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Well it has really been a while since I have posted. I have been busy this summer building a barn for the llamas and doing some consulting on tonewood production. The latter was quite interesting and caused me to looked critically at the tonewood business. Yup...I will be staying at it, even after that! We have been billeting out logs and will be cutting top sets pretty steady through the winter. Very soon I am planning on another 2A sale, more on that later.

I have been getting more and more requests for "out of the ordinary" stuff. I have always been a bit uncomfortable on my re-saw with larger pieces. Also, next year I will be starting the new shop so I will need lots of lumber and I have quite a few logs that didn't make the tonewood grade that I want to see, sooooo....We have added this puppy to the company.



I just picked this up on Friday.



And finally finished the set-up in its temporary home and started to block out a harp guitar billet.



As you can see it is a Wood-mizer LT15 bandsaw mill and I am quite excited by the versatility it will add to the business. These usually come with a 15 hp engine but I souped it up with a 25 hp and added the power feed option. It will allow us to address the unusual and over-sized requests much better and much safer!

Thanks

Shane

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Canada

Awesome!

I look forward to when I can order your fine wood.

How's the hand?

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Expectation is the source of all misery; comparison the thief of joy.
http://redrivercanoe.ca/

Yaaaaaoooowwwwser's! Shane that's sweet dude! How's the cut, bet the wood is pretty smooth right off the saw hey?

Hope you're doing well (looks like you're having fun) and that your hand is recovering well.

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My Facebook Guitar Page

"There's really no wrong way, as long as the results are what's desired." Charles Fox

"We have to constantly remind ourselves what we're doing....No Luthier is putting a man on the moon!" Harry Fleishman

"Generosity is always different in the eye of the person who didn't receive anything, but who wanted some." Waddy Thomson

Great machines. Congratulations!

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Howard Klepper
http://www.klepperguitars.com

When all else fails, clean the shop.

That'll come in handy. A truck with a Hiab and life will be grand. Good on ya Shane. Must be just about time to quit the day job.

All The Best,
Danny

now that's a bandsaw!

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sweat the small stuff.

Hi Shane,

Don't forget that at least some luthiers will be thrilled to get a deal on paint grade, stain grade, and burst grade tonewood that taps great but has some warts.

If all else fails, get out your thesaurus, a zoology book, and a dart - for a new naming strategy for the odd looking wood, such as, "gnarly porcupine."

Dennis

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Dennis Leahy
Duluth, MN, USA
7th Sense Multimedia

Where do you plug in the shop vac?

Congrats Shane!!!

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Mitch

Shane, that's fatastic man! Glad to see you're still alive and well!

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I'd like to be able to prove, just for once, that money wouldn't make me happy...

Nice rig Shane! Congratulations!! That engine looks like a V-4 and more than 25 HP!

I found just the place for you to pick up a few spare blades whenever you are ready for them. It's not your "run of the mill" outlet store.

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Peter

Peter my friend that is a very cool pic but it's freaking me out when I see what is hanging over your head.......

Where was that taken?

Cool Shane...I've drooled over those at a few wood shows. Glad to see your business progressing. (Keep us archtop guys in mind on the 2As)

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Dave
Milton, ON

Yup, it cuts quite nice! I agree Howard, this company makes a nice product! I looked at others but just kept coming back to Wood-Mizer, they really are THE name for these things and offer great support.

Doug and Rod, my hand is doing quite well, certainly not as good as it used to be but working well considering what was done to it......

Dennis, I will leave the fancy naming process to my neighbour, besides, he probably has the process of using fancy names patented or something

Hesh, You could actually probably hook a vacuum up to this rig. Send me your festool so I can try it out !! We will actually use the sawdust for the garden and otherwise spread it over areas where mud accumulates.

