Lets see your wood

UKworkshop.co.uk

Help Support UKworkshop.co.uk:

This site may earn a commission from merchant affiliate links, including eBay, Amazon, and others.
It is a granberg small log mill that clamps to the chainsaw bat, with a flat surface made from some cheap 2x4 for the first cut. It is a huge amount of fun milling, but waiting for it to season is frustrating!

Interesting! Not nearly as expensive as I had imagined.
 
Interesting! Not nearly as expensive as I had imagined.

The mill is quite cheap, and pays for itself fairly fast. It is hard on the saw though, so you need a fair amount of power. 65cc will let me cut boards 18" or so (slowly). For the big stuff you see some people posting pictures of you need 90 - 120cc which is seriously expensive
 
The mill is quite cheap, and pays for itself fairly fast. It is hard on the saw though, so you need a fair amount of power. 65cc will let me cut boards 18" or so (slowly). For the big stuff you see some people posting pictures of you need 90 - 120cc which is seriously expensive
Yes they are expensive, but judging by the price of timber these days, a big saw will easily pay for itself after a while.

I like the cherry btw.
 
Yes they are expensive, but judging by the price of timber these days, a big saw will easily pay for itself after a while.

I like the cherry btw.

I really wish I could justify one, but it is only a hobby. Living in a suburban terrace I am already pushing my luck with the smaller stuff I am trying to store. Do you have one? Any pics in action?
That chest you posted earlier is amazing!
 
I really wish I could justify one, but it is only a hobby. Living in a suburban terrace I am already pushing my luck with the smaller stuff I am trying to store. Do you have one? Any pics in action?
That chest you posted earlier is amazing!
Thanks. I'll be milling some oak up today and post a couple of pictures later.
 
@alex robinson

The saw is playing up and I think the carb needs a clean out, but managed a bit of tidying up before it got bad.
It's an 880 with a 26" bar and .404 ripping chain.

IMG_5472.JPG


I rigged up a water cooling feed with the hose for the bar as it gets really hot and this had made it much better. It runs on a Logosol M7 bed which I've been using for about 17 years now and it has milled over 70 tonnes, which means it's paid for itself many times over.

IMG_5474.JPG


The ridges on the surface are from stop starting, as the saw kept conking out. I think it's a fuel issue and should be easy enough to sort out, but I got a couple of beams and some nice braces cut this morning.

IMG_5476.JPG


And I'm milling up some of the firewood for timber framing, which I'll use to build a double garage with to get some of the shiz in the garden tidied up.

IMG_5459.JPG


Once the saw is going again, I'll sort this stuff out and then get another load for milling boards and stuff for carving.

I'll straddle the bed with the gantry, so that I can just dump the stems on it without lifting them. Hopefully I'll get an electric feed head next year, as it's a lot quieter and easier to start.

Edit:

Fixed the saw, it was a dirty fuel filter slowing down the flow to the carb.
 
Last edited:
@alex robinson

The saw is playing up and I think the carb needs a clean out, but managed a bit of tidying up before it got bad.
It's an 880 with a 26" bar and .404 ripping chain.

View attachment 134949

I rigged up a water cooling feed with the hose for the bar as it gets really hot and this had made it much better. It runs on a Logosol M7 bed which I've been using for about 17 years now and it has milled over 70 tonnes, which means it's paid for itself many times over.

View attachment 134950

The ridges on the surface are from stop starting, as the saw kept conking out. I think it's a fuel issue and should be easy enough to sort out, but I got a couple of beams and some nice braces cut this morning.

View attachment 134951

And I'm milling up some of the firewood for timber framing, which I'll use to build a double garage with to get some of the shiz in the garden tidied up.

View attachment 134952

Once the saw is going again, I'll sort this stuff out and then get another load for milling boards and stuff for carving.

I'll straddle the bed with the gantry, so that I can just dump the stems on it without lifting them. Hopefully I'll get an electric feed head next year, as it's a lot quieter and easier to start.

Bet that is a lot faster! How long does it take per board?
 
When the saw is running properly, I can cut the slab off and halve it for those braces in about 5 minutes, so it's about a minute per 5' x 24" cut. Green oak is no match for that saw, it's a proper beast and I'm glad it's strapped down.

The mill gets treated bad and it lives out amongst the rocks and nettles, but it's a trusty thing if you can handle the logs.
I need to do some maintenance on it with some new pulleys and I was thinking of getting the bar top steering for it too for accurate boards. Once the saw is done and the bed is sorted it'll run lovely for years. The newer F2+ version that logosol have looks the dogs and they also have some great wide slab milling gear that will fit in a car.
 
