Rhob the Log

I use a large framing tool (500 x 300), rotating the log until it's upright on the 1st cut. I then arrange the 1st cut rails so they're horizontal using said framing tool. Check once more once the rails are attached. Needless to say, your log needs good chocks to stop it rolling about once in position. 1st cut and bottom cut first will make the log lighter to rotate and save you time, as stated.

Sorry, pressed send a little early. There's no waney edge on these boards so am going to try and router some interesting patterns to make them more attractive. Consequently I don't want thin boards. I'll try and plane a few back a touch rather than mill if possible. The MC is ~28 at the moment so it looks as if there's no case hardening in most. However, some are still at 40+ having only been extracted after 7 months from a sunny glade. These are the ones I'm not as sure of as the colour's gone a lighter shade and when I've trimmed them down they're a rich cherry red. Will see what happens and hope they dry down for now. I don't have a thicknesser yet so would mean paying a joiner to use his. Ho-hum... Cheers for the info!

Cheers Alec, sounds a good, scientific method. The Oak is in various sizes but for the most part 30" width and up to 50" lengths. Stack 1.2m

You reckon? 1.5" thick, Walnut downed 2 weeks ago. Figure they may take longer to dry. But yes, nice for chopping boards I'm hoping! Also, think my Oak stack of the same is case-hardened. Is it worth re-milling off the tops and bottoms (they're 2" thick) - have a friend with a Lumbermate - or could I thickness them off? Cheers Rob

It must be the prices down South for this. I've spent ~£1100 on training and took 2 tests. Passed this week Again, wasn't my money but that's the cheapest I could find. All others started at £500+...£36 an hour wasn't bad... but if I'm told ONE MORE TIME to lift the handbrake before depressing the button I swear I'll shoot the instructor! Major anal...

I went to Aberdeen Uni and guys there who go through the forestry course are pretty much guaranteed work after (not so for us plant biologists, unfortunately). Fantastic course! I only know one guy doing further study, they all just went 'up the ladder' so to speak; GIS mapping, managing woodlands or directing/advising. That said, you've gotta have smarts and, ideally, experience behind you to do the course. Best of luck at Sparsholt Dan, and think about Uni in a few years time if you want a cushier job than running a forwarder all day

On the subject of, ahem, worth milling, here's a log for the big boys out there! Ok, so it was just a bit of fun on a rainy afternoon ...

Mmmmm, they look lovely! Get some close-ups of each board whilst wet, list your dimensions and thickness, get them under cover to dry and you're on to a winner I expect. Any book matched pairs? Look on the underside and overside of each board to see if there's a good match. Lovely work mate

That is absolutely stunning. Great to see a project gather momentum and hope the finished piece lives up to the quality workmanship so far!

Well it works, hanging the board on a nail. Simple tricks. Got 4 panels up this evening and will size and finish the rest of the long face soon as I get a spare minute. Easier to drill than bang in a nail near the ends but I can see where you're coming from with skirting.

Cheers Rob, enjoyed the work! Pics are easy, just put them through a cheap graphics program (Serif) to edit, then save them grouped as a new picture. Not that I'm tarting my images up to make you drool or anything... Difflock - have tried clamping one end up followed by positioning the other end but it's very difficult to get the pre-drilled holes to then align with the batten. Approximate is easy with a clamp over 3m, I'll see if it's happier sitting on a nail. Kinda morale sucking task but will give it another go. Cheers for the tip big man!

Started milling a few today. We made 15 x 4" thick posts with 2 waney-edges on the Lumbermate - great tool! The fencer's going to mortis them and run Oak(?) rails through, should look very pretty. Still got loads we could do this way. Later, I cleaved the offcuts into 1 square edge post to exclude the deer around the chestnut re-growth. That's a fine job, but knottier pieces I'm told I need a chainsaw to keep the split straight.

Sound advice, sound advice. Have only ever used plugged deelings, lovingly grown from seed before so bare-rooted is new to me. Will try to keep them all alive through the Spring. Hopefully a decent amount of hand-planting will be done, but there was also talk for using a bucket to create furrows. Either way, local conditions will be noted.

They the gram-loaded Glyphosate rawlplug like things? Was on a pesticide course last week and the examiner told me that although they claim no leakage, the electric board, who're using them like nothing else felled a tree outside their office in Spring last year, loaded it up with these and hydrostatic pressure from the rising sap pushed them all out and the surrounding area is totalled. DO NOT USE IF SAP RISING!

