ucoulddoit

Thanks for looking into this aswales. I've been studying the online notes and pictures for The Wood Database, and other online stuff, but am conscious it is too easy to become biased towards the answer I'd like! Seems to be quite subtle differences between different mahogany types and sub species and difficult to pick out what would give a definite answer. So an independent view is appreciated. Andrew

Thanks Muttley. Lets's hope Steve can make a definite ID. Andrew

Thanks for all the comments. Another picture below is four treads after pressure washing to remove the demolition dust and grit. I'd wondered about an African mahogany and some planks have ribbons of twisted grain which is see from several internet sources is found on Sapele. Online pictures of sapele endgrain look similar as well, but I've not checked the spacing/scale of the pores. My dad was pretty good at wood identification so I suspect it is a 'mahogany' of some sort, rather than Iroko. I recall him telling me as a child that he bought it for a good price as mahogany was out of favour for joinery work in the mid 1960's because it was a 'hardwood' and less easy to work with than alternative timbers. Andrew

Thanks Nepia. Steve was the first person I thought of when writing the post, so I 'll just wait and see if he spots this thread. Andrew

Looking for opinions about the mahogany species in the attached pictures if anyone can help. The reclaimed timbers are from a staircase my dad made in the mid 1960’s for the house he self built where I grew up. The house has just been demolished to make way for a new care home! Fortunately, although the house was sold on about 25 years ago and I’ve lived 200 miles away for over 35 years, I’d heard about the project and was able to get most of the staircase timbers, about 10 cu ft, so that I can make a few things which will have some sentimental value. There is a bit of colour variation, some timbers are a deeper red than others which are yellowy/orangy red. The end grain and side grain looks similar though. Just wondering if both samples are the same mahogany species with natural colour variation? Or different species? Also, I’m wondering what species they are most likely to be, Honduras, Cuban, Brazilian or from somewhere else? Andrew

Thanks for your advice Rob and link to your website. The two short chains are Oregon ripping chains and so is the one for the 25 inch bar. So I’ll probably go that route in future if I need any new chains as my mills are quite small. With hindsight, I should probably have asked my original question differently, as I mill stuff for my own use and should have realised the professional millers on here would view it from a business perspective. Time and cost isn’t really that big an issue for me, within reason. Something more along the lines of ‘are there technical and/or safety reasons against lengthening a ripping chain’. After posting the question, I fairly quickly found a discussion on another forum along these lines, and a comment that a chain shouldn’t have more than one join, i.e. fine to join chain off a reel to make up loops, shorten a stretched chain, or repair a chain. But that was dismissed by others, so I’ve concluded that lengthening a chain is a viable way forwards. Should have bought a grinder years ago! But my hand filing has worked fine with an occasional re-grind for just a few pounds. They are small mills and only ever had very light use. Haven’t milled any logs for a few years but the mills have continued to have occasional use for re-sawing large dry timbers so they will fit onto my bandsaw and planer. That was the original reason to buy the small log mill, so I’ve pretty much gone full circle, but am keen to have them in good working order in case something like a ‘highly valuable walnut’ is being given away…..! Andrew

Thanks Alec. That's useful advice. I have a mini mill and use a 25 inch bar in a MS391 with a ripping chain which is good to use in conjunction with the Alaskan mill. I still have the 20 inch bar, but only use it for cross cutting now. After a break from milling for a few years, I milled a log at the weekend as a favour for a friend and hit a nail on the second cut......! So I decided it's time to get a second chain for the 28inch bar to avoid another long delay hand filing a damaged chain when out milling. A granberg ripping chain looks like £40 to £50 and is certainly the easy option. But I'd be interested to learn how to modify chains and this seems like an opportunity so I'll look into the kit you mentioned. I see the Malloff book also has advice about splitting and joining chains. Andrew

I’ve two ripping chains for a 20 inch bar which I used when I started milling with a small log mill. But they haven’t been used for years as I upgraded to a 28 inch bar in an Alaskan mill with a Stihl 661. Both had only moderate use and were professionally reground after the last batch of milling they were used for, and the teeth are now about 8.5mm long on one chain and 9mm on the other. So, they have a fair bit of life left in them. Just wondered if joining them to make up a longer chain to fit the 28 inch bar would be OK? If OK in principle, would it be advisable to have the longer chain reground so that all the teeth are the same length? Probably not much of a cost saving compared to buying a new Granberg ripping chain, but it seems a shame to leave them soaking in a tub of oil if they could be used again. Andrew

