Milling this weekend

[acewoodturner]

I was out on Saturday and Sunday with the Alaskan mill tackling a beech not too far from the worshop. It was windblown and had been down a couple of years. I was lucky that all the branches had already been cut off and moved from the area. It was only about 40' from the road on a level surface so that made life very easy. The diameter was 30" and the trunk length was 25'. I started off by cutting the top 8' off which fell half way over the wall and then the middle section. As the weight was taken off the log the bottom section then rose to an angle of about 45 degrees. You can never tell if its going to move slowly or suddenly sit bolt upright. Always a bit of a tricky one.
I ended up with 21 planks at 2" thick each with a max of 29" wide (this is the max I can do with this saw and 36" bar) Not bad considering I was on my own on Satiurday as my mate could only do Sunday, and we had to be clear before it got dark about 4pm. All the planks were 8 feet long, and I reckon the bigger ones weighed in at slightly more than 100kgs each. I have them stacked temporarily in the workshop as the kiln is running with a full load of 40mm oak.

 

[paulm]

A lot of hard work there, but very satisfying I expect !

Cheers, Paul

 

[acewoodturner]

Hi Paul, the worst bit used to be moving the timber into the van. Its not too bad with 2 people, but impossible to do on my own. I now have a carpet fitter's trolley which I can ratchet stap the planks onto and wheel to the van. its so easy and quick and also saves my poor old back. Only good if I am on ground which isnt too steep though. I find as I get older the planks are getting smaller!

Mike

 

[paulm]

Sounds very familiar Mike !

I typically wanted thicker stock for turning bowls and nests of bowls, and soon figured out that a slab of wet timber four or six inches thick couldn't be more than a few feet long or I couldn't move it !

Don't have a carpet fitters trolley to hand but a good strong sack trolley with pneumatic wheels helped tremendously with the shorter thicker slabs.

Cheers, Paul

 

[Harbo]

That looks like a nice haul - have you any plans for it?

Rod

 

[acewoodturner]

I am just building up my stock of timber just now. With the type of corporate customers I have its difficult to predict what the timber requirements are for them. The next job might need 5 cube of beech or 50 cube. Who knows. At least if I have it in stock it minimises the chances of having to go and buy it. I normally only use my own timber which has come from windblown trees within about a 10 mile radius of the workshop. Its a good selling point for me and my customers love the fact that I can show them the tree stump and also photos of the milling process. Even better if I can make items for them from trees which have grown on their own land.
Mike

 

[Random Orbital Bob]

very satisfying Mike, I've had my eyes on Alaskan Mills for some time now but since family illness trouble have had precious little time to indulge the idea. I entirely understand this issue of wanting to understand the provenance of the wood right back to the individual tree, it's a lovely idea of connectedness. A few years back I received a commission from a local lass to make 3 bowls from a massive ancient oak that had come down in a storm....the tree had been planted by Charles Kingsley's daughter (author of the Water Babies) in his garden which is in my village. The actual tree was documented in one of his diary's and a couple of hundred years later had come full circle, and blew down. I still have some burr stock from that tree. But apart from the environmental impact which clearly you're respecting with your 10 mile rule, the back story to an individual tree with actual photos is of real interest to people.