Big J

Out of curiosity, does anyone have any experience with the Great Wall Steed?

I take my hat off to any of you that can make money out of selling firewood on a dedicated commercial basis (by which I mean buying in loads, rather than processing arb waste that is not only free but you often charge the customer for disposal of)> I've repeatedly done the sums on buying in loads to potter away processing in quieter times at the yard, but it's just not worth bothering with unless you are shifting 3-500 cubic metres a year, and I can't see how anyone can run a business selling just firewood processing less than 1000 cubic metres. That's only £70-80k gross revenue, minus £20-22k for cordwood, minus a few grand for fuel, minus cost of buying a processor, tractor, saws, renting a yard, buying a tipping truck or trailer. How do you do it!?!?

PM sent

77 cubic foot is correct, but it's 2.18 cubic metres, not 6.8. That equates to about 2 tonnes. It's a nice enough butt, though very dead. I'd be looking to pay about £308 to £385 for the butt is it was roadside. Given that it's a trek to mill it, I'd knock off about £100. Jonathan

I just want to see the second part - "Scooter rider terrorises commuters in subway tunnel"!

[ame=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dBK1w_gxdtk]The Worst Scooter Operator in Human History - YouTube[/ame] Hard to think of how he could have made that any worse!

His cubic metre price is too low for it to be British, in addition to which, he doesn't seem to operate a sawmill. I reckon he buys in a fair amount of European Oak, planes and sands some, makes stuff out of other bits and sells the remaining boards. From looking at the timber, you would never find Oak as uniform as that up here. That's not to say that it doesn't exist further south, but it's the combination of the timber being very plain and his cubic metre price being very low. Jonathan

It's not a cheap source of milled timber. The oak in question is European too - if you look at his other listings, he is selling larger bundles of it too. I think lots of us millers have tried eBay, but it's usually more hassle than it's worth.

Hehe! You paint a very grand picture James! I would say that as far as hardwood sawmills go up in this neck of the woods, I am still very firmly in the small to medium size bracket. General rule of thumb is £14-£25 a cubic foot for hardwoods fresh sawn, multiplied by 1.5 for air dried and multiplied by 2 for kiln dried. Ash, alder, beech etc will be at the low end, quartersawn oak and burred timbers at the high end. Ultimately, it's a case of striking a balance between making as much money as possible whilst not overcharging so as in ensure repeat custom. I don't really advertise at all, particularly not now. It's 90% word of mouth and repeat custom. Jonathan

At £18 a cubic foot (a fairly generous value on short lengths - shorter lengths limit usage so are subsequently cheaper), your boards are worth about £17 each, based on average board length of 4ft.

Very nice!

Cracking video and a lovely chap. What I find staggering is that it didn't need anything other than servicing for it's first quarter million miles. My crappy Navara had it's first garage visit 6 weeks from new with power loss. In addition to the question of whether they make cars like that these days, I can't think of one modern car that is that beautiful. Old Volvos are stunning!

Sadly that will be too late, plus I'm doing the Scottish Furniture Makers exhibition in the evening in Glasgow. Thank you for the offer though!

If the butt is sound it would be a shame to chainsaw mill it. On a two foot butt on 1.5 inch boards, you'd lose two boards in sawdust. Anyone locally with a band mill?

I suppose I ideally like to keep my milling in the depths of winter as with the larger bandmill, it doesn't take me too long to produce my whole years stock. That said, this year wasn't ideal for oak milling as all the timber that I had lined up over winter didn't turn up roadside until April, which meant milling it later than was ideal. Consequently, I am going to suffer a higher than normal wastage rate. Such is life. Gerbutt - many thanks! That Oak was especially lovely and is all long gone. It came from the clearance work for the new Forth Road Bridge and was milled 18 months ago. Jonathan

The main reason to paint the ends of the logs is to slow down the drying of the log in the round. I've not heard it being done to inhibit fungal growth. I cut my own stickers, usually from spruce or poplar.

Thanks for the links chaps - I shall certainly investigate. Nick - might well need a hand aye! Should be putting the shed up the week commencing the 30th of September. Is there a best day for you? The sequoia is lovely. I just wish that there was more of it. Jonathan

Inside a barn, provided there is good air flow. Stack off the ground, with an air gap between the stack and the walls. You are far better stacking in large stacks than small - the more weight you have the flatter it will stay. This is what an example of how I construct my stacks: Jonathan

Hi there, Nice to hear that you are getting into the milling. A worthwhile and very interesting endeavour. Definitely cut first and then season. Oak can sit in the round for a few years without too much degrade, but it will retain almost all of it's moisture and there is no real reason to do it. I wouldn't cut the Oak yet though - wait until November when the weather is cooler and you will have a far lower chance of suffering with surface checking and splits. Sweet chestnut, beech and ash are all well worth milling. Whilst they aren't as sensitive to warm weather as Oak, they are still best cut in winter. Ensure that when you cut the boards that they are well stacked (neat stacks with exactly lined up stickers between the boards) and out of the weather and direct sun light. Other than that, it's just a waiting game! Your first boards should be about ready to use at the end of next year assuming you cut them in November. Jonathan

Did you not find any useful information in the Technics instruction manual?

Hi James, You've not been forgotten! I will chase Ed (guy I deal with at Logmaster) up later today about it. The drip lubrication system with diesel uses far far less than with water - one drip per second roughly. You would only go through a litre or two in a full days cutting, which at £0.70 a litre sounds reasonable to me. Jonathan

A couple of other things that I forgot to mention were that the Logmaster uses diesel as a band lubricant, which is ideal for oak as without a wet saw band, you don't get the blue/black tannin staining you get with the usual water/washing up liquid combo. Secondly, the static operators station is lovely. I always found the trundling back and forth to be a bit of a pain with the Woodmizer, and being so close to the sawdust outlet meant lots of sawdust in my eyes (or having to wear goggles, which I dislike), resulting in much discomfort and one trip to the minor injuries clinic. No such issues here, and being at the head of the mill means you can easily watch your clearance on both guide rollers. Jonathan

First day cutting with the mill today and largely very good. Steep learning curve as it's just very different to the Woodmizer. First impressions are that it cuts incredibly flat. To stress the point, I went through two fairly large nails (in a woodland grown oak - what are the chances!?), the first of which I didn't even notice. Even once it went through the second one, the quality of cut deteriorated to the point of the Woodmizer cutting at it's best. Still almost unfailingly flat. The limit to cut speed I found was not how sharp the band was (and how good the alignment is) but the tension on the drive belt. Try to go too quick and it just slips - though I was going fairly quick through 16 inches of oak). I had a band snap today - it was the band that was on it initially, that had been used for testing on the other side of the pond. I suspect that I perhaps had it slightly overtensioned (6500psi instead of the required 6000 - the Woodmizer always used to settle far lower than originally set, but this just holds it). Changing the band is quite a different experience to the Woodmizer and took a bit of time, but I know what to do now. Hydraulics are very powerful for log handling. None of the failing to clamp or turn issues you get on the LT40. Snappy and powerful here. I would like the up/down to be a bit quicker, but that's it really. The 2 inches of extra throat are useful too - you do notice it. I also like that it is clamped to the front of the bed, instead of the rear like the WM, which makes for easier offloading. Just to stress though, such flat cuts. Here is a quick (and wobbly - I was trying not to trip over stuff!) video of the mill cutting. https://www.facebook.com/photo.php?v=10152249207833136&l=1213708956622501617

I'll be at the yard in the morning and will have a look and PM you.

I might have an air dried board or three on the stacks that is 2.25" thick and 8ft long. I could straight edge it to 2ft. Would that be OK?