A basic mill to make roof trusses

[Baldbloke]

Hi People,

 

Milling would be a new venture for me as firewood and logging has been my main thing until now. 

 

I have access to standing dead elm which I'm hoping I will be able to use for trusses for a small steading (traditional Scottish farm building). The appeal in using the Elm is that I'm hoping it will need little or no drying as it seems (away from the butt) to be at around a 15% moisture content on dropping. 

I'd like to replicate the size and style of the existing trusses that need replaced. These are a maximum of 14' with a cross section in the region of 8" X 5". 

The quality of the finish does not have to be that great as long as the integrity of the wood remains sound.

My questions are:

Is Elm a suitable (if heavy) wood for trusses? I do appreciate that some nails may have a hard time going into this wood.

Am I being unrealistic thinking that buying one of the cheaper mills and using one of my straight aluminium ladders, that I could do a run of perhaps 60 trusses?

If so, which mill would you recommend, as this may be a one off job, and price is a consideration?

Most of the elm I'd hope to use are not that big in diameter, but are straight as they have grown in a crowded wood. Would my largest saw (a 70cc 365 Husky) with say a 20" bar be up to the job, or do I need to lay out the cash for something bigger such as a second hand MS660? Many of the trunk lengths appear (to novice me) as ideal as they run at 8/10" diameter, so I'm hoping could be cut straight down the middle for two usable lengths.

 

Cheers!

 

 

 

 

Edited April 11, 2018 by Baldbloke

[TheHungrySquirrel]

As much as you could mill that amount of wood with a an Alaskan. Personally I'd get a mobile bandmill in the for the day, far less waste and your beams will be more accurate.

[Baldbloke]

I'll have to look into that, but think that service /hire option might not easily be found up here

[Rough Hewn]

60 trusses x 14' would take a looooong time to cut with an Alaskan.
Think of the filing...
If possible get a mobile bandsaw in, or extract and bandsaw.
If it were 6, Alaskan would be fine.
[emoji106]

[Baldbloke]

2 hours ago, Big J said:

If I were you I would get the timber extracted and milled. It will work out cheaper. Speak to Mark Council at Logie Sawmill - he has a large capacity Trakmet sawmill (same as me) and an Alstor too for extraction, if the logs are under a tonne. A sound guy and fairly local to you I think.

Just over 40 miles to Dunfail. May just use that idea and run the trunks to a more local sawmill 

[scbk]

There's someone with a mobile mill in Wester Ross, think it's a woodmizer.

Edited April 11, 2018 by scbk

[Graham w]

Hi

 

When are you planning the build? Im very busy Atm but could extract/mill/machine that timber fairly quickly for you and we have an automatic component saw to make all 60 trusses in minutes 

 

let me know if your stuck

 

Graham 

Edited April 11, 2018 by Graham w

[difflock]

Nobody answered the question re Elm's suitability for trusses, which I suppose can only mean it will be OK?

[Woodworks]

26 minutes ago, difflock said:

Nobody answered the question re Elm's suitability for trusses, which I suppose can only mean it will be OK?

Would imagine it would be a brave SE to pass standing dead wood for structural purposes. You dont know what killed it and how it may have affected the timbers strength.

[Squaredy]

9 minutes ago, Woodworks said:

Would imagine it would be a brave SE to pass standing dead wood for structural purposes. You dont know what killed it and how it may have affected the timbers strength.

I agree a structural engineer might be wary. In reality any skilled chippy should be able to judge timber strength and integrity. After all the mighty oak can have all manner of structural weaknesses. Whatever the species someone has to judge the strength of each beam which will be quite easy when milled.