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Thread: Newbie Q
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29th August 2023, 08:49 AM #1New Member
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Newbie Q
Hi all,
I have recently bought a chainsaw slabbing mill and have found that it is a pretty good piece of kit, now to the question to hand is I have a yellow box gum that was live when it fell over a 3 years ago and I have already cut a slice off the top and will now look to cut another 4 slices off it, there is no rot at all (so far!)
I dont have access to a kiln or anything like that so how long are people letting the timber dry before using it? The slabs will be 3.8m long x 500 to 700mm wide and looking to do 70mm thick. I have already used the top cut as a bar bench top between the verandah spans (2.9M) and it has not moved at all yet despite having full sun on it during the day, it is tied down/anchored at both end and the middle.
I am looking to install a single slab counter benchtop inside my place which will be anchored at various spots including both ends along with one edge being completely supported for 3/4 of its length to stop the wood moving or is that too soon? Thoughts anyone?
Dave
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29th August 2023, 05:32 PM #2GOLD MEMBER
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The rule of thumb is "an inch a year." So for every inch of thickness it will take approximately a year to come into equilibrium. The actual time will vary according to the season and the stacking. Air drying is a slow process and good stickering is critical, otherwise you are going to end up with fire wood. Mind you, yellow box is excellent fire wood.
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30th August 2023, 07:56 AM #3New Member
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Mmm interesting, well the slabbing will be done this coming weekend weather dependent so will see how it goes, plenty of other firewood on my place so I dont want the effort of slabbing the timber up only to see it used as firewood! What are your thoughts on the butt end of a yellow box branch that has been down for 20 plus years?
I have cut it into 70mm thick slabs, the piece of wood is a branch section that has beautiful ribboning through it and the timber is super hard and dry and again virtually no rot at all, (was hard going to cut it!) I was looking into making a couple of coffee tables with the middle sections. the dimensions are approx 1m at the widest point and around 1.5 long.
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30th August 2023, 08:29 AM #4
With the time your trees have been down it would be worth buying a moisture meter and seeing what the reading tells you, if the moisture is too high then whatever you make from it will overtime reach equilibrium with the environment it lives in. This will result in some shrinkage, but you could also get twist and warping, which will potentially be worse than the shrinkage.
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30th August 2023, 08:58 AM #5New Member
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30th August 2023, 04:34 PM #6GOLD MEMBER
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With Eucalyps I dont mill branches. Usually they are too unstable to dry flat because the heart is often not central.
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31st August 2023, 09:21 AM #7New Member
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