Frontier Sawmills, Behind the Scene Look at a Portable Sawmill!
Welcome back to the channel today we're Going to do some fun stuff where you're Going to cut up some red oak and we're Going to use a moisture detector this Red Oak's been sitting around for Approximately almost two years so we're Going to be using a moisture detector to See what kind of moisture is in a log That's been sitting around for two years So another thing we're going to do today Is we're going to change out this Reservoir we've got a new Reservoir to Put on and it's split apart and it's Really no fault to Frontier the reason Is is I was trying a diesel mixture to Help with a pitch for cutting some Pine Logs First off it just didn't really work Because it would wear the belts out the Diesel would get in the belts and cause The belts to deteriorate really fast so Diesel is just not the right the right Cutting fluid or the right coolant for This type of Blade and it ended up Getting on everything I smelled like This all the time I just you know hey I'm just going to go with water and I'm I'm not cutting Pine very often anymore But if I do I'm probably just going to Go with a Pine-Sol or a pine oil Something like that we have one more Task today is I'm going to tear off my Sawdust and I've been collecting this Sawdust for a while now and it's been up
Under the uh the roof so it's dry I got Some ideals people were telling me what I think they think I should do with this I thought about like mixing this into The garden I know it'll pull the Nitrogen out of the soil if we do that Somebody else recommended that we burn It and then put that that Ash into the Garden get any comments on that listen I'm open to suggestions uh I've never Had to deal with this much bulk sawdust Before and we're getting ready to start A big project and we're going to be Cutting a lot of stuff on The Sawmill so We have a lot of solid dust first off We'll go get this thing dropped off you Guys come on Thank you Imagine it's going to be a good muddy Mess right here because I Want to pull this thing up just a little Bit further Yeah I tilled this yesterday and we got About Oh I want to say we got about uh Um a good inch and a half of rain It's pretty handy you guys tell me what I need to do with this uh This Sawdust I think eventually it'll rot down to Make some good uh soil but I don't know How many years that'll take Foreign Okay so this is the new tank it comes
With a valve and it has inset screws or Inscript inset nuts nuts and that's what We're going to do right now is take off The the bolts that screw into this from The bottom side of the tank and I don't Think this is going to take too long I Just hope I've remembered to bring water All right see if I can climb over in Here And get to the point where I need to be I didn't think about picking stuff off Like this All right I'm hoping that tank is just not Spinning that nut around I really think That's what's happening I think it broke Loose inside there I read a comment somewhere about that Exact thing happening That one come loose The And that one comes This one it's spinning around inside it We'll just have to rip it off All right uh what I'm going to do now is Take this This little hose clamp thing off here This is The nut is stuck in the bottom of that It's just spinning around So for whatever reason That's happening I'm just going to have To rip this off and then put a wrencher Pair of vice grip something on top to
Hold that nut All right there's the nut Should be able to get a socket on that Now All right let's see I got my pliers kind Of wedged up here I couldn't get a Wrench A wrench to it because the little head On it but I did get my pliers at a Different angle Ah there we go there we go All right let's see if I can Get more than a half a turn out of this So one of the locations where Just about out of my reach Okay All three boats are out That could have been a lot more painful Could have been a lot easier But I'm just happy that we're moving on Okay All right that's one one screw on one Bolt holding it down I'll see you guys When I get ready who toes up I can't believe you guys didn't help me Out there and let me know that I had Turned that around backwards You guys are just gonna let me put that On with you I thought we were friends I put this little Pull this out be a little easier to do Maybe maybe not
Oh there we go this should be the Easiest part but I put extra heavy duty holes on so it's Really hard to Move but there we go I have got just a Little bit of water left Apparently a It should be enough for today though We're Not Gonna So we've had some pretty extensive winds Here lately where we were 60 mile an Hour winds with some axle 40 mile an Hour sustained winds for several you Know 25 or 30 minutes it was pretty bad A lot of Limbs down a lot of trees down So We get a little bit of this out of the Way Thank you Mom Move buddy Hello So we're gonna have to cut the top off Of this for sure Let me Put these back stops down a little bit So I got my back stops lowered down We're going to go ahead and put this Log dog up and get it secured into place And what we have to do is come down and Take slices of this now one of the Things we are going to do today is test As we cut into the wood this these these Uh this is Red Oak and it's been on the
Ground what's been stacked over there It's not on the ground but it's been Stacked over there for Oh I want to say almost two full years So I'm curious to see what the moisture Content does it dry it's just been Standing out in the weather does it dry Anymore or are we going to still see Those you know 40 and 50 percent uh Moisture rates on the inside of this low So we'll take measurements as we go down Each each layer All right red oak See what we got going on now I've already started this up earlier it Warmed it up so should be ready to go I'm going to cut that top piece off and Work our way down Foreign This is a top test uh moisture detector I'm going to set it on it's got Different modes here and we're going to Set it on mode B for Oak and then we're Also going to set it to Fahrenheit so it Shows it's 67 degrees outside right now And then I have it set for Max So it's going to hold whatever the Highest pressure is We're going to take this and just kind Of put it right in here 43 Point excuse me 45.3 percent If you can see that or not let's see if We can Zoom in on that so
I apologize for Tanya not being here to Do the camera work I'm having to kind of Do it all myself this with this little Self-tracking camera I think it's doing Okay all right so we're going to do two Tests real quick with this this top test Moisture detector moisture meter so I Want to go on the outside this isn't Some of the uh Punky wood So it's been exposed so we're going to Go ahead and put that in and push the Whole button again 44.6 We'll go ahead and let you guys see that I don't know if you can see it or not And then let me go back again and we're Gonna put it in the Heartwood So release the hold And put it right here in the hardwood 38 But let's go and push that 38.2 See if I can let you guys see that 38.2 I wonder how this is backwards Yeah it's about let me cut the Sunglasses up Spent more out of you Hard God Is uh So this is something I don't think I Told you guys this is what we're cutting Up this is just Red Oak and it's not Really great for what we're using it for But this wood is being out here for so Long we're just going to use it we're
Going to be using this for building some Raised bed Uh raised beds inside the greenhouse So red oak is not an ideal Source but It'll probably last us you know five or Six years till we figure out exactly What we want inside the greenhouse so I figure my wife will have me change it Out so this is a two inch board Pretty heavy out here by myself I'm just going to let it fall out of the Way I'll take the tractor later on and set It up here and we'll cut some uh 10 a 10 Inch board on this Nope I forgot to turn the water off All right so now we're into the some of The Heartwood Let's go ahead and get it set on B for Oak and Fahrenheit let's go ahead Push hold Now it's 30 Towards the centers 35.3 so yeah it is Drying out you know this this has been Sitting out in the weather so the outer Parts of it are still uh damp from this Winter but the center is still quite a Bit drier than it would have been Otherwise so yeah 35 is not a bad place To start I'm going to extend these out a little Bit Turn these around so that they can Help
Somebody told me in one of my posts to Put a wedge up under The log that's Bree and ideal brilliant So what I recommend doing now after Doing this manual meal for a long time Is cut your first cut flat and then Rotate that flat spot up to the back of Your back stops and what it does is it Uh you know you can wedge it up against The back of your backstop making sure That the back is square to the bed and Then once you have that done you don't Need back stops any longer you can just Keep flipping it over and you have a Flat Edge to come up against and it just Saves a little bit of Labor uh you know Manual Mills are very labor intensive I'll just say that however I love doing It it is by far one of the most Rewarding things that I personally uh Do and I just I just love it I love Working with sawmill It's pretty dug on close at the back Pretty doggone close Again what I'm going to do is just Tighten this up And then what I can just kind of Wiggle The log back and forth and it will cause It to seat up against the backstops All right Probably get a 2×4 out of that I don't Know how strong it would be but Yeah I'll probably bring that back up to The meal for sure
Foreign Good size I could probably get a two by six out of That for sure So again we're going to go back to Check the moisture of this Now we're really getting into the Hardwood 37 here Let's go here 39 I wonder how much that has to do with The water that's coming off of the blade I'm pretty sure that's got some sort of Effect on it because some of the places That were dried a little longer We're 30 like 33. This is 38 here I'm going to say that Has an effect on that for sure So maybe all this testing that I'm doing Right now is probably for not I just got A new moisture tester and I want to play With it So this is a six inch cant now I'm going To turn it up On its side and then we'll take these on These other boards and wedge them in There together so that we can get some Two by fours and some other sizes out of There As we cut down through there so we're Not making a bunch of extra passes I will say this that would stable it Don't have a lot of
Flex in it Not really structural But it maybe we can use it for something Bench or something like that Which I guess is kind of structural but The market blew off Got in the track Foreign Foreign About six Got a hair of a bow to it not much Probably dried out Also picked up two more Two by sixes Just some straps it's got a big knot in It so this is not really structural but It May look pretty I'll throw this one on the ground though Because I forget will break It's got a little a little funky right Here but Fairly structurally sound board got a Good good sound to it All right Had to stop and take me a little break We're going to go ahead and top chop This last little bit off and then we're Going to call it a day Foreign So this is a good learning experience Right here it's a it's a being natural To want to pull the blade back through The log and if you do that with the
Engine running it will cause the bandsaw Blade to come off hit hit metal parts And definitely damage the blade let me Get that there's a wedge in here Somewhere I had laid up yeah I'm gonna go back the Other end and put this wedge On on the big board and then I can lift The little board up myself That should get me through Yeah that was that was not smart So now I've got to come back here Chop this off What if I could knock that off with a Hatchet There's no saying I got a shirt Somewhere I think I got it on on the Internet says you can't fix stupid Uh sitting there I actually took a break And didn't come back to look at this That wasn't as bad as I thought it was Gonna be It wasn't bad at all Right let's try it one more time see if I can get that to go through So all that work For that one little mistake Just to get that one little two by four But it's a fairly stable 2×4 with some Pretty good Hardwood in it It's got some hardwood a little pump Punky right there but for the price I Paid for this it's I like it
So here's one more Two by six we're going to use for a Raised bed in the greenhouse All right we should be able to get one More two by six out of this or we should Be two more two by sixes out of this two By I believe this would be considered a Four by six Kent Thank you I think it's gonna rain on me Calling for tornadoes tomorrow Can be rough Wet Red Oak White Oak pretty much any Oak Two by sixes are heavy Heavy heavy heavy This awful lot light work Foreign
