Rob D

Nice - mind you I'd like to see that disc go round the track with 8 tons of timber on it. I reckon just the suggestions that have already been offered. Some way of stacking then pushing in with your forklift. Or what about the roller beds that feed the big sawmills? - can take the weight, should be able to find second hand, little friction.... they'd have to be customised though..... maybe two lengths in parallel.

They look the business - but yes £175 is a bit pricey - worth it if you know you'll get the money back on what you make. I use these timberfix type screws 100mm - the ones I've got now are a bit better as they have the cut out bit in the tip to help self tap. Timberfix® Plus Exterior Timber Screws 6.3 x 100mm Pk50 | Screwfix.com I should be selling them soon when the website gets updated with Husky.....

It often comes up in chainsaw milling - what about using a lo pro chain that takes a smaller kerf and therefore is less wasteful and faster? I was looking into getting some bars produced similar to the logosol bars that run the Stihl picco ripping chain. But then came across this thread here http://www.arboristsite.com/milling-saw-mills/137465.htm So in summary an idea of the kerfs taken by different chains: .404 takes a kerf of 8.6mm 3/8" takes a kerf of 8.3mm 3/8" lo pro takes a kerf of 7.2mm In my mind I was thinking 3/8" lo pro would take half the kerf of .404 chain when in fact it is only 20% larger.... So in a big log over 10 cuts this is saving 14mm or just over 1/2" - not exactly that much more wasteful on a log that would otherwise have been firewood anyway. .404 compared to standard 3/8 only takes .3mm more! A tiny difference. I used to run a 3/8 standard ripping chain on a cannon 36" bar with MS880 and it always felt slower than .404..... Also in terms of speed and stay sharp I've always found .404 faster and stays sharp longer. So it does imply that if you have the torque and power in a saw to run .404 chain for most scenarios this is the best option for efficiency when chainsaw milling.

Good thread and great pics in the post above - never realised you could do so much with an axe! Hopefully there will start to be a falling back to 'old ways' of doing things - and also using the massive amount of timber we have in this country for useful things.....

Good stuff - so i wasn't too far out then!

Have a look at this thread on walnut http://arbtalk.co.uk/forum/alaskan-mill/39337-if-youre-trying-sell-walnut-butt.html As this applies to buying it as well.... as walnut can be worth anything from £2 per cube in the round to £50 a cube...

I'd agree with that. I do find on big saws and long bars you're replacing the rim pretty regularly at least every x2 chains. A spur sprocket does seem to last longer when milling with a large saw. But rims are cheaper, easier to change and as said very simple to swap a smaller one for a larger if you want to increase chain speed so if you have the choice I'd always go for a rim and sprocket set up. They offer more support to the chain drive links as well.

Nice a good solid way to show off 2 planks of wood

I did try to post a couple of times last night but comp crashed twice.... Best thing when selling wood is work out the cubic footage. Measure the width x thickness x length all in " .............. now divide that by 1728" (this figure should quickly be engrained into your head!) - and this gives you how many cubic foot you have. So with boards like the above 1728/12" means that to get a cubic foot needs to be 144" long or 12ft long. Green oak is around £20 a cube but I'd charge £25 a cube for 1". So every ft is £2-00. That's just an idea to keep your prices consistent of course you charge what you need to charge. It's hard to make much out of 1" with a chainsaw mill.... a lot more work and waste for less money really.

It's a good idea but will be time consuming? and also will this pull things together - would you have to clamp things solidly as the glue dries? If you've got the time it's prob the way to go.....

Welcome to the forum Someone was looking for a mill your way recently I think..... Can you give an idea of what your rates are and mileage etc...? Some pictures to show what you can cut and what someone can expect. You'll find you get a better response if you can give some ball park figures and as much info as possible including pictures on what you do. Remember many people would not have an idea of what a Peterson looks like let alone what it produces and how it works.

Looks very tidy - nice work - I wish I'd been better with my sticking when I started milling as it makes a massive difference to quality of boards.

Plugging looks a lot tidier but sometimes I just recess. I'll stick a vid up in a couple of weeks of using one - they're ruddy marvelous!

I need to yank stuff tight - would love to use stainless but would be snapping them constantly!

Don't tend to biscuit much myself as you're leaning more towards indoor/well finished furniture with biscuiting. My tool of choice is the impact driver and 4" index bolts - superb for pulling everything together and pretty tough. Quick and easy to use.

Great find!

Liked the way you knocked the gob wood out on the last tree - halving it with a wedge then a flat surface to knock the other half out.

Look really nicely milled planks - very flat.

Nice work - but yes more piccies are always well received!

To start with if you're new to milling don't worry about quarter sawing. Just focus on through sawing, getting everything cutting right and then stickering and if possible banding your boards afterwards. After you master this then you can look at quarter sawing - but really it's only worth it with good size trees at least 3 foot diameter.

I'm not sure on building regs but also bear in mind that the amount of movement you get in a large oak beam depends a lot of what tree it was cut from and the straightness of grain. E.g you could cut a lovely looking straight beam from a bendy piece of wood - but this will have more movement than the same beam cut from a straight piece of oak.

Could as said also be the sprocket (needle) bearing - the one the drive sprocket runs on. I had almost exactly the same thing a few weeks ago - looked at the needle bearing and it looked fine - changed it and the noise went.... worth investigating.

I've just managed a 12 but I was having a 15 sec breather in between the later ones (while standing).... Would prob have only got to 10 otherwise.... What is the official breather time allowed Mr Bolam?

Can you come and build one for me afterwards Jon?

I do only a small amount of treework these days but when I was full time April and May were always the quietiest months as pruning work dies down and the hedges haven't done much yet.