Milling small logs in the Lucas

[WillBrook]

A friend of my in-laws gave me a small, odd shaped log of Lightwood a while ago and, as I haven't been able to do any off farm milling (due to the insane heat around here) for the last couple of weeks, I decided to try to slab it at home. The log was an odd shape, about a metre long and no more than 300mm diameter so I knew it was going to be a bit of a challenge keeping it still in the mill. So I slabbed half way through an old redbox log first and mounted the lightwood log on top of the half slabbed redbox. I used a couple of offcuts screwed to the end of the logs and then screwed down to the top of the greybox slab and used a freshly sharpened 3 skip chain. I was pretty pleased with the results.

[Burnsy]

Nice looking slabs, would make some interesting bench seats. I cut a heap of small sheoak for a forum member a few weeks ago using the same technique with the swing blade. Unfortunately I don't have any pictures but I was surprised how stable they were when pinned to a big log that has already been opened.

[BobL]

Nice wood Will, but I think the wood deserves better that a bench seat.


The log was an odd shape, about a metre long and no more than 300mm diameter so I knew it was going to be a bit of a challenge keeping it still in the mill. So I slabbed half way through an old redbox log first and mounted the lightwood log on top of the half slabbed redbox. I used a couple of offcuts screwed to the end of the logs and then screwed down to the top of the greybox slab and used a freshly sharpened 3 skip chain. I was pretty pleased with the results.

That's pretty much what I do but I avoid using screw as I tend to forget where they are. I keep a 4" thick by 2' wide slab of cracked redgum on a couple of gluts as a milling table for small pieces. I then place the piece I want to mill on top of the table and clamp a cross piece at the end to stop the piece from moving. It seems to work OK.

Must take an actual photo of it next time I use it but here is a mock up sketch.

http://www.woodworkforums.ubeaut.com.au/attachment.php?attachmentid=95679&stc=1&d=1233803841