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SIR much respect for you, your humor makes my day. I am disabled and am able to do as much as I used to. Did a lot of wood work, carpenter by trade all my life. You make me smile thank you. moma cat, and the chickens all make me smile. I lost my wife in Jan of this year, so there really is not a lot to smile about but you make me smile. By the way I now live in middle Tenn after living all my life in South Fla.

Pretty impressive video Nathan with lots of helpful information for those people with smaller mills. Verry entertaining for another oldie of 83 years & disabled since 1978. Cheers mate, Don from South Australia.

You look like you're having way too much fun. That opening sequence was a stunner. The image quality was amazing.

I can't believe how fast time flies. This is like a flashback to some of your earlier videos. You still got it!

Great video Nathan, really enjoyed it, the wedges brought back a lot of memories, I could remember the way my arms felt after a couple of hours of splitting!

I don't own a mill, but once in a while I have to rip a log to make planks to build a trail bridge. I've got a Stihl with a 25in bar. and a rip chain. To start out I use a peeve to roll the log onto a couple of small split logs cut to about 18ins. long. If I need to, I use wedges to keep the log from rolling. This keeps the log off the ground. Since the log is off the ground I can start at the top of the face or end and rip all the way down the face until the end of the bar is a few inches off the ground. Keeping that angle I pull the saw down the length of the log. I let the body of the saw rest on the log. This method lessens the chance of a kick back. This way I can rip logs around 20in with no problem. Most of the time I rip the planks at 2in. Depending where the bridge is I may rip the sides to give everything a cleaner look. The conservation land I look after is 1,500acre and we have 10 miles of trails. By the way my trail saw is a Husky 550xp with an 18in bar. It's a lot easier to haul through the woods then the Stihl. One sad note. I grew up in New England. We had 50 acres of mostly side hill rock. There were four White Oak on the property. One of the oaks was with in five points of being a state record oak. Just before my mother passed away I took hike up and the biggest tree was down. I guess the wind and age got to it. It was sad the fell, but it was even sadder that there was no one with in a hundred miles that had a mill big enough to mill the oak. If we could have gotten it out of the woods. I often wonder what a clear,6ft dbh by 20ft+ long plank would sell for.

Thank you, Nathan, for another educational informative video, I had never heard of a ripping chain, I will look into it for my Stihl and Husqke, that log sure could have fooled me having such beautiful clean usable lumber buried within, just reminds me to not ever judge a Log (BOOK) by its cover, thank you for sharing your fall day in Tennessee with us. Truly grateful and proud to be a patreon member long term.

I worked in a log yard for many years . My opinion is that it is easier to use a 20 inch bar and cut one side then roll the log and cut the other. But you did a great job.

That oak is beeeauuutiful! Someone will make something gorgeous out of that. It would be quite interesting to see something from fellow crafters made from the wood you provide.

Loved the OAK, wish I could have seen more of the cuts. Beautiful oak. Would have looked good quatersawn.

Beautiful, straight grained, classic white oak. So cool!

I thought that was very admirable of you to have actually performed all of that hard work to illustrate to your viewer how to perform that task. Most people would have simply said how to do it but not actually perform the task. Just another reason that I am a subscriber.

Hi from Australia. Thankyou Nathan for another great video. You have some wonderful timber species in the States, that White Oak was spectacular. Great little mill there with the added benefit of your kilm to dry timber for cabinet and furniture making etc. Keep up the good work and interesting videos. Cheers.

I like the shot with the camera on the scraper at 15:36.

My kids are watching Puffin Rock and I’m watching this. It’s a good morning.

What unexpected beauty out of that gnarly old log. A great life metaphor 😊. The age of the tree must be well over 100 years too. A lot to ponder when looking at the finished cuts. Very nice and thank you for sharing this. Take care and stay safe.

We have some big trees in france and use the alaskan type mill with the stihl 880 and big bar to quarter them before the go on the mill , it makes them easier to move

Oh this brings back memories I was seven when dad retired the first time from the Navy we lived in a woods we split logs with wedges for buzz saw dad couldn’t work left handed so I worked on opposite side of log started with seven pound sledge to wormup then switched to ten pound Great memories I am 90 now

Thank you for sharing this video. It's very educational for those of us who don't have a larger sawmill. Be blessed Nathan and family.

Great demonstration. Used that technique for many years growing up. (My grandpa taught me). Now I use my bobcat with the breaker I welded a wedge on the mole point and it splits logs effortlessly. Keep up the great content.

Great job. Been wanting to try that myself

I love the long, straight grain of oak! Those are some good looking planks- thanks for posting this. Just what I needed.

Great job. Beautiful lumber. It would've took me 5 hours to split that big oak lol. Congrats to the chickens 🐔 .

