# sawmill running on rails



## vegas urban lumber (Feb 5, 2021)

my newest yard location has 2 rail spurs, one of which isn't used. i have to cut a 29 foot long gluelam beam down from 12"x36" to a 5"x16" beam. so instead of building a new set of rails to run it on, 36" wide, i built outrigger wheels to run right on the 57" wide rail spur.

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## vegas urban lumber (Feb 5, 2021)

the wheel units are the outers from 2 beam trollies normally used for overhead beam hoists

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## vegas urban lumber (Feb 5, 2021)

i'll be posting pictures tomorrow of the milling process for the long beam

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## Karl_TN (Feb 6, 2021)

How flat and even is the spur?

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## Nature Man (Feb 6, 2021)

Ingenious! Can't wait to see how it works for you! Chuck

Reactions: Agree 2


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## woodtickgreg (Feb 6, 2021)

What a great idea!


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## 2feathers Creative Making (Feb 6, 2021)

We need to find him some longer trees....

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## vegas urban lumber (Feb 6, 2021)

Karl_TN said:


> How flat and even is the spur?


very flat especially over 20 to 30 foot stretch, and as long as the wood is fairly parallel to the track. as long as i cut flat on top and proceed down i'll get a reasonably true surface, the rails are also very consistently 57" apart inside. if that were not true all i'd have to do is move to a larger wheel. but because the flange is on the inside of rail car wheels uniform at 57" the rails don't have much choice to conform to the rail cars which can weigh up to 210,000 lbs when loaded

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## vegas urban lumber (Feb 6, 2021)

when discussing this with my brother, who has more sawmill experience. he stated one guy he worked with in Missouri, ran his sawmill of this same design, on his caster flat on his concrete garage floor with no rails. just chocked the log and went to work rolling it back and forth, quite freehand. he got a quality result none the less

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## 2feathers Creative Making (Feb 6, 2021)

As long as your floor is flat, that is the only way to cut curved stock without going extremely wide on your mill. Works well for timberframers who are using natural curves to form their bents.


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## vegas urban lumber (Feb 6, 2021)

2feathers Creative Making said:


> We need to find him some longer trees....


i am working on getting a bunch of freshly removed wood utility poles. top section (about 30 ft each) of them being taken down by the local power company. i should be able to cut solid wood beams 6 x 10s or 5x12s readily out of them. poles are free, and a solid wood beam 6"x12"x30 ft should sell for about $300 readily


here's a pricing chart for timbers 

6x12x30 $18 per linear foot in fir








Heavy Timber Beams | Twin Creeks Log Home Supply


Twin Creeks Log Home Supply Offers Premium White Pine, Western Cedar and Douglas Fir Wood Beams for Timber Construction at Competitive Prices.




www.twincreeksloghomes.com

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## 2feathers Creative Making (Feb 6, 2021)

vegas urban lumber said:


> i am working on getting a bunch of freshly removed wood utility poles





vegas urban lumber said:


> i am working on getting a bunch of freshly removed wood utility poles. top section (about 30 ft each) of them being taken down by the local power company. i should be able to cut solid wood beams 6 x 10s or 5x12s readily out of them. poles are free, and a solid wood beam 6"x12"x30 ft should sell for about $300 readily


True dat. I have paid 2 grand for frame on a 16x20 porch with the longest piece 16 ft


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## Mike Hill (Feb 6, 2021)

Love the idea Trev. Would also love to scrounge around the scrap piles

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## sprucegum (Feb 6, 2021)

So can we expect to see the first transcontinental board

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## vegas urban lumber (Feb 6, 2021)

Mike Hill said:


> Love the idea Trev. Would also love to scrounge around the scrap piles


those 2 pies behind in picture 4 are military gunnery range scrap, aluminums on the left and tank tracks and vehicle frames and drive trains an the right, all shot to s**t,


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## vegas urban lumber (Feb 6, 2021)

sprucegum said:


> So can we expect to see the first transcontinental board


very soon lol

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## vegas urban lumber (Feb 6, 2021)

Mike Hill said:


> Love the idea Trev. Would also love to scrounge around the scrap piles


my primary business this year, had to set up a new corporation, payroll work comp and insurances, is at this scrap yard. i buy from the scrap yard all of the materials with a useful life that come in and put them up for resale. rebar, chain link fence panels, structural steel, metal clad foam insulating building panels, and wide menagerie of items, like chain, chain hoists, chain binders, forklift parts, steel stairs, steel trade show booth frames. here's a small sample of some of the latest items, well pipe for coral building is a good seller also

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## vegas urban lumber (Feb 6, 2021)

added 2 full time employees in 2020 and have been doing very well considering the troubles facing a lot of people during this pandemic. lots of creative build stuff comes in as well like the jet engine turbines and the plane wing shaped fan blades

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## 2feathers Creative Making (Feb 6, 2021)

Sweet!


