How to Make a Square Post on a Sawmill
Most people think you just make a quick 4 cuts on a round log to make a square post. There is so much more involved to get a post that is square, looks beautiful, and will last. The first thing you have to do is measure what is called the “Pith” of the tree and make sure it is at the same distance off the mill on both ends of the log. The “Pith” is the juvenille wood or center of the tree.
Your goal is to get the pith in the center of the finished post. I say goal, because sometimes you have to take what the log will give you. Just because it is the ‘center of the tree’, however, does it mean that it is the center of the log.
Since the log has a taper (meaning one end has a greater diameter than the other), you have to raise up one end of the log and measure the pith of the tree on both ends of the log. You want the Pith to be the same distance from the frame of the sawmill, so when the sawblade makes the first cut, the Pith will be the same distance from the sawblade throughout the cut. You have to do this twice. You will see me in the video with the tape measure checking where the pith is.
Once you have made your first two cuts, then you have to make sure that the previous cut is square with the bed of the sawmill. You will see me using a square to make sure the flat surface is square with the bed of the sawmill. That can take several attempts and you will see where I had to adjust the log a couple times to make sure it is square. Once we have squared it up, we make a couple more cuts so that the log has been turned into a “Cant”, which just means that we turned a round log into a square (or rectangle sometimes).
Since the log has a taper (meaning one end has a greater diameter than the other), you have to raise up one end of the log and measure the pith of the tree on both ends of the log. You want the Pith to be the same distance from the frame of the sawmill, so when the sawblade makes the first cut, the Pith will be the same distance from the sawblade throughout the cut. You have to do this twice. You will see me in the video with the tape measure checking where the pith is.
Once you have made your first two cuts, then you have to make sure that the previous cut is square with the bed of the sawmill. You will see me using a square to make sure the flat surface is square with the bed of the sawmill. That can take several attempts and you will see where I had to adjust the log a couple times to make sure it is square. Once we have squared it up, we make a couple more cuts so that the log has been turned into a “Cant”, which just means that we turned a round log into a square (or rectangle sometimes).
The last thing that takes time is that you don’t want to waste any part of the tree. So we make several 1 inch thick cuts from each side. We will flip the cant a few times making sure that the “Pith” stays as near the center of the post as possible. The 1 inch cuts are later stacked and stickered so that we can put them in the kiln to be used for something else. The end result is a nice square post that will look fantastic on a Timber frame building.
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