Woodworking Talk - Woodworkers Forum - Forestry & Milling

Port & Polish . . . .

TexasTimbers — Tue, 07 Sep 2010 16:08:00 GMT

I just thought this might be a good thread to start because I don't think we've ever touched on this topic in any kind of detail. I am SURE NOT an expert on this topic (which is why I am posting it) so don't accuse me of thinking that I am. :no:

I will share what I think I know and it is all very general, so if you have some experience or knowledge to share please chime in, and set me straight where I may have been wrong so someone doesn't take bad info away.

If you ever have your saw ported, make sure you choose someone who has a lot of experience. You don't just send your powerhead to a guy that says he'll port and polish, because for example if he doesn't ask you how you'll use your saw you already know not to send it to him. The P&P for a milling saw must be done differently than for a firewood saw to get the most efficient combustion and exhaust, and to "put" the power band in the right place on the chart.

I'm sure it isn't phrased well, but it's to do with the amount of metal and where they take it out and how much "shelf" (?) or whatever they leave. It's a highly technical field and you don't want to trust your saw to just any of them.

For those who may not be familiar with what porting and or polishing means, "porting" is removing some amount of metal mainly from around the intake & exhaust valves I think - and "polishing" is just that, the polishing of the inside of the head chamber to smooth the relatively rough factory castings to decrease the friction of the airflow across the surface of the metal. They take this to extremes in race engines everything from top fuel dragsters down to chainsaws - and it is an art form.

"Woods" porting simply means that the degree of modifications are enough to greatly enhance the performance of the saw, but still moderate enough that the life and reliability of the engine are not dramatically reduced, as they are in an extreme race application. In fact, my understanding is that when that perfect balance between the two is achieved, a good woods ported job will actually extend the life of the saw if proper routine maintenance is performed.

I did the muffler mod on my 372XP and that alone woke the saw up like I couldn't believe. I talked to John at Walkers in Nanaimo a couple years ago and he told me how to set the carb. Muffler mods an also be part of a woods porting job and usually are because there is now more much more exhaust to get rid of.

I'm really wanting to get a woods job on my 395's & 372. Anyone ever have theirs done and if so who did it? Were you happy?

.

Chain Saw$$

djg — Mon, 06 Sep 2010 17:40:44 GMT

I know you can't be specific without having it in front of you to check out, but can you give me an estimate on what you would be the max you'd pay for a Used (well used-tree trimming service) Stihl 066 (30" bar)? Assume it's running, the compression is good and there's no cylinder scoring. That would be up to me to decide. Any thing else I need to consider or look at when I go take a look?
Or would it just be a waste of cash to buy one this ,presumably. well used?
Thanks

working with softwoods

klr650 — Sun, 05 Sep 2010 16:41:42 GMT

One of the problems with suburban development in the Pac North West is that it leaves a lot of trees standing by themselves unprotected from the winds - that means a lot of blowdowns during the autumn windstorms.

I myself am surrounded by doug firs and western hemlocks that are just itching to fall come November and a dogwood that is standing by the grace of God himself.

But the question is; other than firewood (burn bans are now pretty much the norm - even in rural areas) of what use to a shop guy like me are HUGE trees like this when they fall?

Are softwoods generally more useful to the mills than they are to the hobbyist and so largely ignored? I understand drying can be a real problem of course. But I'm staring at a 50' doug fir that's 4' at the base - I could build a house with that thing, and it will fall, likely taking my drain field with it.

Do any of you work with softwood or is this a pretty hardwood centered group?

White Oak Logs

Gerald — Sat, 04 Sep 2010 01:46:13 GMT

My son scored me couple of white oak logs. Hauled them home last night. The one in the back is 38" dia just shy of 8 ft. long. Nice and straight.

The log on the front of the trailer is a little more wild. Also 38" dia x 8 ft long. Not sure best way to mill this one. Any help here would be appreciated.

The clean straight log on the back of the trailer. I plan to quarter saw. Will white oak split like red oak if I score it and drive some wedges?

Yes that is a fire truck in the back ground. A 1972 with a Mack diesel . It was a water hauler/pump truck before the water tank was removed. You can see some fire wood loaded if you look close.
The fire truck is a long story but a handy horse not to mention the conversations.
It will run the quarter in 25.6 seconds. :laughing:

More pictures to come.
Thanks,
Gerald

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Cutting down 5/4 stock

klr650 — Fri, 03 Sep 2010 06:30:45 GMT

My shop is pretty basic, nothing fancy except for the tablesaw. I'm staring down a few planks of 5/4 black walnut and wondering how I could get them cut in half to (eventually) 1/2" thick size. Running them through the planar a few dozen times to shave them down seems horrifically wasteful - yet I don't have a bandsaw that can handle wood of this width, 10" wide planks.

What options are there for me if I wanted to turn these 5/4ths planks into usable 1/2" finished boards for a project I'm looking at? I'll entertain taking them to a mill if need be.

Trouble sawing hard maple

Mizer — Thu, 02 Sep 2010 23:54:51 GMT

For some reason I can't post a picture right now or else I would show you.
Sometimes when I saw hard maple I will get these line like things that show up in the lumber. Almost all of the time they are perpendicular to the edge of the board going across the face. If I try to sand them out they just show up more pronounced.

Pressure washing Ironwood

davelindgren — Thu, 02 Sep 2010 17:02:08 GMT

Just a follow up: I tried a 2400 psi sprayer on a couple of sticks and it was a no go. I'm going to have to try a steamer and/or try again in the spring. Thanks for the idea tho! Dave

Wood Size : Milling,drying and storeing for future use.