Haha! Couldn't agree more on the straight lines! I've only ever planted randomly, like a drunk. Did a few weeks in the Scottish highland mimicking seed footprints under Granny Pines. Anywho, thanks for the advice, I'll mention it and get those trees in a few pots. Same for Spruce? Bearing in mind it's growing? There's some evil father Christmas money-making going on on the side

Digging up an old post, excuse the pun... I'm helping someone plant several large compartments with 1200 bare-root hardwoods - Q. robur, Acer sp. (Maple of some variety), Carpinus caroliniana (Hornbeam) and a few others. Straight lines, and he was saying there's a variety of planting schemes from the FC and others. My questions are: When planting, is it advisable to alternate species i.e. Oak / Acer / Oak / Acer or does this mess up line thinning operations down the line? Do you plant them in blocks? Or would a mix of species promote better long-term growth i.e. companion planting like Birch next to Pine. How long will they last in sealed plastic bags from the nursery? They're bare-rooted, but covered in soil still so will exposing them to sunlight etc. promote transpiration that will exhaust them? Is it worth sticking them in tubs or loose compost or something in the interim because they're coming into bud. We're looking to get them in the ground by the end of the month. This project will be staked and tree guarded. Any advice appreciated! Cheers.

Just did mine this week. Had an anal guy training me - forcing 'the book' down my throat for a couple days, then actually learnt something test day. Had one of those kind, gentlemanly old fellas, the kinda piano assessor type? Anyway, knew a helluva lot about spraying, showed me the latest and greatest Monsanto pellet for stump treatment and just lectured answers on all my forestry questions. Brilliant. His exact words were "Oh, we're late - well we'll just pay lip service to the risk assessment". Nice

Very nice! I can see why you got one of them. Think I'll wait and get a Lucas or Peterson though...faaaar in the future. Cheers

What what? Tell me more Alec!

It's a lovely bar Rob! Really nice finish on the wood. Having no issues with it, other than the chain tensioning, which tends to slacken as it heats up. A problem with all bars I expect, more-so the hardnose bars. Suspect I saved a fair amount of fuel today, only refueled the once over 60 board feet. Sound reasonable? The only thing is it's very thin so you've gotta be exact where you put the bar attachment. Don't wanna be pinching no grooves. Cheers, bargain!

More larch! Way! This time tackled the larger log into 1" through and through sections (though took a 1.5" out the middle for some garage shelving. Had someone to help this time so we got it done fairly quickly. Took it home and ripped them in half using the *New TABLE SAW!!!* Sweet! Anyhow, stacked and weighted as the help to hold them up while I nail them in is sadly slow in coming People are quite happy to mill it up though!

I've got a stack of Oak offcuts 1.5m high, what else can you do with 2" slabs 12" x up to 36"? Dice 'em up for carcassing on bird boxes? Seems a waste. I'm going to make boards for the volunteers who work on the reserve (that's 10 sorted and will have plenty left over). I know Rob D sells a lot through wee farm shops and the like - they go like hot cakes. Beautiful boards. Also went to the Nantwich International cheese show this year and there was a guy there selling boards in shapes - seemed the only stall with any business to be honest! Board 'n' Bread Myself, I think his are a little tacky... Get a router on 'em and you can make them quite attractive.

There's definitely more vibration risk with ripping chain due to the steeper cutter angle. It's designed to be paring and clearing wood WITH the grain - long xylem tubes up the stem therefore fewer walls to get in the way. This means you're cutting through lower numbers of hard, recalcitrant cell walls every few nm as you do when you're cutting through centuries of xylem vessel creation crossways. That's why axes don't go crosscutting... I also suspect there is a greater risk of kickback if using ripping chains for cross cutting as it will be easier for the chain to 'catch' on the denser wood in the kickback zone, due to it's blunter angle - will have less paring ability than 25-35 deg.

Hi mate. Recently did some ash myself - lovely wood to cut. Real quick compared to some species. As to what thickness, depends what you're going to use them for! If still chopping boards, I wouldn't go above 2 - 2 1/2". That'll be 1 3/4+" when dry I expect though Ash dries pretty fast. Ash chopping boards, is it close grained enough? Cricket bats, that's all I think of with Ash... If you're milling for lumber, whatever dimension you want PLUS a little in shrinkage for the drying. Then again, you may just want a handy post now and again, so make some thick slabs and beams. For the burrs I've no advice, never done them myself other than to lop them off as they're in the way of the cut. Yours look mostly on one side of the tree so you wouldn't want to put your first cut through them as they'll be on the 'waste' piece.

Yep, 2ft plus 70% of them. There's an option to quarter them then, there's an idea. I'll have a chat and see what we can come up with. 200 stems of softwood to get through first, apparently! Cheers for the info guys