Big J
-
Posts
9,232 -
Joined
-
Last visited
-
Days Won
46
Content Type
Profiles
Forums
Classifieds
Tip Site Directory
Blogs
Articles
News
Arborist Reviews
Arbtalk Knot Guide
Gallery
Store
Calendar
Freelancers directory
Everything posted by Big J
-
Certain. Whilst my softwood identification can be off sometimes, I'm very good on my local hardwoods. I reckon it would be OK mixed in, but on it's own it does not produce enough of an ember bed to really put out the heat. 4-5 normal hardwood logs and the fire is singing, the temperature in the room is up.
-
Curious to see what people's thoughts towards oak are. I bought a standing dead oak the other day, felled it and processed the firewood for the store at home. Very dead on top, very dry. After just one barrow full of exclusively oak, I'm back to mixing it with my other stuff (general sycamore, hawthorn, cherry, ash, willow and birch mix - small diameter, mostly unsplit circa 60cm lengths). I found that I got little heat out of the oak, no embers, not much flame and it burnt almost twice as quickly as the normal hardwood (a very, very full barrow does us two days, but just one with oak). Why on earth do customers love it? I'd rather burn sitka!
-
I think about £3k, but I'll double check. I'll get back to you about the elm.
-
-
You are very kind Steve, but I don't know that much about mills compared to many, and even less about smaller, manual mills. I do have a friend with a Baker Wood Buddy mill for sale. He imported it a few years ago with his LT40 to fill the container. As far as I'm aware he's never used it: SAWMILLS - BAKER PRODUCTS - Wood Buddy? Portable Band Sawmill
-
I shall have to check! I have a tame cabinet maker that does the machining for me.
-
The larch is actually my stock, but it's only for planters, so it doesn't need to be top notch. We've got a four side planer which has seen a lot of use in recent months for T&G cladding, but I'm particularly excited about the prospect of an edger, for resawing those first waney edged boards you cut as you square your way into a cant. Resawing them is a major pain and an edger might be a touch more wasteful, but worth it in the end.
-
Not really - it's pretty rustic grade stock, and somehow I made a catastrophic miscalculation and it's only 685m, not just over 4000. Friday afternoon quoting after spending all day wrestling with stupid little cherry logs cutting them for a customer.
-
Yes. I just had an order in today for 4100m of larch, 6x2. So worth milling, certainly!
-
Kathryn stoked the fire yesterday lunchtime before catching the train to meet me in Aviemore. We got home at 2115 today (33hrs later), still plenty of embers to light the fire from.
-
Yew stick.. don't know whether to sell or mill!
Big J replied to Jonny Burch's topic in Milling Forum
Depends really. Do you want to do something with the timber yourself? Do you need quick cash from the job? It's worth £300-350, or thereabouts as it is, £2000 milled and kiln dried. -
<p>It's not on a pallet, it's just a couple of board shrink wrapped together. The wrap is very cheap on eBay</p>
-
<p>I just take a slightly liberal approach to size and weight. So if it's supposed to be 120cm long and 25kg, the chances are it's 140cm long and 30-35kg. I've not been called up on it yet.</p>
-
Looks a bit iffy Steve - I'll give you £25 for the lot!
-
I've always found oak burrs to be disappointing. They look incredible for the first cut or two, then the burr disappears. Occluded bark is an issue and they don't fetch that much for veneer. Burr elm is worth more than twice as much. For planking, that's a reasonable butt, albeit a bit branchy. Plank it thick, say 2 inches or more, do it now, don't wait until it gets warmer and wait a few years. Burr oak needs time to dry.
-
I pay £595 a year plus VAT, and that went up a touch when I went VAT registered. Very good accountant too. I think to register self employed in the first instance was just over £200.
-
Further update on the performance of the bandsaw blades: The batches that I have are starting to get to the end of their working lives, with some of them snapping. I'm finding that overall the Woodmizer Silvertip bands are performing best, which comes as a surprise to both myself and Woodmizer, as they are a far cheaper band than the Ripper 37s. I've had 5 sharpens out of some of them, as well as resetting. I am pretty meticulous with my timber preparation (pressure washing every log) but nevertheless impressive. Given that they cost only about 70% of what the Ripper 37s come in at, I'd recommend them.
-
Yep, definitely too good for a chainsaw mill. Might be a touch big for a Woodmizer style mill - Youcallthatbig, you run an Autotrek?
-
Do post photos if you get the chance. I'd love to see them getting slabbed.
-
Unlikely unless very burred. As far as I'm aware Huntingdon elm is quite similar to Wheatley Elm. I've milled a lot of wheatley and I've never seen burr. As I said, I think a hired in mobile mill will save you a lot of blood, sweat, tears and money.
-
Bet you've not seen too many elm!
-
Kiln dried, good quality Elm will make £40 a cube. Most of mine goes out in the £30-40 range, but I have a much more plentiful supply up here. Cabinet makers in Kent will be able to sell it on the basis of scarcity and locality. Both valuable selling points.
-
Still cheaper to hire in a band mill. With helpers, there is nothing to say that 200-250 cube is milled in the day. Say that an average board is 20" x 1.5" x 10ft, you get 100-120 boards. If you were chainsaw milling, you'd waste an extra 64 cubic foot (about 30 boards) just in sawdust. That's £2640 worth of elm, once kiln dried. Just trying to illustrate that whilst chainsaw mills have their place, this kind of job isn't one of them. There is so little elm down south that it deserves not to be wasted.
-
Huntingdon elm is lovely - a dark red heartwood. With 7 stems, I'd get it to a proper sawmill rather than chainsaw milling it. You'll end up with a monumental pile of sawdust and knackered wrists.
-
I don't see why not. You just need to scale it down considerably.
