ucoulddoit

Lovely table. Was the tree from your garden? I'd be interested to see a picture of the hand saw you used. Andrew

Who says 'money doesn't grow on trees' Reminds me of a similar quote 'wood like that doesn't grow on trees!' I think I read that in a book by George Nakashima, The Soul of a Tree - A Woodworker's Reflections. Coincidently he discusses a problem with milling a six foot diameter English Walnut. It was too big for the mill to handle in one piece so he 'considered calling several hand sawyers from Asia to execute the sawing'. I saw a post by Nick 1854 mentioning hand sawing a log so I thought I'd take a picture of my two handed six foot saw which I've been wondering about sharpening..... Andrew

I've been using a small log mill with a 20 inch bar (mentioned above by Rob D) for about 18 months and can give an opinion if that helps. Also have the mini mill. Wondered if you work with chainsaws or is this for 'hobby' use? Andrew

Sounds as though it will be a lovely big table. I used larch for a fireplace and it is a terrific colour. Reminds me of old pitch pine which is almost impossible to get now. Andrew

Hedgesparrow I was thinking again about gluing the planks together and realised my main concern was that if the planks are cupped appreciably when dry (curved across their width) it might not look too good if they are glued into one piece. But it occurred to me that you could dismantle to top when the wood is dry and have the planks planed/thicknesed so that they are flat, then glue them together. But still need to be careful about future movement/risk of splits. Andrew

Hi hedgesparrow Sounds as though what you're doing is a bit unconventional, but I've done plenty of things that others thought didn't follow the rules, which turned out well, so I'll be interested to hear how it goes. Not sure from your e-mail about the timescales involved. Were the planks you bought literally sawn from a tree trunk and immediately taken into the house and used as a table top? Or had the sawmill cut the planks some time ago in which case they might have been semi-air dried when you took them away. The planks will shrink as they dry so if they are screwed to a batten, there is a risk they will split unless the screw holes are slotted in the batten. Most of the shrinkage occurs in the final stages of drying below a moisture content of about 20%, so although the planks may feel dry, the risk of splits and distortion increases with time until dry to suit the ambient humidity, probably between 8 to 10% in your kitchen. Since the tongues and grooves are already cut, I think it would be advisable to keep the planks fitted together during drying to minimise the distortion between each plank. Otherwise you may find the planks just won't go together because they are all bent differently. I wouldn't glue the joints because the wood will continue to expand and contract. I don't have the exact figures to hand but I would guess a larch table top, 3feet wide, could move between 1/4 to 1/2 inch between summer to winter. It would need very long slotted holes in the table frame to accommodate this amount of movement and a high risk of a joint splitting. Defects such as surface checking might occur if the planks are dried too quickly, but may not be a problem if a 'rustic' appearance is OK. The risk of serious defects would be much higher with hardwoods, especially oak which is hard to dry to produce high quality timber. Finish - if the planks end up a bit distorted/rustic, then a subtle finish to seal the wood may be enough rather than a shiney/glossy coating which might look out of place. Many coats of wax would bring out the colour. but it might look good with an oil based varnish/polyurethane thinned 50/50 with turps and applied with a rag rather than a brush. That should soak in to seal the wood and bring out the colour. Main thing is to wipe off the finish after a few minutes rather than building it up in layers, just leave on what has soaked into the wood. Two or three applications should be fine and will look like an oiled finish but won't spoil if a hot cup or plate is sat on it. A pretty indestructible finish in fact which you can polish with wax. Post some pictures when you're finished. Andrew

Thanks Alec, that's useful advice. I meant to say in my post that my Alaskan mill is the small log mill which is fine up to about 18 inches width of cut. So splitting a log this way would mean I could convert larger logs up to perhaps 3 feet diameter. I find that planks about 18 inches wide by 3 inches thick by 7 to 8 feet long are almost too heavy to move by myself, so I'm keen to stay within these sizes if possible but be able to mill from larger logs. I also use a Mini mill, which is useful to reduce the size of a large log. Andrew

I wondered if anyone has any experience of quartering oak logs by cleaving/splitting using wedges rather than sawing? I've seen a picture showing an oak log being halved this way in a book about green oak framing and wondered if it might be a viable method for initial conversion to make smaller sections that would then be easier to move to a roadside or transport to a sawmill. I gather oak splits well along the grain but it probably wouldn't work with other species. Andrew

Stuart I usually apply two or three coats of PVA glue to seal the end grain. It is water based so is fine on wet/green wood and three coats can be applied over just a few hours. It sounds to be a fairly small diameter log so it might dry OK if left in the round. But if a log isn't milled into planks, it is usually best to halve or quarter it along its length to reduce the risk of splits along the length as it dries. If left as a round log, it may develop one big crack along its length from the outside to the heart which means the wood either side of the crack would be useable. But some species will develop lots of small longitudinal cracks around the whole perimeter which extend into the heart which means there is very little useable wood. Not sure how cherry would behave. If the log has twisted grain the splits will follow the twist which again reduces the amount of useable wood. A 6 inch diameter log cut in half along its length should be air dried in about 3 years. Although it is a very small log, I'd still have a go at drying it. The first log I had milled about 27 years ago was a cherry tree about 12 inches diameter and although the planks twisted and warped horribly, I did manage to make a small coffee table which we still have. One mistake I made was milling it into lots of thin planks, some only 1/4 inch thick assuming they would be good for panels......(became firewood) Second tree milled about 10 years later was also a cherry and again, although the planks were thicker, they distorted a lot, but there was enough usable timber to make another small table. Eventually worked out how to convert and season logs with minimal waste and now have several tons of planks, slabs and blocks with lots of character which would be difficult to replace from a timber merchant Andrew

