This Simple Sawmill Hack will keep you Cutting All Day!!

Converting a $6 socket into a work saving miracle tool.
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Back To The Wood by Audionautix is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution license (creativecommons.org/licenses/...)
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[@falllineridge]

"F" for spelling skills.

[@gadiantonx8474]

i didnt log on to watch your spelling skills i wanna see if you have any tricks to make my lt 40 easier to handle

[@kmarchman1047]

I've followed your videos for awhile. I don't have a sawmill and probably never will but the excitement you show for every project is so awesome to watch.

[@beaverstuff]

I work on bicycles, and, the mark-up for bike tools could drive a guy to the poor house! Here and there, I have found that making or adapting existing tools saves a bunch of money. When somethings works, like your winch/drill-motor adaptation, I'm just all smiles!

[@RXRSawdustStation]

Great idea! IF you have to make another one for any reason, get a 5/8's nut and slice two sides of it off and weld that into the socket. By using a manufactured nut you'll have the hex sides fitting better into the socket wall. As the video was progressing I kept thinking of a hex nut fitting nicely into the hex flats of the socket. Not that you'll ever need to remake the one you have. (possibly a backup adapter). #KeepTheChipsFlying, FLR!

[@gumboot65]

Looks Great ! The older and tireded I get , the more I figure out how to save steps and effort to get more done well. Your doing great! Great project for a rainy day that will give you a low cost production jump !! Really nice looking mill !

[@allyoop7138]

After seeing you struggle with loading logs in earlier videos, this was really fun to watch. Congratulations on a very clever solution. I'm sure your back will appreciate it!

[@eddiestipe2009]

Good job, and thank you for listening to your viewers

[@kevinnobody3052]

Hell yeah. Thanks man, this was a jackpot video for me. I have an HD-36 Norwood and I have been obsessed with trying to figure out some way to load better and this is it. Thanks for sharing. I appreciate it.

[@sarahriley4155]

Hats off to you. I like many others thought this was never going to work but if you don’t try...... nice one.

[@TheGreenThumbGardeningChannel]

Been watching you here for the past 12 months now man and I'm addicted to your channel, continued success to you in all things!

[@falllineridge]

Thank you, sir! And thanks for stopping by on the premiere chat.

[@HOODS]

Weld a socket to the winch. And weld an adapter to the crank handle. So you can use the handle when the drill gives up. Just an idea.

[@williamjacobs236]

Those drills have more power then you think ! Great video too !

[@nancyjeanharvey7647]

That was a good idea that will save you time & energy.

[@clintdouglas5756]

Got to luv it when a plan comes together good job 👏🏻

[@falllineridge]

I was shocked!

[@purplelilac3184]

Got to do what you got to do. Sometimes things work and sometimes not. Good idea. You have very clever and helpful viewers.........

[@AllaroundNbackagain]

Worked like a charm. Nice job

[@billcoats3985]

Great idea! I’ll definitely be trying it. Enjoy your channel.

[@niklar55]

If you'd squared the shaft, and inverted the socket, so the square drive engaged it, you could then have used a hex head bolt in the socket to drive it with the drill. No welding required.

[@falllineridge]

niklar55 That’s a pretty good idea, but I didn’t want to permanently modify the shaft. I needed to be able to use the original hand crank for if the drill fails or dies or if a log is too heavy for it.

[@niklar55]

@@falllineridge The hand crank would still work, as you're only removing the rounded parts and adding two extra flats.😊

[@chrisw5742]

Weld a bolt head onto it. Ever need a hand crank use a wrench or socket wrench.

[@billgen1472]

Yep thats what I would of done too

[@donshields4470]

You thrilled all of us out here!

[@daveholmes123]

Nothing like a great idea, thanks for sharing!

[@tomnovak7731]

You're right. I've seen a lot of great ideas, and that was nothing like a great idea!

[@michaelmueller8976]

Great idea! And you did it without a huge cost!

[@falllineridge]

That was the best part!

[@johnnyo3fan]

It's a great feeling when things work out the way you hope.

