Big J
-
Posts
9,270 -
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
-
No, I wasn't fussed about it. The iPad 1 does everything that I need it to do and it was very cheap.
-
I must say that I've only had the iPad a few days and I am already hooked. I can see that it is going to be something that I rely upon each and every day. And that's only the Angry Birds game! Seriously though - it does, in many respects, completely negate the need for a smart phone. Have a good, tough phone, with long battery and simple functions for phoning, and keep that on you. When you need to do everything else, the iPad is in the truck!
-
Laburnum is lovely stuff - of quite some interest to wood turners.
-
Forestry thinnings (often quite small stuff, so the saw is idling much of the time) - 2-3 litres a day. Occasional rhododendron clearance - 5 litres a day Chainsaw milling - 5-9 litres a day, or thereabouts.
-
I would still keep it at full length if you can. If then you need to cut it down, you will be able to see where the defects are in it and work around that.
-
Ah, OK, fair enough! When estimating the volume of a log from a sawmilling point of view, I tend to just work out the actual volume, and then subtract a percentage based on the individualities of the log. Hoppus measure has it's uses, but relies to a certain degree on a uniform cylinder.
-
Could also be interesting Robert! I might well save that log for a couple of weeks as I've got Bigfell coming up from Dumfriesshire to do a bit of milling in April. I've been meaning to pop over to your neck of the woods and see how BishBash was doing! No Navara-mobile yet - gets into the lease company tomorrow and they then have to 'accessorise' it, after which it's delivered!
-
The worst thing to have in oak is shake, especially ring shake. This is easily identifiable by looking at the sawn end and if you see any shakes following the growth rings round, you have ring shake. Unless the log is in some way special if more or less renders it useless.
-
JPH - I'm not sure that it is as simple as that for hoppus. As far as memory serves, the hoppus measurement takes into account that larger logs have less waste in them than smaller pieces, so the value changes. I might be wrong though, and I'm feeling too idle to test my theory by working it out!
-
I would agree with kernowstu regarding pricing. I paid £7 a hoppus for a good 24 inch butt a little while back. If you can sell it for veneer then you are laughing, but hard to do.
-
Alas, but no buggiscopic - that's further down the line! For the time being I have a little Misubishi Compact tractor with a Mcconell forklift attachment. It will only lift about a tonne, but that is fine for 95% of my work. Jonathan
-
2 inches sounds like a pretty reasonable thickness. Things to bear in mind are: * Ash is a hard, dry timber to mill. My experience is that the mill will run slow, hot and with more vibration than most other timbers. Ensure that the chain is razor sharp, the oiler is working well (or that there is an auxiliary oiler) and the air filter is spotless! * Keep the tree in it's full length. 6ft isn't a particularly useful size for furniture makers as it's too short for beds, doors and tables on the whole. Let the customer decide where they want it cut! * Have fun! It looks like a nice stick! Finally, regarding shrinkage, I tend to find that timber cut at 1.5 inches will shrink to 1 3/8 in the kiln. Jonathan
-
That's very interesting Chris - so basically you are saying fell and leave it a week or two to sned the tree so that it's pulled all the sap out of the main stem. I will give that a go!
-
The Oak is certainly of interest - leave it with me whilst I figure out what to use it for!
-
Not a problem Rob! It's always a learning curve, and each time I do a decent amount of milling, I always take something from it that I do differently the next time. Quick question - can anyone recommend a good hygrometer that won't break in the heat and humidity of the kiln? Needs to be remotely viewable and happily operate at 35-40 celsius and up to 85% RH. Jonathan
-
Quick little update. Almost all timber from the first two kilns has sold (have perhaps 10-15% of it left) and the third kiln will open 3 weeks tomorrow. I decided to use a woodmizer for this kiln, and in many respects it was ok, but it did require the shaving down of quite a lot of logs and due to some metal work, some of the boards in the sycamore were wavy. Anyway, lots of lessons learned, and the fourth kiln fill (scheduled for the start of May) will be better still. All logs going into that kiln will be of ideal size for the woodmizer and I've now got my own little forklift to speed things up. This kiln contains roughly a third elm, third oak and third sycamore. Jonathan
-
Still looking folks! All anyone seems to have at the moment is beech and sycamore!
-
Thanks for the feedback folks. Decided to go ahead with the felling of the timber next Wednesday. Some really nice trees to take down - 2-3 product lengths of 9ft from each one. I am doing to felling and extraction to roadside myself, so that I can demonstrate the Alstor 8x8 forwarder to the estate forester. Getting the sawlogs at a flat rate of £4 a hoppus foot delivered to my yard ready to fill kiln number 4. I will take photos over the course of the day.
-
For good clean Oak, £3 a hoppus foot is much too cheap. For me, I would be happy to pay £6-7 a foot delivered to my yard, so perhaps £5-6 at road side.
-
Just a quick one, but if anyone is looking for spalted beech planks, there is a chance that I could mill some top order on a very large log, where to the best of my knowledge, the spalting goes right through without compromising the quality of the timber. PM if interested. Jonathan
-
Beautiful piece that!
-
Just got some Oregon Fjordlands and I'm very impressed with them!
-
That is just grim when you think about it. All the best for her recovery in hospital and for hoping that this suspension of human behaviour by a member of her community doesn't cause her to give up.
-
£75 for the Ipad (16GB), £20 a month for 15GB on a 24 month contract with Three.
