Possible milling job in North Suffolk, any takers?

[alex_m]

I have no experience with milling so hopefully someone can shed some light on this and maybe give an idea on prices etc.

We have this beech dismantle coming up, probably the end of november. I'm not sure how good beech is for milling or if this would be a suitable specimen.

It's around 2.5 ft dbh, up to about 20ft, where the crown starts.

Sorry to be so vague with the measurements.

[spudulike]

You could possibly ask agg221 - he has a 076, a 066 and 044 plus a mill - he has milled wood for house cladding and canal barges - bit of a technician - he may be able to help out and is in Cambridgeshire.

[John Hughes]

Alex

It looks a nice and straight , definetley worth milling.

I have a Lucas swing mill, I am based near Gt Dunmow.

Where abouts is the tree?

John

[alex_m]

Thanks for the replies. The tree is near Harleston, 7 Miles east of Diss.

[agg221]

Hi Alex, beech is a nice timber, but currently out of fashion so sadly not very saleable. This makes it unlikely to recover much of the cost of milling - great for 'own use' though. You therefore need to work out what you want to do with it before you mill and produce a cutting list. You then work through the tree, seeing how straight and clean it is at each successive cut, and how wide if you're not using a swing mill, so you can get the bits out to make what you want.

 

A swing mill will give good straight boards, limited to about 8in width, and will take quite a lot in kerf, which probably doesn't matter in this case. A band mill would allow wider boards and be more efficient on kerf. There are a few around which will come out to where you are.

 

If you can move the butt whole, or have the time on site, then an Alaskan would be OK - again it will give wide boards, but at the price of a lot of sawdust and time! This would probably be best if you wanted to make a big slab-type table top for example.

 

Now is a good time of year for milling as it's less likely to dry too fast and crack. Get plenty of dry stickers ready for putting between boards - you'll need a lot more than you think, and you can't use offcuts as it will go mouldy where they touch. I use old bits of pallet.

 

Prices - haven't hired a mill for ages, but a band mill would probably be around £350/day.

 

Hope this helps!

 

Alec

[Rob D]

As above beech is a tricky one to sell...

 

 

If you had the tree milled what will you do with the planks?

 

An easy solution is to see if someone will mill it with you for a % of the wood (although that % likely would be in their favour). But then you'd have some planks to play with for little outlay.

[alex_m]

ok thanks for the replies. i'm beginning to think it would be more use as firewood. if anyone nearby is still interested, then feel free to message me and you can take a look.

[TrollSpiel]

As above beech is a tricky one to sell...

 

 

If you had the tree milled what will you do with the planks?

 

An easy solution is to see if someone will mill it with you for a % of the wood (although that % likely would be in their favour). But then you'd have some planks to play with for little outlay.

 

well there was a monster bit of beech I was planning to cut - but if even you find it tricky to sell.....

[eddiegts]

I would be interested in it my yard is in Hoxne 4 miles away you can off load it there if u want ;-)

[Rob D]

well there was a monster bit of beech I was planning to cut - but if even you find it tricky to sell.....

 

 

If it's monster it's worth giving MaverickGR (or simialar!) on here a shout as he seems to be after monster planks...