lucas milling

[Rob D]

It's a lovely timber to saw - so soft and quick - what you going to use it for?

[delabodge]

have a variety of uses for it rob, want to build a tiny house on wheels this yr, possibly a detachable wooden camper for my ranger, then toy boxes,roofs for birdboxes,the list is endless...

[delabodge]

+1 for that. We have an 8-30 and it is seriously quick for certain sawn material. They are great.

 

Going back to the Wellingtonia it would be useful to get a description of the timber properties especially of the heartwood. The historical accounts are that Wellingtonia is very brittle and no good for construction (cladding). More recent research suggests that "young" trees (70-80yrs) are not brittle, though it may be a question over the % of non/less durable sapwood.

 

Fancy experimenting with a board or two?

 

cheers

Ben

 

Ive been using it alot for the past five yrs ben and agree at times it can be brittle,especially the heartwood, nearer the sap its much more stable,which is going against the usual , but just my experience, I have some seasoned stuff in the barn that was milled at least ten yrs ago and this has some felling shake in it ,but might have something to do with it suffering from a lightening strike!

As these trees are obviously very tall and felled in four sections, will be interesting to see if the top sections react differently to the lowest butt?

let me now what you need me too do!

[gensetsteve]

I have been pondering on a peterson or Lucas mill for a while. I get a few large butts of poplar. My woodmizer is about 20" max and alot of what I get is 36" and larger. I dont need accuracy as it will go through the kindlet. Why is your woodmizer slow clive is it an engine problem ?

[delabodge]

the lucas would be ideal for you steve,, not sure whats up with the mizer,it just is very slow, slows the engine down when trying to cut, the engine is a new 27hp kolhner, and then the belts start screaching! not the most mechanically minded bloke ,so not sure? any one want to come and help?

[gensetsteve]

the lucas would be ideal for you steve,, not sure whats up with the mizer,it just is very slow, slows the engine down when trying to cut, the engine is a new 27hp kolhner, and then the belts start screaching! not the most mechanically minded bloke ,so not sure? any one want to come and help?

 

I had problems with mine for about a week on and off. In the end I spent two days pulling my hair out. Got the manual out and set the blade guides to the book. tried 4 different new blades and changed the belts on the pulleys. Because mine is 3 phase and pushed by a new 60 kva generator there is no engine to blame so in some ways easier to set up. Does your blade wander up and down in the timber and does it smoke. The blades can blunt very quick and need to be sharpened and set just right. As big J pointed out to me the blades are very small but if set up right can do some good boards.

[delabodge]

steve I`m milling sequoia which is soft, and the blades are new rippers straight from the box?its

[Big J]

steve I`m milling sequoia which is soft, and the blades are new rippers straight from the box?its

 

Sequoia can be a funny one to mill. I had about 8 tonnes of it a year and a half ago and whilst yes, it can be quite soft for the most part, the knots are very dense and can throw the bands off straight.

 

I've also been having problems with the Ripper bands straight from the box. I've had about 32 bands so far, of which about 8 have been acceptable. 6 were the wrong length, 4 I've not yet tried and on the remainder, the set has been off. You take a blunt band off, that is cutting generally straight (but starting to wobble up and down a touch), put a box fresh one on and it crowns straight up. It's driving me nuts!

[se7enthdevil]

+1 for that. We have an 8-30 and it is seriously quick for certain sawn material. They are great.

 

Going back to the Wellingtonia it would be useful to get a description of the timber properties especially of the heartwood. The historical accounts are that Wellingtonia is very brittle and no good for construction (cladding). More recent research suggests that "young" trees (70-80yrs) are not brittle, though it may be a question over the % of non/less durable sapwood.

 

Fancy experimenting with a board or two?

 

cheers

Ben

 

 

although not the same species they are related and have very similar lumber properties.

 

Redwood | The Wood Database - Lumber Identification (Softwoods)

[delabodge]

Sequoia can be a funny one to mill. I had about 8 tonnes of it a year and a half ago and whilst yes, it can be quite soft for the most part, the knots are very dense and can throw the bands off straight.

 

I've also been having problems with the Ripper bands straight from the box. I've had about 32 bands so far, of which about 8 have been acceptable. 6 were the wrong length, 4 I've not yet tried and on the remainder, the set has been off. You take a blunt band off, that is cutting generally straight (but starting to wobble up and down a touch), put a box fresh one on and it crowns straight up. It's driving me nuts!

 

thanks for that johnathan, busy on tree work for the next three days but will swap a blade back to a normal woodmizer one and see if its any better, its an old machine and probably needs a few things doing to it,bit like me:thumbup: