Today's milling

[trigger_andy]

6 minutes ago, Macpherson said:

 

I milled some reasonably big Birch recently with the Alaskan, but not quite wide as big as your log... It was the but of a multi stemmed  tree, about 2 feet wide in total and it had been left standing for only around 6 months in the summer [ wet west coast ] since I took the rest for firewood, it was nicely coloured  and very woolly to cut and tended to clog in the kerf due to the fast rate of rot in Birch.

 

Most of my firewood is birch and I've long since learnt the hard way just how quickly it rots.. but just how nice it is if cut and stacked really fresh and is one of the woods that benefits most by being painted with a Borax solution in order to prevent fungal degradation while seasoning..

 

I can see from your pics that the colours in your milled birch indicate you just saved it from mush 👍👍

 

My next one is about  the size of yours, and I'll mill it before I chog up the rest for firewood and it should be creamy white, Cheers.

Thanks for that! I’ll pass the borax solution suggestion over to the log owner. 
 

It certainly looks close to mush/rotting but surprisingly still bloody hard. The white was a good give away it was damn close but could not get a fingernail into it. 

[Conor Wright]

5 minutes ago, trigger_andy said:

Thanks for that! I’ll pass the borax solution suggestion over to the log owner. 
 

It certainly looks close to mush/rotting but surprisingly still bloody hard. The white was a good give away it was damn close but could not get a fingernail into it. 

If you're going to do ot for yourself, make sure when you're mixing the solution that the water is about 70°c to fully dissolve the borax, otherwise the little crystals left behind will eat planer blades later on. Speaking from experience.

 

[Macpherson]

14 minutes ago, trigger_andy said:

Thanks for that! I’ll pass the borax solution suggestion over to the log owner. 
 

It certainly looks close to mush/rotting but surprisingly still bloody hard. The white was a good give away it was damn close but could not get a fingernail into it. 

 

I wasn't being critical in any way and the colours are great.. but as you no doubt know there is a very fine line between usable and completely gone with Birch, and I kinda forgot that you're milling for a client, Cheers.

[Macpherson]

15 minutes ago, Conor Wright said:

If you're going to do ot for yourself, make sure when you're mixing the solution that the water is about 70°c to fully dissolve the borax, otherwise the little crystals left behind will eat planer blades later on. Speaking from experience.

 

 

Aye, I find just about 1kg into 5 gallons hot makes a saturated solution that prevents just about all fungal staining [particularly blue staining ] and insect attacks in milled lumber while it's stacked outside seasoning with only a top cover..

 

I've stuck with this formula since I first became aware that it was the solution [ pun intended ] to the problem and I've never noticed any crystals growing on anything.. but I'll be looking more closely now, I'm not milling commercially but I'm always keen to learn from others as the more info you glean.. the less the frustration with nature, cheers.

[AJStrees]

Did a bit more on the oak. Onto the next section. 
 

 

[Dodd]

On 11/02/2023 at 09:50, ucoulddoit said:

All these posts about South American hardwoods reminded me of a couple I met about 35 years ago at Bunessan, SW Mull. My wife and I had just sailed around Skye in my self built 25 foot yacht. They were building a larger steel hulled yacht, and were planning to sail to S America with a chainsaw mill. Then earn enough to keep going by milling trees in the forests there. Often wondered how their dream progressed. Hope the boat isn’t still ashore, as sometimes happens with these projects.

 

Andrew

I remember them at the boatyard, they finished the boat and set sail, no idea what happened after that.

[doobin]

Added a drop in mount for the chopsaw to do weathertops easier. 

[william127]

25 minutes ago, doobin said:

Added a drop in mount for the chopsaw to do weathertops easier. 

Those posts look great, are they for a job or just a sale? 

That Mill set ups getting better and better, extension, drill powered up and down and now the chop saw👌👌👌👌

Oh and it's indoors on flat concrete👍👍👍

[doobin]

1 hour ago, william127 said:

Those posts look great, are they for a job or just a sale? 

That Mill set ups getting better and better, extension, drill powered up and down and now the chop saw👌👌👌👌

Oh and it's indoors on flat concrete👍👍👍

The weather was so shit last month that it made sense to bring it inside. That post might have been for a job or for a sale, I can’t remember, it’s been busy. 
 

posted in another thread but we added the extension too. So it won’t forklift through the barn door anymore! 🤣 should be able to lift it out with the backhoe though. 

[doobin]

It’s tight but you can still load it with the forklift   The Sherpa is great for smaller logs too