Freehand milling

[agg221]

good cutting but if you are going for strength why not cleave???

 

It is very tricky cleaving something that size. You can split it if you have enough wedges (inc. making up a few very fat wooden ones to hold it apart) but getting it to stay cleanly in half is nigh on impossible. That means you end up with uneven 'halves' which gives you uneven 'quarters' so you wouldn't be likely to get four decent bits out of it. Hit a knot and you're completely stuffed.

 

Alec

[se7enthdevil]

suppose it is a bit knotty, be fun to try a sick of dynamite though...

[Daniël Bos]

good cutting but if you are going for strength why not cleave???

 

What Alec said above:thumbup1:

The stem in the first series of pics is 30" or so, the one in the last two pics is over 38". For scale, that 880 has a 46" bar on.

They could be cleft, but not by just me and not in the time I have available:001_smile:

[Badgerland]

good cutting but if you are going for strength why not cleave???

 

To cleave oak of any real size it has to be very clean. I reckon those stems are way too knotty to control any kind of cleaving imho. You'd waste more than you'd save. I use a similar approach when working with large knotty sweet chestnut for gate posts. In my experience it's the most effective way of working the material up without too much wastage

[H-A]

I like the way you have improvised, should make a good rustic shed.

 

Why have you got a picture of Jose Mujica as you avatar?

 

He is the president of Uruguay, and a former Terrorist (freedom fighter).

 

Just curious:biggrin:

 

H-A

[Daniël Bos]

I like the way you have improvised, should make a good rustic shed.

 

Why have you got a picture of Jose Mujica as you avatar?

 

He is the president of Uruguay, and a former Terrorist (freedom fighter).

 

Just curious:biggrin:

 

H-A

 

The shelter will be built in a circle shape, green reciprocal roof with a glass/plexi centre, lime plastered straw bale walls.

Cows better be grateful.....

 

 

 

One man's terrorist...

 

He's the worlds' poorest president, chooses to live a sober life, donates over 90% of his salary to charity, owns only two vehicles (a beat up old vw beetle and an old massey tractor) and has led Uruguay to have the worlds most progressive cannabis laws:001_cool:

[Stompy]

It is very tricky cleaving something that size. You can split it if you have enough wedges (inc. making up a few very fat wooden ones to hold it apart) but getting it to stay cleanly in half is nigh on impossible. That means you end up with uneven 'halves' which gives you uneven 'quarters' so you wouldn't be likely to get four decent bits out of it. Hit a knot and you're completely stuffed.

 

Alec

Plus incredibly hard work cleaving something of that diametre....... and as Alec said you would waste most if it. Let the machine do the work

[se7enthdevil]

oh com on fellas, i just wana see someone blow a trunk with dynamite...

 

i saw it done on kevin mcclouds build your own shed or whatever it was he made, but admittedly they were nice clean and straight boles..

[agg221]

The biggest I have cleaved was a piece of oak about 2' across x 8' long. It was the short trunk of a tree that grew out of the former bank of a derelict canal and it had a natural curve in it where it swept out at an angle and then vertical - I needed the curve for the bottoms on the boat. The canal is now infilled and the tree had died. We were doing some volunteer clearance work and whilst the tree had been felled and limbed up by council workers, nobody from the volunteers was allowed to use chainsaws, hence cleaving was the only option. It was hard! Dynamite would have been a much better option but may have taken out a few windows in the process.

 

Alec

[gensetsteve]

Did some freehand milling of oak today:001_smile:

I'm milling these trees for beams to construct a field shelter. It'll be oak framed with a reciprocal roof:001_cool:

So I need bits of wood of high strength rather than dimensional accuracy as all the joints will be unique anyway.

 

I have some big bits of straight knot free pop 40" that are too big for my woodmizer 22" max. I thought about doing the same but just thought it mad especially with my chainsaw skills but seeing yours will give it a go.