Mini sawmill

550Doug

Member
Location
Southern Ontario
I need to make some wooden pitman arms for sickle mowers. I have some nice ash limbs that would work nicely if I had a mini saw mill. Is there any attachments for a table saw that could serve to mill some small diameter (6 inch) limbs?
 
If you have a jointer you can flatten one side of the log, turn it 90 degrees with the flat side against the fence and do it again and then you will have a square corner to put against the fence on the table saw. I did this with some hop-hornbeam that I wanted to use for fretboards for a couple of mandolins, and ash would be a lot easier because it is softer. If the grain is really straight you could also try splitting the wood with an ax to get it roughly to shape but that could be harder, I think.
Zach
 
You could also tack a piece of 2 x 4 to one side and run it through with the board against the fence. Then turn flat side down, and do it again- then you'd have two flat sides, and could finish squaring it off.
 
I've run them through a band saw to get a rough straight edge and then the table saw. Not a fast way, but a way to get it done cheaply if you already have the saws.
 
Find some rough sawn ash and rip the pieces from that stock.Limb wood isnt that strong.It will have a 1/4 inch hole the length of it.Pitmans sell for 25 bucks now.
 
4 inches is all I can get thru my radial arm saw. I have clamped a 2 x 4 on my band saw and slabed two sides at 90° then cut 1 1/4" pieces for a project with the radial arm.
You can slab all four sides.
 
Pretty sure the last time I cut up wood like that it was a sequence of band saw, jointer, and table saw. Or buddy it up with a straight board.
 
I understand the pain of not having a bandsaw. Even a tabletop 14 inch model would allow you to saw those limbs.

How long are the pitman arms you are trying to make? Because if they are not too long I'd also look at splitting with an ax or better yet a froe. Splitting goes with the grain, which is stronger than sawing where you could get areas where you're cutting across the grain.

If you manage to split it, then you can run it through a planer to make it nice. I'd also say don't have the heart in your pieces.

If you can find somebody with a bandsaw, that would be easiest. Or better yet find a sawyer that can just provide you some hardwood boards.

Here is woodmizers sawer locator:
http://www.woodmizer.com/us/ResourceCenter/FindaCustomSawyer.aspx
 
As others have said, don't use limbs, they are tension wood, meaning they don't grow in a balanced circle, cut off a side and it bends and warps bad. If you want to do it easy, take a round of hickory, ash, or white oak, and split out a rough shape, then plane down to the final dimensions.
 
There is a guy in my town who has a sawmill and sell ruff sawed lumber rather cheap. He is the only guy who will saw up a tree out of a yard. I think he must have a good metal detector.

I once took a 100+ year old oak barn beam about 6x6 and made table legs,3x3 three ft. I ran it throught the table saw, cut it half way, flipped it over and cut the other half. That was a lot of work to split it. Then using a jointer, thickness planner and table saw, I was able to make the legs. Some of the legs have worm holes, nail holes, but it worked prefectly for what I wanted. We had an old oak science lab table top, 2x5 ft, it had 4 drawers, and I made a frame work with legs for a island kitchen table. It is a one of a kind, with burn marks, students names in drawers.

Don't know of any attachments. If I wanted to use branches that bad, I would try to make an attachment for my 14 inch bandsaw.
 
My neighbor does alot of woodworking with his own wood and saws it up on a woodshop bandsaw in his shop. They also make a guide for a chainsaw where you nail a 2x4 to a log and run the guide down it , that may get you something down to where your table saw can finish the job.
 

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