[@falllineridge]

John O Yes it is

[@desertdawg3409]

Great Hack! If I can make a suggestion if you need to do it again or others doing it for their mill. We had a similar situation and needed a 3/4" x 1/2" rectangle socket for the crank handle for a truck mounted swing lift with same type 'boat' winch. Took a couple 3/4" nuts and tacked them together stacked and ground the weld bump flat to fit socket. Then with a thin cutoff wheel split the nut off center lenghtwise and used a bench grinder to grind the flat faces on inside of cut nut halves, dropping both pieces in the socket to check fit to the shaft when grinding until we had a nice rectangle fit. Take same amount off each nut surface to keep it centered on shaft. To secure the 2 ground nut halves inserts inside the socket, we drilled 2 small holes on each side of socket, lining them up with insert nut flats and rosette welded the nut inserts to the socket wall from the outside of socket and ground smooth. There was no inside welding of socket or grinding and whole thing was all flat grinding the nut halves held with ViseGrips on a bench grinder. All the grinding was flat surface and took place outside the socket, made the job a whole lot easier and no Dremeling. Took me about 20 minutes and we used an old 6 point 3/4", 1/2" drive socket from the junk box. Can be used with an electric drill or a 1/2" ratchet. Painted it florescent orange to spot easier in the tool bag and wouldn't get lost.

[@thebeaglebeat3615]

Good point, nice job and a good idea as a whole, well done

[@SmokesLetsGo45]

As you always say "theres probably a better way to do this" way to go man keep on keeping on!

[@falllineridge]

Thanks for stopping by, Rylen!

[@craigsudman4556]

So you'll be crankin on the LT-15 all day long now! Really cool up-grade. Love it when folks make their own tools to make the work flow faster. Great video, thumbs up.

[@craigjones1115]

Nice work. Thanks for the video.

[@joescheckler9953]

REALLY a great idea!

Clever and much time to do something else. Awesome 👏

[@ThePaulv12]

I can't tell you how pleased I am to find this vid. Believe it or not I just bought a 3x socket drill adapters for my toe board and it never occurred to me to use it on the winch. And guess what? My winch is a hand boat winch that already has hex drives on it and has 3 of them giving you 3 constant mesh gears essentially. On the deep reduction low speed gear on the winch, if I put the drill on high speed it should just walk logs up the ramps. Also I toyed with the idea of getting a gas powered winch. They don't cost too much but heck, that idea is shelved after my good fortune of finding this LOL. I still will get a gas powered winch because when I eventually mill the wood to build the shed to put the mill in (lol), I might make a guide to line up the logs parallel to the mill and use the gas powered winch to drag them inside.

[@4wheelliving132]

Someone from a tool manufacture co will watch this and you'll see that adapter in the stores in a year. Good job

[@arthuralzamora7331]

Worked better than I thought it would.

[@nellytalford7119]

Great job!!

[@patrickbear7261]

That's a great idea 🇺🇸👍🇺🇸👍

[@drateretulosba]

I love this channel

[@falllineridge]

Personified Regret Thank you!

[@keithnoneya]

That's pretty cool. It's time for me to start making and selling those, LOL. Thanks for sharing. Best Wishes & Blessings. Keith Noneya

[@badbadbob1]

For extra grip of the log, Wrap it around the log one to two times. The cable will grip the log so It will roll straighter and resist the twist.

[@terrygillmore5138]

Well done!

[@markmacik501]

Great trick! Post more if you have them!

[@jamesharless5357]

That worked out great.

[@davebrittain9216]

I did the exact same thing for our camping trailer for the stabilize jacks. make the chore so much easier!

[@falllineridge]

Dave Brittain I’ve been using a socket/impact wrench on the mill jacks also. I’ll switch to the drill now. It’s amazing how much faster you can go.

[@steflav1997]

Nice Job!

[@1rustytree]

Works great!

[@crazycoyote1738]

I’m not sure if you still rly on this improvised socket after two years, but if I was building it, I was first cutting and separating the octagon part from the square that goes to the ratchet. Then citing the octagon to two halves. Now that the two pieces are open and facing up, I can weld it and shape it with an angle grinder. When everything fits right, you can weld back all 3 parts and you’ll have a good socket, in 15-20 minutes. Thanks for sharing!!

