First made this page in 2004, now that the oak is dry I've
started to use it to make furniture...click
here...and scroll down to the cot and change table.
My brother Mike let me know he was cutting down two English Oak
(Quercus robur) trees that looked good enough to keep. The larger one was a huge tree more than
120 years old, in a school ground, condemned because of rot in the upper
branches. The other was 60 years old, and had to be removed because it was on a
fence line and appeared dead. I've had problems getting logs milled in the
past, so this time phoned a "new guy" who was very accommodating and
eager to help. Andrew has his mill set up in a yard only 10 minutes from my
home. The following 2 Saturdays were good for him, and for me also, to give him a
hand and decide on the cutting as it was progressing.
The larger, older tree looked good, but had a star crack
through the centre, and one of the larger limbs was solid for about 1.0m. That
gave me one smaller piece 1.0m long x 0.6m diam. [ 3' 3" long x 2' diam.]
and another 1.6m long x 1.2m diam. [5' 3" x 4' diam.] The younger tree
looked straight and solid, it was 2.4m long x 0.6m.diam.[ 8' long x 2' diam.]
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This is the first log we milled, the short one, and the easiest to move. Alignment
of the log in the mill is critical. Although the heart wasn't central in the
log, it must be aligned horizontally and parallel to the track. Andrew
called it "cutting to the heart" and is done to lessen the risk of
warps, twists and bow in the boards.
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To cut this log into quartersawn
boards, the first boards are cut vertically. Then three pairs were cut
horizontally each side of the heart cracks. Here you can see the heart
cracks. |
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The boards came off the saw with
no bow or warp, and were showing fantastic ray patterns in the grain. |
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This log was a little more
difficult to set up in the mill, there were two hearts at the left (the
upper end of the tree as it split into two branches), and one at the
right. Andrew aligned the two hearts on the left horizontally, drew a
chalk line between them and aligned the centre of that line with the
single heart at the other end. |
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This looks a little wasteful,
largish wedges of oak were being cut away. ( Andrew shouted...do you know
any wood turners wanting small blanks?) Andrew assured me I would thank
him in a few years when I had a scrub plane in my hands!
It had taken the whole day to get this much done. We spent a few hours
getting this log from the back yard to the front, and onto Andrew's truck. |
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I spent the next day setting up
the stack. I laid it out on 4"x4" bearers, levelling it all and
sealing the ends of the boards. I calculated the volume before I put it on
the stack, there is 0.5 cubic meters. That is about 17 1/2 cubic feet, or
210 board feet, and we still had the huge log to cut.
Based on the theory that you don't know if the next log is rubbish, I
got some things I wanted most out of the first logs. |
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Nice grain.... |
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I drove into the yard as the guys
were loading the big log onto the bed, note the counter weight. I watched
Andrew and the other bloke standing there bouncing up and down, and the guy
steering when the wheels hit the ground. They were cutting and splitting
firewood there...as they drove away laughing one of them shouted
back..."we still haven't had a log we couldn't move." |
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The alignment for this log was
more of a problem, with three hearts this end, and two at the other. Also
the one on the bottom left had some rot going in fairly deep. I was hoping
to get some slabs with nice grain for cabinet door panels using the
chainsaw. We set it up and cut into it taking boards out, quartersawn as best
as possible until a good surface presented itself for a slab. |
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And it certainly did...
Andrew turned the saw off, threw a bucket of water onto it and went to
get his camera. We threw a few ideas back and forth about what to do next.
He asked..."do I want a shallow 3' bowl with that grain inside? |
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Woodturning is not high on my list, but Andrew said it might be in 3 or 4
years time...that was it, we cut a 3" slab. |
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We kept cutting slabs, and they
split into two pieces each side of the heart. 4 more cuts gave me 8
pieces, 2 sets of 4 book matched planks. Then once again back to cutting
boards the best the log could give. |
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All loaded into my trailer. The
trailer is 1.1cubic meters, 38.85 cubic feet. There looks to be another 460 board feet there, making a total of 1.5
cubic M, or 670 board feet. |
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This is the Oak stack, looks a
little untidy. I will need to clear away some space and take the top
layers off,
restack it and cover it better for when the real rainy season starts. |
