1st milling attempt - Isle of Man Oak

[TonyIOM]

Hi

 

Here are some pictures of my recent milling attempts using a Logosol timberjig on a small branch above the trunk sections. I made a chunky but small mantlepiece and a little shelf.

 

The pictures were taken just after the wood was planed - is this brown oak or a special Isle of Man oak?

 

Cheers

Tony

[Bob Slade]

Nice bit of milling Tony

[Big J]

I had some Oak like that once - very odd stuff, and we never fully nailed down the specific species. Very hard to cut, dried badly - slowly and with lots of movement. Here is a plank of the stuff I had:

 

 

And a block that is now our coffee table. It's moved hugely since this photo:

 

 

[se7enthdevil]

holm oak is the hardest stuff i know of but it could have been a "live oak" which usually grows in the states but is so hard canon balls bounced off it...

[youcallthatbig]

From memory, holm oak has very pronounced medullary ray to it near or on the quarter, not dissimilar to OP's picture, I honestly cannot remember the sap band being so large though , but I know that Turkey does have that broad band. The Holm oaks that grow near to me never achieve that straight clean form, but Turkey Oak can, both are as dense as iron and heavy to handle producing a very fine dust off the blade as opposed to a more granular dust from a sessile etc . If I was speculating, OP's timber is Turkey oak, and Big J's with that almost spalted discolouration near heart is Holm, but then its almost 10 years since I cut either and I will try to avoid cutting them in the future. but one thing the OP's timber is not ,is brown Oak!

[kernowstu]

Tis turkey oak loads of the stuff down here

[TonyIOM]

Hi

 

Thanks for all your comments and compliments.

 

I cut the oak with a small Husky 353, 20" bar and a Granberg ripping chain that I'd badly sharpened after hitting a nail on my second pass! The trunk had fallen about a year ago but the saw passed through quite quickly, although the sections are only about 2 foot long by 7" max width.

 

I'm going to try out my new Alaskan on a 4' x 32" section that I left on site. It was very tedious extraction!

 

Thanks

Tony

[Alycidon]

Surely that Mog did not get out of that unaided ?. Looks like a decent 4WD tractor needed.

 

A

[TonyIOM]

Hi

The owner did get it out of the hole by attaching a sling between the HIAB and a small conifer and pulling the mog up to level. I then had to cut several rings to fill in the trench and allow it to climb out! The trailer couldn't be detached because the pin was jammed.

Still got 90% of the timber out. In the background are 3 large Beech trees that got blown over a few weeks ago. The largest is about 6' DBH but I think I'll leave that job to someone else!

Cheers

[wills-mill]

I think Big J's bit is slow(ish) grown Scottish Turkey not a favourite.

 

I've turned up to a couple of milling jobs where people have been sold "lovely big, straight 'Oak'" by naughty tree people......

 

I feel for that poor Mog! Whatever happened to loading up when you're on the way back out?