Thread: Difficult milling job

Just goes to show the amount of ddgy info around.... i was told by a 'professional" that turpentine logs smell like when they are milled he was the one who told me they would split too.

God only knows what it is.... i'll take some photos and post them here

heres some picks.... the colour seems a little redder in these photos than it does to the naked eye... btw it's raing here ... so they are wet in the shots

the last pic is a closeup of the growth rings ( which are quite visible, pretty consistent and up to about 3.5 mm apart in the good years ) there is a bit of olive oil wiped on one side to bring out the grain a bit.

anybody hazard a guess as to what they are....

remember they came from NW NSW and were used as bridge beams.. not piers

Nick

My Turps did act cranky as heck, on drying. But didn't smell of anything. I'll try and take a piccy in the daylight to give you a look, you can compare it to what you've got and make a decison that way.

could be any number of timbers from those pics.

cut a nother slice off back arther where its round. yopu wont be able to use th end any how. also if you can cut a small peice down the middle. along the grain that is.

Nice timber they are piles from road or rail bridge the one with the flats is a girder they will mill ok stick with large section 10x10,12x12 you may lose 500mm on the ends where the splits are but don't cut them until milled . my guess is iron bark i will try and resize some pic of some posts i have done out of similar piles.

break off a small splinter from near the middle and burn it -If it turns to ash (white and powdery) it's more then likely TURP. if you end up with charcoal (Burnt match) it ain't TURP (and this is a guess....most probably either a ironbark or a box)

Originally Posted by salty72

break off a small splinter from near the middle and burn it -If it turns to ash (white and powdery) it's more then likely TURP. if you end up with charcoal (Burnt match) it ain't TURP (and this is a guess....most probably either a ironbark or a box)

I think you may have that the wrong way around Salty72;

from Qld DPI Timber species notes "Burning Splinter Test. A match size splinter burns to charcoal. This test separates it from brush box which is very similar both anatomically and in general appearance but which burns with a sooty flame to a white ash."

As mentioned above here is the pic of Turps I cut about two years ago, the next pic is of red ironbark. both have been in sawn form about the same time. Take a look at the shape of the turps 4x3 compared to the ironbark 4x4 this is just hte drying side of turps, it can be cranky

Not had a problem with turps (S Glomerulifera) but I've not cut that much of it - perhaps 5 or 6 cubes that we did posts and palings out of for a client. I've seen them since and they're all as good as gold nearly 2 years later in use as a fence. Very hard work to cut, mind you.

Hi all,

I've managed to get most of the bolts out. About 50 came out easy, just by cutting the heads off them with a angle grinder and then either they slipped out or required a bit of help with a sledge.

The other 30 or so needed a bit of extra work so we made ourselves two tools;

1. A large stainless punch. We welded a 18 inch hardened stainless rod to a section of star-picket and reinforced the whole thin with more rods.
2. A guide to keep the punch aimed at the end of the bolt. This was just a small plate with a hole drilled through it and a short pipe piece of pipe welded to it. This was nailed to the timber over the end of the bolt

Once we had these we lined up them up and attached to the timbers we slipped our pneumatic post picket driver over the punch and let rip... worked a treat. All this was running off a large diesel compressor, so it had plenty of grunt.

The attached photo gives absolutely no indication of just how violent the post picket driver is. It took both of us to put all our weight on to it to drive some of the bolts out. We had to re-weld and reinforce the punch three times.

This worked for all but two bolts.. they didn't move at all. Now they have slightly burred ends and are flush with the timber on both ends.

Has anyone got any new ideas on how to remove them?

Cheers

Nick

nick if you re in the mood i have another 20 or so that need to be done ?
with the ones that are not moving try to drill holes around the bolt or grab the chainsaw and cut either side of the bolt across the log about 40mm in depth chisel that out ,this will allow you to expose the end of the bolt to cut off burred ends .when milling the first cut will be around 40 to 50 mm and remove the chainsaw cuts
hope this helps

What about heating the bolts from both ends with an LPG or (better) MAPP torch. That may break the bond with the wood and will expand the metal and surrounding wood so when the bolt cools there is a little more space around it. Then use your star picket driver and punch and see what happens.

Good onya Nick,
A pneumatic picket driver is a great idea. How would it be if you drilled a few holes close parralell to the last bolts with a post borer? Then hit them with the driver and punch the whole lot out. (by the way, I'll stick my neck out and say I think your logs are tallowood. it can be a bit pink in the centre).

cheers
Steve

Thanks guys, i used a chisel to get down around the bolts, cleaned off the burrs and then used a MAPP torch to get each end cherry red... left them for an hour or two to cool down and hit them with the post driver again...

Worked a treat!!!

Steve, I reckon you'd be sticking your neck out a long way to be on the money with tallow. Almost convinced of Turp or maybe ironbark.

Post us some pics of the milling Nick