Today I cut up a couple of eucalyptus logs that have been sitting around in the garden for a few months. I had painted the ends with some concrete sealer/primer (its what I had at the time!). It has largely stopped bad end splitting but there has been quite some discolouration which I assume is due to fungal attack. I don't know if you could call it spalting but the colour variation looks quite interesting. The pieces shown below are a little over 2 foot long, 6 to 8 inches wide and 1.5 inch thick. The white goo on some of the ends is freshly applied wax end sealer (honest guv!).
I still have a few more logs to mill up tomorrow.

eucalyptus.jpg

In a year or two, I will doubtless be cursing the knots when trying to plane the stuff, but they do look pretty.
 
So whilst walking the grounds this morning I noticed a silver birch branch that I've had an eye on for a while had dropped so I ran back to my stor to grab a saw and got myself...
20221109_134418.jpg

There's a lot of bark growth on this so not too sure how much actual wood there is but I've been watching this for a couple of years 😍😍😍 whilst there I also noticed a small hazel tree had rotted at the base and fallen so I cut that into a handful of pieces and took them back to the makerspace along with the burr
20221109_134356.jpg

I also noticed that the Ash and Willow that were felled in the last big storm have not cracked or split at all so will likely be gathering up more and bringing that in to seal and finish drying.
 
Nice, will you let the burr/burl (depending on which side of the pond you are sitting) dry as a whole or slice it and dry it?
 
Here's a few pics of my haul from yesterday's trip to my tree surgeons yard, couple lumps of green oak for my supersize female figurine, couple lumps of bone dry Ash for if the oak doesn't work, some red Cedar and not sure what the rest is, possibly some yew, a few small pieces covered in little burls.
20230223_122122.jpg
20230223_122117.jpg
20230223_122054.jpg
20230223_122043.jpg
20230223_121833.jpg
20230223_121823.jpg
20230223_121721.jpg
20230223_121713.jpg
 
I think the unknown wood is Robinia. You've seen the burr bowl I turned from some recently. It turns a nice chocolate brown after a few years a little like laburnum does. Burrs are a common growth on the tree and you should get some lovely bowls from what you have there.

My neighbour over the road has had his Ash tree cut down. The wife and I barrowed this lot across the road yesterday. Needed a nap afterwards.

1677194038213.jpeg
 
I think the unknown wood is Robinia. You've seen the burr bowl I turned from some recently. It turns a nice chocolate brown after a few years a little like laburnum does. Burrs are a common growth on the tree and you should get some lovely bowls from what you have there.

My neighbour over the road has had his Ash tree cut down. The wife and I barrowed this lot across the road yesterday. Needed a nap afterwards.

View attachment 154003
That's a nice haul and looks like you've a few spots of olive ash in there too, a little more than I got a few weeks ago but I had to rely on my shoulder to do the hard work and I'm still paying for it, I love ash, the stuff I have that's a little over a year old turns like butter and finishes beautifully.
20230127_144231.jpg
20230127_144226.jpg
20230127_144220.jpg
20230127_144209.jpg
20230127_144159.jpg
20230127_144124.jpg
20230126_141232.jpg
20230126_141227.jpg

So far I've got almost 50 blanks ranging from 6 to 9inch diameter from the big lumps all turned round and sealed with candle wax, the stuff sealed with hammerite will stay where it is and get used as and when I want it.
 
Holy rubbish, dude that's stunning 😍😍😍😍😍

@Sachakins I use Ronseal from screwfix
View attachment 127321

@Ttrees I love Iroko, absolutely beautiful when finished, not so keen on its carcinogenic properties though 🤪. Pooch doesn't look too impressed with the mess 😁😁
What are the active ingredients in Ronseal - can't find any info online. Here in NZ its compulsory to list it on the container.
The reason I ask is that we used to have a similar product called Everdure which claimed to harden decayed timber. It was in essence just a watered down epoxy resin with additives to improve penetration. It worked to a degree. I did a few tests on rotted wooden farming timber, applying Everdure to the decayed portion and then cutting in half once the product had cured. The rotted surface was certainly hard but I didn't think the penetration was all that great - still mushy a bit further in. Anyone done anything similar with Ronseal?
 
What are the active ingredients in Ronseal - can't find any info online. Here in NZ its compulsory to list it on the container.
The reason I ask is that we used to have a similar product called Everdure which claimed to harden decayed timber. It was in essence just a watered down epoxy resin with additives to improve penetration. It worked to a degree. I did a few tests on rotted wooden farming timber, applying Everdure to the decayed portion and then cutting in half once the product had cured. The rotted surface was certainly hard but I didn't think the penetration was all that great - still mushy a bit further in. Anyone done anything similar with Ronseal?
Not sure on the ingredients, penetration through side grain isn't great, end grain penetration is a lot more, the biggest problem I find with it is no matter how long you leave it to cure it clogs up sand paper/mesh instantly.
 
Back
Top