Daninvan
ArboristSite Operative
A fellow got in touch with me about an oak tree the city was going to be taking down on his street. The city had told him they would have a crew there to take it down on Friday at 8 AM, and that he could have all the wood he wanted from it. I agreed I would mill it for him and that we would split the wood.
Told him to check with the city crew when they arrived to find out what time they expected to finish falling it, and I would get over there when they were done. He called me and told me they figured 6 hours, so would not be done until 2 PM. So we had to reschedule for Monday. In spite of all the milling I have done, I have never actually cut down a tree so I had no idea how long it took!
Monday turned out to be a great day for milling. The owner had put a sign up on Friday evening to 'claim' the wood, as people were coming by and trying to take it almost immediately after the city crew left on Friday.
We decided to trim it and just slab the trunk. My bowl turning buddy could not join me otherwise we probably would have taken something from the larger branches. So first step was to get a guide board on the trunk. I also had to trim the butt end down a bit for thickness, as the log was wider than the 30" max that my mill can handle.
Peeled off a couple of slabs and all was going well. The saw was cutting nicely, the neighbours were not complaining, it wasn't raining - the perfect milling day in the city!
Lots of sawdust!! Some tarps helped simplify the clean up a bit. Took off a few more slabs, had to stop and sharpen a couple of times. The chain is getting a bit old, I really need to spend a bit of time on it. Anyways, the slabs were all looking good.
Then, a nail! Luckily the damage was minimal.
Wound up with 7 slabs, 2 1/2" thick and just over 6 feet long and max of 30 inches wide. Trying to lift these was a good reminder to be careful with my back.
A great day overall. Did have some trouble with one of the 3120's though. It ran fine for a while then became very difficult to start. So it is into the shop now for a tune up. Hopefully next week can get down to the beach!
Told him to check with the city crew when they arrived to find out what time they expected to finish falling it, and I would get over there when they were done. He called me and told me they figured 6 hours, so would not be done until 2 PM. So we had to reschedule for Monday. In spite of all the milling I have done, I have never actually cut down a tree so I had no idea how long it took!
Monday turned out to be a great day for milling. The owner had put a sign up on Friday evening to 'claim' the wood, as people were coming by and trying to take it almost immediately after the city crew left on Friday.
We decided to trim it and just slab the trunk. My bowl turning buddy could not join me otherwise we probably would have taken something from the larger branches. So first step was to get a guide board on the trunk. I also had to trim the butt end down a bit for thickness, as the log was wider than the 30" max that my mill can handle.
Peeled off a couple of slabs and all was going well. The saw was cutting nicely, the neighbours were not complaining, it wasn't raining - the perfect milling day in the city!
Lots of sawdust!! Some tarps helped simplify the clean up a bit. Took off a few more slabs, had to stop and sharpen a couple of times. The chain is getting a bit old, I really need to spend a bit of time on it. Anyways, the slabs were all looking good.
Then, a nail! Luckily the damage was minimal.
Wound up with 7 slabs, 2 1/2" thick and just over 6 feet long and max of 30 inches wide. Trying to lift these was a good reminder to be careful with my back.
A great day overall. Did have some trouble with one of the 3120's though. It ran fine for a while then became very difficult to start. So it is into the shop now for a tune up. Hopefully next week can get down to the beach!