[@singleshot2218]

Got a winner there bud!

[@treeclimbing7798]

I’m impressed didn’t think that drill would do it.

[@larrybourne8430]

That is very innovative and I am very impressed with your fabricating abilities. WM needs to do their own engineering now and make it easily adaptable to hold a portable drill.

[@falllineridge]

I'm surprised that no-one offers something like this. Seems like it would be a really good market to break into. Appreciate the kind comment, Larry.

[@deryckfitzsimmons52]

Good job!

[@wlsteffen]

Excellent solution to help yourself

[@glenngoodale1709]

That worked out great

[@josephhartman8073]

A man after my own heart.

[@peterseely9311]

Super useful info...thx

[@teamstucker624]

Great video of DIY Log Milling Hacks that's working smarter not harder. I Just found your Channel and subbed Thanks for sharing.

[@falllineridge]

Team Stucker Thank you!

[@Pgcmoore]

outstanding!!!

[@Twangg1]

I've got to admit... I was skeptical .. but that was an amazing demo... very cool.. now, a couple of 4X4's to run your logs up onto before cabling them up... also, maybe a choker knob on the end of your winch cable and a choker bell welded to the winch bracket... much easier to get under a log than a hook...

[@falllineridge]

I was skeptical too. Thanks for the tips, Thom!

[@Grizzlife]

That’s slick as snot right there!

[@RobiSydney]

Get some huge batteries. Think about making a torque post to save your wrist. You have the 2 screws on the cover you could secure your torque mount Set it up so you can use the same one for the low/high speed inputs and strap it in and still get battery on/off. Then you can make a bicycle brake cable/handle trigger puller and you have "remote" operation Then you have a 4 speed operation - low winch/1 low drill, low winch/2 high drill, high winch/1 low drill, high winch/2 high on drill. Angle the mount so when the winch is on the ground, drill is up. Probably easier to figure out the best compromise for power and speed and leave drill in that position.

[@loydtromblay411]

If you want to double the power. Add a pully when pulling the heavy wet logs onto the bed

[@DJtheDad]

Cool part about using a small boat trailer for a sawmill trailer is that not only is it the right size, but it also comes with a winch and is riding on leaf springs and D-rated tires.

[@SB-cm7db]

Wow looks like that worked out great, sometimes drills come with a screw on handle that goes on the side of them it would definitely help out when the drill decides to jerk around.

[@ronfontenot4534]

Bravo!

[@HighRoad317]

Excellent

[@robertdillon9989]

Awesome

[@freddiedrawhorn1939]

That is awesome I'm doing that too brilliant that is cool I have a sawmill too

[@charlesmccoury663]

Great video

[@falllineridge]

Thank you, Charles.

[@antp35]

that's really cool.......JJ..

[@houstonfragguy9205]

I’ll make mine ASAP!

[@larryfromlincolncountywa3989]

Perfect!! How do you beat that? What a perfect place for a "retired" cordless drill.

[@jackturtle131]

That's an ripper solution mate Cheers

[@jeffryblackmon4846]

That's a good idea.

[@Bass2010]

That’s going to save you arm and shoulder congrats the mills looking up

[@falllineridge]

I think so too, thanks!

[@prospectsinc]

Now there's a You Tuber that really knows how to "LOG ON".

[@falllineridge]

Nice.

[@georgebeard6886]

They also make sockets for square nuts and bolts. I even own a few made by Sears

[@robertalexander6637]

I am surprised that so many people like you are still persisting with manual winches . I threw my manual winch away years ago and fitted a 12volt electric winch . It has a remote i can walk around the mill and adjust the log going up the ramp.. The other thing is i have a designated battery that is constantly charged by a solar panel.and want go flat . Sorry to think your idea is short term but my setup is more permanent. Cheers Rob

[@thepotterer3726]

You need to check out 'parbuckling', ancient technique that's still just as useful today.

[@petershale9940]

Good video, great idea, I would suggest a blanket or something over the wire rope in case it snaps. cheers for now

[@doughughes3572]

Standard 12 pt socket instead of six fits perfectly on square shaft. No grinding required.