Hey Peter, now THOSE are real bands!! When I bought my 24 inch resaw I had some 3 inch wide stellite tipped bands made at $350 each. These only lasted about 8 hours before they cracked so I then switched to Wood-Mizer bands and have been happy ever since. I have ad the Wood-Mizer band sharpening system for a couple of years now. That was a VERY expensive purchase but now I can get about 6 sharpenings from each band and when I don't like how a band is cutting I just take it off and through it into the "to be sharpened" pile. Anyway, the shop that I had make up my first custom bands dealt in those big bands, they are indeed impressive to see up close!

Thanks

Shane

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Canada

VERY NICE, Shane!!! Congratulations.

I've been speaking with the Wood Mizer boys in Indy for a some time now. My brother is about ready to pull the trigger on the LT-40 either soon or in the Spring. This will mainly be for hardwoods, i.e. Walnut, Cherry, Maple, Oak, etc.

I'm curious...what is the thinnest spruce you'll be able to produce off the saw?

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JJ
Napa, CA
http://www.DonohueGuitars.com

Hesh,

The photograph above was taken in the blade room of the LL Johnson mill in Charlotte, Mich. It's about 15 miles SW of Lansing and worth visiting if you are in the area. The mill is about 100 yrs. old and the big head saw blades are 10" x 36 ft. and worth about $1000 ea. They have sawmill tours and the photo was taken on one of their tours. Here is a link about their mill and the headsaw: http://www.theworkbench.com/sawmill/sawmill05a.php

They have a lumber sorting roundhouse which is really much like an old railroad roundhouse with all of the racks for the various sized lumber on the perimeter of an enormous rotating table. I was really amazed to see all of their equipment. Quite a sight to see and definitely a piece of history of the logging/lumber industry in Michigan.

They also carry a nice selection of tropical and exotic woods and my WAS took over before I could help myself...

Didn't mean to hijack your thread Shane...... I'll be anxious to hear more about your new saw after you really get it tuned and producing. When you finish a cut on a horizontal saw like that do you pull off the plank before returning the carriage? I've never seen one run before....

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Peter

These saws were indeed designed for hardwoods so your brother will be VERY pleased and the LT40 with the hydraulics is the way to go for processing logs. One of the local guys I know has an older 40 with 45 feet of bed!!! He has a few guys working for him and they produce some nice cedar products. Another local guy has recently (a couple years now really) upgraded to the LT70, what a rig that is! But for me this saw is actually much better. I talked long to the Wood-Mizer guys and they indicated that spruce was the most difficult wood they cut. Too much power and you can over power the blade which results in wavy cuts. I had the LT70 guy over a while ago and that was indeed the result. Also, I will mostly be processing short, smaller, thinner stuff so I don't want all of the hydraulic stuff in my way. Yet I still have the ability to cut up to 17 feet and I can order more bed sections if I want to. This saw comes with 2 sections included ( 11 foot cut capacity) in the price and I added a 3rd so I could cut 16 foot timbers for around the property (It will actually do about 17'8"). As for how thin.....well I sliced a 1/16" slice off that piece that is pictured on the bed above. If you tune them up they are extremely accurate. I have only done a cursory set-up as I will be moving it to a concrete pad and adding a small shelter in the spring when I get started on the shop. I too was going to wait for the spring to buy it but the prices in Canada were the lowest in about 15 years and this past week I think they jumped about 20% because of the dollar. So I decided to get it before that price jump.....I actually made money on the deal (that's my story and I'm sticking to it! )

Shane

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Canada

This one freaked me out. It looks like he has no arms and legs.

Shane, that is a sweet saw. I have been looking at used versions to haul up to a wooded lot to build a cabin. But, I would not get hand near the blade... do not think second chances are part of the deal with those bad boys.

Lovin the wood you send me,

Mike

I cut over a hundred thousand board feet on a woodmizer LT-40 years ago. Nice machines!!!

Congrats, Shane! Good to hear from you.

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Todd Rose
Ithaca, NY

https://www.dreamingrosesecobnb.com/todds-art-music

https://www.facebook.com/ToddRoseGuitars/