Squaredy

Ah yes that is a very attractive use of sawdust. My main problem is wet sawdust though and whenever I have looked into it in the past, machines like that always state feedstock must be dry. So then you have the extra process of somehow drying tons of sawdust. My conclusions have always been that for a very small sawmill like mine I simply do not produce the material to justify the investment needed. I maybe produce 50 tons sawdust per year, so when dry I guess this could make around 35 tons of pellets or briquettes, which I then need to bag up, store in the dry, find customers for, etc. I say bring on the compost toilets....that is a market I would love to supply, but just not big enough yet.

It is a waste product. Value is zero. It is unprocessed, unseasoned, mixed species, mixed sizes varied splitability. Yes it could be processed, dried and delivered to customers but if that is not your business then just give it away. Very sensible. Even if he set a nominal price say £10 per car load how much time would that take to deal with all the customers and enquiries? I wish I could do the same for sawdust.....!

Yeah I think so.

Well if that first Oak is 40 inches diameter then that entrance is twenty feet wide or more!

I think you will find it is irrelevant as you are unlikely to find genuinely seasoned sleepers. Some people advertise things like “air dried 1 to 5 years” but this usually means nearly green. As has already been said sapwood will rot quickly and the chances are Oak cut to sleeper size will have a fair bit of sapwood. But once this has rotted away the heartwood will last maybe 10 to 15 years in ground contact.

Yes I did wonder. Helpfully there was a third photo I didn't post, which maybe he thinks eliminates any doubt....here it is showing the claimed 40 inch diameter I guess..........!

Maybe he was using one of those timber merchant's measures......? Must get hold of one of them.

I have spoken to a man near Warrington who has two large Oak trees that are being felled and he wants to sell the stems. They look pretty straight and have apparently got excellent access. He has given measurements of 120 inches girth, but not said at what height this was taken. He has also been told there is 30 tons of usable timber there, in just the main trunks. I do not believe either of these figures, but they do look like pretty good usable stems, although who knows they could be full of nails... For what it is worth I think there is no more than 5 tons of milling Oak here, but maybe the photos are misleading? If anyone is interested in having them, please PM me and I will pass on his contact details. I do not know how much he is expecting someone to pay for them - that would be up to you to negotiate. One main stem is apparently 10 metres long and the other 12. Again I am sceptical but I have only seen the photos here, so it is a little difficult to judge and I have never had dealings with the owner before.

Look at blade cost both to buy and re-sharpen. If the horizontal bandmill uses inch and a quarter blades these will cost less than a fifth of four inch stenner blades. Cutting speed may be less but maybe not that much. Also setting up a large wide bandsaw could be an expensive headache. If it is not right it will eat blades and never cut true. He may be willing to help set it up but that is no guarantee of success. If you buy a new bandmill you should find it all works well and if not there will be comeback and hopefully support.

I also am no expert but it seems unlikely the problems with the building are caused by the tree. Roots would not spread that far and a modern build would have deep foundations. Photos might help.

A problem for the future? It is a huge problem already. Drax has converted one of its burners to biomass and ships bring the fuel in from the USA. This was meant to be all low grade brash and waste, but sadly investigations have shown some of it is from virgin old growth forests. And this is classed as carbon neutral by the UK and EU.

With the weather round our way recently this might be possible, especially if they were from a nice high stack and exposed to cross winds. To check why not cut a piece to an exact cubic foot and weigh it (remember your GCSE maths to calculate the volume of a cylinder?) and compare the weight to figures you find on the internet (about 28lb per cubic foot from memory). Or even easier chop a small piece - say the size of a brick and weigh it, then dry it in an oven overnight and weigh it again. In theory there is more maths needed, but the bottom line is if the weight drops a little it was pretty dry; if the weight drops a lot it was pretty wet! Or just have a small fire and see how well it burns...

