Thread: First real go with the Lucas

Keep the photos coming

Glad to see you getting underway with it.

you need about 200 mm bearers under the log to cut it back to the point where all that's holding it together is bark and a happy memory.

Originally Posted by John.G

Glad to see you getting underway with it.

you need about 200 mm bearers under the log to cut it back to the point where all that's holding it together is bark and a happy memory.

Cheers John, ill prop it up and finish off the log tomorrow if this rain stops. I've got a feeling I'll be spending a lot more time milling timber. Its becoming very addictive!

More photos to come Dai sensei!

The rain finished earlier than forecast but I had to help a friend move some fire wood and make some fire drums for his up coming birthday party. Of course this meant a stop off at the local pub for a counter meal on the way through! I got home at about 2:30 and got back to the saw mill.
I had to reset the log because It was too low. I put and extra sleeper under each end and then took a fine cut to level up the surface. I had the log too far to the left hand side so my first cut had to be bigger than planned. This piece will end up as salt & pepper blanks and knife handles I guess, oops! The rest became 100mm x 45mm x 3.6 meters. The bottom of the log will become bowl blanks.
I decided I could fit this pack of timber in the back of an implement shed so I restacked it and used an unconventional method to tie down the pack. Please tell me if this is a bad idea! I laid down two sleepers then stacked all the milled timber with 5 lots of stickers running one above the next. The top layer had some odd sized boards amongst it. I then got three lots of timber and drilled holes through it, then ran wire through the holes and tensioned it (broke the wire twice...). Effectively sandwiching the milled timber between them. If there's any shrinkage I'll put a bit more tension on it as required. I did this so the timber didn't pull in and loose the air gaps when tensioning it and so there wasn't any wire touching the "good" timber.

When people say 25mm of drying per year does this mean from each side inwards? Meaning a 50mm log will dry in one year? Or only 25mm per year regardless of thickness?

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................and now the addiction starts for real.

Your end rows of stickers need to be closer to the ends of the boards, it reduces both warp in the ends and also end splits. Then work on a spacing of around 450 mm max between courses, and closer if the boards are thin or of a species prone to movement. ideally you want your courses of stickers to be supported through to the ground... particularly as your stacks get higher that becomes very important due to the need to evenly transfer the weight vertically. You can take bow out of boards in a good stack, whereas most millers never get past the point of drying bow into them. If it sags, it dries bowed.... And so does every board stacked above it.
Best way to keep tension on the pack is stack another pack on top of it. When you hit your height limit, start a new stack, and rotate packs a bit.... Drier packs are less prone to board movement, so use them for top weights, that way you don't have to retension the strapping. Max height is usually. 4 times the width of the base for stability, so a pack width of 1m should support a total height of 4m above it without too much issue.

Inch a year is the rule of thumb, so 2years for 2". But that can vary by 18 mths depending on airflow, species, weather, etc etc. it's a very rough rule of thumb.