First attempt at Slabbing with Lucas

[Billhook]

Lovely old Ash removed from an equally lovely five acre paddock in the middle of our local town to make way for fifty houses. Such is life.

The trees had already been cut down and because they were big and all limbs and awkward nobody wanted them so I fetched them home.Nearly five foot wide in places. This is one of the last slabs

 

I have had the Lucas Model 8 since 1996 and it has been a great machine. I always have used the circular saw with it.

I bought the slabber about ten years ago but never used it so I thought this would be a good opportunity.

 

Very pretty young French neighbour volunteered to help.

The Lucas seemed to go well, I put engine oil in the green Lucas oiler on the side away from the motor and after reading another thread on another site I thought I would try some water at the motor end as the tube was already there.

I just cut open an old red oil container and fitted a tap.

 

The guy on the thread thought that it stopped the teeth gumming, cooled and helped the job. I couldn't see much difference in speed but the bar remained cool.

 

The tree was as wide as the slabber at the widest point and we could feel a little more resistance in the knotty bits but not a lot.

Very strong wind today helped clear the sawdust away from us

 

Just been looking at the "show us yer tables" thread for inspiration regarding the legs if we make them into tables.

Any ideas would be welcome.

 

 

[Billhook]

Thanks to Rob D and Brian on the Alaskan site for the idea.

I tried a log today with a winch bought off ebay for about £12.

Unfortunately the wire was not long enough to go the whole length but there was enough to demonstrate how much easier it was than pushing.

 

The idler pulley at the far end is inserted into a bit of 2x4" which is held in position by two more bits of 2x3" inserted into the ends of the aluminium rails so it rises and falls with the slabber.

 

I could buy a longer length of thinner wire but I think I will try the 12 volt Powerwinch AP 3500 which I already have.

It was only designed for light work such as pulling a small boat out of the water and it has a slip clutch which I could set so that the slabber is not being pushed too hard.

It also has the required 40 foot of wire.

 

This will be video number 3 hopefully and I have a large lump of Holm Oak which should test it out.

 

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[Billhook]

Sun was shining so I rigged up the Electric Powerwinch firstly with an idler pulley so it worked at half speed,

This seemed to produce a nice steady pull at the sort of speed I would be pushing by hand.

I adjusted the slip clutch to just bite.

The motor did not seem to feel the wider knotty bits and it worked well but I ran out of wire again.

 

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So I put the idler pulley in the middle of the saw and did a straight pull.

 

This also was not causing the blade or the motor any problems even though it was going through the 18 inch bit of Ash at Four feet a minute.

In fact I forgot to put the wedges in and it did not seem to notice.

 

This certainly beats pushing by hand!

 

 

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I have set up the lump of Holm Oak for the next test.

[Billhook]

A sunny morning at last after what seems like endless rain.

 

Fixed up the electric winch for a direct pull. Really I need to buy a longer length of thinner wire to pull the trolley evenly and at half speed as I did in the first electric winch video on the Ash, but I have slabbed so much that I am running out of room and need to put the blade back on to create some useful milled timber that can be used straight away.

 

This is the set up which was awkward to film with an ipad so sorry about the fluency.

 

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The motor certainly was working a bit harder on the Oak than the Ash/

The chain was sharp but it created a surprisingly fine sawdust which needed goggle protection.

The heavy weight of the wood at two and a half inches thick meant that it was important to keep tapping in the wedges.

 

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The Oak has some interesting patterns which may work well to make an attractive coffee table.

 

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I will stick the whole log and see what happens in about three years time in terms of splits and warps.

Anybody had some successful experience with Holm Oak?

[Billhook]

Somehow the actual slabbing video is missing from the previous post so here it is.

 

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[se7enthdevil]

once in stick you need to put a really heavy load on top, like another set of slabs.

 

i think with holm oak it's 50/50 but the chance of getting such beautiful grain is worth it in my opinion.

[Billhook]

once in stick you need to put a really heavy load on top, like another set of slabs.

 

i think with holm oak it's 50/50 but the chance of getting such beautiful grain is worth it in my opinion.

 

Thanks for that. The grain does look as though it has potential.

The tree has stood in front of the old house for a long time and it would be good to make some furniture from it as a memory if the wood is stable enough.

The Matbro is rated at 2.7 tons so I should find a pallet of something heavy somewhere.

 

Have you any ideas for what looks best as wany edged coffee table legs and how to fix them?

 

I am torn taking two part slabs and sculpting them,

making four substantial square legs or making the legs out of whole branches

I want to stay with wood rather than metal.

 

There are a few knobs and interesting bits I shall put on one side in case any turners turn up! I think that Maidenhead may be a bit too far from Lincolnshire!

[muttley9050]

Interesting thread. Not noticed it before.

I've used my lucas slabber a few times but never on anything as narrow as what your cutting. So it's hard to compare speed. It does look like yours is cutting fairly fast. I do find the slabber slow . I can rip the tree into 8 x 1 probably 3 times faster than into 2"slabs.

Never thought about using a winch.

I'd be interested to know from someone wgat sort of time it would take to make a cut in a 4 ft by 10ft oak with an 880 or 090 in an alaskan?

Edited January 8, 2016 by muttley9050

[muttley9050]

Here's some pics of me messing around with a 3 ft sweet chestnut ring for a customer. Told him it as unlikely to work but he was determined to try.

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I'd be interested to know from someone wgat sort of time it would take to make a cut in a 4 ft by 10ft oak with an 880 or 090 in an alaskan?

 

Funnily enough I have done exactly that twice. 090, 47" Duromatic bar, Granberg chain, no winch, Burrell on the other end of the mill.

 

We didn't time it on either occasion, but the running time of an 090 on a full tank of fuel is about 15mins and it took about half a tank, so around 7 to 8mins cutting time would seem right, around 10mins all in including sticking in wedges and pumping the manual oiler a few times.

 

Alec