You need to be straight with him. He needs to know how you feel. He needs to realise that you pay him to do what you need him to do, not most of it, but all of it. If he is a decent lad he will take the ticking off and learn from it. Sadly there seem to be lots of youngsters out there who are unwilling or unable to learn from their employers. Hopefully your lad is not this type, but you must highlight clearly where his shortcomings are and the standards you expect of him. I used to give a lift to an employee every day, and it was way more hassle than I expected. I could never be late in to work even though it is my business. Even worse I could never be early! Same problem at the end of the day. And it was really annoying if ever I had to wait for him. Just not worth it, and he was actually on my route. Good luck.

Petrol?

Clear Cuprinol soaks in well and can be painted over. Always test a piece of scrap before you do the whole thing if you are unsure.

Clear wood preserver such as Cuprinol or barretine. Invisible but will protect it to a degree.

Or indeed varnish the worktops with three coats yacht varnish. This is what I have done in my kitchen with my Beech worktops. No black around my sink. Water drying off leaves marks but just slight mineral deposit as I live in a hard water area.

I have been looking into the Hudson mills, and it looks good, and shipping to the UK is not too bad. Might actually be a better option than the Cooks. Is there a dealer in the UK? Anyone got any stories of Hudson bandmills?

Saw this one in London years ago...

Sweet chestnut and redwood a bit soft. Chestnut finishes well. Elm would be good. Most important thing is how you finish it and joint it and if it is dry enough. Redwood is very stable so good in that respect just soft.

I think Big J is about right, although I would also say 3 inch clear Oak is ideal for window frames, and the 6ft length will be fine for many (but not all) of these. Once air dried for 3 years it should fetch £40 or maybe £50 per cubic foot as good joinery Oak. Kiln drying is possible but really only once it has air dried. It can be dried now but would take maybe 4 months in a kiln and the cost would be huge, as it must be done very carefully to avoid checking and honeycomb. I used to sometimes sell clear unseasoned Oak for various purposes and I used to charge £30 per cubic foot. These days I air dry it but it is a long old process. The bottom line is good quality unseasoned Oak is available easily from France at around £17 per cubic foot if buying a lorry load (I might be a little out of date I admit but not much) so the real value is in fully dried timber.

Indeed you will lose the most striking and amazing grain of all timber, with the exception of the beautiful medullary rays in Oak. Even quite boring timber like Beech and Lime can be stunning when slabbed - the first few slabs off the top and the last few slabs from the bottom anyway. As you say though it is a niche market but one which suits my business model. The large majority of the timber I sell is not slabs of course!

Very good advice Jonathon and appreciated. I do have a need to produce wide double edge slabs though. I was tempted by an old Forester with a 1.8m width of cut down in Devon last year but I really do not fancy such a monster and the blades were 6 inches wide and £300 each. Chainsaw milling would be my choice if it were just one or two logs. Imagine a slab through an 800mm wide Yew, and yes I do have such a log.

Hi Wayne, I am expecting a nice Elm to come in fairly soon - South East Wales - any use?

Thanks for your comments. I have offloaded a lot of my large diameter logs recently, but I still have maybe forty or fifty tons of logs which need a through and through cut of between 28 inches and 48 inches or so. I have the logs and will keep getting the logs and I have the demand for the timber. The figures stack up for me I just need the machine! Don't forget it is a very different technology using wide bandsaw blades. They are very expensive and easily give trouble. I think narrow blades are far superior in terms of what you get for your money. I have spent many hundreds on wide blades over the years only to find a few days later they are developing cracks and before long they are scrap. With a narrow blade you could even treat it as disposable. When the blade costs only £25 and it completes six cuts in a large log and produces slabs which I can sell for £900 it works, even if that blade is then scrap. Incidentally I use Stephen Cull for sharpening narrow bandsaw blades and I find him really good. No-one else I have tried can do it consistently, and I am talking about dedicated saw doctors not cowboys. A lot of saw doctors simply won't touch the narrow blades as they are so cheap to buy it is almost as costly to sharpen.