milling rockie advice.

[WoodED]

evening all,

i am soon to purchise a small alaskan saw mill, as i get alot of feild maple, oak and cherry i want to have ago at making garden furniture and other bits and peices, i have a few questions,

for a kick of,

is it to mill the timber when its 'green'?

how long would you leave it stacked for befor working/using?

 

thank u all,

ed

[slack ma girdle]

Mill it green as the wood is softer. If you are not kiln drying it then you be leaving it between 1-4 years depending on how thick the plank is.

[WoodED]

1-4 years, thats a long old time

thanks for the info matey

[agg221]

Hi Ed,

 

Of the species you're getting, oak is the best choice for garden furniture - only reckon on the heartwood lasting, so either design for the bark/sapwood to fall off naturally, or remove it artificially.

 

Mill the timber green - as fresh as possible. Firstly, that way it allows you to limit cracks starting from the end; secondly it lets it dry out from a larger surface area so it's quicker; thirdly, milling seasoned timber is much harder on the tools and on you.

 

The rule of thumb for air drying is 1" thickness every six months. Note, air dried is perfect for outdoor use, but it is still too wet for stable indoor use. To use it indoors, either kiln it or cut it roughly to shape and bring it indoors for the same sort of time. Yes, it's very slow. It will dry faster indoors in winter as the central heating tends to keep the air dryer.

 

How long you wait between milling and using depends a lot on what you're trying to do. If it's a rustic look piece of outdoor furniture, making it straight away and letting it naturally twist and move is fine. After all, this is how houses used to be built and many are still standing fine (mine included at a little over 500yrs old). If you want fine furniture, you don't want it moving at all, so get it as dry as possible before you touch it, then rough cut it, let it de-stress and then dry it again.

 

The alaskan as a tool is best for thicker slabs - it's very wasteful on kerf. It's therefore worth keeping an eye out on the maple for burrs as these are worth slabbing thick and selling green for turning etc.

 

There are lots more points on cutting pattern etc. but the above should get you started!

 

Alec

[WoodED]

Hi Ed,

 

Of the species you're getting, oak is the best choice for garden furniture - only reckon on the heartwood lasting, so either design for the bark/sapwood to fall off naturally, or remove it artificially.

 

Mill the timber green - as fresh as possible. Firstly, that way it allows you to limit cracks starting from the end; secondly it lets it dry out from a larger surface area so it's quicker; thirdly, milling seasoned timber is much harder on the tools and on you.

 

The rule of thumb for air drying is 1" thickness every six months. Note, air dried is perfect for outdoor use, but it is still too wet for stable indoor use. To use it indoors, either kiln it or cut it roughly to shape and bring it indoors for the same sort of time. Yes, it's very slow. It will dry faster indoors in winter as the central heating tends to keep the air dryer.

 

How long you wait between milling and using depends a lot on what you're trying to do. If it's a rustic look piece of outdoor furniture, making it straight away and letting it naturally twist and move is fine. After all, this is how houses used to be built and many are still standing fine (mine included at a little over 500yrs old). If you want fine furniture, you don't want it moving at all, so get it as dry as possible before you touch it, then rough cut it, let it de-stress and then dry it again.

 

The alaskan as a tool is best for thicker slabs - it's very wasteful on kerf. It's therefore worth keeping an eye out on the maple for burrs as these are worth slabbing thick and selling green for turning etc.

 

There are lots more points on cutting pattern etc. but the above should get you started!

 

Alec

 

thanks mate, that was exactly the advice i was looking for.

[agg221]

You're welcome

 

A few more points which might save you some grief later - as they're the kind of thing which if you don't realise you can make something that starts out looking great and soon looks really bad, whereas if you take them into account you can make it work first time.

 

Wood is most stable in the direction from the centre to the outside of the tree (quartersawn). However, cutting all boards this way is very fiddly and wasteful, so you tend to 'through and through' saw, which means taking your log and cutting it up into a series of horizontally cut slabs, working down from top to bottom.

Wood is least stable the closer you get to 'round the rings' (the outermost slab if you're through and through sawing).

The outer rings shrink more than the inner ones, so if you're looking at the rings on the end of a piece of wood and they're 'smiling' it will bend downwards at the edges; if they're 'frowning' the edges will lift upwards. This is called cupping.

The very middle of the tree often contains pith, and cracks will tend to start from it.

 

So, say you're making a picnic bench, using 3" slabs for the top and the seats and 3"x4" sections for the A-frames. If you just slab it up and use the widest board for the top, it will crack in the middle. If you use the narrower boards from the edges for the rails they will tend to cup.

 

However, if instead you skim the top of the log so that it's just over 6" wide (6" of heartwood preferably), then take off a 4" slab and rip it down into 2off 4"x3" they will be pretty stable (same from the other side when you get to it). If you rip the centre slab in half up the middle it will make two very good, stable seatboards. If you then use the board (or boards, depending on width) just off the centre as the top, and place them so that the grain is 'smiling' the edges will dip down so that the rain tends to run off, rather than ponding, so it doesn't rot so fast.

 

Hope this is clear, and useful. The same principles apply to other work.

 

Alec

[WoodED]

You're welcome

 

A few more points which might save you some grief later - as they're the kind of thing which if you don't realise you can make something that starts out looking great and soon looks really bad, whereas if you take them into account you can make it work first time.

 

Wood is most stable in the direction from the centre to the outside of the tree (quartersawn). However, cutting all boards this way is very fiddly and wasteful, so you tend to 'through and through' saw, which means taking your log and cutting it up into a series of horizontally cut slabs, working down from top to bottom.

Wood is least stable the closer you get to 'round the rings' (the outermost slab if you're through and through sawing).

The outer rings shrink more than the inner ones, so if you're looking at the rings on the end of a piece of wood and they're 'smiling' it will bend downwards at the edges; if they're 'frowning' the edges will lift upwards. This is called cupping.

The very middle of the tree often contains pith, and cracks will tend to start from it.

 

So, say you're making a picnic bench, using 3" slabs for the top and the seats and 3"x4" sections for the A-frames. If you just slab it up and use the widest board for the top, it will crack in the middle. If you use the narrower boards from the edges for the rails they will tend to cup.

 

However, if instead you skim the top of the log so that it's just over 6" wide (6" of heartwood preferably), then take off a 4" slab and rip it down into 2off 4"x3" they will be pretty stable (same from the other side when you get to it). If you rip the centre slab in half up the middle it will make two very good, stable seatboards. If you then use the board (or boards, depending on width) just off the centre as the top, and place them so that the grain is 'smiling' the edges will dip down so that the rain tends to run off, rather than ponding, so it doesn't rot so fast.

 

Hope this is clear, and useful. The same principles apply to other work.

 

Alec

 

thanks again matey,

[Rob D]

Get all the good boards neatly stickered and stacked.... the odd pieces leave in a warm place and you can start playing around making things with these.... ok they'll move etc but it's a good way to practice and see what you enjoy making.

[WoodED]

Get all the good boards neatly stickered and stacked.... the odd pieces leave in a warm place and you can start playing around making things with these.... ok they'll move etc but it's a good way to practice and see what you enjoy making.

 

cheers rob. i want to have ago at a few benches. what do u use for joints ect, or do u dowel and glue or screw?

[Rob D]

It depends on how you want to go....my tool of choice is an impact driver and 4" self tapping bolts.... joints I'm not so good on!

 

 

Will do more proper jointing when I have more time. The impact driver is quick, strong and can pull things together if you haven't quite got it right! I'll stick a vid up on it soon.