any able to mill large ~150 yr old english oak on site

[JoBuck]

hi, anyone have a mobile saw mill to mill very large quercus robur blown down in storm in back gardens (no access for heavy machinery). i will try and post photos but otherwise can email direct to anyone interested.

main stem ~1.2m diam and ~10m in length . located putney, london SW15 6DU

please email or phone

Jo Buckingham

Hardy Tree Surgeons.

Mobile: 07771898887

[email protected]

[agg221]

Hi Jo,

 

Do you know what the milling spec is - through and through slabs, quartersawing or a series of regular, narrower boards? Also, do they want it milled in at the full 30' or cut into lengths, if so what length? Would establish whether a chainsaw mill or circular saw mill is best suited.

 

Alec

[Copford sawmill sussex]

Yeah a tree this big wants to be cut to it's best potential

[JoBuck]

Hi, sorry for delay in replying. I wanted to get some photos up to show it a bit better.

Basically the tree blew over in the big winds. The roots had rotten through, i have cut through over half way just above the root plate to check how good the internal wood is and all the saw dust shavings looked good so no signs of decay in main stem. The owner of the tree wants to keep the planks (however maybe not all of them), he is keen to make something out of them after they have seasoned. I was keen to see the wood used rather than just logged on site.

Few questions:

I was happy to get someone in (if anyone is available and/or near enough) to plank it and either pay for the work or do some sort of deal if they wanted some of the planks (or if they have facilities to take it away and season it and then the owner could collect a couple of planks for himself to make something from)

or thought i may get an alaskan mill and do it myself!! i have an MS660, if i was to do it then i'll need some advice. The tree owner basically doesnt know what he wants to do/make with it (i imagine a table would be high on the list), so i can probably mill it however people suggest. only problem is access (back gardens) and how its lying at the mo.

what are all your suggestions as to best way to tackle it and equipment you'd recommend (in the past i've just rough planked stuff) so treat me as a novice!

cheers Jo

[JoBuck]

http://arbtalk.co.uk/forum/members/jobuck-albums-oak-milling-sw15-picture6939-imag2402.jpg

http://arbtalk.co.uk/forum/members/jobuck-albums-oak-milling-sw15-picture6938-imag2390.jpg

http://arbtalk.co.uk/forum/members/jobuck-albums-oak-milling-sw15-picture6936-imag2377.jpg

http://arbtalk.co.uk/forum/members/jobuck-albums-oak-milling-sw15-picture6935-imag2401.jpg

[JoBuck]

[agg221]

Hi Jo,

 

OK, first thing is that the 660 is too small for this. The second is that there is a -lot- of timber there. On the access, is it walking through a house, a narrow garden gate or a reasonable trackway? This determines both what kit can be got in and what size timber can be got out.

 

Slabbing this up through and through with an Alaskan has advantages of simplicity, but not of quality. In an ideal world, I would do this quartersawn, by splitting the tree into quarters first and then cutting boards off the faces. This will make some top quality timber if the tree is good. I would either go for 3off 10' lengths or 2off 15' lengths.

 

The alternative would be to use a circular saw mill and make dimensioned boards with it, suitable for floorboards.

 

Final thought - Burrell and I might be able to do this - bit of a trek but we're both in the same area and could probably travel together and get through it in a day. We did some milling for Charles Hey earlier this year on an equivalent scale - see the first post on here:

 

http://arbtalk.co.uk/forum/milling-forum/56501-milling-pics-vids.html

 

Do they mind which day of the week it's done? If not, I can have a chat with him and see if he's up for it?

 

Alec

[simonorourke]

Don't mill it! Give it to me! :-D

[JoBuck]

Hi Jo,

 

OK, first thing is that the 660 is too small for this. The second is that there is a -lot- of timber there. On the access, is it walking through a house, a narrow garden gate or a reasonable trackway? This determines both what kit can be got in and what size timber can be got out.

 

Slabbing this up through and through with an Alaskan has advantages of simplicity, but not of quality. In an ideal world, I would do this quartersawn, by splitting the tree into quarters first and then cutting boards off the faces. This will make some top quality timber if the tree is good. I would either go for 3off 10' lengths or 2off 15' lengths.

 

The alternative would be to use a circular saw mill and make dimensioned boards with it, suitable for floorboards.

 

Final thought - Burrell and I might be able to do this - bit of a trek but we're both in the same area and could probably travel together and get through it in a day. We did some milling for Charles Hey earlier this year on an equivalent scale - see the first post on here:

 

http://arbtalk.co.uk/forum/milling-forum/56501-milling-pics-vids.html

 

Do they mind which day of the week it's done? If not, I can have a chat with him and see if he's up for it?

 

Alec

 

Hi alec,

they dont mind which day, access is side gate but at least 35" as grinder coming in to grind up root ball once we've chopped it off (was keeping it on while dismantleing tree in the gardens). walk though via neighbours garden where most of tree landed!!

can you email /pm me with possible costs and ways of it working (ie sharing it with client or leaving all on site and stacked to season)

i can take more photos and measure up if it helps tomorrow ?

cheers Jo

[JoBuck]

Don't mill it! Give it to me! :-D

 

how would you extract it? i think it will need milling on site. cheers Jo