A Little More Wood

[Baxter Smith]

Charlie, the bandsaw is an 18" Rikon picked up on craigslist for $400. The good deal went out the window when the motor went a year later. Replaced it with a 3 hp Baldor. The resaw height clearance is 11 1/4" with the 3/4" plywood sled on it. The sled can handle up to 50" lengths. I cut the poplar close to that length, but it is a too tight to make positioning and rolling something that large/heavy very easy. Without my sons help, I wouldn't have gotten nearly as much sawn. Neither the saw or the sled was designed for the use of cant hooks.

[kevin nee]

Nice score! What kind of oak? Cherry is always fun and in my opinion White Oak gives a nicer finished product, but Red Oak is easier to turn. I am sure it is in good hands

[Baxter Smith]

.....What kind of oak? ..............

Kevin, that is still to be determined. When I first saw the bark, I assumed it was red. When I trimmed a little bit off the ends to make it lighter to load it didn't look quite right. When I took another quick look this afternoon at the end grain, I still wasn't quite sure since it appears to be mostly sapwood or burl and is rough cut and coated with anchorseal. Not quercus alba or quercus falcata but beyond that I can't tell you. There is one small spot of heartwood that I will have to look more closely at.

[Donny Lawson]

Great haul on the wood. What does the inside of the Cherry look like???

[Baxter Smith]

Donny, I don't have a clue on the cherry. I have just been working trying to get the poplar cut up for lumber. The outside is pretty clean so there should be some solid parts inside. A month ago I pulled these burls out of a logging area with a hantruck. 9r.jpg I had to cut up this one 4.jpgand lug it out by hand because it was just too far and too hard to get to. It should be similar.

[Joe Hillmann]

Could you put up more pictures of the loader on the farmall? I have never seen one like that and am trying to figure out how it works.

[Baxter Smith]

Could you put up more pictures of the loader on the farmall? I have never seen one like that and am trying to figure out how it works.

Joe, it is a trip bucket loader. It will lift but has no down pressure or tilt. When the lever with the loop on the end beside the amp meter is pulled back, the hydraulic cylinders extend and the bucket is raised
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because the top of the cylinder is also attached to the front end of the loader arms behind the bucket.
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The lever beside the rear wheel is attached by a cable to another lever that trips the bucket.
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When I got the tractor there was a lever beside the bucket,but I didn’t like having to get off to trip it. The bucket also had a single pieceof angle iron on the back to keep it in position. I changed it to the three pieces of box tubing so I could vary the angle. At some point in the past there were several breaks or cracks that were repaired by someone that even makes my welding look passable. When I restored the tractor about 10 years ago, I never did get around to painting the bucket or strengthening the front lever. The galvanized nail was supposed to be temporary.

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The bucket bottom was rusted out and had manure forks on the front. I replaced the bottom with another piece of steel and added a thicker front lip for strength and enough weight so it would dump when tripped.
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Hope you can follow all that. If you would like more info, you might checkyour Sears and Roebuck catalog.
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[Dennis Nagle]

The gas tank on my motorcycle is made from a Farmall "A" gas tank. Is yours an "A" model?

[Baxter Smith]

Its an H Dennis. Has a 17 gallon tank. The A was a slightly smaller tractor with a 10 gallon tank.

[ed hoxter]

baxter, your going to need a bigger trailer. ed

[Rich Aldrich]

Nice load of wood. Woodaholic comes to mind. I just saw one, then I realized that I was looking in the mirror.

[Baxter Smith]

baxter, your going to need a bigger trailer. ed

Not for another poplar Ed! One is enough.

Nice load of wood. Woodaholic comes to mind. I just saw one, then I realized that I was looking in the mirror.

You might be right Rich. But as long as I have a wife who doesn't mind being in the pit...... 4-15-13 Tulip Poplar.jpg Maybe she would like a bandsaw mill for her birthday next month. At least it gave me some practice with the McNaughton. Turning these was like taking a shower to cool off. Even the light were dripping. Tulip Poplar Bowls.jpg

[Kathy Marshall]

Baxter, you are a wood milling machine!

[Hilel Salomon]

Baxter,

Before I got a place in the VA mountains, I thought of poplar as a cheap alternative to pine. I discovered that it really is a nice wood for almost everything. It's soft when it is wet, and gets very hard when dry. It often spalts beautifully, takes stain or paint well and turns nicely. No, it isn't cherry, maple or walnut, but you will find that it is quite nice.
Lots of luck,

Hilel

[Dan Hintz]

It's funny... when a few Poplars went roots up at a neighbor's place, the vast majority of the reactions were "leave it where it is, unless you want some practice blanks." Now that it has dried for a year or so, I'm seeing some serious chatoyance throughout the pieces, and some great color (red and blues) in some of them. It's not a burl, but it's interesting in its own right. I'd say you did pretty good getting those pieces, Baxter. I need to do a little more digging locally to see if I can get a hold of similar burls...