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## sprucegum (Feb 6, 2021)

Man I wish we had a business like yours around here. The local scrap yards are pretty old school and not really geared for retail sales. I have bought a few things in the past but it's usually more trouble than its worth.

Reactions: Agree 1


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## Nature Man (Feb 6, 2021)

You jumped on repurposing at the right time! Looks like a treasure trove with great potential! Chuck


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## DLJeffs (Feb 6, 2021)

Fascinating (and kind of a shame) the kinds of things that end up as scrap. The shopping carts, the vending machines, the chrome plated bakery shelf...even those drill bits. Most of the drilling companies I knew of refurbished their bits unless they were cracked or the threads were badly worn. I like the chain mail.. not sure what I'd do with it but it's cool to see.


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## vegas urban lumber (Feb 6, 2021)

sprucegum said:


> Man I wish we had a business like yours around here. The local scrap yards are pretty old school and not really geared for retail sales. I have bought a few things in the past but it's usually more trouble than its worth.


i try not to let anything that will sell reasonably quickly get by me, there is a lot of useless stuff that is truly scrap, but 2 percent of what rolls in there is good to go. the scrap tard buys it from their customers. i pay the scrap yard roughly double what they pay, the price they would normally get after processing. i can then very readily double my money, selling items at about 50% of retail. the program i have with this scrap yard is the only one in vegas, we have at least 7 scrap companies and at least 15 different scrap yards in town.

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## vegas urban lumber (Feb 6, 2021)

DLJeffs said:


> Fascinating (and kind of a shame) the kinds of things that end up as scrap. The shopping carts, the vending machines, the chrome plated bakery shelf...even those drill bits. Most of the drilling companies I knew of refurbished their bits unless they were cracked or the threads were badly worn. I like the chain mail.. not sure what I'd do with it but it's cool to see.


i've made my living on government and corporate waste for the last 12 years. and yes the economy situation right now has driven the demand for decent used goods at a fair price


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## vegas urban lumber (Feb 6, 2021)

that truck bumper came from one of the dealerships, cost me $25 and we sold it in 2 days for $300, retail over $900


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## vegas urban lumber (Feb 6, 2021)

this was yesterdays find crane boom pieces i cut to 16 foot lengths for water tower bases, deer or duck blind bases, or other raised out building bases

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## vegas urban lumber (Feb 6, 2021)

got the beam cut today, was problematic because right in the middle of the beam i found a very dry rotted area 3 ft by 3 inches by 6 inches. third picture shows my kid fiddling with the rotted area. i was able to get the finished beam the customer needed though out of the other half. sold price $500 29 foot long 5"x16", retail online would have been about $800 plus. i got the original beam for free, and i still have about $800 worth of various sized beams yet to sell

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## Gdurfey (Feb 6, 2021)

That rolling table would be incredible if you have a shop large enough.

I love the drill bit because I grew up in west Texas. There was a place in eastern Kansas that had small pump jacks. Would have loved one of those as lawn art.....

good on you Trev. Takes a sharp mind to do a business like this. Hope your work force honor you and you can keep going. That has to be a tough part of any business these days.

Reactions: Agree 1


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## vegas urban lumber (Feb 6, 2021)

one other item i sell a ton of is 55 gallon drums, i get them from a bottler, they are clean, had fruit juice in a bag inside, hand latch lids. i get about 50 a week and sell nearly that many at the yard

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## vegas urban lumber (Feb 6, 2021)

Gdurfey said:


> That rolling table would be incredible if you have a shop large enough.
> 
> I love the drill bit because I grew up in west Texas. There was a place in eastern Kansas that had small pump jacks. Would have loved one of those as lawn art.....
> 
> good on you Trev. Takes a sharp mind to do a business like this. Hope your work force honor you and you can keep going. That has to be a tough part of any business these days.


my employees are my sons BMX coach and personal friend of mine, the other is a BMX dad from the same team and close personal friend of my first employee. it's working well, i pay them well and they don't have to work real hard. i'm lenient with time off, and bonus them, when they step up take care of business and make me extra money. all in all it's going well.

