30" Oak stick - worth the trouble?

[Big Beech]

two weeks we had to fell this nice old oak as an insurance job.

so initially I was to clear all off site, then it was decided that the customer was going to get someone in to price it to take away for milling.

Long story short its still on the lawn as the guys never showed up!

so the overall length is 22ft, with the straight clean trunk runs 12ft before the knotty bit starts.

we headed there today to grind out the stump and it had split real bad. now when I felled it, it pinched my saw so there was obviously a lot of tension within.

the lady would like me to mill it (possibly) and make some tables. to me, it looks like a lot of work for possibly not a lot of useable timber.

thoughts please gentlemen

 

simon

[Forest2Furniture]

Even with those splits you'll gets some decent size width boards, most thickness planers wont take more than 12" and that split wont run the whole 22ft.

See what length table she wants and cut accordingly.

[Eddy_t]

You might find the cracks don't go very far, just mill it as you would, explain to her first that there might not be much workable though...

 

 

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[Big Beech]

Ummmm, I am thinking it might be a tad fiddly with the Alaskan though? No?

in my post, I should of said benches not tables, but yes the lady wants a coffee table too!!

looks like I am going to need to get that milling chain for the 090!!!!!

[Eddy_t]

How big is yours?

 

 

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[Big Beech]

How big is yours?

 

 

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that's a question all by itself

I will tell you the truth, not the wife. she lies

I presume you mean bar length on the 090? its a 48incher

just going to get it tach tuned on Friday. initially thought it was an crankcase issue of slight lumpiness, but appears incorrect carb settings.

[Big J]

Certainly worth it, though I suspect that those cracks go up some way. As you've said, I reckon it's a large amount of tension. Consequently, you will have movement in the boards when they are cut, so cut them a touch thicker to allow for surfacing.

[agg221]

I would mill it, but think about what you are trying to make first. There are various styles for benches, tables etc, some of which use full width boards, others use narrower boards side-by-side. A big slab-top bench would be tricky, but make the same top out of three planks and it would be pretty straightforward.

 

If that base is 30" then even a half-width board should be a foot wide, which is decent. Looking at it, I would probably roll it so that the split straight across the middle is horizontal. I would then mill the first cut dead up the middle and see how much it moves.

 

If it's not much, I would consider taking full width boards off of each half, working through to fairly close to the edge where I would take some thicker slabs for legs etc. I would also keep an eye on how deep the splits run - which would show up once you had made the first cut. My guess is around 1-2'.

 

If I saw a lot of movement, rather than taking full width boards I would stand the half on edge, then split it down the middle again to take true quarters. The surfaces of the four quarters could then be assessed to choose the flattest face in each case, true it up and mill from that. This would give the smallest yield, but, depending on the thickness you mill at, you would still be looking at a dozen decent boards a foot or more wide, with a 4off thicker sections, say 3" or 4" depending on profile, which would be a reasonable yield.

 

If you milled the bottom 12' only that would still give a yield of around 30cu.ft. If you haven't got a lot of experience I'd allow a full day to do this if you have a helper. Yest it will be fiddly. With more practice in dividing up the butt, you should eventually be able to get around 45cu.ft of decent material out of something this size in a full day.

 

Alec

[Big Beech]

I would mill it, but think about what you are trying to make first. There are various styles for benches, tables etc, some of which use full width boards, others use narrower boards side-by-side. A big slab-top bench would be tricky, but make the same top out of three planks and it would be pretty straightforward.

 

If that base is 30" then even a half-width board should be a foot wide, which is decent. Looking at it, I would probably roll it so that the split straight across the middle is horizontal. I would then mill the first cut dead up the middle and see how much it moves.

 

If it's not much, I would consider taking full width boards off of each half, working through to fairly close to the edge where I would take some thicker slabs for legs etc. I would also keep an eye on how deep the splits run - which would show up once you had made the first cut. My guess is around 1-2'.

 

If I saw a lot of movement, rather than taking full width boards I would stand the half on edge, then split it down the middle again to take true quarters. The surfaces of the four quarters could then be assessed to choose the flattest face in each case, true it up and mill from that. This would give the smallest yield, but, depending on the thickness you mill at, you would still be looking at a dozen decent boards a foot or more wide, with a 4off thicker sections, say 3" or 4" depending on profile, which would be a reasonable yield.

 

If you milled the bottom 12' only that would still give a yield of around 30cu.ft. If you haven't got a lot of experience I'd allow a full day to do this if you have a helper. Yest it will be fiddly. With more practice in dividing up the butt, you should eventually be able to get around 45cu.ft of decent material out of something this size in a full day.

 

Alec

 

thanks Alec,

pretty much my thought was to run it up the big split, but treat each as a quarter section perhaps. the 30" D, runs near as dam it the full 12ft of good stuff. and timings wise, yes I would allow for the day anyway. there would be two of us as well. customer to clear sawdust

[Eddy_t]

Your mill, not your bar length, but sounds like it will do

 

 

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