Thread: Round to square?

Originally Posted by corbs

Good evening all, I seek your sage advice. I have the Triton woodworking plans with details on how to make a simple garden bench and I have a few 100mm round kopper logs behind the shed. My intention is to make a jig of some sort to hold the logs which I can then turn into boards on either my triton wc2k or portable thicknesser. I am leaning towards the triton but once I have one flat reference then the rest will be easy to sort out. Your thoughts and inspiration will be appreciated.

Hi Corbs,

You'll need an index face on the circular (cross section) logs to start with. Be very careful on how you do this, as doing so on a table saw might be a bit perilous! Do you have (or have access to) a band saw? If so, you could make up a 'V' shaped jig/holder, and cut an index face from there. After that, it's pretty plain sailing.

You could than cut sections, to whatever thickness required, very easily.

Cheers!

The method I would use would be to temporarily nail two boards to the log and push it through the thicknesser to get a reference edge.

However, have you thought this through? You will be planing off all the treated wood and, worst of all, probably breathing in all those evil vapours! If you are intent on doing this make sure you have adequate dust collection and breathing protection.

Steve, I dont have a bandsaw but I thought I might be able to rig up a system where I could put most of the stock between the fence and the blade of the tablesaw and then rip a flat reference off one 'side' which would get me started. As its only going to be a roughy I am thinking of just screwing a long flat board down one side and then running it against the fence. This is the simplest option and will probably be what I will do but I am still open to suggestions.

Originally Posted by markharrison

The method I would use would be to temporarily nail two boards to the log and push it through the thicknesser to get a reference edge.

However, have you thought this through? You will be planing off all the treated wood and, worst of all, probably breathing in all those evil vapours! If you are intent on doing this make sure you have adequate dust collection and breathing protection.

That was the other simple option that I was thinking about but my preferece is to use the table saw as it has better dust extraction and will be quicker... which will mean less time working with the rubbish. This is a fair way down my list of jobs to do, have a kitchen hutch to finish and a blanket box to start yet (at least the boards are the right length now).

An article in Aussie Woodworker magazine on milling your own timber suggested the following method:

cut out two squares of scrap plywood (coud be scrap MDF I suppose) and nail to either end to prevent the log rolling. Then feed through your saw to get a reference face.

Originally Posted by Dion N

An article in Aussie Woodworker magazine on milling your own timber suggested the following method:

cut out two squares of scrap plywood (coud be scrap MDF I suppose) and nail to either end to prevent the log rolling. Then feed through your saw to get a reference face.

making sure that you don't rip a nail in half.

not to be negative, but for all this effort, are you just better off buying new timber? You won't get all that much from a copper log, and you won't have to worry about the arsenic poisoning. CCA treated timber is now banned (I think), so it couldn't be all that good for you.

If you are still keen to do it, screwing a few offcuts to the end and running it through the TS seems to be the way to go.

Trav

Originally Posted by Trav

CCA treated timber is now banned (I think),

CCA timber has been banned in sensitive areas, eg. children's playground equipment. It's use is still permissible in the electrical industry and for fencing (I am guessing this is due to a lack of cost affordable alternatives).

I do however agree with the theme of your post, why muck about with harmful additives when it will be a comparatively small cost to purchase new timber.

Cheers,
Matt

CCA is banned (in Queensland at least) in children's playground equip and for use in decking hand rails.
I'm sure that you wouldnt want your hands in contact with the armrests all the time

It would certainly be much easier to work with sawn timber but then what would be the fun in that.

There is no probolem working with or using treated timber. The things that protect it from deterioration only become active when the timber is burnt. Touching it, breathing it or licking it wont hurt you.
Breathing the fumes when it is burnt will allow the chemicals to be absorbed and stored in your body.

This wasn't an issue when the world adopted CCA treatment about 30 years ago.
The problem is now that the stuff that was treated 30 years ago is starting to deteriorate or people want to replace it. We need to get rid of the old timber.
The way most of us would get rid of timber we don't want is to burn it.

They haven't come up with a smart way to get rid of the old treated timber so everyone starting to think that maybe we shouldn't be still using CCA treatment.

I like Australian hardwoods - better chairs, better floors and more enjoyable to work with and look better than treated pine.

That's just me but there is no health hazards from working with treated timber -unless it caught on fire.

"there is no health hazards from working with treated timber"

Scally, I dont want to be inflammatory here but the product was banned in the United States in January last year, and in the European Union in June.
This statement was taken from an interesting transcript from the ABC
http://www.abc.net.au/rn/talks/satur...s/s1326983.htm

Dont take my word for it, do some research yourself

30 years ago even asbestos was considered "safe"

Ripping 100mm rounds on a Triton WC2K? Ouch!

Two things immediately pop to mind:

1. Even with a 9 1/4" blade, you'll be pushing to make a 100mm cut.
If you fasten a board down one side and keep it hard up to the fence, you'd be able cut a flat along one "side" of the log, where the "top" is not that high but the log will not be supported at the base of the blade during such a cut. This makes rollover (and kickbacks, jamming, etc.) much more likely unless you use extreme care... and make burnt offerings to the wood gods.

2. The other method, attaching two offcuts to each end would, provided the offcuts are the same width as the log height, allow you to cut partially through the widest dia and then flip the log over to complete the cut. I don't recommend this as A) unless the log is shorter than the table length there will be a point where neither offcut is on the table to hold it square (unless you have good, long extensions, of course) and B) you'll need to make even more burnt offerings to the wood gods to get both cuts to line up properly for a truly flat surface.

These two table-saw methods are better suited for ripping/truing warped or bowed planks than for squaring rounds. For that I prefer to attach a plank down one side of the log and run it through a thicknesser, saying "damn the waste!" It's much safer in the long run... for your tools, your fingers and your wallet.

Having said all that, I'm sure you're aware by now that it'd be even safer to buy decent lumber in the first place, instead of the CCA stuff.

I agree with the last two posts. This stuff is simply not worth risking your life over. Every place I ahve seen, they suggest you at least wear gloves and a mask when cutting treated pine. Ripping it seems to be about the worst thing in terms of making lots of dust.

Not worth it IMHO.

Trav

Originally Posted by Pestmaster

"there is no health hazards from working with treated timber"

Scally, I dont want to be inflammatory here but the product was banned in the United States in January last year, and in the European Union in June.
This statement was taken from an interesting transcript from the ABC
http://www.abc.net.au/rn/talks/satur...s/s1326983.htm

Dont take my word for it, do some research yourself

30 years ago even asbestos was considered "safe"

I am not promoting treated timber but I don't like do-gooders inflaming situations and scaring the daylights out of people.

Your link was a TV interview with a conservation society. Not necessarily what I would consider the source of a balanced opinion.

See this from the health dept.
http://www.tpaa.com.au./files/Copper...ted_timber.pdf

The scare tactics are working and market forces will end up removing CCA treated timber of the market.

They say there are chemicals in beer too, but I still drink it occasionally.

Stick to aussie hardwoods and always wear your safety gear.