Big oak, what are my options?

[ecolojim]

Just got this lump back to the yard. Far too much potential to firewood it! Far too big for my Alaskan yet I can't bring myself to quarter it. I'm sensing tabletops and all sorts. Got a sawmill not a million miles away but could well be expensive. What are my options? 372 with 28" bar and 24" Alaskan for visual size comparison.

Thanks

 

Jim

[kernowstu]

Just got this lump back to the yard. Far too much potential to firewood it! Far too big for my Alaskan yet I can't bring myself to quarter it. I'm sensing tabletops and all sorts. Got a sawmill not a million miles away but could well be expensive. What are my options? 372 with 28" bar and 24" Alaskan for visual size comparison.

Thanks

 

Jim

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LUCAS MILL:thumbup1:

[Rob D]

See if someone near you has a bigger alaskan and you could go halves on the timber produced?

[Hodge]

Get yer hand in ya pocket !

[Mike Hill]

Blow it apart with Gun Powder for a Laugh?

[agg221]

Looks to be about 30" max?

 

It depends what you want to do with it - if you want really wide boards then a wide mill is your only option. If you actually just want narrower boards then quartering isn't a bad option as it will give you nice stable, well figured timber.

 

If you need to use a bigger mill then consider how often you might get access to things like this. If it's once in a blue moon, probably worth getting it milled with a portable (Woodmizer etc). If you might get more, and want the facility (and have the time) then a heavy saw and long bar, and buy the long top rail to extend your Alaskan would give the facility. A decent 076 can be had for about £300, with a 36" bar attached, just add ripping chain. It's slow, but will get you there - you'll get a max. cut width of about 28", so you have to slice the sides off but only to a minimal amount (bark plus sapwood).

 

One other thing to consider. It depends on whether you want thick slabs or thin planks as to whether the amount you'll lose to kerf with a chainsaw mill is a significant factor - hiring in a band mill can often save quite a few planks on thinner stuff (I did a lot of 1" floorboards and 2" boat planks out of a log about this size and it was significant).

 

Hope this helps.

 

Alec

[TrollSpiel]

an 880, 48" bar & an alaskan to suit - which I can def recommend, or like others say, saw mill.. I get some of mine milled if it's over 108 cm and I want thinner boards - but then what you're going to pay cubed, to get it cut, is half a big jig that you can use for other stuff...

[ecolojim]

OK, what I'll probably do is get rails and a chain and borrow an 880 for the day, probably work out the best way of going about it.

 

thing is, Ive not milled anything this large before, so what's the best way to go about it? Im hoping there will be some interesting grain in the forked end for one thing. Am I best to just slab it straight through then stack it to dry, and then do any cutting to size/shape later on a table saw? To that end, is that the best way of me doing any and all of my milled timber rather than making it into boards with the alaskan?

 

I can get my head around the milling part, its the finer points of getting the most value out of a piece of timber that elude me.

[TrollSpiel]

OK, what I'll probably do is get rails and a chain and borrow an 880 for the day, probably work out the best way of going about it.

 

thing is, Ive not milled anything this large before, so what's the best way to go about it? Im hoping there will be some interesting grain in the forked end for one thing. Am I best to just slab it straight through then stack it to dry, and then do any cutting to size/shape later on a table saw? To that end, is that the best way of me doing any and all of my milled timber rather than making it into boards with the alaskan?

 

I can get my head around the milling part, its the finer points of getting the most value out of a piece of timber that elude me.

 

 

If I was any closer, I'd come give you a hand & an 880.

 

How? I tend to view a bit of timber with what I'm likely to build from it according to the shape of the butt/trunk etc. Looks like you've got an interesting top to it. Sometimes it's hard to get the best out of a lump - size restrictions etc. Sometimes, until you've cut it, you don't know what you're going to build with it - an interesting shape or bit of grain can dictate that.

Sometimes you can see you're going to have a nice bit of ripple etc (ash) from the outside, other times it's not till I've cut it - like a bit of yew recently, wasn't until I got inside it that I realised the grain was on fire, stunning.

 

Slab it up, see what you've got. And then what you do with it depends if your skills & tool set are of a carpenter, joiner or cabinet maker.

[agg221]

I tend to cut dead through the centre as soon as possible, so set the rail up parallel to the centreline and skim the top to leave 13in above the centre (max throat on my Alaskan) and take it off as a slab.

 

I do it this way because any interesting grain, or any rot are most likely to be found in the centre so it gives the best idea how to break it down from there.

 

I would also take the bark off first as grit and dirt dull the chain and it makes cutting much harder work, and subsequent resharpening on a long bar even harder!

 

Alec