Time for a bigger mill it think

[Theocus]

Hey all, i have a 25 inch mill but i think i might need a slightly bigger one!!

 

The Yew is about 9 foot long and the Walnut is 10 foot, the other bits of walnut vary in length.

 

We took them down the other day so are leaving them to dry a little!!!!

 

Cant wait to see what to make with them.

[Rob D]

That's a lovely bit of timber there... Wish i had a bit of yew like that I was wondering when you mentioned it before why you didn't want to mill it yourself as yew is pretty much some of the best timber you can have

 

The timber will not dry in the round and what you really want to do is square the ends nicely and then seal them with something like pva glue or similar. Then mill them as soon as you can, get them under cover, stickered up and forget them for a while.

 

For the spacing stickers use dry softwood as you have to be careful of staining the planks.

 

alaskan mill I home of the portable chainsaw mill

 

After stacking I am now using large ratchet straps to bind the whole stack together - this keeps the wood straight as it drys. Every couple of weeks I tweak them a bit tighter as the wood shrinks. I usually also reseal the ends a few times as you'll find this will really help to stop end splitting.

 

I can always do you a longer handle and rail set for your alaskan - you don't have to buy a whole larger mill.

 

 

 

 

 

[Down-the-slope]

Nice use of a poly tunnel (does it not get too hot?)..and some obsesive compulsive stacking....

[Rob D]

Really in the polytunnel the stack also wants to be hidden from direct sunlight. And putting freshly sawn timber in there in the middle of summer would cause problems.

 

Ideally you want to stack sawn stickered timber in there during Nov onwards. Then when summer comes the timber will be ready for the higher temperatures and this will dry it faster.

 

I'll be making a proper solar kiln within the polytunnel soon and will be posting pics.

 

 

[stoxs]

i think it`s about time you got yourself a woodmizer!!!

 

some lovely pieces of timber and some nice tidy stack.

 

love to see the solar kiln sounds very interesting:thumbup1:

[WADKIN]

I have to ask why you are planking the walnut? there is hardly any colour to speak of as it typical of most of them. Why not flock it to a turner and make some money towards your mill.

Here is a couple of images of what good english walnut looks like and wirth planking.http://i259.photobucket.com/albums/hh283/Wadkin1/w175.jpg have fun with the yew.

[WADKIN]

Somehoow i missed of the other image here it is http://i259.photobucket.com/albums/hh283/Wadkin1/w175.jpg

Edited October 14, 2009 by WADKIN

[Rob D]

I know what you're saying in that the walnut above does contain a lot of sapwood.

 

But how much could you get from a woodturner? I would sell a lot more timber to woodturners but to be honest you don't seem to be able to sell for much more than firewood prices.

 

The wide band of sapwood will contrast nicely with the heartwood. If you can plank it yourself, dry it yourself and then make it into a rustic table and bench set you will have something you can sell for £1,000-00 quite easily. The pieces without colour can be used for the legs. And you'll be able to get 2 or 3 sets out of the above. And it's very rare to see furniture made out of solid 2" English walnut. So it should be easy to sell.

[WADKIN]

Fair play to you if you can get the £1000 as a rustic table. It would not realise anything like that for turners. A few hundred at best sold cut for big bowls cut through on the pith. It is quick and easy to do without running it through a mill however, and if you have been paid to take it away anyway, it has to be a bonus with a quick return.

I just prefer to get some money in a bit quicker that having it laid around to have all that sap eaten away. With the shake and all the other defects likely to be a issue in the small amount of colour there is, i just could not be that arsed with it really. People get a bit hung up on walnut and it is the very odd log that it is worth getting excited over.

Attached is a couple of images of a log that was worth cutting.

 

It was almost 6 foot across on the crotch. Sadly,windblown with huge amounts of rot in the butt. It was worth the time to transport and cut however as the colour and lining was pretty much as good as you get, and the limbs all produced good timber, producing widths of over 30".

However this is not to say big is always good, i have had them in the past to the same sort of size with 9"+ of sap on. And small butts with a 1" sap ring, its all down to the ground it stands on really. The better the drainage, the better the colour i find.

Its a shame it is so hard to find good butts. I can sell them every day of the week without trying that hard.

[Rob D]

Nice timber that!

 

£1,000-00 is for a table and two benches.... not just a table.

 

Where abouts are you based? If you ever have stuff like walnut, yew, labernum with shake or large knots and find it difficult to sell then I may be interested as I can work around these.

 

How much do you get per cubic foot for good quality walnut as in the pics you have here?