42" Chainsaw mill Build

Clay3063 · Aug 16, 2017

I am always a little leery of things. So Mary and I went back outside a minute ago to try it again. Pull the choke about halfway. Turn the key. And it fired right up! Turned on the oil. Hit the clutch switch and everything runs as advertised.

Tony · Aug 16, 2017

Alright now, throw a log on that bad boy!! Tony

Clay3063 · Aug 16, 2017

Tony said:
Alright now, throw a log on that bad boy!! Tony

I can't do any more to it today. Gotta get ready for class tonight. Tomorrow bright and early Mary and I will be building the track deck and track and Lord willing, we'll cut something tomorrow. Maybe. LOL.

Tony · Aug 16, 2017

Clay3063 said:
I can't do any more to it today. Gotta get ready for class tonight. Tomorrow bright and early Mary and I will be building the track deck and track and Lord willing, we'll cut something tomorrow. Maybe. LOL.

Clay3063 · Aug 16, 2017

Clay3063 · Aug 17, 2017

Got out this morning and cut metal for the track bed. It is 20 feet long and 50 inches wide. It is made from 3 inch channel iron because I had a chance to buy a bunch of it that was scrapped from a commercial chicken house a few months ago... cheap. The cross pieces are on 30" centers. The track rails are 2 x 3 x 1/4 inch angle iron. The carriage wheels are centered at 44" so the track is welded to the bed so that the 3" side is down to better facilitate attaching log bunks. I almost went with the 2" side down and the 3" side up but decided I didn't want the carriage wheels up that high off the bed. Just a personal preference. The one rail is welded in place. I decided to wait until I got the saw carriage in place and then weld the rail down as I pushed it down the track. That way I can be assured of equidistant spacing the full length of the track. We had to quit at lunch when the temp got up to 105 in the shade. Went back out for about an hour and a half after it cooled down to about 100 in the shade. Then we called it quits for the day. Tomorrow I will finish welding the track in place. Install some log stops / dogs and place it on the ground and level it. I want to cut wood tomorrow and think it will happen... unless it gets to be 105 in the shade again.

Clay3063 · Aug 17, 2017

Lou Currier · Aug 17, 2017

You're pretty handy with that welder.

Clay3063 · Aug 17, 2017

Lou Currier said:
You're pretty handy with that welder.

Thank you Lou. I started welding about 17 years ago when I got tired of people wanting to fix junk with more junk. IE - I was doing home remodeling / repairs. So I quit that as a supplemental income to my church work. (We had three daughters and I didn't take a vow of poverty and it's hard to raise children, especially teenage daughters in the 80s-2010s on a 1960s income.) So I bought an old lincoln SA 200 welder that had been used as a hanger queen and took it to have it repaired. 1400.00 and some change later I had a very good machine. From there I bought some books and started practicing. It wasn't long before I was good enough to start working in the oilfield and charging a nice sum for my services. I now own 4 welding machines. From an old 220v lincoln cracker box to a Millermatic 210 mig welder to the old SA 200 and a Diesel powered Lincoln Vantage 400. The problem now days is that I am getting long in the tooth and cant handle the metal like I used too and I get tired much faster as well. But never mind, if you got the skills people will flock to your door and as much as we are trying to get out of the welding for profit business... alas we can't. LOL. That and I am much cheaper than most of the other welders in the country.

rocky1 · Aug 18, 2017

Go up on your prices... They won't quit coming if you're good, and you'll be able to build that new house sooner!

Dad was doing the same thing with his pollination contracts Clay, he was $5 - $10 a hive cheaper than most, $15 cheaper than a lot of them. It kept getting bigger and bigger, and then all of a sudden he was having trouble coming up with enough bees, and he didn't want to say, NO! Pretty soon it got to the point he simply had to say, NO! Repeatedly!! And, then he started listening to those of us that told him to go up on his price, and he wouldn't have all those extra calls.

So he went up... The calls slowed way down, all of his better accounts are still there, they're paying more and not complaining. A few of them grumbled at first, said they could get someone else to do it for less. He told them, to go ahead, they were going to get what they paid for. They did! Next year they were back; haven't grumbled since.

Clay3063 · Aug 18, 2017

Oh... My.... Goodness!!! It's 6:24 pm and 110 degrees in the shade! Read that ONE HUNDRED AND TEN SWELTERING DEGREES!

