Today's milling

[Rough Hewn]

Spalted beech anyone?

Back on to milling large beech. 9’ long x 2.5’ wide. Doing some in 2” and thicker.

Have a lot to mill. Anyone got a view as to best thickness of planks?

Nice boards[emoji108]
I cut nearly everything at 55mm these days.
Gives a bit of room for planing/routing.
[emoji106]

[topchippyles]

2 minutes ago, AJStrees said:

Spalted beech anyone?

Back on to milling large beech. 9’ long x 2.5’ wide. Doing some in 2” and thicker.

Have a lot to mill. Anyone got a view as to best thickness of planks?

I mill most of mine at 110mm and reason for that is it dries with less twist and movement. Later it can always be milled down to 50mm X 2 slabs and most timber will be machined (planed) at some point and stock sizes tend to be 50/100/150/200 mm wide/thickness 

[topchippyles]

3 minutes ago, Rough Hewn said:

Nice boards
I cut nearly everything at 55mm these days.
Gives a bit of room for planing/routing.

 

1 minute ago, topchippyles said:

I mill most of mine at 110mm and reason for that is it dries with less twist and movement. Later it can always be milled down to 50mm X 2 slabs and most timber will be machined (planed) at some point and stock sizes tend to be 50/100/150/200 mm wide/thickness 

Beat me to it but great minds think alike 🤙 

[trigger_andy]

Just now, topchippyles said:

 

Beat me to it but great minds think alike 🤙 

Beat you to it? You just gave a completely different size and one thats almost impossible to man-handle. The rest of the saying is fools seldom differ, but that would be unfair on Saul.

 

[AJStrees]

7 minutes ago, topchippyles said:

I mill most of mine at 110mm and reason for that is it dries with less twist and movement. Later it can always be milled down to 50mm X 2 slabs and most timber will be machined (planed) at some point and stock sizes tend to be 50/100/150/200 mm wide/thickness 

I was going to say, but 110mm is pretty big if you are out in a field somewhere in the mud milling up a fallen tree. But I do understand that it would be a good size if you had the milling capacity and machinery for moving. 

[Rough Hewn]

Beat you to it? You just gave a completely different size and one thats almost impossible to man-handle. The rest of the saying is fools seldom differ, but that would be unfair on Saul. [emoji6]
 

If the universe is kind enough...
(If I can sell enough wood)
I’m hoping to buy a small tractor in the future,
For moving thicker slabs.
There’s actually a market for 4,6,8” thick slabs.
But they are Extremely heavy!!!
Otherwise it’s 55mm until then.
[emoji106]

[Macpherson]

15 minutes ago, Rough Hewn said:

I cut nearly everything at 55mm these days.

I'd never do that....I usually stick to 2  1/4" 🤣

[trigger_andy]

Just now, Rough Hewn said:

If the universe is kind enough...
(If I can sell enough wood)
I’m hoping to buy a small tractor in the future,
For moving thicker slabs.
There’s actually a market for 4,6,8” thick slabs.
But they are Extremely heavy!!!
Otherwise it’s 55mm until then.

Im thinking of a Bobcat one day. But til then I'll keep renting in the Avant. I quite like 3" slabs and seem to get more interest in them these days than I do in 2".  4" is ok but then you're adding needless drying time if you're just gonna rip it down again anyway. 

[topchippyles]

2 minutes ago, AJStrees said:

I was going to say, but 110mm is pretty big if you are out in a field somewhere in the mud milling up a fallen tree. But I do understand that it would be a good size if you had the milling capacity and machinery for moving. 

Then 55mm as opposed to 50mm and only reason is a slab is a serious piece of wood and if kept as a slab (table top) most joiners work to a 2" 50mm finished size so the 5mm allows for machining. A 45mm slab looks thin believe it or not on a wide board 

[AJStrees]

2 minutes ago, topchippyles said:

Then 55mm as opposed to 50mm and only reason is a slab is a serious piece of wood and if kept as a slab (table top) most joiners work to a 2" 50mm finished size so the 5mm allows for machining. A 45mm slab looks thin believe it or not on a wide board 

Makes sense. I see what you mean.