Thread: Hidden Treasure

Verrrrrryyyyyy nicccceee Bob.

Cheers Matt

That Jarrah certainly deserves something better than a playground.

"You never judge a book by it's cover"

Plenty of WOW there.

Today we decided not to slab the big jarrah shown above but turned it into a can't to mill into boards on the smaller (more accurate) bandsaw mill.

Here it is being picked up by the HIAB after been cut down to fit on the small BS mill
DOnt work I have kept all teh offcuts and will be milling those separately.
Jarrah3.jpg

Even the small forklift could just pick it up.
Jarrah4.jpg

My next job was to make this large LSG into a cant to turn into lumber for an outdoor privacy screen.
This was a brbrute of a thing which the forklift had no chance of lifting, so out with the HIAB again
LSG1.jpg

The privacy screen is only 1.8m high so the boss decided to dock the branch union end off/
LSG2.jpg

here it is on the old BSM ready to be square up
LSG3.jpg

Unfortunately the old mill did not play nice and was not cutting straight plus I had to leave to attend to family matters so that was it for today
It looks like I'll be farting around again with the mill on Monday.

Here's a shot of a few other logs at the bar.
The two on teh right are LSGsm, the middle one is a Jarrah and the scraggy looking thing on the left is an IornBark
They're all much bigger than they look.
Allsorts.jpg

Geez, they all look as hard as the hammers of hell!.
Almost feel sorry for you guys in WA, is there any native timber that is softish and a pleasure to carve and does not stress out machines that grows over there?.

Originally Posted by artful bodger

Geez, they all look as hard as the hammers of hell!.
Almost feel sorry for you guys in WA, is there any native timber that is softish and a pleasure to carve and does not stress out machines that grows over there?.

Jarrah seems soft to me, its wonderful to cut, a half decent chain saw or band saw goes through it like butter and the spectrum of sawdust colours are incredible from soft pinks to orange, strawberry, to deep red browns and occasionally even a hint of purple.

Here's one I cut back in 2008
setup.jpgw
grain3.jpg

The sawdust has a strong connection to my childhood.
Dad was a timber faller and felled many a Jarrah in his time and would often come home covered in bright Jarrah Sawdust.

Marri looks hard but is moderately softish, and also nice to cut.
It can also produce some nice fiddle.
fiddle.jpg

Back to the mill today as it was not so hot and where we were it was forecast to be <30º.
It was actually really nice under the big lemon scented gums in the tree loppers yard..

We put a big lemon Scented gum on the mill using the big bobcat and while the Tree Lopper (Jeff) was positioning the log he ended up pushing the mill rails off their concrete slab. I'm glad it was him and not me that did this

STOP! - remove log - lift Mill off rails using the HIAB.
millreset.jpg

Use crow bars to lever rails back onto concrete pad.
Then level the rails - this usually takes bloody ages (yes it has happened before) but it only took about half an hour this time.

Before we put the mill back on we took the opportunity to check the bearings on the Mill wheels that roll along the track.
The bearings seemed very loose but it was not the bearings - it turned out there were 12mm bolts through the 1/2" holes in the bearings.
So off to get some 1/2" bolts but the then these bolts were too big for the spacers not either side of the bearings.
By then it was midday and I couldn't stay any longer so took the spacers home with me to bore them out on the MW lathe.

Three steps forwards and 2 back today.

Originally Posted by BobL

.....Three steps forwards and 2 back today....

I seem to have more than my share of that sort of day lately. On the bright side, the properly-sized axles might make the big mill run a wee bit more smoothly & accurately? I have very little experience of bs mills. My brother loaned me his small (~400mm) mill for a while several years back. I found myself on a steep learning curve & I didn't get anywhere near the top! It was a temperamental little beast, but when it decided to be cooperative, it was so much nicer (& less wasteful) than my chainsaw setup. I was sawing stuff like silky oak & camphor laurel, which you'd probably think was not serious milling at all....

I do envy your access to heavy-lifting gear. Moving those radiata logs I cut up last year using only potato power & a crowbar to heave them onto skids for the slabbing mill just about finished my ageing body off! I don't think I have it in me to do anything like that again - fortunately, I have enough wood on hand to last me quite a few years (unless there is a sudden rush of orders from the family..)

Cheers,
Ian

Originally Posted by IanW

I seem to have more than my share of that sort of day lately. On the bright side, the properly-sized axles might make the big mill run a wee bit more smoothly & accurately? I have very little experience of bs mills. My brother loaned me his small (~400mm) mill for a while several years back. I found myself on a steep learning curve & I didn't get anywhere near the top! It was a temperamental little beast, but when it decided to be cooperative, it was so much nicer (& less wasteful) than my chainsaw setup. I was sawing stuff like silky oak & camphor laurel, which you'd probably think was not serious milling at all....

To me milling is any cutting up any size logs - even if it's a small branch on an upright bandsaw.
I've milled many small/short logs (down to 150 mm in diameter) for eg for the mens shed, using my 70cc saw with 25" bar, and small chainsaw mill rig.
The good thing about this is I can do this at home.
This was cutting up some short pieces of Banksia
Milling1.jpg

I finally got the "bastardo mill" cutting straight.
I've experimented with about half a dozen things over the last few days but the one that seemed to make the most difference was making sure the set on the band teeth was a bit more than usual and all the same. We sharpen our own bands and it also turned out the setter tool was out of whack.

I was at my wits end why even new bands were still wandering but it appears that these bands simply didn't have enough set to correct any small band wanderings for this mill.

We loaded the mill up with a big Red Iron Bark
Ironbrk1.jpg

It's hard wood so I upped the water lube/coolant.
It’s a fairly brutal dirty process - there’s water, engine exhaust, hot air from the motor cooling fan, dry sawdust, muddy sawdust, bits of bark etc flying off in all directions.
ronbark2.jpg

Thi is going to be used for park benches - pity as they will go grey pretty quickly - but we have HEAPS of this stuff so I'm not that fussed.
ironbar3.jpg

Here is the IB cant ready to move over to the small mill.
ironbar4.jpg

The new mill has been earning its keep - here it is maxed out AGAIN.
I hope it can keep this up as there is heaps to do.
MAXCUT1.jpg