Controlling movement in Milled slabs.

[arboriculturist]

17 minutes ago, Squaredy said:

Well as doobin said pallets with aggregate on top.  Or as you said strap them and keep tightening the straps.

Ooh missed that - I can easily do that !

[ucoulddoit]

I used concrete breeze blocks left over from a building project. About 50 to a ton.

 

Andrew

[doobin]

This is my stack. I’m not into slabs like you boys, this is just offcuts from the mill that were too good to waste. 
 

The forklift picks up layers ok with a tine in both pallets if you are careful. 

[devon TWiG]

23 hours ago, Squaredy said:

Well, that won’t be much weight in the top, but most of the stack will be well weighted.

 

 The other factor of course ifs log quality.  A knotty or bendy log is going to produce timber that will distort more than a clean straight log.  Also some species are more prone to move.  Cedar of Lebanon (and other relatives) are super stable.  Oak and beach will move all over the place!

Yes , if the wood has tendency to warp you will not stop it !!    as you say ..log quality  , the middle needs to be in the middle ( this refers to the growth rings being centralised and minimal reaction wood as in leaning trees )  Warping is why wide flat boards of certain species fetch good money ..as they are rare !!

[arboriculturist]

Got some Red Oak milled, it's been down a couple of years before I got it and shame the ends were not sealed.

[Rob D]

On 05/09/2022 at 12:45, openspaceman said:

A problem with banding is that unless there is some elasticity in the band any shrinkage causes loss of tension.

 

 

Ditto on this point - weight I have found the best as it is dynamic - banding needs a fair amount of regular tightening even if it's elastic.

[Rob D]

This is the best method I have found to date - as everything matches up perfectly and gives maximum support. It needs to be refined [and another idea is to mill to say 3" or 4" - allow longer to dry - then re saw the planks afterwards if you need accurate 1.5" etc.

 

Full video on the process here - I checked back a year later and it seems to be drying very well.

 

 

[Retired Climber]

Forgive my lack of understanding of the subject; I know roughly the square root of nothing about milling. 

If flat, straight boards are valuable, is it not worth cutting slightly oversized, drying them, and then cutting them to final size to take out any distortion? 

 

I do realise I'm probably misunderstanding the problem, but can't work out how. 

[Squaredy]

1 hour ago, Retired Climber said:

Forgive my lack of understanding of the subject; I know roughly the square root of nothing about milling. 

If flat, straight boards are valuable, is it not worth cutting slightly oversized, drying them, and then cutting them to final size to take out any distortion? 

 

I do realise I'm probably misunderstanding the problem, but can't work out how. 

Cutting them again once dried will not be easy.  When you use a sawmill to convert logs to timber you are milling usually a very wet log which makes it soft and easy.  Once fully dried the timber is much much harder.

 It would also be very wasteful cutting to say 100mm and then cutting again to 60mm.

[Retired Climber]

26 minutes ago, Squaredy said:

Cutting them again once dried will not be easy.  When you use a sawmill to convert logs to timber you are milling usually a very wet log which makes it soft and easy.  Once fully dried the timber is much much harder.

 It would also be very wasteful cutting to say 100mm and then cutting again to 60mm.

Presumably the increase in value of very straight / stable timber would not cancel out the wastefulness? 

 

Could you put the planks through a planer / thicknesser?