Forest2Furniture

I've been offered a huge Horse Chestnut but not sure to take it or not. I've heard the timber doesn't have much use other then for firewood. Any suggestions?

They'll stay where they are it's on the edge of the customers garden. Won't put a tarp over them as that encourages condensation at night time which the timber draws back in. The trees had been down a couple of years so the moisture content is already down to about 26%, so won't need much longer before going in the kiln.

I milled some Ash lengths that had been felled a few years before the current owners bought the house. Wasn't sure if the timber would be any good but ended up with some decent boards.

Get a ripping chain, get a winch and take your time with each cut. Use plenty of wedges and make sure the chain is sharp.

I've got a busy week ahead. Milling an Ash in Edingley on monday, a Yew and Cherry in Solihull on Tuesday and Oaks in Loughborough on Thursday & Friday. That leaves Wednesday to clean the equipment and rest my back before finally collapsing on Saturday! The introduction of using a winch on the mill has made a huge difference to the time & energy spent milling. If you haven't fitted a winch to your Alaskan yet I strongly advise you to do so. The slight drawback with the Thursday & Friday job is that the client wants to watch and being the academic type means he'll spend most of the time questioning why I do what I do the way I do!

I've tried sending you two PM's and they don't seem to be going. I'll try again later, I can receive your's but having trouble sending,, so if you want to send me a number or email I'll contact you that way. Patrick

I mill with an 880 both 36" & 47" bars and have never needed to use an auxilary oiler, make sure the oil pump screw is turned up high. The other thing is the speed at which you push the mill along, to fast will cause the chain to bind and heat up, smooth and steady is what's needed, that's where a winch is handy. The other thing is, if you're hitting the bolts that will be down to uneven tightening of the clamp, screw the bolts down by hand before using a spanner.

Pm sent

I use sweet chestnut a lot for furniture and dont seem to get much mivement if any and all the trees used for the floor are slow grown. Managed to convince the client not to use underfloor heating on a solid wood floor, so that's one battle won!

I know, told the client numerous times but won't listen. He convinced he's right I'm wrong.

Boards are being layed direct on to a concrete floor (not my idea), I think they'll cup but customer thinks not and as he's paying the bill who am I to argue. The board will be 12" wide finished so 12.5 with tongue. I'd leave 1 1/4" boards for 9 - 12 months to air dry before kiln drying. Better to wait now then have to do the job twice.

If you secret nail through the tongue with a nail gun you shouldn't get any problems with splitting or tannin stains.

I'm half way through supplying a client with 300 square meters of sweet chestnut for flooring. I'm milling the boards just over an inch so when dried and machined they'll be a distant thickness.

I'm hoping one day to find someone under a tree they've tried to fell and nick! The logs we have stacked up aren't your average forestry piles these are 2' plus in diameter, would smart bit if they land on unprotected toes

I've used an Alaskan for the last nine years, milled hundreds of boards. You get what you pay for and if the mill on eBay comes with back and knowledge supplied by Rob then fine, if not then save you money.

There are 2 problems here, firstly we the public make ordinary people just because we find them entertaining into celebrities allowing them to believe they're better then us when in reality all they are doing is their job. Just as you or I would spend our days cutting trees up they spend theirs in front of a camera, the bottom line for them is like us its a job, they get paid to do what they enjoy only now, because weve made them famous they can no longer behave the way they used to.. Unlike us when we've had a bad day we may shout and swear at our co-workers then sort it out over a pint later, they get pulled up by the press. Secondly, tthis green and pleasant country of ours has gone PC mad. I don't agree with racism but we need to understand the difference between what is racist and what is friendly banter.

If the boards are curved at the end it will probably be down to your milling technique, you need to keep the mill and saw level as you come out of the cut and at the beginning when you cut into the log, this will come with practice. I milled 200 cubic foot of sweet chestnut into 1" thick boards for a guy last year, most turned out fine but just a few split, it goes with the territory and can depend on the time of year and how the tree lands when felled.

I was milling in our woodland last week, Tuesday, Wednesday, Thursday it rain so cleaned the kit back in on Friday to finish the half milled sections before the weekend. Having parked up on Friday morning I heard the sound of metal on metal coming from further up the track on investigating I found a guy splitting tree trunks with an axe & wedge. When confronted he stopped and said he hadn't got permission (which I knew as it would have had to come from me) he knew he was stealing but didn't think anyone wanted the wood as it was lieing around on the ground. He made out it was for personal use then later said he stood the Sunday market and had been told there was timber left on the ground in this wood. Once I pointed out I didn't want to see him in the wood again, I started to unload for milling only to find the thieving, job dogging scumbag had been in the day before and stolen the half milled lengths I'd left. When will people learn that woodlands & forest are private and they don't have the god given right just to take what they like when they like.

Considering what I just paid for the new ms880 & 36" bar this mill looks reasonably priced. Once the new kiln is up and running this may well be the next purchase.

I sent you pm earlier.

Riot helmets. A mate of mine used to work for the prison service gave me his old riot helmet with a simple dust mask. You can pick them up from army surplus places like Anchor Sales etc It may be a bit overkill sometimes but what price do you put on your health.

Ripping to size plus a bit is fine but don't be tempted to plane, you're likely to year the grain as well as knacker the planner knives. If you're planing to use the wood internally, once air dried they'll need to be kiln dried and as a rule of thumb for air drying oak it's a year per inch of thickness plus a year.

I rip gown old floorboard into square strips, never had a problem with staining. The general of thumb is to use a timber that is softer then the one you're stacking. But whatever you use don't do what a client of mine did and use tanadised roofing lats!