There. Now that I have that off my chest I can at least say that despite the high temps, high humidity and numerous phone calls, distractions, runs to town (4) and one run to the metal supply in Moravia, TX that we are a lot closer to sawing than we were a week ago. After having to stop several times this morning to answer phone calls, text messages and various other assorted distractions all very much a part of a minister's life, we actually got a lot done today. When I mentioned yesterday that all we needed was to weld the other track in place, cut and install the bunks, fabricate and install the log stops / dogs I really didn't think it would take so long. First I realized that the 2 inch square tubing I had intended to use for log bunks was going to be about 2 inches too short and would only allow me to cut down to about 3 1/2" from the bottom. So I sent Mary into town (Gonzales) to do an errand for me for the church while I went to the metal supply store I use in Moravia, TX. While I was there I bought 30' of 2 x 4 rectangular tubing to use for the log bunks. That will allow me to cut down to 1 1/2" for the lowest cut. I also bought 3' of 1 1/4" pipe and 20' of 1" pipe to use as moveable log dogs. (I think that's what you call them. Sounds legit to me anyway.) Then we made it back to the house in time for lunch and a short nap. Got back to it around 2:30 and the temp was 110 degrees. But I was determined I wanted to get finished today. We got all the parts cut and fabbed. All that needs to be done is to weld them in place. I think I can do that in a couple hours tomorrow so long as we don't have a day full of distractions again. We shall see. Here are a few pics from today. I really really like this thing more and more everyday and am super excited to put it to work!

Oh, and I am so spooked by the engine that every time I walk by it I reach over, turn on the fuel, pull the choke and hit the ignition key. It has fired right up the first time every time since I got it running. then I grin real big. Push the clutch switch. Watch the chain spin. Shut off the clutch. Grin again. Then shut off the fuel and kill the engine. I am more than happy about this engine. I hope it does what I think it will do when we put it to some wood. I have been eyeing the stack of logs for several days now trying to decide what to cut first. Pecan, Ash, Sycamore, Elm, ERC, Oak, Hackberry.... Lord knows we've got a pile of it.

Tony · Aug 18, 2017

I vote for Hackberry. Tony

Clay3063 · Aug 18, 2017

Tony said:
I vote for Hackberry. Tony

LOL. Wouldn't you know it. I think it's one of the ones near the bottom. But I may pull it anyway. I'd rather learn on something that is less valuable then something like the sycamore or ERC.

Clay3063 · Aug 18, 2017

Tony said:
I vote for Hackberry. Tony

I was leaning more to an elm or ash. I have a bunch of that and they aren't on the bottom either.

I've got a couple ash logs that are going to test the limits of this saw. Go Big or Go Home!!!?????

ripjack13 · Aug 18, 2017

Clay3063 · Aug 19, 2017

HEY... HOUSTONNNNNN!!! WE HAVE LIFT OFF! YEH, WE'RE GOING PLACES NOW!

And with that being said I am posting videos to You Tube so I can post them here. We welded the bunks in place, log dogs, and rail stops then removed the carriage out of the way and then moved the track to the ground. It is a temp location as I will probably put this thing on an axle with jacks to make it portable. But we've got a saw mill!!! Complete with the first slab!

.... and then we figured out why the lawn tractor motor was free.... The clutch was going bad. LOL. I've got bits and pieces of metal all over the top of the slab where little chunks of metal were being sheared off because the bearings are bad. I almost quit for the day. But again, being the determined, obstinate type, I fired it back up and idled it through the rest of the cut which is the second video. I was amazed at how well this thing ripped through the ash even with the engine at idle. WOW! The first cut was at anywhere from 1/2 to 3/4 to full and then back to 3/4 and 1/2 throttle. I am impressed.

Here are some more picts of the day. We're done for now until I can get a new clutch put on.

The log we cut into was an ash. I didn't measure the diameter. It's big enough for a first log. I'd say the first slab is around 10-12 inches across. Didn't measure it either. What I will say is that the Ash borers have done a real job boring holes all in this piece of timber.

@rocky1, I haven't forgotten my promise to you. Just haven't gotten there yet. But I will. Thank you and @woodtickgreg for all your help in sorting through the engine problems and to everyone else for your comments, tips, and encouragement. This is as much a part of your work as it is mine and Mary's.

Without further ado, here are the pics of today. And I will post the You Tube videos when they get uploaded.