Milling Silky Oak on a 14SUV - Advice Please

I've just received a box trailer of silky oak. It's green...really green. Maple man has already given me advice on what to do with it. I've painted the ends with exterior acrylic paint, and now have to rip/mill and dry it.

My Laguna 14SUV is up to the job, but the standard table isn't. The logs are 1000mm or less long, with the biggest approaching 14-15" diameter.

If someone has an existing setup with an indeed/out feed table that does the job well, would you mind posting a pic please? I've got some ideas but I'm concerned about over complicating things.

(No, I don't know anyone with a mobile mill or a bandsaw mill, and I don't have a chainsaw)

I need something I can make next week do I can mill & dry
it between my days off from work.

Thanks :)

There are a few log slicing jigs on these forums I have seen, probably in the Bandsaw section but here's a fancy one http://www.ttit.id.au/gadgets/MillSled.htm, but hopefully someone will post a link to other simpler ones.

Or mark a straight line down the log then cut it freehand holding it carefully. Once cut in half, lay a half on its flat, then mark another straight line down the middle and freehand cut it giving you a quarter. Then place that flat against the fence and slice into what ever size you want.

The straighter knot free sections could be split in quarters first.

I've just finished watching season 1 of 'the woodwrights shop'. Splitting them have seriously occurred to me.

If I cut them instead I'll end up with some 300mm x1000mm boards (all going to plan, fingers crossed.

Thanks for the link to the 'ttit' website. I have seen it ages ago. Looks quite good and versatile. I'll definitely keep in the the 'possible' pile for now.

I guess a Laguna 14SUV is a bandsaw?

I've had reasonable results planing some flats on a selected side of the log, screwing the log, resting on these flats, to a piece of ply that can be used as a guide against the fence on the bandsaw. For the infeed and outfeed tables do you have any other machines, tablesaw, jointer, router table, assembly bench etc etc that could be purposed to do the job? Even if you have to make some rough mdf/chipboard tops to bring them up to height they can work well.

Quote:

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Originally Posted by johnredl

I've just received a box trailer of silky oak. It's green...really green. Maple man has already given me advice on what to do with it. I've painted the ends with exterior acrylic paint, and now have to rip/mill and dry it.

My Laguna 14SUV is up to the job, but the standard table isn't. The logs are 1000mm or less long, with the biggest approaching 14-15" diameter.

If someone has an existing setup with an indeed/out feed table that does the job well, would you mind posting a pic please? I've got some ideas but I'm concerned about over complicating things.

(No, I don't know anyone with a mobile mill or a bandsaw mill, and I don't have a chainsaw)

I need something I can make next week do I can mill & dry
it between my days off from work.

Thanks :)

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Have a look at this Youtube Video --- https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WItDzkTk-2s

His setup of Jigs, Bandsaw Table Extensions, and other log support equipment might give you some ideas regarding what is possible at the top end of the shop made jig scale.

The next video shows a simpler jig. Something between the two extremes shown in the two videos is probably what you want. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=46f4pV8SMRk

Get yourself something like a 1 inch x 3 TPI Bi-metal blade. Peacock Saws in Brisbane (http://www.peacocksaws.com.au/) sell the Starret Woodmiser Bi-Metal Blade, which is what I use. Henry Brothers Saw Blades in Sydney (http://www.henrybrossaws.com.au/aboutus.htm) also sell a Bi-Metal Blade that will do the job.

A plain HSS blade will be cheaper, but I've found that the tips of the HSS blade teeth can overheat very quickly, and then the teeth loose their hardness, and the blade is a throw-away item then. The Bi-Metal Blade design solves that problem. With the right blade, the 14SUV should plough through that timber OK. If you've got a Laguna ReSaw King carbide tipped blade, it will certainly do the job for you, but you're probably better off saving that expensive blade for precision veneer resawing, and go with a much cheaper Bi-Metal Blade for rough sawing green logs.

There's also a few Youtube Vids that demonstrate why you should not try to cross-cut or rip cut logs on a bandsaw without first securing the log in a jig. You need to use a Jig to stop the log rolling into the cut.

Regards,

RoyG