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  1. #1
    Join Date
    Jun 2011
    Location
    Rochester, vic
    Posts
    310

    Default Milling a 20 tonne GIANT!

    Hi all,

    We had the pleasure of salvaging this giant log from a tree that blew over just before Christmas 2017. The final log was 5.5m long x 2m wide, up to 2.4 wide at the base and weighed 20 ton on the hook of the crane. We were planning on putting it on the float but 15t was the limit and the crane was maxed out too, so we decided to mill it where it lay.

    It took our crew 2 or 3 days to process the top of the tree back to a log, then another day to cut the rootball off and set the mill up. Finally another 6 days to mill and cut around 17 slabs from it, then 3 days to transport the slabs and firewood home. We normally don't slab down through the heart, but in this case we wanted the 800mm wide slabs either side of the heart for book matching. We set the crane truck up along side the mill and lifted each slab off and stacked it ready for transport. The slabs are now all tucked away on the rack at the farm and will sit there for 5 years until ready for sale, with the best part of $10k spent getting this tree processed, milled and racked. I will be looking forward to a boardroom table or two being made from them to repay the investment, but on the other hand, it is a once in lifetime experience milling something this grand.

    Hope you all enjoy the pics.

    Cheers,

    James.
    Attached Images Attached Images

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  3. #2
    Join Date
    Nov 2006
    Location
    Cedarton
    Posts
    4,905

    Default

    800mm wide book matching pieces...nice!
    AND on the quarter
    Lovely stuff...MM
    Mapleman

  4. #3
    Join Date
    Dec 2016
    Location
    Edensor Park NSW
    Age
    33
    Posts
    97

    Default

    That’s is awesome. It is definitely a once in a lifetime sort of tree. Great work


    Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

  5. #4
    Join Date
    Dec 2010
    Location
    Townsville
    Posts
    130

    Default

    Great photos, thanks for putting them up. Big job.
    A long wait, five years...
    Pedro

  6. #5
    Join Date
    Feb 2016
    Location
    Canberra
    Posts
    5,124

    Default

    Ripper! So for $500 each I might grab three

  7. #6
    Join Date
    Jan 2018
    Location
    Tasmania
    Posts
    262

    Default

    Hi James certainly a big trunk on that fella. Presumably a eucalypt, do you know which to satisfy my curiosity.
    Cheers Wayne

  8. #7
    Join Date
    Jun 2011
    Location
    Rochester, vic
    Posts
    310

    Default

    Hi Wayne,

    I would love to say it was myrtle or sassy, but it was our local redgum. Still beautiful all the same and great to mill.

    And MM, imagine if those quartered slabs were fiddleback blackwood...mmmm!

    Cheers,

    James.

  9. #8
    Join Date
    Nov 2006
    Location
    Cedarton
    Posts
    4,905

    Default

    And MM, imagine if those quartered slabs were fiddleback blackwood...mmmm!

    Cheers,

    James.[/QUOTE]...MM
    Mapleman

  10. #9
    Join Date
    Jan 2018
    Location
    Tasmania
    Posts
    262

    Default

    Thanks for that James. I don't know much about red gum but it looks pretty good to me. Best of luck with the drying and marketing. Hope it rains over there soon as it looks thirsty.
    Cheers Wayne

  11. #10
    Join Date
    Jan 2013
    Location
    the sawdust factory, FNQ
    Posts
    1,051

    Default

    Not a bad stick at all James. Always nice to see job being done properly.

    Bit of a question: how much preload is there in that wide slabber? Does it finish reasonably close to level at that width or are they carrying a crown and if so how much average.... given sharp chains, good operators etc.

    Three guesses why I'm asking... I got a little problem or 5 coming in.
    Well the littlest ones already in, but the others arent far behind him.

    20180730_115741.jpg

  12. #11
    Join Date
    Nov 2006
    Location
    Cedarton
    Posts
    4,905

    Default

    Have seen a Peterson slabbing mill with eccentric tensioning springs that preload and reduce deflection in a bar around 1800mm long
    How wide is your bar James ?...MM
    Mapleman

  13. #12
    Join Date
    Jun 2011
    Location
    Rochester, vic
    Posts
    310

    Default

    Hi fellas,

    The bar will cut just over 1.9m wide. I use little strips of aluminium cans to shim the bar to flat, as it does want to sag at that length.Total deviation of the bar would not be more than 5mm, but that is not as important as having the chain sharpened perfectly. A small error in sharpening can see the slab thin from 60mm back to 50mm or thicken to 70mm. We have made a few mistakes over the years but I have found the main things to get right are a sharp chain, squarely dressed bar edge, perfectly parallel rails and never force the slabber along. If it is hard to push then something is wrong. Get the log on an angle and let gravity do the work.

    For example, we had this little log in the mill yesterday and today, peeling off some nice slabs 4.6m long in soild birdseye. Weighed in at 18 tonne, so it will be in the mill for a few more days to come. Angle was a bit extreme but the slabber cruised through nicely. I reckon next time I will simply dig a hole and bury 1/3 of the log to make it a bit more manageable, as it took two people to haul the mill up the slope with the blade on. Always room to improve the process.

    Cheers
    James

    IMG_6848.jpgIMG_6846.jpg

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