Slot morticing video, machined Sweet Chestnut hurdles

[wills-mill]

I thought you might like a look at my favourite workshop machine, a horizontal slot morticer made by Rye. It's a neat little thing that knocks out round ended mortices really quickly. For joinery use the mortices are usually pretty small, but it happily runs 1/2in router bits which I size to accomodate rounded battens that have been sent through the Moretens (Logosol) PH260.

 

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The hurdles are made up out of fresh sawn Sweet Chestnut, I've been fixing them together in different ways as a bit of an experiment/ customer choice- some with stainless screws, some with marine silicon bronze ringshank nails, and some with copper roves and nails, which are usually used for clinker boat planking. All lovely fixings and very long lived

 

Sorry for the unfocused wobbl-o-vision, there's a decent camera on hand for future videos!

Edited January 3, 2016 by wills-mill
knackered the title :(

[delabodge]

Lovely mate, posh hurdles

[openspaceman]

I thought you might like a look at my favourite workshop machine, a horizontal slot morticer made by Rye. It's a neat little thing that knocks out round ended mortices really quickly. For joinery use the mortices are usually pretty small, but it happily runs 1/2in router bits which I size to accomodate rounded battens that have been sent through the Moretens (Logosol) PH260.

 

 

The hurdles are made up out of fresh sawn Sweet Chestnut, I've been fixing them together in different ways as a bit of an experiment/ customer choice- some with stainless screws, some with marine silicon bronze ringshank nails, and some with copper roves and nails, which are usually used for clinker boat planking. All lovely fixings and very long lived

 

Looks a good use of chestnut, what size timber were they cut from?

 

The copper nails look the business to me.

 

What's your feeling about the idea of a conservatory with lantern light made from chestnut and double glazed panels?

[wills-mill]

Looks a good use of chestnut, what size timber were they cut from?

 

The copper nails look the business to me.

 

What's your feeling about the idea of a conservatory with lantern light made from chestnut and double glazed panels?

 

Hi A, the roves and nails are lovely but they add a fair amount of time to fit, they can be quite technical little swines to get right.

 

EDIT: The round timber is oversized fencing material, usually 12 to 18in diameter. I've been keeping away from massive sawlog sizes, some of them are lovely, but most really big Chestnut I get to see has, errr, issues.

 

Are you looking at doing a lantern up on a roof? Very smart.

 

I've been milling a fair bit of structural Chestnut and everyone involved's been very complimentary about the behaviour. Once the initial tension in the log has been worked around, it seems to be less trouble than green oak for movement and cracking.

 

Despite some of the clever glazing systems using neoprene gaskets to take up movement between timber and glass, I think I'd be tempted to pre-dry the structural members, even if it was only for 6 months or so. If time wasn't an issue, then I suppose the frame could be assembled and left to settle in (unglazed) for a while.

 

The trusses aren't my work, couple of very skilled local framers

Edited January 4, 2016 by wills-mill

[openspaceman]

EDIT: The round timber is oversized fencing material, usually 12 to 18in diameter. I've been keeping away from massive sawlog sizes, some of them are lovely, but most really big Chestnut I get to see has, errr, issues.

 

Are you looking at doing a lantern up on a roof? Very smart.

 

I've been milling a fair bit of structural Chestnut and everyone involved's been very complimentary about the behaviour. Once the initial tension in the log has been worked around, it seems to be less trouble than green oak for movement and cracking.

 

Despite some of the clever glazing systems using neoprene gaskets to take up movement between timber and glass, I think I'd be tempted to pre-dry the structural members, even if it was only for 6 months or so. If time wasn't an issue, then I suppose the frame could be assembled and left to settle in (unglazed) for a while.

 

The trusses aren't my work, couple of very skilled local framers

 

Right, I was sort of hoping that you were using smaller material, more oversized coppice. A long time ago Andy and I planed up some cleft chestnut to see how it dried and it seemed fine. The reason being of course that larger chestnut is prone to shake but worse spiral grain.

 

The lantern light is a bit more complicated as it needs to sit on a box gutter between two existing porches, I don't think you ever came to my house? Another complication is I wish to extend the existing glazed area by 2.1 metres but for building regs this needs to be kept thermally separate.

 

I was thinking of something more simple than a traditional timber frame, more on the lines of greenhouse glazing bars if the could stand the weight of double glazing.

[sandspider]

Nice work. I prefer the big copper nails myself.

[wills-mill]

 

I was thinking of something more simple than a traditional timber frame, more on the lines of greenhouse glazing bars if the could stand the weight of double glazing.

 

It's got to be possible, I'm just not entirely sure how it would all be detailed conventionally. Glazing is one of those many things that I don't have much experience of! If you could run a sketch past a local glazing firm to see if they'd be happy with the feasibility of doing it in timber. If they start pulling faces and sucking teeth it might be best to look again. Do you know roughly what the glazing may weigh per m2 and what sizes you may be dealing with per unit?

 

I've left boards lent against walls in the sunshine and come back to them after a month or so and they've lost loads more moisture and stayed remarkably tidy and straight when compared to green oak Pringles/ propellors that would be cracked to bits. Perhaps I need to put some 2 1/2in boards in stick with your name on. W

[openspaceman]

It's got to be possible, I'm just not entirely sure how it would all be detailed conventionally. Glazing is one of those many things that I don't have much experience of! If you could run a sketch past a local glazing firm to see if they'd be happy with the feasibility of doing it in timber. If they start pulling faces and sucking teeth it might be best to look again. Do you know roughly what the glazing may weigh per m2 and what sizes you may be dealing with per unit?

 

 

I don't know but I think a firm in Rye does timber lanterns.

 

I'll find a sketch to send

[dervishcarving]

We have done some timber framing with Douglas fir... excellent results. very little movement and the pink heartwood is v pretty

[Peat]

Smart hurdles. I make the odd cleft hurdle and i'm interested in how the production time of your sawn ones compares to cleft. I understand its probly trickey to figure out if each process is done in batches. I'd probly do 4 or 5 in a day cleft, from log to hurdle. I'm sure i'd speed up if I got more orders for them!