Mr. Ed

This is nothing to boast about I know, certainly in the present company, but as a complete outsider I can’t tell you how pleased I am at actually being able to cut roughly flat, roughly square boards. This is from our rubbish alder - I need to make about 60 sq metres. We’re going to do variable widths and I’m expecting (once I get the hang of how much wastage I’m getting) to standardise to three or maybe four different widths. The boards themselves are a range of calm cream coloured ones and quite funky spalty ones like this. 
Then lots of cladding to be milled in Leylandii and Douglas. 

1 hour ago, devon TWiG said:

There is loads of wood out there that is well worth milling , and quite a few people doing it ..but the stumbling block is actually selling it ...at a fair price as well ...and not just the best plank from each tree , I know of contractors  yards with lovely butts and planks just rotting away !!    shame , but some  seem to be of the mindset that if it does not fetch a high enough price to part with then it is left to rot !!

It's very valuable timber that . . .

Gumtree is good for eucalypts … (duck and cover) 

Euro-quids of course Andy

And I forgot to say there's extras as well, like chunks for her ladyship to put on her centrifuge . . .

Roadside prices for fresh "large sawlog" sitka have been quoted at about €125 per M3 at the moment round these parts. And I do want to give him a good deal - he has some ash we want as well!

I was thinking giving him 250 or so for the lot - a useful chunk of change and a great help to me (and he kindly admits that he had no idea when he was going to get round to processing it, and that it was going to start going off soon. I wonder what sort of percentage of the finished timber value is the typical raw material cost for a commercial sawmill  - 20%? 50%? I have no idea.

The arch is made by Irish Forestry Products in Limerick - they've got them on special for €600 or €700 now, but I paid a bit more. As to legality, the route I went is only half a mile on the equivalent of an A-road, the rest of the way is on single-tracks where it'll be the most legal thing on the road! I did somewhere find an exemption from mudguards for timber vehicles, but I'm not going to look again: "only slightly illegal" is a reasonable description. 

That’s a good idea for starters, but it wouldn’t be much - the timberpolis calculator says 30 metres at 30 cm width makes a bit over 2 m3 and Coford tells me that air dry alder is about 500kg per m3. so that only makes a ton - it looks more than that! 

Can you all give some advice? 
 

So my mate - a new friend but a true friend - has about 33 usable metres (minimum straight lengths of 2 metres) of one [?] year felled Alder stems. The first one I’ve sliced looks like it’s at a good state of colour and no rot - one little pocket the size of a 50p coin on this first cut. I want to use it for floorboards by the way, and we’re very happy with wild colours - this house is going to be rustic in every way - and are also happy with the relative softness of the timber - it’s for domestic use in a small house. 
 

I’m collecting them - from just a few miles away- and cutting them, but without him having hoarded them I’d be in a pickle for this project. 
 

The question is, what should I pay him for them? There doesn’t seem to be any commercial market to judge by. 
 

And any tips on milling them woold

be appreciated muchly. I’m cutting to 28 mm to finish to 22. They’re between 21 & 29% humidity now and I’m knocking up a little dehumidifier kiln over Christmas to gently get them down further, once cut. 

10 hours ago, Billhook said:

Slab of Elm

 

Andrew.                                504 kg

Spruce Pirate.                      153  kg

Woodworks.                          299 kg

AJStrees.                               240 kg.   (300)

Topchippyles.                        220 kg

Trigger Andy.                          235 kg.   (270)

Dave at Dave.                         375 kg

Puffing Billy                             380-400 kg

Timm                                        295-310 kg

Muttley.                                    345 kg

Mark J.                                     425 kg

Spud dog.                                 376 kg

Treerover.                                  160.2 kg

Mr Ed.                                         275 kg

Conor Wright.                            272 kg

Squaredy.                                   371 kg

Monkey Business.                     356 kg

Organic Guy.                              292 kg

Josh Purton.                               346 kg

Bike User.                                    256 kg

Dumper.                                       306 kg

Wonky.                        
 

Well it looks as though Conor Wright is the closest at 272 kg as the scales say 296 kg less the 25 kg Wiltec grab equals 271 kg.  So only one kg out!

Hats off to Mr Ed for 275 kg

Quite a few not far away

Trigger Andy said he would not be surprised at 270kg which is lucky for me as it would either have to be half a mug or two mugs!

 

Did not quite have the centre of gravity right when lifting but it does give a wonderful dappled effect on the slab which is not the grain!

 

So perhaps Conor can give us all a talk on chainsaws as a punishment for winning!

What has he learned about them, what makes does he prefer, how does he sharpen them, and any advice he would give to a beginner .

 

So if you can pm your address Conor I will see if they have any mugs left or if they have all been bought by Arbtalkers!

Was that after you compensated for the sawdust? 🤤 well done. 

275 kilos including the sawdust. 

Can you show us detail of the seat joining to the uprights? We have quite a lot of super wobbly black locust which lasts well and has an ultra rural look to it and I’d like to have a go at using some in a bench like that. 

You’re doomed if you cut down an isolated hawthorn tree. Or blackthorn? Anyway very witchy places. 

All trees in Ireland (as everywhere I suppose) have legend about them, and I seem to remember that their fresh-cut red-ness reminds us of the wounds of Christ. Or something similar. 

