timbermillers

Does anyone know of a small quantity of sweet chestnut; up to 100 hpft. It needs to be clean and straight as it will eventually be going for windows. The bigger the better to be honest but with minimum ring shake and iron as possible; the last tree I milled would have been better going for scrap! I know it's a lot to ask but thought it would be worth an ask! I'm looking in the Dorset/Somerset/Devon area and can collect.

Thanks for your advise. I have a Woodmizer so no problem milling it. My biggest concern in the surface cracking that I have seen on the test samples that I have cut. Due to the fact that burr is basically knots, an even dring is essential to stop cracks propagating through the planks. I have milled tons and tons of oak, ash, elm etc and dried it successfully too but didn't know if you can apply the same process to burr. From what I have seen so far it looks a bit tricky. I am looking to sell it on, so green blanks for turning look like a good option for some of it. Thanks for your help, keep it coming!

Does anyone have any hints or tips on drying burr oak? I have a butt which is about 30" diameter and about 15' long. The bottom half is burred all the way round and the top will produce "pippy oak". It is still in the round and will be until I find out a sensible way to dry it as I don't want to end up with a heap of logs! Any advise gratefully recieved.

See if you can open this one! Timber prices v2.xls

I'd agree with most of the comments above but will add: Mills: As with everything, it is "horses for coarses", having used the Woodmizer and Lumbermate they both have their own pros and cons. The Woodmizer I would say is more robust and a faster saw which is easier to use especially if you have hydraulics. If you are getting warped boards off a Woodmizer, you've not set it up properly. Spend another 1/2 hour at the beginning of the day setting up and sorting out the jacks etc and you'll have no problem. The Lumbermate is a good piece of kit but I found it harder work and the setup time was greatly increased compared to the Woodmizer. It is a lot lighter and more nimble to move about, there's no denying the Woodmizer is a bit of a beast! Woodmizer get a bashing as they are the narrow band mill that most people know but they have a lot of experience in the field and there are a lot of machines out there because they do what they're supposed to! Hydraulics: They might cost more but for good reason, you are totally self contained so you can turn up on site and don't have to go back to get another machine to move the logs. Also you won't have the overheads of running and moving another machine. It will be interesting to see if tommer9's opinion changes when he's still trying to mill at the age of 65! (no offence tommer9, you Cornish are a hardy bunch!) Forklifts: They're great in a concrete yard on a flat surface and you'll put the logs where you want them with ease. Go anywhere near gravel or a slope and you're stuffed! Unless you are only going to use it in a concrete yard, stick to your idea of a JCB type thing. At the end of the day, every machine will have it's own problems that won't suit a particular days work but yo'll find a work around; we all do! Good luck!

The graph is set for £45 a cubic foot which is what I've been selling dry ash and chestnut for, and the table at £20 a cube is set up for green oak (somewhere between stake and beam grade). I'm constantly looking around at what others charge, some of which is a joke for the quality of timber they supply. Most of what I deal with is oak, ash chestnut and walnut so these are the prices I try to keep up to date with.

Nothing is old school, it's whatever works for you! I've put a spreadsheet together a while ago to work out this very problem, I've just added a graph which sounds a bit like the thing you are after, hopefully attached to this post! There are three sheets, one a table of figures, one a graph and one for the inputs into the graph. If you change any of the grey cells your prices will auto update, to update the graph change the figures in the "Graph Data" sheet. Have a play and you'll see what I mean. Yes I'm a geek with spreadsheet but they don't half make your life easier!! Hope it helps. Timber prices (v2).xls

I'd be careful paying much over £3 for juvenile trees, i.e. 18" diameter. They will carry a lot of tension and you'll waste a lot of timber cutting out the tension (yes that's through experience after buying a lorry load of the stuff!). I've paid up to £6.5 roadside but that was for a 4' diameter butt, 30' long and straight as a gun barrel! As tommer9 said, it's getting hard to get hold of decent oak these days, many a farmer out there thinking they'll make a fortune out of a few old hedge oaks! All good for us milling boys though! (Got the same mill as you delabodge)

I'd be careful paying much over £3 for juvenile trees, i.e. 18" diameter. They will carry a lot of tension and you'll waste a lot of timber cutting out the tension (yes that's through experience after buying a lorry load of the stuff!). I've paid up to £6.5 roadside but that was for a 4' diameter butt, 30' long and straight as a gun barrel! As tommer9 said, it's getting hard to get hold of decent oak these days, many a farmer out there thinking they'll make a fortune out of a few old hedge oaks! All good for us milling boys though! (Got the same mill as you delabodge)

That's great timber, wish some of mine came out as well as that! How many planks are there for sale? Might well be interested myself!