Rough Hewn

You’ll find slabs over 3’ wide and 10’ long are stupidly heavy. A 4’ duromatic bar on an 880 gives a 100cm cut max. Over that’s size a bigger mill is unbalanced on a log under 4’. I can manage a 60” mill with a 56” bar gives me about 105-110cm on my own. But I can’t even lift the 80” mill. So it then becomes a two man job. Best setup I’ve found is an 880 with a 60” panther. But your 661 should cut up to 28-30” on a mill. Maybe get a cheap eco mill off Rob.D and try that. Takes a while to get your head around the theory of pith to pith and ladder set up with a first cut etc. But it’s so much fun. [emoji106][emoji106][emoji106]

No, I don’t see the point. The cutting speed is almost irrelevant. It’s log and board handling that take up 95% of my time. Whether a board takes 15 mins or ten. It’ll take us 40 mins to move the log into position and set it up sometimes. Unless you’re cutting over 2 metres diameter, one 880 is plenty, And now with hyper skip chains, sharpening an 84” chain takes under 5 minutes. [emoji106]

Yes! It’s golden Virginia tobacco, Entirely legal, no taxes. £1.99 for a thousand seeds off eBay. grown outdoors in Yorkshire. Reckon I’ll have 3-4 kilos of dried leaf. And at £400 a kilo from the shop... [emoji106][emoji106][emoji106]

Harvest day, These will be drying over the next few weeks. Anyone guess what it is? [emoji848]

Get an 880. [emoji106]

Plywood and threaded bar gives as good a cut as any pro mill if the bar and chain is right. It is much slower to adjust to accurate increments quickly though. Also they don’t last very long. Chinese Alaskan copies are ok for mid range saws and bars, but only up to 48”. If you regularly need to mill medium trees 18-42” diameter I’d recommend the 60” panther mill and 54/56” GB bar. It’s my go to mill for medium timber slabs. If you want to make dimensional timber ie: beams, lintels, mantels and square edged planks a Logosol F2+ is ideal. I’ve got all of them and others but those are the 2 we use weekly. [emoji106]

Where is it? Yes definately worth milling. [emoji106]

That’s a very good idea. Have to have a think on that. [emoji106][emoji106][emoji106]

Can’t remember you being rude. Big butts... Where do I start... Anything but dead lift it. (Which we do a lot) Pivot, leverage, rolling just think Egyptian or Stonehenge. But as several people have pointed out correctly, I need hydraulic power. Looking at getting an old tractor, preferably with loader and a rear forklift. [emoji106]

There was a whole industrial area next door, all being built on for housing now. My building is the last one. Think it’s about 1850-1880? There’s cart worn cobbles outside, And flagstones floors in one building (would have been outdoor yard) There’s even a few of the old brackets and shafts for belt drives. Shame it’ll be rubble in twelve months. But I am eyeing up something even more interesting... (and steeped in history). [emoji106]

Had 3 lots of the neighbours round today. Gave them a tour, a small piece of yew and a card. Everybody happy. [emoji106][emoji106][emoji106]

Got the paint up on Saturday This is halfway.

If you’ve got your own kit, then yes. Might be a sorbus? If you’re lucky they’ll be some interesting colours. [emoji106]

But in the meantime.... Today’s 10’ x 2/3’ spalted sycamore. [emoji106]

Yeah I know. I know. ... One day..... [emoji106]