Oh, and agreed about the knots 100%. 

Ah, thanks for that. I'm not doing the carpentering myself so will take advice - the only such project I've been involved with was using reclaimed pitchpine, where they were secret nailed as well as T&Gd to avoid cupping and suchlike

7 minutes ago, Squaredy said:

I fitted Alder floorboards in my bathroom about 7 years ago, and they are fine.  The initial orange colour planes off totally when the boards are fully dried.  But I would experiment with different finishes.  I tried a sample years ago with Danish oil and it went pink.  Here is a photo of it after I sanded it back and re-finished it with a spirit based varnish.

 

My bathroom floorboards are treated with a water based floor varnish which keeps the nice light colour.  Unfortunately the brand I used to re-do this about two years ago turns out not to be water resistant, so I will re-do this soon with a better one.

 

I have a clock made of Alder hanging in my office which is waxed, and that has made it go a nice subtle chestnut colour.

 

My kitchen cupboard doors are also Alder, and they are finished with Woodoc, and they have gone a bit orange, but in a nice way which I am very happy with....but some people might not like the colour.

 

I have also seen mirror frames, sconses, cupboards, chalkboards and countless other things made using Alder, as one of my regular customers buys a fair bit from me and makes all of the above.  In fact one of the first Coyote Ugly bar tops in the UK was made from Alder - I think this was a mistake though as dancing with stilettoes three or four nights a week was always going to ruin the surface.

 

My advice is they would be great for floorboards for a bedroom, just experiment with finishes so you know what to expect.

Oo, that is nice. I'm going to enjoy this. I see you're not bothered about knots. May I ask how dry you got it before fitting? And did you tongue and groove it?

I was hoping we'd get something a bit wilder out of them, along these lines, but maybe I should be careful what I wish for.

5 minutes ago, Squaredy said:

I fitted Alder floorboards in my bathroom about 7 years ago, and they are fine.  The initial orange colour planes off totally when the boards are fully dried.  But I would experiment with different finishes.  I tried a sample years ago with Danish oil and it went pink.  Here is a photo of it after I sanded it back and re-finished it with a spirit based varnish.

 

My bathroom floorboards are treated with a water based floor varnish which keeps the nice light colour.  Unfortunately the brand I used to re-do this about two years ago turns out not to be water resistant, so I will re-do this soon with a better one.

 

I have a clock made of Alder hanging in my office which is waxed, and that has made it go a nice subtle chestnut colour.

 

My kitchen cupboard doors are also Alder, and they are finished with Woodoc, and they have gone a bit orange, but in a nice way which I am very happy with....but some people might not like the colour.

 

I have also seen mirror frames, sconses, cupboards, chalkboards and countless other things made using Alder, as one of my regular customers buys a fair bit from me and makes all of the above.  In fact one of the first Coyote Ugly bar tops in the UK was made from Alder - I think this was a mistake though as dancing with stilettoes three or four nights a week was always going to ruin the surface.

 

My advice is they would be great for floorboards for a bedroom, just experiment with finishes so you know what to expect.

Oo, that is nice. I'm going to enjoy this. I see you're not bothered about knots. May I ask how dry you got it before fitting? And did you tongue and groove it?

On 04/08/2016 at 07:27, Paul in the woods said:

I have plenty of small diameter alder trees to log and I need some floorboards so...

 

Has anyone used alder for floorboards? I am aware that although a hardwood alder is soft but the boards would be for a bedroom so should be ok.

 

I'm considering narrow boards, 100mm or less, as I think these will easier to mill, season and lay and be more tolerant to warping etc.

 

Now, how best to cut the boards to reduce warping? I've found alder seasons quickly so would it be possible to leave the timber in the round for a year before milling? I had also considered cutting into thick planks/beams to season and then cutting planks of them later. I.e. cutting a 90mm beam and then slicing my 90mm wide planks off it.

Hi Paul

Did you do this in the end, and did it work out - I have a similar plan for bedroom flooring in our rebuild. I'm unclear also about how persistent the orange colour will be - I have cut one stem which has been down for only a couple of months but the ones I'm proposing have probably been down for some time (a year or two?) - I've only seem them from fresh cut ends, which don't seem overly punky but do promise some wild colouring. If they're not rotten but turn out to be too wild we can always just paint them.

And it's known as Irish mahogany here, not Scotch! 

E

That's lovely. Herself has taken to turning bowls, and we got lucky with some holly that was at a lovely stage of decomposition - this is it before finishing: it actually sanded very well

We had bats flying at noon yesterday - is that normal?

14 hours ago, muttley9050 said:

Near Milton Keynes. No idea how they will dry though.

 Wanted the stump with a flat top really for a table. Slabs are a byproduct

What size are they? They might be best as a bit of wall art. 

Wow! Can I buy one? My brainbox wife is a neuroscientist and they look a bit like brain cells. Where are you?

What does it smell like? Douglas seems to have a very characteristic citrussy smell. Even a bit marmaladey, like a very old dry Riesling I once drank in fact - burnt marmalade, in fact

but I was ver ver drunk at the time of course

And if you stack em two high you get back to my quarter figure. Best of all you do get this ghostly army of Chinese warrior statues protecting your soul. At Bealtaine they come to life and patrol the fences.