2nd kiln progress thread

[Big J]

Excellent day milling today. Down on site at 0815, though it took us until 0945 to cross cut and manouevre the logs. The main issue was that the log had been felled in a minor bog (no choice though as it was the only line of fell) so all movements were laboured.

 

Anyway, of the 27ft length, only the first 12 remains. The top 15ft yielded some excellent Oak, and a total of about 60 cubic foot (a day production pb for me too - and better still for the fact it only took 6 hours for that). Brought the Oak back, dropped half off at a cabinet makers and stuck the remainder into my kiln. Here are the top (crown) boards:

 

 

 

Tomorrow and Friday will be milling the main 12ft butt, which I've calculated should yeild 86 cube. That's two truck loads for me, and with a 30 mile each way trip, it's going to be two days. The log sits at about 38-39 inches wide, so it's getting the top taken off, rolled 90 degrees and then milled from there. I do like a straight edge to mill off and for stacking purposes.

 

First day using the new 42 inch (cannon) bar. Can only report that it, and the granberg ripping chain are superb. Managed 2ft a minute through 30 inch Oak, with low vibes and smooth cuts. The auxiliary oiling tank worked superbly too.

 

Jonathan

[Big J]

Yesterday's milling didn't go too well. Got down to site near Peebles, having found it had chucked it down all night and the already swampy ground around the log was sodden. Board walks were put down, the oak two sided prepped for milling and then the heavens opened again. Sat it out for half an hour then gave up and went home. Fortunately managed to get a bit of yew to mill in the evening, though it wasn't especially good. About 18 cubic foot of boards up to 18 inches across, but hard as hell and quite gritty. Chain was sharpened 3 times during the milling.

 

Today was an altogether better day, though a late start owing to my bloody man flu. Decided I wasn't up to trekking down to site near Peebles to work in a bog. Spoke to the forester on the neighbouring estate and got 90 hoppus cube of good straight Ash and pippy Oak. Got most of the Ash milled today and the rest is getting done tomorrow. I'm very optimistic that the Oak is going to be quite special once milled.

 

Here are the pictures of the Olive ash from today:

 

 

 

 

 

The ash was so wide that it was only just possible to get them in two abreast.

 

Jonathan

[Big J]

Veery good day milling today. Started a little late, but made very good progress. Still on the ash and oak from Hopetoun estates and managed to finish them too. Yeilded a total of 91 cubic foot from a hoppus measurement of 95, so fairly happy with estimations too.

 

Three logs milled today. A 9ft length of pippy oak averaging 30 inches or so in diameter. Excellent pippy figure, though not especially pronounced meduliaries the quarter. Second log was the 5ft above it from the same tree. Had to cut it short in order to fit it in the kiln. Fitted well though, plugging an otherwise awkward gap. Third log was the remaining 6ft of ash from yesterday.

 

I put the skip link chain on yesterday after the granberg had taken a bit of a hammering on the yew. Going from blunt granberg to sharp skip link was obviously an improvement, but I didn't realise how badly the skip link cut through the ash and oak until I took it off and replaced it with a standard oregon ripping chain. The skip link was managing only a little over half the speed of the standard ripping chain and left many more chain scores on the timber. I'll retire that one to a spare!!

 

Kiln currently has 172 cube sat in it, with a few larger slabs yet to find the right home. I think it will take another 100 cubic foot or just under. I have another 80 cube of oak down near Peebles to mill next week and quite a lot of elm coming too. The Oak has to go in, but the elm can wait a bit.

 

Photos to follow in a moment..

 

Jonathan

[Big J]

 

Pippy Oak (9ft slabs)

 

 

Milling the remaining Ash

 

 

Very pippy Oak.

[Big J]

 

Olive ash (one of the smaller boards)

 

 

The short boards of ash and oak

 

 

Kiln getting there (I'm 6ft 8, for scale).

[delabodge]

nice work mate,,what you going to use it for?

[Big J]

Thanks! I won't use it myself for much at all - the intention is to build the business selling the timber to furniture makers. Sold a reasonable amount from the first kiln, though the timber in the second is of much higher quality.

 

Good day yesterday. Down near Peebles again milling the large Oak. Reached the cargo capacity of the truck (1.3 tonnes) by midday, so took it back up to my workshop and got it stacked. Not enough time to go back for a second load though due to the distance.

 

Lovely straight boards. I had to rip the log down the centre to make the slabs moveable. Now, it's the first time I've done that free hand (didn't have the mini mill to hand) and I'm not particularly good at it. So the straight edge down the middle of the tree wanders a bit, but nothing to be concerned about.

 

Kiln is now filled to 210 cubic foot. Space for another 70-80 I think.

 

Jonathan

[John Hughes]

Nice looking timber.

How long do you leave it in the kiln and at what temperature, have you worked out the running costs?

I have a small Ebac kiln but have not used it much as I am a bit worried about the cost of the electricity.A lot of good information can be found here:

 

Drying and Processing

 

John

[Big J]

Thanks for the link! I'll have a good and proper look at it this evening when I've a little more time.

 

The set up has changed from the first kiln to second. The air circulation and dehumidification was too slow first time around, so it's been industrialised with an Ebac BD150 dehumidifier and a Turbo Dryer carpet fan. There is also an extractor fan installed this time as the Ebac has a thermostatic shut off at 35 degrees (which it reaches very quickly without extraction). Running costs are around £5.50 a day and it should take around 50 days extracting at 60 litres a day.

 

Jonathan

[Big J]

Good, though shortish day of milling today. Finished off the Oak near Peebles. Only yielded a further 25 cubic foot due to the tapering nature of the log. Managed to keep the boards whole though as only cutting at 1.5 inches. It was nevertheless interesting to get these 100kg + boards onto the top quarter off the stack!

 

Anyway, the kiln now sits at 230 cubic foot or so. Height wise, it's completely level front to back (accidental!) and one 1.5 inch board higher than stack of thick ash at the back of the photo with me in it.

 

I' put the dehumidifier on last night. It heats up slowly due to the extractor fan (probably better for the timber now to be thrust up to a higher temp too quickly) and went from 12-17 degrees in a little under 24 hours. My reasoning for putting it on now is that it's only elm going in now (quicker drying than Oak) and the thickest, hardest to dry timber is already in.

 

Doing other work tomorrow and then hoping to have a nice stack of elm at my yard Thursday morning!

 

Pictures to follow later.

 

Jonathan