from the mill. Again.
Got the saw out of the mill, didn't hurt my self at all this time. Not even one little spot of blood anywhere!
I started loosening the bolts that hold the slide bars and found that a person I loaned the mill to had rounded off the head of one of the bolts.
I got out the angle grinder and cut the head of the bolt off.
See how simple that sounds? Haa!
"I got out the angle grinder and cut the head of the bolt off."
That doesn't say a word about the half hour search for the stupid wrench for my angle grinder.
Or another half hour search for the pile of spanking new DeWalt cutoff blades hiding from me for some nefarious reason.
Or the 15 minute session in the bathroom cleaning the leaking blood blister I got from trying to use a pair of Vice-Grips to remove the nut. With all the blood thinning drugs they make me take, I almost leakt ta deafs!
Finally got that done.
Got the Bolt cut off, replaced with a new one, bandaged up like something from an Egyptian Boris Karloff movie.
Saw attached. Ready to run…. Fill gas tank, fill oil reservoir.
Attach first cut steady rest to the log…. attachment block in wrong place.
Find silly weird driver bit I used for the attaching screws for the block.
All fixed, only another 20 minutes.
Fire up the saw. It must be mentioned I just put a new aftermarket clutch, spring and clutch drum on the saw. Kind of like putting a stall converter on a turbo 400…. when that clutch decides to grip, SOMETHING is gonna move.
Good thing I wasn't up against a knot or something.
(I caught a snag later and the little 3.4HP Poulan nearly tossed me on my noggin!)
Whudda thunk I didn't sharpen the saw when I was done down in the swamp with all those old elm and oak trees to get out of the creek.
I always resharpen as soon as I'm done for the day….... except that was the day I went to the ER and got put in the hospital for Congestive Heart Failure. I guess I didn't resharpen. It took 15 minutes to make the first smoothing cut and when I went for the second cut on a 2 inch slab, 15" wide…. 30 minutes and a lot of bucking.
Walnut has a strange green color I haven't seen before, It is pretty dry, showing 24%
Here are some pictures. I had to give up after the first 2" slab as the chain was just too dull. I will sharpen it in the morning and continue on.
The thermometer was hovering around 50° and the wind before I started was pretty calm, that is, less than the gale force breezes we've been getting since Thanksgiving.
I decided to get out and slab up at least one of my walnut logs.
I started about 06:30 by going to the shop and attaching the biggest saw I own to my chainsaw mill.
I measured the logs and after taking off the bark didn't need more than the 20" bar so I had to remove the saw from the mill, remove the 28" bar and chain from the saw and reinstall the 20" bar with chain in place of the 28".
Then I found out I needed to adjust the mill frame to the smaller size of the bar.
That prompted me to find that I had the slide bars on bass-ackward and had to take that piece off and swap the ends.
That meant removing the saw from the mill. Again.
Got the saw out of the mill, didn't hurt my self at all this time. Not even one little spot of blood anywhere!
I started loosening the bolts that hold the slide bars and found that a person I loaned the mill to had rounded off the head of one of the bolts.
I got out the angle grinder and cut the head of the bolt off.
See how simple that sounds? Haa!
"I got out the angle grinder and cut the head of the bolt off."
That doesn't say a word about the half hour search for the stupid wrench for my angle grinder.
Or another half hour search for the pile of spanking new DeWalt cutoff blades hiding from me for some nefarious reason.
Or the 15 minute session in the bathroom cleaning the leaking blood blister I got from trying to use a pair of Vice-Grips to remove the nut. With all the blood thinning drugs they make me take, I almost leakt ta deafs!
Finally got that done.
Got the Bolt cut off, replaced with a new one, bandaged up like something from an Egyptian Boris Karloff movie.
Saw attached. Ready to run…. Fill gas tank, fill oil reservoir.
Attach first cut steady rest to the log…. attachment block in wrong place.
Find silly weird driver bit I used for the attaching screws for the block.
All fixed, only another 20 minutes.
Fire up the saw. It must be mentioned I just put a new aftermarket clutch, spring and clutch drum on the saw. Kind of like putting a stall converter on a turbo 400…. when that clutch decides to grip, SOMETHING is gonna move.
Good thing I wasn't up against a knot or something.
(I caught a snag later and the little 3.4HP Poulan nearly tossed me on my noggin!)
Whudda thunk I didn't sharpen the saw when I was done down in the swamp with all those old elm and oak trees to get out of the creek.
I always resharpen as soon as I'm done for the day….... except that was the day I went to the ER and got put in the hospital for Congestive Heart Failure. I guess I didn't resharpen. It took 15 minutes to make the first smoothing cut and when I went for the second cut on a 2 inch slab, 15" wide…. 30 minutes and a lot of bucking.
Walnut has a strange green color I haven't seen before, It is pretty dry, showing 24%
Here are some pictures. I had to give up after the first 2" slab as the chain was just too dull. I will sharpen it in the morning and continue on.