[@ianbond3982]

If you have a look in some tool catalogues, like snap-on (but they aren't the only ones) There are all sorts of adpators, & if i remember a 'weatherhead socket will do that job, without all the work, but all the same, great idea. Or you could have ground 2 more flats on the shaft & got a square adaptor.

[@rkeround2itindustries892]

If you weld a square drive (Harbor Freight Adapter set) to the inside of the winch frame, you will have a place to store the 'winch socket' when you need/want/have to use the crank. Also if you have a hooking point on the ramp side, you can use the winch to 'position' the logs without having to use the peavey or cant hook.

[@darrenmorrow5697]

Got to say im impressed i thought it may not have the jam to pull it up the ramp all the way either well done!

[@falllineridge]

Darren Morrow Thanks, Darren! I was pretty surprised.

[@calf6349]

you have a good idea, and With your permission, i have another Idea for making an adapter. Get a nut, grind as much thread material as necessary with the die grinder. slip it over the shaft of on the winch. drill a hole through the nut and winch shaft so they line up and then tap in a " roll pin" of the corresponding size, very similar to a shear pin on an auger. that way a socket can be used without modification. and if the hex nut wears out - drive out the pin and install a new nut/pin and your off and running. keep up the good work i enjoyed watching.

[@mikehornsby599]

Time = money what a game changer!!!! Proud for you make you even more independent!!!

[@txhogdoggn]

next time, try a 12 point socket that fits even closer to the intended/required size. i think even and i hate to advertise for them, craftsman has specialty sockets for such odd shapes, almost like that alligator socket advertised on tv. but either way, nice job of taking what you had and making it work for YOUR needs to make life/work easier on yourself.

[@exotictones1054]

Good stuff I think that type of socket is what's made for a well head to loosen n tighten the pit less that holds the pump n hose.

[@billhauck7872]

If you take a 1/2 socket extension, cut off one and put into the drill the other end should fit the drive input to the winch.

[@brickly77]

What no super fast fwd log cut so we can see the beautiful bounty for that work.

[@michaeldeaville5573]

Interested in seeing how many logs you can load on one battery charge, and how long the drill will last.

[@johnnybarbar7435]

The drill was not straining at all so I don't believe drill life would be affected at all vs driving deck screws in comparison. A couple lithium batteries would easily last all day...possibly without having to use the second at all.

[@oldschooldiy3240]

I am amazed at your amazement! Amazing what gear reduction can do, huh?

[@sailme2day]

You might consider an impact socket , non chrome , easier to weld ? You also might consider using jb weld to fill in the back up socket ? Good to have a back up of both socket and adapter in the tool box. Great update and making it easier hack :) Just watch your wrist .... keep that drill against your leg friend . Nice time saver !

[@kmchartrand99]

I would fabricated a bracket of sorts the holds the drill in place for that reason, or try using an impact driver.

[@HOODS]

Nice

[@parkwayconcepts8758]

A 12 point socket might be a better option for the square connection too.

[@TimRoyalPastortim]

A cheap impact socket will eliminate the chrome and add some beef... way easier to weld. I find this is a surprisingly common improvement to adding power. I just added power lift to my popup tent trailer by welding an impact socket to the lift shaft.

[@markmcelheney7513]

You Could Drive An Alternator Off Of The Motor, And Use It With A Voltage Inverter, So You Can Have Power For Your Winch

[@rosscurtis8107]

Wow, that is really slick! Thanks for sharing. Could you share your source of your Water Container and how much soap you and please for blade lubricant. Thanks RC By the way I’m out in San Diego County Ca and I picked up an older LT 15 and am just getting started. I’ve been following you for a while and am learning a Bunch. I value your decent manner and solid values you quietly live.

[@kennethhendricks1645]

BOY YOU SURE DID THAT THE HARD WAY

[@jeffforbes3772]

Cool

[@JLPrice-nu8ju]

You can put a log hook on the cable and turn your bigger logs on the mill as well. Check out Norwood as they have one.

[@justice4udiago970]

Nice , works well!👍🏽

[@terrycarl8923]

FYI a carryall behind your old Ford tractor will lift the log up onto the deck alot faster

[@quentinporcupine9116]

That genius man should patent that