Good of you, to help others with sawing tips.

My Grandfather and Great Grandfather had wedges made from Dogwood thats the way it was done in SWVA Floyd county they hand split rails from Chestnut and split fence posts from locust.

Visual quality is excellent on this one! Might be filming outside on an overcast day, but VERY noticeable…

I saw the paint stripe. Good Idea. I do similar, but have a rope and couple of bricks. I stretch the rope and paint down it to get a straight line. Then sight on the line not colored. Takes a couple extra minutes but satisfies my OCD.

Just gorgeous white oak, my favorite for furniture. 😄👏

Great video Nathan!! Yes that log was ready to show itself and you are just the craftsman to bring it out, like a sculptor with a piece of stone! Beautiful wood, keep up the good work!

Lovely grain within, and thoughtfully narrated - Bravo! I love your chicken coop too. It's a real shame that so many people want lovely boards such as this for their houses, but it never occurs to them to feel responsible for replacing what they've taken from the natural world. This attitude wouldn't matter if the human population was one thousandth of what it is, but with 8 Billion people all wanting wood products, it's GOING to end badly if we keep cutting down faster than we replant and allow to re-grow.

Good way to start the process for quarter sawn !

That'll work when you need too make it fit. Thanks fir sharing with us Nathan, stay safe and keep up the good work. Fred.

Love the music you always have on your videos.

Some Brilliant Camera 🎥 angles used there Nathan. Switching it up a bit. That white oak looked amazing when you once squared it up. Thanks for sharing

Great tip for handling large logs. We just got an lt15 and will undoubtedly need to apply this method. From experience I would not recommend buying a ripping chain just for this type of cut. Full chisel works fine for angled cuts that yield “noodles” for saw chips. I do use a ripping chain for chainsaw milling when I am cutting square into the endgrain.

My knowledge of wood and logs is not even a fraction of what yours is. However, the one thing I have learned is that oak, particularly white oak, can lay on the ground for a long period of time and still be beautiful! Thank you for sharing!

Nathan I do the same as you splitting big logs. I use a Stihl 460 with a 42" bar. Our mill will only handle a 28" log. I do have a chainsaw mill for some of the big logs when I want wide slabs.

You betcha. I'm not a fan of oak, too bland for me. But that log has been waiting for you to show its stuff!---Lots of interesting skills on this visit. I especially liked the fast forward, and the 'gym workout'!---Pigs huh. I wonder how that conversation started...hmm.

HEY I WAS JUST RIPPING TODAY....Wish i could send you a picture, was almost out of bar with my 42 inch bar😬. was milling locust 2 inch thick slabs.

Nathan - I sure do love the laser guide on your saw. There is no guessing if your cuts will be where you want them to go and it makes viewing from a distance so much easier. Good job!

To me it looks like you got a new camera. The clarity is great! Great videos as always!

We live in tick city and the chickens are great, they pick the ticks off the sheep and goats, the eggs are a bonus for us. They are my pest control/clean up crew

My oldest son has a rooster that sits on his leg and watches movies on his phone...cracks me up.

Some lovely oak Nathan! And I do believe it enjoyed showing itself. I know I enjoyed it. Kind Thanks and Many Blessings! DaveyJO in Pennsylvania

Yep .... it's like opening up a Christmas present! That is some gorgeous lumber for sure👍🏻.... take care✌🏻You and your family have a wonderful Thanksgiving Nathan🦃🦃

Years ago My in-laws ran a professional hardwoods sawmill, and they had a log that was too big for their carriage, about 4 1/2 feet in diameter. They made a plunge cut in the center , a squared out hole, and my brother, in the water well business, used 2 sticks of binary explosives to split it in half. It worked to perfection. They paid him with a pickup load of red elm planks and beams, for his drilling business. Fond Memories.....🙂

Great video I had to split a log like that once

That turned out some nice straight grained white oak. Thanks, Nathan.

Thanks Nathan. A lot of hard work splitting that log, but not as tough as the one we saw you split in one of your first videos. I've thought about this since then, but then thinking is not the same as doing: Wouldn't the split log still be the same (too large) for the small sawmill? Wouldn't it be easier and smaller if you chainsawed jacket boards?

Never heard of ripping chain. Once upon a time back in the 1960s I had to split some large oak, and an uncle put me onto using some pieces of steel strap, about a quarter inch thick and about 3 inches wide, with a ground tip to an edge. These were used as starter wedges in cracks in some large oak to open them up enough to get a regular wedge into. Still have them in the garage but never needed them since. Anyway, the idea of a starter wedge will work if you do not want to use the saw for a cut like that or cannot because you lack the correct chain. You have to man up of course!

Nice Nathan, i use a ms660 in the UK to rip logs, i do it slightly differently got some videos on it if you had a chance to have a look!

