Quarter sawing an oak log

[ucoulddoit]

Milling finished so a quick update. The 18mm ply board with 45 degree blocks worked a treat.

 

 

 

Fixed it to each quarter with a screw at each end and milled down to one board past the ‘centre’.

 

 

Then removed the board, flipped the log over and finished milling the second half.

 

 

In each quarter, the ray fleck figure is visible in the four centre boards as I’d hoped, so I’ve the option of jointing each set of four planks to make four 0.9m to 1.0m book matched ‘slabs’. Maybe table tops?

 

Planks are generally very good, with a few small / pinhead knots. A few splits around the heart in some boards, but I’ll cut that off in due course.

 

 

Overall, looks like grades 1A and 1B based on the pictures in the publication ‘Making the Grade’. Not bad for a 160 / 170 year old garden tree and thankfully no nails.

 

 

Re the volume of useable timber, the log started as about 40 hft (hoppus measure). After milling there is an average 10 planks per quarter and a total from the four quarters of about 30 cu ft of planks including sap. Having measured the planks excluding bark, sap, heart and splits, the quartersawn heartwood volume is 20 cu ft with planks generally 200mm+ width with a max of 270mm width and up to 350mm at the flare at the bottom of the log. Interesting to see that the heartwood measure is half the hoppus measure, which I guess gives a better idea of the ‘value’ in a log?

 

The upper log was milled slightly differently to the earlier sketch. I was looking for roughly 10 x 2 planks which will be trimmed to different widths after drying to exclude sap, etc. Just aiming to have some stock of oak, not for anything specific at the moment. There was a shake I’d forgotten about, we found a patch of rot from a broken branch and other issues, so we adjusted the cut pattern as we progressed to keep faults on the sides of planks rather than in their centre.

 

 

Got 18 square edged planks with six quarter sawn / ray flecked planks, three either side of the heart, plus flat and rift sawn planks.

 

All the planks from both logs now moved from the sawmill and about half stacked and sticked with 20 x 12mm sticks at 400mm centres. Waiting for storm Amy to pass in the meantime and after finishing the stacking, will cut and split all the offcuts for our stove. Nothing wasted!

 

Overall, milling these two logs has yielded some good timber for my ‘a hobby woodworkers’  future use. And lots of fun!

 

Andrew

[PeteB]

Not at your level at all but occasionally, we used to "mock quarter" a firewood lump to see the grain and teach the youngsters what all it was about, difficult and time consuming on a butt, but still worthwhile.

 

Thanks for the explanation.

[ucoulddoit]

Finished stacking these oak planks and will add more weight on top in due course. Before the next gale!

 

 

The ends were given two coats of PVA before milling, but I also decided to spray paint one end of the quarter sawn planks to help identify which quarter of the original log they came from, so I can easily match up the four sets of planks.

 

Planning to leave the 30 and 40mm quarter sawn planks to air dry for at least 18 months to 2 years. Will then move planks selected for a project into the workshop for about 6 months before using them so they dry further to 10% or less, with a dehumidifier running. Hoping to make several large furniture projects using this timber, but nothing designed yet.

 

The 55mm planks will hopefully be used next summer before it’s fully air dried, for some steam bending experiments and then perhaps a couple of steam bent garden benches. Will then see what’s left.

 

Andrew