ucoulddoit

Just a hunch as I've not seen this done. But I think I'd lay the oak at 90 degrees to the whitewood and secret nail through the tongues. Or, if the planks need to run parallel to the whitewood, I'd think about putting ply between the whitewood and oak and again secret nail through the tongues through the ply and into the whitewood below. Either way, as the oak will be fully supported it could be thinner, say 20mm? Andrew

When looking for floating flooring materials earlier this year our local supplier/fitter had solid T+G maple planks which from memory were about 20mm thick and between 125 to 150mm wide. But their advice was to screw plywood to the concrete sub floor and bond the planks to it, rather that use solid planks for a floating floor. Very nice but too expensive and so we went for a prime oak engineered board click system. Andrew

When I first started milling timber for my own use, I wasn’t sure if I’d have the patience to wait for it to dry properly. But it was surprising how quickly the volume of milled timber overtook the rate I was using it. So, it’s perhaps no surprise that despite this thread starting over 8 years ago, I’m just starting to use the timber! Anyway, I thought I’d bring the thread ‘back to life’, briefly, as others might be interested to see how the milled burr oak turned out. It was milled almost exactly 8 years ago, then air dried for between two to three years outside, undercover and away from sunlight. Followed by between 5 to 6 years in my timber store which has a dehumidifier running. Having now cut into a few pieces, the moisture content is about 10%, which will be fine for furniture making. The first two photos below are a smallish piece, 40” x 24” and 50mm thick. The straightedge confirmed there is virtually no drying distortion which I’m amazed at and also very pleased. There are the usual small surface checks which are inevitable with burrs, but otherwise this and the other planks are more or less flawless. This piece will be a coffee table for my wife, to be finished by Christmas. As it is so flat, I’ll just sand it smooth and the slight surface undulations should complement the natural edge for an overall natural appearance. The other photos are two larger slabs, 6’ by 28” at the widest point which are destined to be the top of a desk for my son. They too have minimal distortion and I should be able to get a 30mm thick, 60” by 30”, perfectly flat top out of the 40mm thick slabs. A bit nerve racking building up to ripping these slabs into three smaller pieces. It’s taken a couple of days with paper patterns, chalk, and some re-design to get to the stage of cutting them into smaller pieces earlier today, which will be flattened with a router in a few weeks. Final photo shows how the three pieces will go together but obviously needing a lot of work on them first. My sons response to sending this picture to him was ‘looks awesome dad!’ which made me smile. Been a worthwhile investment financially, for enjoyment and learning a bit more about drying timber. And the best pairs of slabs are still stacked up waiting for future projects. Andrew

Two pictures of the bowl made by Steve using the wood sample I sent to him. Very pleased with it and glad I asked him if he would be able to make it for me. Andrew

Cheers Steve and really looking forwards to seeing the bowl you make with the 12" x 12" x 1 3/4" sample. Andrew

Hi Steve. Thanks for looking into this and I'll send a sample. It's good looking timber regardless of whether it's a genuine mahogany or a related species and I'm looking forwards to using it, hopefully over the next couple of years or so. Andrew

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