Featheredge

[Robert Raven]

Hi everyone,

 

I am wondering about milling some featheredge with my Alaskan, does anyone have experience of this? I've heard people mention radial cutting, how do you arrange that? What size is sensible?

 

The only logs I have in are oak, one about 16" diameter and the other 36". Don't want to waste the big one if possible.

 

Also I will eventually need some WRC featheredge too, is it worth sourcing a log and cutting it myself or is it all to much trouble with an Alaskan?

 

Cheers,

 

Rob

[agg221]

The trouble is that if you're making feather edge tapering from say 6mm to 19mm, that's an average of 12.5mm. The Alaskan takes a kerf of about 8mm so you're turning 40% of your log into sawdust!

 

You pretty much do need a bandsaw for thin stuff.

 

The one time you do score is if you make radially sawn boards. Here, the thin edge comes from the centre and you make use of the natural perfect quarter sawn wedge shape. This makes thin bourses very stable against cupping.

 

Think of the circular end of a tree, wit a series of radial lines, the angle included being such that the board is the right thickness at the distance out you want. You then lose the core of the tree as the wedge is too thin here, so that defines the inner edge. Basically, radially sawn your 16in log would make about 4in boards max, your 36in would make about 9in max.

 

Hope this helps - I've done it with the Ripsaw mill if you have any more questions.

 

Alec

[Rob D]

As above Rob - your best bet to do this is to cut a log into suitable suitable sizes for someone else to mill for you.