PaulK — Thu, 02 Sep 2010 03:29:59 GMT

Hope this is the correct forum to ask this. I have recently hit on the idea (considering the price of timber) of collecting logs from trees cut down by our local municipality, having them milled, dried and stored for future use. Right now I have some pine or fir I have yet to identify, some Yellowwood (Podocarpus Falcatus) and some Rooihout (Berchemia Zeyheri) logs. I have not yet decided what to do with the Rooihout and Yellowwood and would like to know what size I should have the logs cut into so that I have the most options in the future. I intend using the fir (or pine) for counter tops in my kitchen and will get these sliced into 16mm thick planks (about 3/4 inch). What sizes to cut the other logs into for unknown future use? (The logs are from 10" to 2' in diameter). Any advice?

Turning Club field trip to the sawmill

firehawkmph — Thu, 02 Sep 2010 00:50:47 GMT

Last Saturday, our turning club took a trip to one of the local sawmills in our area. We started off by doing some shopping amongst all the wood blanks. They log their own trees and mill it into lumber. Part of which includes nice size turning blanks. All our domestic woods, very reasonably priced.
Some of their employees took us for a tour through their bandsaw mill. It wasn't running at the time, but still pretty neat to see how everything works. They also had one of their loggers do a chainsaw demo, explaining basic maintenance of the saw, and then demonstrating how to properly and safely cut down a tree.
After that myself and one of the other members cooked up a bunch of burgers and hot dogs for everybody. Then for the coup de gras, they have a five acre stocked lake they let us fish in. The young kids that came had a ball. All in all, a fun day with absolutely perfect weather. BTW, the name of the place is Doll Lumber Co. It's a family run outfit, very friendly people.
Mike Hawkins;)

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Old timer interview . . .

TexasTimbers — Tue, 31 Aug 2010 02:12:13 GMT

I can listen for hours to these old fellas recount the old days.

YouTube- Broadcast Yourself.

Black Locust....

Fishbucket — Sun, 29 Aug 2010 18:11:49 GMT

After I made up the dutchmans for the old bucksaw I have out of some Black Locust. I want to nab a few pieces to take with me to the new house.
I know that it floureses under Black light and figured it's a good contrasting wood for some Duckcalls, jewlery boxes and such I want to make.
Out back in the field here at the house, I moved the fence behind some old growth wood,bushes and blackberrys to let the goats eat it down. The landlord and I cut up some of the Black locust trees that had fallen over.

It's still a mess but most is bucked up.

There's a mama Fox and two kits living under the laydown.

So I grabbed the chainsaw and went to town. But, boy this stuff is tough..

Now this is where you guys come in... I brought them up to the shop and hacked off the bark.

I know the cut ends check real bad.. within a few hours infact.
So I took some waterbased clear and painted the ends and cut sides.

I'm hoping that this will do the trick. I dont have a way to quick dry it out. and I'm not going to need any of it for 6 months to a year...

Did I do alright? what would you have done? I have a couple more 4-5' logs to do it again.

Finally Finished

woodman58@ymail.com — Sun, 29 Aug 2010 10:12:16 GMT

I posted a pic of a crooked log I cut a while back. I finally got around to finishing it. Here are the pics. The log was slit down the entire center. I put 1" thick bow ties on both sides. Each of the 4
stump legs are held on by 4 1" dowls that are 6" long. Goes to show not all bad logs need to be fire wood.

It is cherry with walnut ties.

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commitment, such a frightening word ...

opticsguy — Sun, 29 Aug 2010 03:45:12 GMT

well, changing my mind again, am thinking about committing to the purchase of a bandsaw mill.

i had a guy come out two years ago to cut a lot of logs for me and was stuck trying to deal with it all at one time., storage and handling issues. Having my own saw would allow me to cut what i need when needed. I had to guess on the lumber sizes and now have found that the sizes chosen do not always fit my needs.

So, any one used a Timberking 1220? thoughts? comments? I did read where they upgraded the bearings with greasable fittings.

thanks.

Beginner with trouble sawing cherry

Fil-Dill — Sat, 28 Aug 2010 17:36:24 GMT

I have 25 cherry logs, that have laid on the ground in a pile for 3 yrs. They were give to me, so I bought a jr. EZ boardwalk to saw them. After building leveling feet on the mill, I started to saw the worst looking ones. I am squaring 2 sides, then sawing straight thru to the bottom board. The problem I am having is the last board is raising up off the bed, between the clamps, when I saw the last cut. Is this stress in the log? Or am I suppose to be turning the cant to keep the pith in the center? Thanks

Hay hook

Mizer — Fri, 27 Aug 2010 13:25:51 GMT

Attachment 16448

Twenty years ago on a hot July morning:

Dad, "Son, where is that hay hook ya'll were using yesterday"
Son, "I put it in the work box on the wagon"
Dad, "It ain't there, where is it?"
Son, "We had it when we took a break by that ole Beech tree by the creek. I am almost sure that I put it up then"
Dad, "Well it isn't there now"
Son, "Someone must've got into the barn last night and got it out of the box"
Dad, "Humph"
Son,"Daddy I'm sure that I thought I told Larry Joe to put it up"
Dad,"Boy, how many times have I told you you need to take care of your tools. tools cost money and hay hooks don't grow on trees"

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