Milling wood

Gustav have finished the holders for the obstacles for the horses to jump over. And I promised him that we could make some new booms as well.
The old booms were some 1x2" strips that I had, but they were soft and flexed when mounted on the holders.
I decided that the new booms will be 3x3", and the plan is to make an attachment that will allow me to make them octagonal using the sawmill.

The following is a description of how I mill wood, to use for my various projects.

The sawmill is powered by my old Volvo BM 400 tractor (diesel), the PTO shaft is connected to an angle gearbox from an old grass cutter (for making grass for silage).

The sawmill itself is a BMR 900, and old Danish sawmill with a circular blade of 900 mm diameter (36"). The sawmill can handle wood of up to 8.5 m (roughly 28 feet), and a it has a maximum riving capacity of approximately 12". So the wood can be of a diameter of up to about 16", since normally you don't split it right down the middle anyway.

The log is hoisted onto the sawmill by means of a

manually operated chain block and a home made

crane beam.                                                            

The log is positioned on the moving table and is

secured by means of some small wooden wedges.

The first cut is made near the edge of the log.

Note that the fence is retracted all the way.   

This is how the log looks like after the first cut.

The log is then rotated 1/4 of a turn, so the flat 

side is facing down. Then another cut similar to

this one is made, so the log has got two flat sides

meeting in a 90 degree angle.                               

 

Now the fence is set to the desired thickness of the

finished board which is 3" in this case. The log is   

positioned so it is resting on a flat side, and the other

flat side is against the fence.                                       

 

Now the narrow board is 3" thick, and

it will be parked on the table beside the

saw while another one like it is being    

made                                                      

Now the board which is 3" thick is    

placed flat on the saw mill. The fence

is once again set to 3" to make the boom.

 

If the off cuts are a little wide, I will usually rip them

in order to make them more suited as firewood (then 

they need no splitting). In addition to this it produces 

some more sawdust which is used in the stalls for the 

horses. If the size of the off cuts permit it, I normally 

try to make a board e.g. 1x4" out of it.                         

 

If it is hardwood (elm), which I would like to use for

making furniture, then there is a small pause in the    

process (2-3 years) to allow the wood to dry.