The Advantages of Timber-frame Building
(Page 4 of 5)
August/September 2004
By Rob Roy
Some friends and I conducted our test with a machine-sharpened crosscut saw — regular sharpening — as per Mather’s advice. Our test logs were balsam fir, about 12 inches in diameter and 8 feet in length.
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The $40 Beam Machine
First, we tried the Beam Machine, which requires that an ordinary (finished) 2-by-4 be screwed along the length of the log as a guide for the first cut. We propped the log up on a couple of shorter logs so the tip of the 18-inch bar on my Stihl 029 chain saw was well clear of the ground.
The Beam Machine is simply a 12-inch-long piece of channel iron welded to a pivoting mechanism that clamps onto the chain saw’s bar with two strong setscrews. The channel iron fits neatly to the 2-by-4 that has been fastened along the log’s length. The mechanism allows the operator to import a vertical and straight cut as the unit slides along the 2-by-4 guide track. We found we could rip the first slab off the edge of a log in three minutes.
After the first slab was cut away, we had a nice flat surface for remounting the 2-by-4 guide. The Beam Machine must always travel along the guide. We simply rotated the log by 90 degrees so that we could work vertically once again on the adjacent (second) cut.
We marked the small end of the log with a pencil, showing the square 8-by-8 cross section of the beam that we wanted to make. Just before beginning a cut, we would barely tickle the end of the log with the saw to find out if we would, indeed, be cutting on the correct — outer — side of our line. On the second cut, I failed to keep the metal guide firmly on the 2-by-4 track and the saw came out of the other end of the log almost an inch out of plumb.
The $80 Granberg Mini-Mill
On the first test log, we also tried the Granberg Mini-Mill, which operates on the same principle but uses a 2-by-6 guide instead of a 2-by-4. Combined with a superior bearing for a pivot mechanism, the Granberg on its wider track seemed easier to keep on a straight vertical line. As we used the same saw, there was no difference in the time it took to make a cut. In four cuts, we had a passable 8-by-8 post or beam, except that — thanks to my inexperience on the second cut — the last 3 feet of one end took a decided turn, so the cross section of that end is an inch out of square. Well, it would do as a post!
We made a nearly perfect 8-by-9 beam out of the next log, again using both machines. All dimensions were within a quarter-inch. Again, the $80 Granberg was easier to control than the $40 Beam Machine. In fairness, I think that with practice, an operator can do an adequate job with the less-expensive tool, but if I were cutting a number of heavy timbers for a job, I’d say it’s probably worth the extra money for the Mini-Mill.
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