Thread: The First Milling Job

Might be more economical to get some one with a Lucas to mill it for you?

John

no no no no its never more economical to get a man in cause all you get left with is the job done and no new tools

Originally Posted by fubar

no no no no its never more economical to get a man in cause all you get left with is the job done and no new tools

Sounds like a great line - I will have to remember that one!

Originally Posted by fubar

no no no no its never more economical to get a man in cause all you get left with is the job done and no new tools

The last time I looked at a post for a good 2nd hand Lucas it was $8,000. You would have to produce an awfull lot of timber to justify the cost of that new toy. My assessment is that for small jobs the capital cost is not warranted. If you want to make it a fulltime operation afterwards then the result should be different.
I hope some Lucas owners contribute to this thread as far as the economics of ownig and operating a Lucas mill on the basis of time spent againnt an economical return given the investment and operating costs as I have no personal experence with this type of mill.

John

It's not Ironbark, it might be Sydney Blue Gum

Chris, I thought I was being very subtle, just letting things stew in the back of your mind - I reckon you've made a psychological slip and sub-consciously you can't wait to get your hands on a Lucas

I'm totally with you on the log being Ironbark and even go so far as to Say Red Ironbark, my experience around here with red's has been the sapwood turns into that pithy yellow colour with occasional black lines through it once a bit of time goes by and the sapwood starts to rot. So sounds about right with timeframes you mention.

As for the heartwood still being good, you've had your first lesson on your way to becoming a proud owner of a flash new Lucas it doesn't hurt to leave some logs for a fair time before 'milling' it.

John, the cost of a new Lucas versus contracting someone to do the same job can be as little as 48 cubic metres of log or around 2 weeks of milling. Or if you looked at it from the point of view of having to buy timber versus new purchase price it can be as little as buying 4.75 cubic metres of decking. Or here's another way of looking at it, say I want to buy a 10-30 () and then I say I will sell it after cutting some timber... and maybe I sell it for $5,000 less than what I bought it for ( or 72% of new purchase price) then I only need to slice up 2.5 cubic metres of decking before breaking even..... It's scary how I have these points on the tip of my tongue isn't it?? Can you tell I'm trying to work angles on the boss to get me a 10-30

As for economics, I've worked around a few bits of machinery (admittedly not had the operators costs to deal with) but my perception of a lot of equipment is the economics of them a very fine. When I run my mill, it pushes out timber, runs efficiently, economically, had very few 'issues' with it over 5 years (4 exhausts, 1 gearbox/swingframe assembly and yesterday 1 crank handle) not bad expenses for the amount of timber the little thing has pushed out!!!

Hey guys, don't get me wrong, I'm not on here to sell Lucas mills, but I do think they are bloody fantastic and what I've said above is just what I've found/experienced over the past 5 years - no embellishment or frosting on it, just calling a spade a spade.

If you want to know what the wood is you would be better off showing the live tree. YOu could never mistake a ironbark for a Sydney blue gum if you saw the live tree.

Yeah - I'm hearing Ya Glenn, certainly no mistakin 'em when they standing hey?

Nice timber. I'd go Red Ironbark.

I should have taken some tree pics in the first place, I must have been too excited about the soundness of the timber!!.
So here are a few including a close up of the bark. Be interested to see what you all think.

Meantime I had a go at some black wattle that had also been on the ground 3 1/2 years.
Sound as can be, so it looks like I have some work ahead of me.

By the bark I would say it's a Mahogany which are related to Euc Saligna (except they have smooth bark) but it's over 2000miles from the species I know.
Iron barks have very hard fissured bark impregnated with resin. Mahogany have more soft flakey bark. Is there a local tree called Red Mahogany? or perhaps Northern Mahogany? If you really want to know post close up of leaves, nuts and buds indicating size number of valves etc. Or ask a local.

Hi Im based in Cairns and have a lucas 8-25, top machine & had no problems to date.
Have plenty of jobs on at present but always happy for a weekend at Cowley or Mission.
If you need any local help or advise send me a PM & will be happy to discuss further.

Cheers