How's This For A Bandsaw?

[orgmorg]

OK, so I didn't get it just for guitar building, but I am having a blast with it!

[Guitarfrenzy]

Is that a Wood-Mizer? Looks like the same one a local sawmill uses. Nice!!!

[Devon Headen]

My father used to run one of those. You can get some nice domestic woods for yourself with it. You can also make some pretty danged good money sawing for people. Is that one of the fully hydraulic models?

[orgmorg]

Yep, Woodmizer LT30hydraulic. Man, is it sweeet! I had a Peterson swingblade circular mill, which was really cool, but the bullwork of moving the logs around, etc. was starting to take it's toll. I figured, if I wanted to continue in this line of work, I needed to just take the plunge and get some real machinery. I don't think I will ever regret it, either. It's gonna take some time to get the hang of all the controls, though. Already got a bunch of work lined up, too.

[mledbetter]

a guy brought one of those a few years ago and cut a bunch of wood from my dad's farm.. we got a bunch of nice cherry out of it. He's got a crew in now thinning out his timber a lot, only taking 50" circ. trees. They have a big-ass robot arm that picks up the whole tree, runs it across a 5 ft chainsaw cutter and tosses it in the log truck like it's a toothpick. pretty neat to watch. listened to the crack and thud of trees falling all day yesterday. Cutting mostly oak and poplar, nothing worth getting too excited about from my point of view

Those woodmizers are awesome though. The guy cut 2x4s and 1x8s right on the spot out of poplar.. enough that dad built a couple of yard barns and some other projects.

[bigdguitars]

if you are in TN go down to SC or GA and get us a load of real swamp ash.

I think in my former life I operated one of those machines. I would love to do that all day.

[unclej]

man, i'd be dangerous with that thing in my part of texas...cypress, pecan, walnut, mesquite, cherry..

i could probably pick one of those up for..what..3-400 bucks?

[westhemann]

man, i'd be dangerous with that thing in my part of texas...cypress, pecan, walnut, mesquite, cherry..

i could probably pick one of those up for..what..3-400 bucks?

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there is a place in kyle right next to ih 35 that sells mesquite and other hardwoods...i have never been in there but i have always wondered what they have in stock.

it is on the east side of ih35 just south of the diamond shamrock and the dairy queen...right next to where they sell the little storage buildings.

[Jehle]

I have a nice Ash tree in my backyard that I'd quite like to have sawn up. I've often throught of having it cut and stcked to dry. Do you make house calls?

[Southpa]

I'm still looking for someone with one of those to quartersaw my holly log ( about 4' X 10" dia.), for neck wood. Everyone I've talked to so far is paranoid about nails. You would think that if someone was in the business of sawing logs for a living they would have also invested in some sort of metal detector.

Edited August 27, 2005 by Southpa

[Devon Headen]

When my dad ran one, they solved that problem by just charging the cumstomer for a new blade if they hit a nail.

[jamesj]

When my dad ran one, they solved that problem by just charging the cumstomer for a new blade if they hit a nail.

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Thats tuff, uping the price after its qoted. Gives you a bad rep. Unless of course you warn them first and still no one seems to ever "trust" you unless they seen it happen. But hey a cheap metal detector, they work in the ground.... wood??? If so depending on the blade price it might be a good investment. You never know if someone nailed a sign to a tree years back, or shot it, etc...

[orgmorg]

Typically, when sawing a customer's logs on a bandmill, the damaged blade charge is around 20 bucks, and that is made clear in the beginning. People always swear up and down that there is no metal in their logs- " I been here 20 years, and never put one nail in it " Yes, but the tree has been there 60 years.

I've got a Garret scanner, like they use in the airports, and it does pretty good- I've found nails as deep as 6" under the bark. Southpa, you could probably borrow or rent a metal detector and check your log yourself. 10" is small enough that most any unit will find metal in it, if it is in there.

Jehle, I do make house calls, but not very far, like 60 miles max. Where are you located? Maybe I could put you in touch with someone local. There's mobile sawyers all over the place, but most don't advertise. Once you get started, word gets around, and you usually don't have to.

[Southpa]

I made a phone call yesterday, got the number from I don't remember who weeks ago. The guy just got back from vacation and has to get a few jobs out of the way before he can saw up my holly, maybe 2 weeks from now. He charges $90/hr and says he could probably swing it in about 20 minutes. He didn't mention nails so neither did I.

The guy I originally got the wood from swears on a stack of bibles that the holly is metal free. Says it was growing in such an out of the way place in the yard that there is no reason for anyone to sink any nails, fence staples etc.. We'll see. In the mean time I'll strip off the bark and do a close visual inspection. This wood is "hard as nails" to begin with.

Edited August 28, 2005 by Southpa

[orgmorg]

Ya, a holly tree isn't the type you'd go and nail something to. They tend to nail back.