A company called Trylon sells resins plus colour pastes and sintered metals to use as fillers. I've not used the coloured pastes but have used the metals a lot. My preference is the bronze metal which polishes to a lovely shine but I've also used the aluminium and old silver. Quite pricey, so I often use just plain resin to fill deep holes then add a final thin layer of the 'cold cast metal'. Don't be put off by the initial appearance which my sister described as 'diarrhoea' the first time she tried it on some oak flooring. The metals do polish well but it really needs a powered sander. Not sure if it is food safe but I'm sure Trylon could advise about that. Andrew

Hi Pan Another method of milling which I've rarely seen done, but may be of interest to you and others, is cutting across a log rather than along its length. Of course if you cut straight across, the round disk will almost inevitably split as it dries. But if the cut is at an angle of say 30 degrees (or more), it produces an elliptical shape which is much more resistant to splitting. Might be a suitable way of using logs which are too short for milling into planks, but it really needs a log with plenty of character such as burring or spalted to work well. The burr elm table top in the picture below was bought as an air dried slab 4 inches thick which I then stored in the house for a year until its moisture content had reduced to about 8% after which I reduced the thickness to about 2 1/2 inches to level out the drying distortion. It is almost 4 feet long from a 2 foot diameter log. Andrew

It's a bit difficult to see from the pictures but if the 'limb' was a branch, boards milled from it are likely to have areas of reaction wood which will twist/bend significantly as they dry. If the pith is close to the centre it might be OK. Pretty sure most people only use the main butt on a tree for milling. Andrew

Interesting thread and I think the last post suggesting a separate pile of half decent logs in case a buyer turns up is a good idea. I'm a'hobby' craftsman and have bought round timber this way for about 10 years. Always wondered what the 'going rate' should be. But I've found that the following has worked fine. Minimum £50 a ton for round logs which I then move in a hired tipper, but more (sometimes a lot more) for really good quality logs/hard to get species. Also, I aim to spend a minimum of £25 each visit, even if I only take away something small to reduce the risk of being viewed as a timewaster. I've found this approach has meant people are happy to get repeat business and I now get calls when suitable timber is available. Recently offered an oak with a girth of 15 feet and 45 feet to the first branch! Too big for me at the moment so it will go for logs. From my point of view the yew logs look terrific for milling and now that I have a couple of Alaskan mills, am just sorry that I'm too far away. But someone will want them if you can hang onto them for a while. Have you tried the Woodnet website? Andrew

Thanks for the encouragement Big J. The walnut is drying fine and I'm looking forward to using it. Attached pictures are the shelves I think you are referring to made using some small pieces of burr elm (from a 2 ton log I bought and had milled a few years ago). I've cut some of walnut in the same way and the thin sections have dried much quicker than waiting for a large block to dry before cutting out the curved sections. Just a bit awkward sticking small curved sections to let them dry. Andrew

Are you wanting to dry timber from green or already air dried? If drying small quantities of timber to a low moisture content (7 - 8% for use in a centrally heated house) is your priority rather than drying it quickly from freshly cut/green planks, then you can do this without a kiln. Planks can be air dried outdoors down to a moisture content of between 15% to 18% and the rule of thumb is a year per inch thickness. I run a dehumidifier in my small workshop and simply put a small stack of air dried timber in the corner which then slowly dries to the required moisture content. It takes a while to dry in this way, for instance I often leave two inch planks for about 6 months. But there is the advantage that the workshop is also kept dry so that machinery and tools don't rust and dried timber stored in the workshop stays dry and ready for instant use. I adjust the dehumidifier settings so that the air is not too dry to start with, to reduce the risk of causing splits/degrade, then steadily reduce the humidity settings over a period of weeks/months, monitoring the air humidity with a cheap hygrometer and the moisture content in the timber with a pin meter. There is a table available showing the relationship between the equilibrium moisture content in the timber against relative humidity in the air. I aim for a final relative humidity in the workshop of about 40%. Even the smallest dehumidifiers are more than big enough for a small workshop. I've been using this method for about 10 years and have been drying more timber than I can manage to use, albeit that I only make a few things a year in my spare time. I've seen the same idea done but with the stack covered with a plastic sheet which also covers the dehumidifier so this may work faster. Andrew andrewbriggsfurniture.co.uk

I'm keen to buy some plum, pear or walnut trunks for milling. I live in Glasgow but would travel up to 100 miles or so to collect suitable tree trunks or could pass on your details if you have stuff further south.