Today's milling

[Squaredy]

1 hour ago, Big Beech said:

I've heard that sycamore can be or is notorious for problems when drying.

Hope you have luck in doing so and it is not a wasted exercise in the long run. Especially as you say, very plain boards.

It can go a bit grey in places if it dries in damp weather.  Otherwise really good drying - so much more stable than other native hardwoods.  Especially good as wide boards, so I would say those slabs look great.  Grain is more subtle than Ash or Oak, but very beautiful nevertheless.

[openspaceman]

37 minutes ago, Squaredy said:

It can go a bit grey in places if it dries in damp weather.  Otherwise really good drying - so much more stable than other native hardwoods.  Especially good as wide boards, so I would say those slabs look great.  Grain is more subtle than Ash or Oak, but very beautiful nevertheless.

Back in the day of british railways the coaches were all  panelled  with sycamore. no one would believe it because they went mahogany brown with tobacco smoke.

 

Back in 1972 or 3 I went to fetch the cows in by the bluebell railway, the cutting was being filled in with municipal refuse then, since re excavated and sent to Bedford. A large sycamore had fallen across the farm track so I got Tom, the boss out of bed and he cut a way through. As I was not allowed to use a motor saw (despite being amazingly proficient with a DDA110 😉 ) after milking I selected a bit out. I really didn't understand the significance of knots or I might have chosen a cleaner bit.

 

Anyway there was a blunt handsaw there which I ripped this 12" ring of pure white wood into a few bread boards which I planed and sanded  and gave to family members and the mother of a friend. I know that survived with her as she moved back to Dodsworth as I saw it there 40 years later.

 

Any way the end piece had this defect but 50 years later you can see how it has mellowed and the sheen from the grain as it curls around the branch union.

 

 

The other side reminded me of a bird so I made a gouge out of an old half round file and roughed it out, it has stayed that way on various walls here since. After that I didn't attempt to mill sycamore again, preferring to sell it in the round but I still think it has become underrated.

 

 

[astra25]

Just giving people the heads up,

Just bought 2 oregon 27ra ripping chains from chainsdirect for £118.80 vs £172.80 on chainsawbars.

[Dilz]

debarked and milled a couple of short cherry logs that had been sat on the ground for 6 months... first time hitting a screw from setting up the ladder 😬.   Still impressed how well the echo 620 just chugs on through stuff. 

[trigger_andy]

debarked and milled a couple of short cherry logs that had been sat on the ground for 6 months... first time hitting a screw from setting up the ladder [emoji51].   Still impressed how well the echo 620 just chugs on through stuff. 

Why did you de-bark it?

[muttley9050]

I'd just really like to know if it's like the mystical black walnut, I'm sure I heard a story about a big oak that was worth £2k a beam and 4 came out of it.

I cut big oaks all the time. 6m x 12" is definately not worth 2k. If only 4 beams came out of an oak it isn't that big.

Beams 10m plus get more expensive as trees of beam quality are hard to find at that length.

In my opinion the oak trigger is cutting is not really beam quality due to the faults and excessive twisting of the grain. Makes nice slabs but will be difficult slabs to control at 6m long.

 

[gary112]

On 12/05/2021 at 10:19, astra25 said:

Just giving people the heads up,

Just bought 2 oregon 27ra ripping chains from chainsdirect for £118.80 vs £172.80 on chainsawbars.

Had most of my chains off them the last couple years,take a bit of beating on price

[muttley9050]

It can go a bit grey in places if it dries in damp weather.  Otherwise really good drying - so much more stable than other native hardwoods.  Especially good as wide boards, so I would say those slabs look great.  Grain is more subtle than Ash or Oak, but very beautiful nevertheless.

I have no issues with drying Sycamore. Lovely timber.
Similar to beech it benefits from being left on the ground for a year to encourage spalting.
Table in this photo is a lovely bit of syc. Stays flat and beautiful grain.

[Dilz]

8 hours ago, trigger_andy said:

 

 

Why did you de-bark it?

 

 

To reduce wear on the chain...The logs had been sat on grass for about 6 months and this after being section felled on muddy ground outside a school so even after a good go with a wire brush I wouldn't consider it clean... and can't think of any reason as to why to keep it on 

[G13469]

My mill has been in storage for over 18 months, so I couldn't miss a couple of free logs. I was very out of practice but an enjoyable day with a glamorous assistant.

Ended up with 2m cube of mostly dimensional timber 2.8m long