Reactions: Way Cool 2 | Sincere 1


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## vegas urban lumber (Feb 6, 2021)

Gdurfey said:


> That rolling table would be incredible if you have a shop large enough.
> 
> I love the drill bit because I grew up in west Texas. There was a place in eastern Kansas that had small pump jacks. Would have loved one of those as lawn art.....
> 
> good on you Trev. Takes a sharp mind to do a business like this. Hope your work force honor you and you can keep going. That has to be a tough part of any business these days.


we build lots of welding tables since table base sized frames come in often, and there is always plate steel around. the three piece top on that one is plates from a brick firing facility,

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## djg (Feb 6, 2021)

If I'd worked there, the company would go broke with all the 'junk' I'd take home  (Or I would if I had to pay for it). Lot of useful materials there. It's good you've found a way to recycle it. Made me forget the subject of the thread. Good idea of the rails.

Reactions: Like 1 | Sincere 1


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## barry richardson (Feb 6, 2021)

Looks like a fun job Trev, lots of cool stuff there....


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## Don Wood (Feb 15, 2021)

I really like what your doing and I’m happy your making money doing it.

Reactions: Thank You! 1


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## DLJeffs (Feb 15, 2021)

vegas urban lumber said:


> one other item i sell a ton of is 55 gallon drums, i get them from a bottler, they are clean, had fruit juice in a bag inside, hand latch lids. i get about 50 a week and sell nearly that many at the yard
> 
> View attachment 202307
> 
> ...


The refineries I've worked at had a warehouse size facility that operated 24/7 cleaning and getting 55gal drums ready for refilling, mostly lube oils and some additives. They're worth a lot of money, especially in the condition those are in.

I do remember a kid in Samoa had one cut in half he used as a boat. He'd sit in there, just back of half way, and paddle it around the bay. I was so jealous. Asked my Dad if I got a drum if he'd cut it half for me. I think he envisioned me stealing one of the city trash cans and rolling it into his shop at the high school. So he said no.


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## vegas urban lumber (Feb 20, 2021)

spent the day at the yard with my son today, we cut the desk bracket legs out of turbines today and milled 4 slabs to choose one for the desk/ shelf. the wood is a mesquite trunk from a year ago that i had a crane pluck whole out of a backyard on a tree removal job

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## vegas urban lumber (Feb 20, 2021)

the slab will go on the wall sort of like a mantle, wide area on the left as desk with shelf along the wall to the right. turbine will function like large shelf brackets extending down and back to the wall at the floor

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## 2feathers Creative Making (Feb 20, 2021)

vegas urban lumber said:


> the slab will go on the wall sort of like a mantle, wide area on the left as desk with shelf along the wall to the right. turbine will function like large shelf brackets extending down and back to the wall at the floor


Nice! You plan to shoot pictures and sell those brackets locally?


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## 2feathers Creative Making (Feb 20, 2021)

Just looking at that curve. Would have fixed a couple of sawing problems I have had with timbers that needed to have curved areas cut... might enable some super special timber frame components using branch areas to produce curved braces that have intact woodgrain. Those ain't cheap.


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## vegas urban lumber (Feb 20, 2021)

2feathers Creative Making said:


> Nice! You plan to shoot pictures and sell those brackets locally?


i have about 20 half rounds of the turbine stuff as well as 2 pallets of loose turbine blades up to about 14" tall. i have them at the yard but no one has thought they couldn't live without them yet. i thought i'd make a dining table and or hall table using the turbine legs


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## 2feathers Creative Making (Feb 20, 2021)

Those folks may need some ideas in picture form... you plan to use the curved legs similar to those in the pictures? I love repurposing junk. I only have 2/3 acre but half is covered with "stuff" probably best for my peaceful home life that I live as far from ya as I do... would love to see pics of this type stuff as well!


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## vegas urban lumber (Feb 21, 2021)

though these are just pictures from the web, my thoughts on the turbine legs layout like these

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## vegas urban lumber (Feb 21, 2021)

"arch leg table" search sent me down this rabbit hole

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## 2feathers Creative Making (Feb 21, 2021)

vegas urban lumber said:


> though these are just pictures from the web, my thoughts on the turbine legs layout like these
> 
> View attachment 203519
> 
> ...


Great for small and medium tables


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## 2feathers Creative Making (Feb 21, 2021)

vegas urban lumber said:


> "arch leg table" search sent me down this rabbit hole
> 
> View attachment 203522
> 
> View attachment 203523


This would work as a stunning ,conference table size, table base !


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## 2feathers Creative Making (Feb 21, 2021)

Thinking you might be able to sell some local artists on something like this using the turbine steel. Industrial has been really big recently. Your table bases are in the same lines and should sell pretty well whether as bases or with some of your slab wood stuck on for a finished table. You also may find a sale for outdoor table with a steel top with the same legs... looks like you got more supplies than any 3 guys can use up. That's why I thought you might find some local industrial artists.

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## vegas urban lumber (Feb 21, 2021)

great concepts thx


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## 2feathers Creative Making (Feb 21, 2021)

No worries. They are worth every cent you paid for them, I promise.

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