The tables are from 'The conversion and seasoning of wood' by William Brown which was published about 30 years ago and is available to buy online. An online review comment I saw mentioned it is a bit theoretical and I'd agree, but still useful. I needed to read it several times though, to work out what I really needed to know! It's geared to producing high quality timber. Only one of the ten chapters discusses timber conversion and when I started milling timber for my own use, that was the main topic I needed advice about....... Now I realise avoiding drying defects is perhaps the real skill to acquire in order to create valuable timber. I've not come across a 'bible' but have found useful stuff in various books which all together combines into good advice. The Maloff book, Chainsaw Lumber making is good, but I feel it leans towards milling lumber for construction rather than furniture making which is my main interest. Whereas for others, it might be the only book they need. Andrew

I’ve found the attached tables useful over the years to work out the size and spacing of stickers for different types of timber and thicknesses. They don’t mention mulberry, but a quick look online brought up a tendency to checking and slow to dry. Not sure what thickness your planks are, but I’d hazard a guess at ½ inch sticks about a foot apart. And plenty of weight on top as already mentioned. Andrew

A couple of methods which I've not tried are drilling a 'largish' hole to remove the pith, or soaking the disk in PEG (polyethelyne glycol). Not sure what size of hole would be needed, I'd guess 25 to 50mm diameter, but maybe someone could advise on this? But a patch in the middle might not look too good. What I did about 20 years ago was use an ovalish piece of wood which had been cut at an angle instead of straight across the butt. I bought the air dried slab from Boddy's of Boroughbridge (no longer in business unfortunately) and leant it against the wall on our landing for a few months to acclimatise to the centrally heated house. It distorted quite a bit, but it didn't crack from the centre to the edge. So, that method of milling could be experimented with. The attached notes explain a bit about the table I made which which still looks as good as the day it was finished. Andrew

The following link is about a 13m long table made with single lengths of bog oak which is surprisingly thin, about 39mm after drying. The pictures show a plank being carried by about a dozen people.......! Andrew The Fenland Black Oak Project WWW.THEFENLANDBLACKOAKPROJECT.CO.UK Our aim is to transform a 4,800 year old Fenland Black Oak into a spectacular 13 metre long table for the nation.

News item about Tim Stead, an artist/sculpter and pioneer of natural edged and slab furniture which might be of interest to others. Andrew Anxious funding wait for Tim Stead's house with a wooden heart WWW.BBC.CO.UK A trust wants to buy the property in the Borders to celebrate Tim Stead, the artist who created it.

I've been following this project for almost 2 years also and the story about sourcing the Douglas fir for the mast was fascinating. I liked the story about how the forester had records from when the tree was first planted and also each time it was 'looked after' by trimming branches, etc. so that a century on, someone would be able to fell a top quality, long, straight and knot free trunk! Does anyone do that these days? A few years ago I had some old larch trees milled for cladding which yielded some boat skin quality planks and the sawmill manager talked about rumors of larch trees planted locally a century earlier for boat building which some folk round about like to believe would now be worth a fortune...... He clearly thought I might have stumbled upon this 'pot of gold', and was disappointed when I said there were just a handful in a neglected patch of trees. But who knows what's out there......? Acorn to Arabella is another boat building project worth following on YouTube. It's a slightly small boat than Tally Ho and is being built almost entirely using timber felled and milled by the two chaps building the boat on the farm owned by one of their families. Andrew

Just thought I should add that when re-sawing this plank with the Alaskan mill I used a guide ladder carefully wedged off the top of the plank so it was as near straight and twist free as possible. So the re-sawn faces are virtually dead straight and not twisted which I wouldn't have achieved if I'd just run the mill along the top face of the plank. That provides a good start for planing to thickness. It's not often I need 3.5m + long planks that are dead flat and straight and shorter stuff is a bit easier and less wasteful. Andrew

I recently re-sawed a 3" (80 mm ish) x 400mm x 4m kiln dried oak plank into two thinner planks with my Alaskan mill, and reckon I'll end up with a thickness of 20 to 25mm once they've been left a while before final planing. I'd thought I'd easily get 30mm, but it's surprising how the slight warp and twist along the length of the original plank will lead to more waste than expected. Fortunately the two planks have barely warped after being split apart which are an indication of slow and careful seasoning, but not by me! Andrew

I've not seen one but NMA Agencies Ltd who supplied my machine and the spare bearings might provide one? I've seen various comments on other forums over the years so that might be worth a search. If you're struggling, let me know and I'll scan the relevant pages. Andrew

