Tapered Giant Oak: The Science of Wood & the Art of Cutting

Did you guys ever wonder how to saw yourself a perfect cant from a tapered log? Well today we've got a 21 foot 10 20 inch wide oak log that we're going to turn into probably today an 8 by 8 that we need for our timber frame. We're going to show you exactly how to level the plith, meaning that the center of the log is even on both sides. We're going to show you the easiest way to square it, turn it, and move it. Easiest way. Okay the safest way guys, the safest way to turn these logs seriously I've showed you before is from the super wind system. I'm going to do this whole log here for you today alone. Normally I've got Jason there so I don't have to walk back and forth a million times, but we're already rigged up. We made our first cut. Our first cut we've already gotten our plith centered in this direction so now it's time that we want to square it. So I actually am bringing, I'm going to bring my log up and I'm not going to quite get to my post here because what we need to do first before we actually make it square is we need to check the level of the plith and what's going on there. So how we do it, real real simple with my laser system here. I'm going to just drop my saw where the blade is going to be, center plith here, and this is where I'm going to get my measurements of exactly where I need to be. This has made this whole process better from the new woodland mills. I can't say enough about it. I don't even mind it anymore. I used to make Jay do all the cranking, but there we go. That's just a piece for our woodland mills people. Sorry Jay. That's true man. It's okay. I love that thing. Okay so here we've got our laser line centered right here. I'm coming back. I know everybody's complaining, complaining about in the super daylight that it's hard to see the laser on here. I mean come on guys. Really? You can't improvise in the middle of a sunny day. I did it with the sun shining directly in to make sure that everybody doesn't have what's going on. So I'm going to center my plith which is right here. Boom. I can see my laser. Do you guys see that? I mean really? This is all that the laser is for to get your measurements. So I know right now I need about an inch and a quarter. So what I need to do is actually jack that end up an inch and a quarter and my pliths now are going to be level across my whole entire beam. And I didn't mention, we should mention the key key to us moving fast. Knee boards. Okay not jacks, not the things moving around. I got a knee board on both ends. I don't cry if I put my butt end in. My butt ends here. We have knee boards on both sides to make the adjustments so we don't need to move around. Sorry woodland mills. But here we go. This is a probably 3,500 pound log. I'm just APXing to where that is. I'm going to double check my work. Boom. Saw blade back to the center of my plith. Normally Jay's doing this portion and I'm reading the back down here. So it makes it go just a little bit faster. We are, here you go. There's the mark I made for my center plith. There's my laser. That's it. This thing is perfectly centered to now be cut to whatever board you want. 6x6, 8x8. You'll probably get a 10x10 out of this thing. So now the next step that I do, especially here I'm alone. You can see I'm going to use this post as my guide. That's what I do. I use this post to try to get my log as close to that as I can. Super winchy. I'm not pulling. I'm not holding. I've actually got, look how little I can move this thing. That's where I want to check first. I don't want to go too far. It's going to push the log out. Going to have to wrestle it in. Ease your way in until you know what's going on. I know, I know guys. Back to the mill. But this power head makes life easy. If I wasn't filming, I'd be drinking coffee. I'm going to be out of job. I'm going to talk to them about a little high speed lift though, Jay. That's right. We need a little power boost. Your cranking was a little bit faster, but I did wear you out by the end of the day. Take your square. Use your square. There you go. If that log is square with that blade, which we are so close there. I mean, I'm going to pull it in that 32nd of an inch, but let me tell you, you guys are not just flapping that around and making it square like that and just look square to me. You want to take it again, Jay? Wait a second. That's just a guideline in there. Okay guys. Now that's all you got to do. You square your beam once. Now, now when we make this cut, these two pieces of square, boom, boom. My friends, log is done. Perfect. Any size you want. Just keep working off your plift. If you want an eight by eight and take even amounts, don't just chop into it. That should be in the center. You want to keep a straight beam. That's what you need to do. Now, us timber framing important for our stuff to be square. Uh, you know, you can work around that, but it's much easier to move a lot faster when your stuff is square. I promise you. Exactly. Parallelogrammage. Try scribing parallelograms guys. So that's how we do it here right now. Oh God, that's Jay's job. Now I'm back on the other side. We, this whole time, this log is not moved. We're sitting here. We're talking. It's stable. It's secure. There's no way for you to get hurt. Walk over here. Boom. We're locked in safe guys. Secure. Now I did that alone. Now I'm sure you could do it alone. What? I'm going to release this. This log is not going to move. I'm done. No funky chains, no funky hookups. I'm pretty much done. I say it again. I'm working with a strap. Try to turn a giant log like that with your buddies, with the cant, trying to hold and square your stuff. You want to make nice, perfect lumber. That's how you saw a cant my friend. I can't get a longer one on here. I would have done it. Can I cut this thing now? Did you? Yeah, I want to cut this log now. Sure you do Jay. Here, cut it up. Give me the camera. You cut the log. You can cut the log. You want me to cut the log? Let's cut it. I love this log. Let's see if we run this morning, Jay. Did you have her fired up yet? I did not fire it up this morning. It's probably cold. Woodland mills guys, right away, chilly day. We're all geared up. Okay, this is the first cut of the day guys. Running this new carbide blade. Do you smell that red oak my friend? That's way up there, Jay. I'm gonna push this off so back on don't get hurt. Okay. Sorry, woodland mills. Are we out of the way over there? Yeah, we are. There we go. Giant slab my friend. I'm glad that went good. Looks great. Let's move it. Oh, not light, Dan. Oh, it's oak. So guys, there you go. Perfectly square cut beam. Ready to be assembled. Ready to work. Let me show you the measurement. Dead center seven. See how it worked out? Dead center seven. Friends, center your plith, square your log, use the super winch. I'll put a link back in the description, my friends, down to the Automature Mill because that's where you need to check this out. That's what we got. Thanks for watching. Thanks for watching, Jay. Good stuff.