090 and Alaskan Mill

[delabodge]

nice work mate, if you ever get any burrs from the sides of robinia, always interested in them for turning,,,

[Andy Collins]

Thanks for all the info. I wanted to mill this up as it appeared to be in good order, and a shame to turn everything to firewood. Had the branch been a couple of feet higher it would have been gate posts (8ft). Taking the cutters back to 10degrees isn't that much effort tbh, well not with the saw grinder anyway. I too have had the Alaskan for maybe 5 or 6 years, I've used it maybe 4 times to date now, which is why I haven't bothered with specific ripping chain tbh, but saying that as I enjoyed doing this one so much I think I'll be looking to do more in time. This was really a trialling day for me as far as milling goes, have saw, have mill might as well try it again attitude. And it's kind of satisfying to see something no one has seen before as each plank lifts away.

DLB, I sliced a couple of decent burrs off which I took to a local turner, the burrings grain is very nice to look at.

I was expecting the Robinia to be far harder to mill, but the saw just slid along at a steady pace on each slab. Time-wise it took me around two and a half hours actual cutting time, but I kept stopping and chatting to passers-by who were interested in what I was doing, so I was there about 4 hours instead. more to life than slogging on relentlessly some days.

[Rob D]

Nice thread Andy and thanks for posting.

 

 

I think when you start to mill timber usually one of two things happen-

 

 

• you buy it and never use it..... too busy! OR
  
• you mill every bit of wood that comes your way! but it's hard work, you don't know where to store the timber, some of it gets firewooded anyway as you get fed up moving it!
  

And both these approaches tend to resign the mill to the back of the garage....

 

 

 

 

I think this worked well - good selective milling - as the customer wanted the planks, it was half a days milling and you come away feeling satisfied with your elboes more or less intact.

 

 

 

 

 

 

[Andy Collins]

It's finding a way of utilising the milled timber that can be an issue. This client has a friend who is a green wood carpenter, so they can make up what they like. As I said the original plan was to get 8ft gate posts, but it wasn't quite suitable. Next option was to cut the butt to 6foot and just mill that. Then I decided to mill the entire butt and see how it went. I'm glad I did. Another benefit of this is the peopke that these people mix with, and maybe, just maybe this extra string can generate more work, if not, well I've been paid for taking the tree out, paid for milling the timber, and gained some nice timber for myself. I wouldn't wish to mill full time, I'd get bored, but I'd like to do enough to be efficient at it, learn how to get the best from a piece of timber, ie what sizes and shapes are best to get, and how to value and Market the service, and the timber, to do it justice. I don't want to undermine, or even compete with the serious millers, but I'd like a healthier and more knowledgeable interest in it. So any tips, hints, books, whatever, post it here, I can learn and so can others.

[AlvinD]

The monolith is pretty pointless tbh but that's just me.

[Andy Collins]

Hmmm pointless. it's something I like, give a focal point in the garden, my garden, drawing the eye to something. Some like statues, some like an obelisk, I like a slice of timber stuck in the ground vertically. So there.

[Aaron]

How many other folk apart from Andy and myself still have an 090!?!

 

ME! and it cost me the huge amount of.....£20 couple months back:001_tt2:

oh, and nice milling Andy

 

Aaron