Thread: Slabbing with a short bar

Originally Posted by weisyboy

whatever you do dont post a vid or someone will say u did it wrong.

Yep. Learned that one the hard way. I promise, no documenting will be made public this time


DJ: No probs. Whenever you're up for it will be great (and it will give me a chance to clear the area). It'll be beyond fantastic to get some nicely cut stock to have and share with yas.

Additional thought: Seeing as it's going to be a while, and the tree has been down for a couple of weeks already, is it worth me painting the ends and where branches have been cut off and maybe chuck a tarp over it until we can get stuck into cutting?

This time of the year I wouldn't worry, but if you want to, it won't hurt to

ps, don't worry about the tarp though

Originally Posted by BobL

Yeah - I heard those 034's can mill cast iron billets if one uses a carbide chain. ;-)


I agree, if the log can be rolled it makes it quite a bit easier - but RedShirtGuy did specifically say he cannot do this. This means he has to hold the saw horizontally to make the cuts which is much harder than holding the saw straight vertically. It's also much easier if the two cuts meet and unless someone is a pro miller (like yourself) getting the cuts to line up holding the saw horizontally is very tricky.

LOL

a handsaw will cut cast iron and a router will mill it flat, might not work for very long but it will work. As for calling me a Pro miller I am flattered, but I think what I have under my name would be closer to the truth. agreed that cutting horizontally can be a tad challenging. as for Kris's saw If i can run a 25 inch bar on an 034 with all of 56.5cc of 18 year old horsepower surely an almost 70cc husky of only a few years vintage with what would not be a lot of hours on the clock should be able to drive at least that!

What I was trying to get across with my post BobL was that he should not be afraid to have a go, and as I pointed out he may find that he can do better than he thought!!

I stihl say that the 034 was one of stihls best saws they ever made they just keep on going and although they do not posess the power of some of the larger saws they were very capable for what they were, and I would say that they are a lot more saw than the current saw of the same size (029.) I may be wrong but I did hear somewhere that they were the most popular stihl saw made at one stage and one of their biggest ever selling models.

As for rolling the logs there is no such thing as can't, even if it envolves a car and a snatch strap there is always a way.

Originally Posted by Travis Edwards

I stihl say that the 034...

Laughed so much I'm a little husky now

Originally Posted by Travis Edwards

LOL
.
.
If i can run a 25 inch bar on an 034 with all of 56.5cc of 18 year old horsepower surely an almost 70cc husky of only a few years vintage with what would not be a lot of hours on the clock should be able to drive at least that!

Maybe I'm showing my age but it seems to me the 034's were built to take this sort of punishment and from what I have seen are practically indestructible. The high revving plastic saws of today are a bit different, bury them up to the bar in and they lose revs very quickly and without the cooling they should have it's very easy to cook a slug and jug under these conditions

Originally Posted by Travis Edwards

As for rolling the logs there is no such thing as can't, even if it envolves a car and a snatch strap there is always a way.

Here's a few pics of ways I move/roll logs if I need to.....ute, lever block, various slings/chains, good bit of 4x4, few bits of wood etc etc

Here I am walking the log away from a garden bed so as to give me enuff room to roll it, I lift one end up then put a timber under it in the middle so it will pivot, then with a series of reverse, lift, forward, pivot, reverse....I walk it away, I wanted to do this to square up the log so first cut face had to stay upright
Attachment 139848

and then I roll it
Attachment 139849Attachment 139850Attachment 139851
Attachment 139852Attachment 139853

here I am dragging this bit of log
Attachment 139854Attachment 139855


Pete

I got to squeeze in some time for the stump today and managed to freehand quartersaw half a dozen or so 1.5" slabs from a small quarter. The slab pictured has been run through a thicknesser to try and get a decent flat patch on one end and has been wet slightly.

I found there are a lot of termite holes in the stump that I think...*think*...don't go up into the trunk that's lying on the ground (but I have seen the buggers crawling on the open end of it)...and if they do, I don't think they will be too far in unless there is another bunch somewhere else in there (I don't know termites' habits). What was showing on the inside of the stump was thinning out to almost nothing a few inches from where the felling cuts were made.

The holes only showed up on cuts from one direction (left side of attached pic) but I know they're in all the slabs.

I'm a bit more concerned about the cracks around the edge now. Probably at least 6" from each side of a slab will have to be cut off and it *seems* they're growing rather rapidly but it could just be me being my usual hyper-stressed self . It looks like the really nice "flamey" wood is right on the edge where these cracks are (bottom of the attached pic) and would be cut off when removing the cracked stuff ...at least for these q/sawn bits. The flames aren't quite as flat as the rest so it could also just be an illusion of saw cuts and jointing...I don't really have any experience in these matters.

If it's real, would the "flame" be visible on straight sawn board/slabs?

And do y'all still think it's worth doing? I'd hate for DJ to make the trek just to be milling firewood

The cracks on the edge have been there for quite some time from the looks of it, holes look more like borer rather than termite.

Also looks more like Yellow Gum or Box rather than Stringy.

The white spots look more like borer of some sort rather than termite, from my observations termites will go for sapwood and or rotting/rotted sections of timber before they start on the good stuff and may not even do that if it's something they don't like, if they like it they will make tunnels/galleries of completely eaten timber over time of course, the borers will have tunnels as well but not completely eaten timber unless it's a really bad infestation...others will know more than me tho

I take it the piece in the pic came from the top of the stump, the ends are always the first to start splitting due to immediate water loss, my guess would be that once u get into the log past any splits it should be good and as DJ said this time of year is the best time to just leave a log until ready to mill, it is a case sometimes of just gotta open it up and see waht u have got and make assesment from there.

Pete

Okie dokes. Borer holes they are then. David Attenborough I am not

Originally Posted by pjt

I take it the piece in the pic came from the top of the stump

The part of the (still standing) stump it came from is about 2.5 foot high and the piece was cut vertically from the stump right down the ground. I cropped the pic to focus mostly on the good bit that had been planed but still had the borer holes in it.

How I cut the stump today was...
- cut across the full width (from an edge of the heart), effectively halving the stump.
- cut one of the resulting halves in half in the other direction to give me two quarter logs.
- cut one of the quarters off at ground level.
- with the quarter still upright, cut a slab off one flat side, then a slab off the other flat side, then again off the first side etc etc until I was done.


I'll have a bit more time tomorrow arvo to plane the full length of a piece or two and try and decide if it's worth busting my butt on the rest of the stump.

But yeh, once you're into the log past the cracked edges the main core of it looks like it's still in pretty good nick.