First picture below is the blade guide which came with the machine and 2nd picture is a spare thrust bearing I bought last year at a cost of £54 for a pair. If the hardened steel bearing gets stuck in the sleeve, instead of rotating, the back of the blade quickly cuts a groove in the bearing face and subsequently, it then tends to catch the blade and won't rotate freely which just makes the groove worse........! But the thrust and side bearings are the same size, and the side bearings still work fine if there is a groove in the face. So if the thrust bearings get worn, they can be swopped with the side bearings. I damaged a thrust bearing soon after buying the machine and was pretty disappointed when I discovered the cost of replacements. But because the bearings are interchangeable, I'm still using the original thrust/side bearings after 15 years and bought the spares last year just in case they become difficult to obtain in future years. Andrew

Looks good! One bit of advice is to keep the hardened steel thrust bearings well oiled as they are outrageously expensive for what they are, and easily damaged by the blade if they get struck. I learnt the hard way, but at least they are all interchangeable and I was able to swop the thrust bearing for a side bearing and years later is still going fine. Andrew

The publications on the ASHS (Association of Scottish Hardwood Sawmillers) website might help you to get started with understanding some of the processes involved. What are the objectives of your voluntary organisation? I don't understand if you're just clearing a site or looking to make milling, etc. a long term venture? Andrew

It needs to be milled into planks as a whole log will stay wet for years and probably split badly. It would be better to dry the planks outside with plenty of airflow and shaded from the sun instead of in a garage with little airflow. Rule of thumb for air drying is an inch thickness per year. So 2 inch planks need to be stacked for about two years outside. But, air dried planks will dry further in a centrally heated house which runs the risk of shrinkage, distortion, splits, etc. occurring in a finished piece of furniture if the moisture content hasn't been reduced further before making it. If you haven't access to a kiln, simply stacking the planks in the house for a few months works fine to 'condition' it, provided no one minds a stack of planks in the house.......! I run a dehumidifier in my workshop and planks stacked there are fine to use after a few months following the initial air drying. What size is the cherry tree? The first tree I had milled many years ago was a cherry my parents had planted and I made the mistake of milling the planks too thin. As cherry can distort a lot during drying, I had to scrap most of it as it was useless which was a shame as it had sentimental value. I now tend to mill cherry at 2 inches and re-saw it into smaller sections if necessary after drying. It's a lovely timber and well worth using. My avatar picture is a cherry tree I cut down in a garden. Andrew

I noticed an auction just outside Glasgow coming up with a Sheppach Basa 5 which might be of interest. That's the updated model of the Basato 5.2. Current bid is £55! Hope the following link to the auction on 24th Sept works. Also, I realise I should have pointed out that 240V machines like this need a 16A supply Andrew Sweeney Kincaid WWW.SWEENEYKINCAID.COM

I've been using a Sheppach Basato 5.2 for about 15 years and am very happy with it. 240V, has a cast iron table, 300mm depth of cut and a max 25mm blade size. Often use it for cutting tenons and the photo below shows it being used with roller supports when resawing some oak for window frames. Longest piece was almost 4m and weighed about 50kg initially, but the saw was quite stable despite 'pushing' really hard to overcome the friction on the table. Quite expensive though if it is just used for cutting tenons. I bought a ripper blade a while back after good reviews on Arbtalk, which are usually used for horizontal mills but is great for resawing large timbers on the vertical bandsaw. I wish it would take wider blades than 25mm and am pretty sure the Jet bandsaws have this option. I never cut the full 300mm depth of cut, but it is very accurate and with a decent blade can cut 200mm wide veneers, 2 or 3mm thick, all day long. I'd go for a significantly larger depth of cut that you need for regular use to be sure of having enough power, accuracy and stability. Andrew

Visqeen is a just a trade name and a DPM plastic sheet should be fine. Andrew

Just seen this thread and looking at the dates, might now be too late to comment? Anyway, after a quick scan through, I didn't see any mention that visqeen serves two purposes. In addition to reducing dampness, it provides a slip membrane. Once the initial setting involving heat of hydration (the chemical reactions) has finished, the concrete will gradually cool and hence shrink. If cast directly onto the ground or hardcore, the friction can sometimes resist the shrinking, creating a crack in the middle if the tension in the concrete exceeds it's strength. That's what the mesh or fibres are usually there for, to resist the early thermal cracking tension forces. The slab should be able to easily slide over what it's sitting on. Waterproof concrete will keep the water out, but cracks through the slab won't! Not relevant here, but a basement structure in a high water table would have water pouring through cracks if not properly detailed and designed. Having said all that, long lengths of slab are obviously more prone to early thermal shrinkage cracking and joints if needed (can be saw cut a day or so after casting) are usually 5 to 6m spacing. I guess the garden room is about this size in which case no joints needed if adequately reinforced and with a slip membrane. Andrew