Lumber Making #7: The First Slabbing Cut

Holy smokes that looks fun :)

-- I am always doing that which I can not do, in order that I may learn how to do it. - Pablo Picasso

Dorje -

Another great blog entry and video!

-- http://foldingrule.blogspot.com

Wow, that is neat. Thanks for the update – looking forward to seeing the progress and more importantly the finished product.

-- Bill - "Suit yourself and let the rest be pleased." http://www.cajunpen.com/

Great.

-- Karson Southern Delaware karson_morrison@bigfoot.com

Very neat Dorje!

Thanks for posting.

Lee

-- by Lee A. Jesberger http://www.prowoodworkingtips.com http://www.ezee-feed.com

Dorje,

This is pretty neat.

Wanted to ask, where did you get the chainsaw mill? How long did it take to cut a slab once you set up the fence and mounted the saw to the harness?

The reason I am asking is because I may have several fair size alders (one may be 24-30” in diameter) that need to come cut down in the near future.

Dalec

yah… when our maple is ready to come down, we are going to have to get our hands on such a setup so it doesn’t go towards firewood this time.

-- "Functional WoodArt" by Debbie, Canada (http://www.execulink.com/~yohan)

Dale and Deb – you can get the chainsaw milling attachments at Granberg Intl., the manufacturer of the mill and ther items. Lee Valley also sells some of their products. i just looked for them and couldn’t find them there though…(they always were hard to find on that site).

The cuts didn’t take terribly long, a few minutes each. Longer on the boards with more mass and density. This maple was on it’s way out, so it didn’t have the integrity that a solid green/wet maple would have. I think that saved us some time. I’ve heard that on big logs, where you’re cutting full width, the cuts can take 10-15 minutes a piece. With the time factor in mind, I decided to cut everything to 2-3/8ths to get a little over 8/4 stock and to save time cutting. Softwood cuts a heck of a lot faster than hardwood too…

-- Dorje (pronounced "door-jay"), Seattle, WA

Dorje, Thanks for the info.

I am thinking there is an off chance that I may be able to have access to those alders. If so, I would not mind having the option to mill the logs. Very unlikely that I will be getting into the milling business. Do you know if this equipment can be rented? I should be able to use my Brother’s chainsaw. I do not know how long his chainsaw bar is nor the size of his chainsaw.

Dalec

Dorje – Looks like great fun & Very nice looking wood! – Whats the angle your putting on the teeth? (if any) – I’ve read that 10 degrees is the optimum – your thoughts?

-- The Gnarly Wood Shoppe

Dorje -

What do you hope to make from the lumber? The spalting will be striking, I’m sure. But my gut feeling would have been to avoid that log. The bark shows a lot of twisting (maybe that’s why you chose it?) and won’t that internal wood tension reveal itself in twisted boards as it dries? Or since the log is at this stage of decay, there’s different dynamics in drying?

I’m a pure novice on this subject, but I took a short tour in the woods with a chairmaker once. He pointed out how the bark reveals – or at least gives clues – to the nature of the grain within. He told us to look for straight bark pattern up the length of the trunk for green riving of straight grain chair parts within the log. The additional mental note I took was the same for milling boards – if and when, someday.

-- Paul, Texas

Dorje,
Thanks for this series of posts, I am looking forward to the additional ones. I have been pushing around the idea of milling some wood for a while. May start to consider it more seriously.

Great looking wood.

CtL

-- Chris L. "Don't Dream it, Be it."

Wow, that is a cool and dangerous looking rig! I wish I did that to my white oak I took down this summer..would have made some great boards!

-- Women love me.....trees fear me

schroeder – On my little 20” saw, I filed a standard chain to 10 degrees to rip and it worked great. For this set-up I bought a ripping chain from Granberg (the manufacturer of the mill). The configuration of the teeth is pretty interesting:

Although they have different angles in the photo, all the teeth seemed to be ground at 10 degrees…

When we sharpened it up, we put 10 on the clearing cutters and 15degrees on the scoring cutters.

Paul – When I first saw the log, I was on the fence, but I knew there was going to be some really interesting patterns within and wanted to go ahead and mill it, primarily for the experience. So, I just went for it. I’ve heard/read the same types of things re: reading the bark and what have you. I did in part want to open it up becasue of how interesting the bark looked – much of it is rather burl-esque. I do think that this lumber will dry fairly well. Much of the heart is fairly dry, so I think there will be less stresses working against each other. Also, I cut it a bit thick to be on the safe side too. RE: What I’ll so with it…I consider this picture wood, or wood that tells some kind of story and would need to be framed for doors or used and shaped for solid doors. Others may like tables of this stuff…who knows! Many possibilities. I’ll have a while yet before it’s useable, so I’ll let my imagination go for awhile.

Chris and Brad – Milling is really a blast and a great thing to do as an alternate to work!

Thanks everyone for your comments!

-- Dorje (pronounced "door-jay"), Seattle, WA

Ahhh. Expending energy and building up a sweat is not work if it is fun!

I always enjoy seeing what other people’s creativity brings. I’m looking forward to seeing a project from this non-work in a year or so.

-- No piece is cut too short. It was meant for a smaller project.