Milling burr oak

[Big Beech]

Andrew, thanks for the above info. those prices in my mind seems very good for the quality of the planks.

 

as per your view with regards firewood costs, i hope not as i have an even larger one to deal with, and this will have to be CM`d due to its woodland location where extraction is not an option!

http://arbtalk.co.uk/forum/milling-forum/60776-4-6ft-burr-oak-another-project.html

[Copford sawmill sussex]

Unfortunately all the while the timber was waiting it would not really dry, it literally has to be planked to start drying properly. We have trees that have been dead a year or so and are as wet inside as they would have been when felled. All be it the sap would be dry the heartwood definetly is green still .

[ucoulddoit]

Andrew, thanks for the above info. those prices in my mind seems very good for the quality of the planks.

 

as per your view with regards firewood costs, i hope not as i have an even larger one to deal with, and this will have to be CM`d due to its woodland location where extraction is not an option!

http://arbtalk.co.uk/forum/milling-forum/60776-4-6ft-burr-oak-another-project.html

 

 

 

I remember seeing your thread about that big burr oak and it looks as though there will be lots of excellent timber in it, worth a lot as milled planks. My comment about 'firewood prices' is perhaps the wrong view. It is not a reflection on the potential value of the milled timber, just that there may be a limited market for selling an inaccessible butt, so a buyers market for those with a chainsaw mill and able to put in the milling time. Would be interesting to hear others views on this.

 

Andrew

[agrimog]

Big J, remember your not running the typical band mill now, and a stenner isnt excatly portable, the average bandmill, runs a blade between 1 and 2 inches wide, and these do deflect and cause striations, and 2 I dont now and never will mill with a 404 chain, its a total waste, a dedicated 3/8 picco is a genuine 1/4" kerf, and when the chain and mill are properly setup the boards are almost as good as some planners produce !

[Jamespepperpot]

Awesome grain. I want some

[Timmy C]

I'm glad its turned out nice.

 

Would love to see pictures of what it turns into a few years down the line!

 

Its the nicest piece of timber I have ever been lucky enough to extract and am glad its gone to a good home.

 

With regards to accessibility it was situated in a wooded area and was extracted by tractor, timber crane being lifted directly into a trailer with straps as to not damage the natural edges. Sadly other oaks in the same area that were not as figured were ringed up as the landowner wanted firewood.

[Pan]

Andrew

 

Thanks for posting those photos, you must be so pleased with the result - stunning figure in those planks.

 

I'm interested in your seasoning process now. Are you going to air dry for a couple of years and then slowly bring them into centrally heated house conditions? or are you planning on kiln drying them to get the moisture content down to suitable conditions?

Also have you treated the planks with anything to stop any woodworm getting to the sapwood?

 

Well worth all your effort so far - look forward to seeing what your going make of them!

[ucoulddoit]

Pan

 

I don't have a kiln or access to one, but I've found I can manage without one provided I'm patient. With the oak, I'll air dry it outside for at least a couple of years, then move it into a well insulated timber framed shed with seals on the door and windows. I run a dehumidifier in the shed, so it is similar in some respects to a kiln, but it doesn't have a fan or any fancy electronics to monitor and control the humidity, etc. When timber has been air dried, I bring it into the shed and re-stack it with sticks between the planks and put weghts on top, either concrete blocks or previously dried timber. After a few weeks I turn on the dehumidifier and reduce the humidity setting gradually over a few months. The 'shed' was originally built and used as a small workshop but now is mainly used for drying and storing timber as I've built a larger workshop. The photo below shows the current pile of timber being conditioned and stored in this way and includes from the top, larch, cherry, laburnum, sycamore, burr elm, yew, more burr elm at the bottom and some curved sections of apple. The planks with no sticks between them are already dry and are just weight on top of the latest planks taken in for 'conditioning'.

 

Years ago, I did dry some small planks from two cherry trees in the house which worked fine, but if doing this, I'd recommend taking them in during late spring/early summer when the humidity is likely to be slightly higher than in the winter when it is heated.

 

I thought about spraying the oak planks to minimise the risk of insect infestation. I might still do this but my understanding is that borax is not permanent under damp or wet conditions, so although the timber is stored undercover, the damp caused by occasional driving rain may reduce the effectiveness of the borax.

 

There are various books available about all this, and the best one I've read is 'The Conversion and Seasoning of Wood' by William H Brown. It has lots of technical advice necessary to achieve furniture grade timber such as the thickness and spacing of sticks for different species of wood and plank thickness, a good graph showing the relationship between humidity and equilibrium moisture content in timber and lots about various drying defects to be avoided.

 

Andrew

[agg221]

Hi Andrew,

 

Your comment on borax - you're correct that it is not fixed to the timber structure, but if you apply it while the timber is green, the cell structure is still open and it disperses right through. It will wash off the surface, so you would need to keep it from being exposed to start with, but once it is well in there you will only lose it from the surface. For me, the particular advantage is that oak sapwood seems to be loved by woodworm, even when fairly dry and the borax kills them.

 

I would be very concerned about keeping sapwood on oak dry if you want to preserve it. It is particularly vulnerable and easily rotted - so much so that (since I usually use oak for exterior durability) I deliberately leave logs lying on the ground and the sapwood usually rots right off in a couple of years.

 

Alec

[Pan]

Hi Andrew

 

Great to see your wood store and how you currently season your timber - patience is certainly a virtue!

 

Although fairly new to milling I am looking to try and speed up the seasoning process. At the moment I am looking into the Sauno woodkilns. Space is a consideration and the amount that I mill - so in that aspect it looks a good option but it does come with a hefty price tag!

 

One of my current concerns with my timber is insect infestation (sycamore being worst affected). The kilning process with the Sauno does seem to sort this problem out with the initial high temperatures and use of steam. (Perhaps more so than the use of insecticides such as Boron?)

 

I've got to ask - your curved sections of apple in your wood store look intriguing! What have you got planned for them?