I sure would love to see you do a show on maintenance of your mill. Cleaning hydraulic seals, chain maintenance, tension on this and that, all the things you know, that we don't. I love watching, but mowing hay is my forte.

Well done as always Nathan!

What's the difference between the 2blades because iv never used or seen a ripping chain iv only used regular saw chains. If you had it would it not be better and save you some lumber to cut a big log down to a possible working cant with an Alaskan style chainsaw mill??

I use a standard poulan 14inch bar when split I van cut up to 3 ft diameter with my 14inch.

I just posted a video on my channel of me splitting a 9’ X 48” red oak log that I estimate weighs 6500 lbs. Probably cut some 8/4 and other stuff out of it. Q-sawn and rift sawn as much as I can get. Great video. Thanks for posting. 👍

Great video!

Hi Nathan! Thank you for sharing your videos. I’ve been around so many chainsaws it’s crazy. But never seen a ripping chain. Was kinda hoping you would have shown the difference between the two. On the show mountain men, they showed splitting logs with black powder wedges. Sounds more fun to use explosives. Lol.

Sure woulda liked to see more of the cleanup and cutting of the big log. Did you quarter saw it all?

man, that saw is a beast!

that was a tough split, would been quicker to mill in half. thanks for showing other stuff to use besides wedges.

Great tips!!

Beautiful white pine

Nathan you are the best. I am always ready for you to show yourself. LOL

Beautiful wood

That was real nice I liked that a lot😁

Great video as always, thanks

Stihl makes an 090 saw as their largest model.. they used to sell it at all their stihl outlets as I understand now it has to be special ordered from the factory..

I think it might be easier just buy one of those saw guides that goes onto the log and cut boards out of it with the saw. It looked like a lot of work splitting it in half like that. Then after cutting boards off of it and you get half way down and decide to put the other half through the mill problem solved.

good evening sir, for that big heavy saw could u rig up a guitar shoulder strap or a rifle sling to take up the weight? just an I idea. keep the vids coming

That was interesting Nathan to see how you do it State side. I live in Central Qld, Australia and it is not an uncommon practice to rip saw timber for fence posts or fencing rails here. It is probably what is considered an every day practice. I have done a fair few in my life but, there is many more that made a living out of ripping posts here that have a wealth more knowledge than me. Our timber is Australian hardwood that we utilise here for that purpose. My biggest saw that I own and run is equivalent to a Stihl 661 with 28” bar and have comfortably cut logs 6’ diameter...

How did you clean up the split side? I did not see it in the video. Thank you

You made that hard. All you have to do is plunge cut it in the middle. Pore in about a 1/4# black powder with some Cannon fuse. Pack it with saw dust. Light it and walk away. 2 minutes it done and much more fun!

Nathan, didn't you once tell us you were going to get a vacuum system for the mill?

new camera?? Extra Sharp...Keep up the good work!

Awesome job 🎉

Great job!! what is the name of the tune you played when you finished splitting the white oak?

Steel wedges!! Guess you have had them for a while!!

Your buddy Engels coach shop is looking for s 6 x 6 white pine. He put out a request on one of his last videos

I will keep it short . Damn fine wood !

I’ve never had any luck reasoning with cats or chickens either.

Some hard wood right there!!

hi there nice chunk of wood . john

3 year old oak boards looking nice but no water. What happened? Thanks Nathan!!!

Great stuff again Nathan! I’ve got a question I’ve been thinking of asking for awhile now but I always forget. I love your suspenders. Where did you get them? Thanks-Mark from Wisconsin.

That oak looks great!

Nice tiger markings.

Putting the log on a couple of notched small logs for risers would let the log be sawn completely, no splitting! Cutting as you did there is little or no advantage in using a rip sharpened chain. Rip chain is the same as crosscut chain with the top angle at about 10 degrees instead of 30. Usually semi chisel with the drags filed lower than normal.

Pretty stuff Nathan! How much did you get out of that log? Take care, stay safe! God bless my friend! 🙏✝️🇺🇸🇺🇸🇺🇸

How did splitting that log the way you did make it easier to saw on a smaller mill? Any way you turn it it is still going to be 36 inches wide, or if you stand it on it's side it will be 36 inches tall.

Anyone else notice the difference between the rip chain and cross cut chain's chips/shavings?

Are you going to put those boards on the chicken house green? If ao how much shrinkage do you expect? Thanks

nice boards

White Oak…………..amazing

That would probably be called a porta-power.

By splitting that log how much. Lumber did you loose?

I'm not sure it was too big for the mill. Can't you face cut from each four sides to reduce the width. I'm glad you finally did something with that log. It's been sitting on your driveway for too long.

Nice video

Looks like a set of jaws of life might be handy.