Thread: Milling questions, now or wait till autumn and drying.

Mill now, 50 mm minimum, Sticker at 450 mm, out of direct sunlight.

With redgum it's pot luck as to what will happen.

If the trees were still standing you might consider waiting till after the heat. For logs, the summer might be worse then for freshly sawn timber in my opinion.

I don't think that kiln drying is a must, as long as the final product is properly constructed to allow for movement.

To what will happen... I think the more time you take drying (slowing initial drying down) the better your chances at minimal surface checking. So keep the timber out of the sun or strong wind. It might take a year longer before it is dry.

To some extent milling in hot weather is more down to your heat tolerance than the timber itself. Most of the millers here have fairly manual setups and certainly a chainsaw mill falls firmly into that category. Make it as easy as possible for yourself.

I am not a chainsaw miller, but read some of the other threads. For example, BobL frequently mentions setting the log on a slightly downward slope to enable the saw to do the work. Moving slabs around once they have a bit of size about them can be a gut buster.

Sound advice already given for drying. My hobby horse is sealing the ends with either proprietary products or old paint; lots of it. Also place double or extra wide stickers at the very end of the boards. Again this is to retard the moisture loss which is much faster at the ends.

You may be able to rig up an improvised shelter using star pickets and old corrugated iron if you don't have shed space. Remember to place weight on the top layer of boards.

Regards
Paul

in my limited expierience with redgum i'm with bobl in that it is pot luck what you get from them.but as others say double stick the ends and end seal.lots of weight on top of the stack will help.and don't forget to start the stack off as level as possible.i can't say this often enough. THE FOUNDAITION OF THE STACK IS THE MOST IMPORTANT THING TO GET RIGHT. direct sunlight and a dry wind will speed up surface checking.if that worries you throw some sawdust over the slabs while milling.scrape it off whilst stacking in the early morning or late afternoon.black builders plastic can be used to envelope the stack during the hotter months whick slows down moisture loss.

As has been said for this time of year slowing down the drying is what you are aiming for, which might seem counter to what we want to achieve and that is drying of the timber, the problem with air drying green timber in summer is that the ambient temp and humidity are not what happens when compared to a properly controlled kiln, the usual conditions in a kiln (with a charge of green timber) will be a high temp with high hum, and lots of air movement, bearing in mind that the kiln schedule will be specific to the timber being dried and the rate at which the timber is to be dried, and as days go by the hum is lowered at the said rate which allows the moisture to move from the timber to the air in the kiln and if the hum is lowered too much and too fast there will be degrade of the timber, so cutting green timber and stickering it and sticking a sheet of iron over the top is all good but if the ambient conditions are hot and dry the moisture can be sucked out of the timber too fast, at least the surface layers and hence surface checking and end splitting, if the stack is to be outside I would suggest small size sticks, 1/2" or less, not allowing hot sun onto the stack so if you can stack it under a shady tree, not allow air to flow under the stack, cover the sides with shade cloth, however if you get rain for a couple of days you then need to keep an eye on it to stop it growing mould so you then need to allow air movement and lots of it, then for winter you might want to consider restacking it to allow more air movement, a bit of warm winter sun on the stack .....and leave as is for another summer and it wont be to far from usable.




Pete

Pete

That's a good summary.

Unfortunately, a point that is frequently missed, is that the thicker the boards the slower you are obliged to dry the timber. In the case of the slabs at a minimum of 50mm and maybe more the suggestion of 12mm stickers is a good call.

Remember too that after drying a 50mm board may be less than 45mm thick. As there will inevitably be some cupping, on the backsawn boards in particular, you will lose more timber during thicknessing. It is quite easy for 50mm to end up 40mm dressed. In commercial sizes, this is exactly what happens (100 x 50 dresses down to 90 x 45). Allow for these loses in the original cutting. 60mm may be a suitable thickness.

Regards
Paul

Hi guys

I live just north of Dean and have been milling redgum for the past fifteen years. In my opinion, slabbing redgum this time of year in this region is asking for trouble, especially on smaller logs around the 700mm dia. mark. They tend to have more gum vein and a lot more tension than the big old 1200-1800mm plus logs, so they are even harder to control once cut. The weather can be so dry here in central Vic, and a week of 40 degree days is not uncommon.

I only mill furniture timber from March to September, other wise the rate of surface check and very minor cracking, even in quarter sawn boards, can be very high. Timber sealer definately. I use the sealer that Caltex makes, available from the Caltex East depot near the showgrounds in Bendigo, but there are others available. Seal at least the end 200 mm of the slab and any defects, such as gum veins, cracks, knots, etc. You want to minimse the rate of moisture loss in these areas where there may be end grain exposed. But don't spill sealer on the bark edge, as it can be hard to get off when making the finished product.

I have found that slabs milled in the 60mm range produce a better finished product, and gives you a little bit extra to work with if the slab does cup. All my slabs are racked out with 40mm sticks, to allow a good flow in both summer and winter, but this is restricted by wrapping the rack entirely in hessian, then with a heavy duty tarpaulain cap that runs over the top and down both ends, but not over the sides. Sealing the pack completely provides a haven for mould, borers and high humidity which can adversely affect the timber. I have a good steel base design for drying timber on, and you are welcome to have a look at it. By the way, I dry slabs for a minimum of 5 years and never have a problem with movement, but there are a lot of factors that contribute as well, such as furniture design, slab quality, etc.

Painting the ends of the logs with house paint will help them survive, as well as keeping them in the shade, or piling sawdust over them for the summer.

But also keep in mind that not all redgums are of slabbing quality. You can waste a lot of time and energy slabbing a log that produces poor quality slabs, where it may have produced a nice set of boards that would make a beautiful table, or it may have been better just to mill it into sleepers. Some redgum logs present timber no better than garden grade. I would never have the outlook that if they turn out crappy, you would not care. Make the most of what each log can give you, and you will get even more enjoyment from the process.

You are most welcome to visit the farm and get some ideas from the system I use. We are still racking out some of those massive slabs that Krunchie and Tony milled for me in August near Bendigo, so you can see first hand the racking process. Maybe you can aviod some of the problems I faced 15 years ago, keenly heading off into the scrub with my chainsaw and home made slabber! Oh how I loved those fumes off the 090! (Thank god for my Lucas now)

Anyway, they are just my thoughts as redgum is a bit of a speciality of mine.
Cheers and good luck.
James

Thanks for the reply guys as all information is very useful. I did not want to rush at this like a bull at the gate and not be ready for the next step in the process, as ideally i would like be able to get the most out of what i have access to. I will probably leave the redum for now and play with some greybox logs, just to ease the withdrawal symptoms. Thanks Dean