to mill or not to mill?

[plippy]

never know wot to mill and wots not worth milling

 

how long?

how thick?

how wide?

and wot wood is good for wot use i.e furniture or benches or wotever

 

if im gona mill to sell on for planks, how long to season different species and and dimensions

 

im just starting to get into it so dont want to make to many mistakes and lose money or time

 

all comments and experiences welcomed:thumbup:

many thanks

phill

[Ian Flatters]

never know wot to mill and wots not worth milling

 

how long?

how thick?

how wide?

and wot wood is good for wot use i.e furniture or benches or wotever

 

if im gona mill to sell on for planks, how long to season different species and and dimensions

 

im just starting to get into it so dont want to make to many mistakes and lose money or time

 

all comments and experiences welcomed:thumbup:

many thanks

phill

 

Just what i was thinking. Should be ordering mine tonight getting the 36" mill.

[plippy]

i thought it was a stupid thread to post but if ya dont ask ya wont get.

i did expect a few more comments by now wot with so many experienced people on here

[josharb87]

have you thought of asking local bespoke furnature makers what they require? sold some yew to a cabinet maker, he wanted it 2" thick, he will season it, then cut down/plane to size he needs

[plippy]

have you thought of asking local bespoke furnature makers what they require? sold some yew to a cabinet maker, he wanted it 2" thick, he will season it, then cut down/plane to size he needs

hey josh, hows it goin?

yeah ive got a m8 who's a cabinet maker, just loooking for a few ideas as wot wood is good for wot use, i.e wot could i make wth it myself, just asking for peoples experince and knowledge

 

some of us arnt that good at coming up with good ideas and it can be embarrassing to ask, dont want to look stupid

[josharb87]

to be honest i dont know either mate, are you looking at making money milling? if so you could mill peoples wood onsite, costing to the hour+an hour?

 

or are you looking at pre milling a load of species and sizes, storing/seasoning them ready to sell? if so i reckon you really need to know your market And have a reputation like tommer9 and rob d

 

or milling stuff to make garden furniture out of? if so, any would do i reckon! just price accordingly-oak, yew, holly=many£ other more common woods-maple (sycamore!), pines, ash ect=less£ for same items

 

thatd be my opinions based on nothing!

[Rob D]

Sorry Phil as per PM etc been away hence no reply from me.

 

The answer to your first post (which is a very valid one I may add) is that it is bloody tough to now how to mill your wood and which sizes to do.

 

Here's some rules of thumb just from what I've found:

 

 

The recession is really biting now and so carpenters etc are only buying in wood for there order i.e. they're not experimenting with different woods, not buying in to stock it for themselves - I've had a really poor response from local cabinet makers etc but that could just be my area.

 

If you can make up basic furniture it's a lot easier to sell the wood in that form. Just come up with a couple of designs and stick to those.

 

Most of the planks I saw are usually 7' long as easier to move about and stack etc.

 

My best sort of business at the moment is for memorial benches! As people want something different/lasting for those that have died close to them.

 

Mill to 2" or 2.5" if you're not sure what to do. No thinner as makes too much mess and takes too much time.

 

The trouble is it takes a long time to get known for what you're doing. Spoke to tommer about it a while ago and he's been milling 8 years and so is sort of known in his area now. It takes a while for word to get around.

 

The demand for bespoke wood in this country is small because no one seems to know it's there! I'm going to do a couple of talks this year just to tell people what mobile milling is all about.

 

I think there's no avoiding wasting some time and energy before you find the niche that fits what you're doing....

 

bit random but a few things there.

 

 

I'm going to try and find time to post more stuff up on this sub forum to give a few more ideas over the next few weeks.

 

Cheers, Rob

[plippy]

Sorry Phil as per PM etc been away hence no reply from me.

 

The answer to your first post (which is a very valid one I may add) is that it is bloody tough to now how to mill your wood and which sizes to do.

 

Here's some rules of thumb just from what I've found:

 

 

The recession is really biting now and so carpenters etc are only buying in wood for there order i.e. they're not experimenting with different woods, not buying in to stock it for themselves - I've had a really poor response from local cabinet makers etc but that could just be my area.

 

If you can make up basic furniture it's a lot easier to sell the wood in that form. Just come up with a couple of designs and stick to those.

 

Most of the planks I saw are usually 7' long as easier to move about and stack etc.

 

My best sort of business at the moment is for memorial benches! As people want something different/lasting for those that have died close to them.

 

Mill to 2" or 2.5" if you're not sure what to do. No thinner as makes too much mess and takes too much time.

 

The trouble is it takes a long time to get known for what you're doing. Spoke to tommer about it a while ago and he's been milling 8 years and so is sort of known in his area now. It takes a while for word to get around.

 

The demand for bespoke wood in this country is small because no one seems to know it's there! I'm going to do a couple of talks this year just to tell people what mobile milling is all about.

 

I think there's no avoiding wasting some time and energy before you find the niche that fits what you're doing....

 

bit random but a few things there.

 

 

I'm going to try and find time to post more stuff up on this sub forum to give a few more ideas over the next few weeks.

 

Cheers, Rob

 

hey rob, welcome back to england fella, ya havnt missed much, weve just had lots of snow.

 

thanks for the advice, i think you and tommer are the leading authority on here when it comes to milling, so any ideas on wot wood is good for wot type of furniture would be handy:thumbup1:

[Rob D]

My wood knowledge isn't great but basically stuff like ash, beech, poplar is only good for indoors. Most of the conifers are fine for outdoors (although of course some better than others) and cedar is even better as it doesn't need to be treated. And cedar is very stable drying as well.

 

 

Oak is great indoors or out but difficult to keep it straight as it's drying.

 

 

It's almost like firewood - there is no such thing as 'bad wood' - but some woods are better than others in different scenarios!!

 

 

[Gareth Dalzell]

never know wot to mill and wots not worth milling

 

how long?

how thick?

how wide?

and wot wood is good for wot use i.e furniture or benches or wotever

 

if im gona mill to sell on for planks, how long to season different species and and dimensions

 

im just starting to get into it so dont want to make to many mistakes and lose money or time

 

all comments and experiences welcomed:thumbup:

many thanks

phill

 

Great thread and perfect timing - just ordered my mill earlier today - Thanks Rob and Andy for sorting things out.

 

The seasoning is the big puzzle for me. Do I need to season wood for outside use ie chunky benches and heavy posts etc?

 

I guess a lot of it will be trial and error initially, and wood choice will be whatever we drop until we get into specific requests.

 

Having done a bit of carving (and planted it, felled it, chopped it, sliced it, burnt it, chipped it, carved it), milling seems the next logical think to do with it!