Oak

[kav]

Bit of oak milling from last week.

First proper go with the slabbing attachment and got boards up to 1.4m wide.

[Stubby]

Big old lump . Nice job . ?

[kav]

Yes. Was milling for a furniture making so be interesting to see what becomes of it in a few years. Not ideal time to mill i know but needs must. 

[Stubby]

12 minutes ago, kav said:

Yes. Was milling for a furniture making so be interesting to see what becomes of it in a few years. Not ideal time to mill i know but needs must. 

Will it split if it drys out too fast ?

[ucoulddoit]

3 hours ago, Stubby said:

Will it split if it drys out too fast ?

Surface checking is a risk of drying oak too fast which is like small splits in the surface. Not good if you want top quality/high value furniture making timber.

Andrew

[skc101fc]

Will it split if it drys out too fast ?

I'm telling my oak and beech customers to hold off processing until September whilst our current temperatures are so high, because of the almost guaranteed serious splitting risk. Especially when cutting beams and cants for resawing at a later time. Any who insist on milling hardwoods now I'm telling to wrap tightly to try to keep humidity in the wood. All my clients air dry, so I try to give as much beneficial advice and help as I can. Part of my job is to get the best possible timber out of the sawlogs for the client. This is currently giving my turnover quite a kicking , but I'd rather be known for a good service than a damaged product .

[kav]

8 hours ago, skc101fc said:

13 hours ago, Stubby said:

Will it split if it drys out too fast ?

I'm telling my oak and beech customers to hold off processing until September whilst our current temperatures are so high, because of the almost guaranteed serious splitting risk. Especially when cutting beams and cants for resawing at a later time. Any who insist on milling hardwoods now I'm telling to wrap tightly to try to keep humidity in the wood. All my clients air dry, so I try to give as much beneficial advice and help as I can. Part of my job is to get the best possible timber out of the sawlogs for the client. This is currently giving my turnover quite a kicking , but I'd rather be known for a good service than a damaged product .

Wise words thanks. Sadly it was a case of mill it or it was going to be ringed up for firewood

[Big J]

Nice big stick there Kav. Stack it somewhere cool and cover it in hessian sheeting. Periodically spray the sheeting with a hose. That should mitigate most of the checking issues.

[skc101fc]

Wise words thanks. Sadly it was a case of mill it or it was going to be ringed up for firewood

That would have been a far worse crime than watching splits occur. I tend to avoid slabbing work, a- because I loathe the slabber unit for it's tedious slow munching, both of wood and of chains, but, b- because the product is so temperamental and so easily damaged by poor client care, stresses in the log, and slab position within the log. As much as I can even for furniture wood I try to get the client to go for dimension cutting and then reassemble. The quality of jointing with the new glue technologies and the likes of biscuit jointers is producing far more stable and accurate slab like material.
That said, it does give me a real buzz seeing a fantastic character slab emerge from the most ordinary looking tree. Splits either add character, or can with creativity, be worked with or around.

[delabodge]

On 25/06/2018 at 09:09, skc101fc said:

That would have been a far worse crime than watching splits occur. I tend to avoid slabbing work, a- because I loathe the slabber unit for it's tedious slow munching, both of wood and of chains, but, b- because the product is so temperamental and so easily damaged by poor client care, stresses in the log, and slab position within the log. As much as I can even for furniture wood I try to get the client to go for dimension cutting and then reassemble. The quality of jointing with the new glue technologies and the likes of biscuit jointers is producing far more stable and accurate slab like material.
That said, it does give me a real buzz seeing a fantastic character slab emerge from the most ordinary looking tree. Splits either add character, or can with creativity, be worked with or around.

I agree, there’s a high chance in large oak slabs cupping when dry, so I end up ripping them in half,which they then fit my 24 inch planner and rejoin with the domino jointer, eliviates the “ how do I get that flat” or hours of tedious routering in a sled.