Chainsaw Mini Lumber Mill

Nice workmanship,I have done enough amateur wood butchering to appreciate it.

 

John , When it comes to trim , How do you deal with the initial moisture in the wood? Is there a drying process that you have to go through before / after you cut to keep it straight?

 

Bring your own axe...

 

Most of trim is being cut out of recycled bridge beams. They probably have been in sawn lumber form for better than 100 years so moisture really hasn't been much of a problem. That said, most of it sits in the house for at least several months before it goes through the planner and router. If I do cut some from green trees, it is stickered in the machine shed for a year before processing. I guess there is one benefit from taking 20 years to complete a house.

I will say those bridge beams are hard on saw blades. Between being both dry and dirty, the blades dull quickly. And I have missed a few spikes. Cuts them off with no problem but trashes the blade.

 

Good info John, I've bought thousands of feet of trim over the years from local mills , and I've watched & dealt with there process of drying , sorting and finishing but it never fails that once I get it on the job.........some is cracked or so wildly tweaked that it's only good for firewood although I have returned many sticks.............

I was just curious how you accomplished that in your environment...........are those sheds heated in the Winter? are you using Salt or any other moisture grabbers?

 

Just typical machine sheds open on one side. For nominal 1" boards, they air dry pretty well over a year. Probably because high humidity around here isn't that big a deal and sometimes in the summer it gets down to 10%.