Brigade
ArboristSite Member
I am preparing a building site of my property and have a number (6 and counting) of large big leaf maples now on the ground. They range up to a maximum of 5 ft diameter at the base for the largest. There is a LOT of good wood. I would like to mill this wood for flooring , cabinets & anything else reasonable for the house to be built. Actually there is enough for a few houses.
Present situation:
1) property is on an island with no ferry or road access so barging or boating everything in/out. Not really possible to get the wood to a mill for finishing & cost would probably be a killer.
2) I don't have a mill at present but am considering an entry level woodmizer or norwood unit ... a manual unit without bells & whistles
3) I will have a small excavator for moving the log sections...presently bucked into 6 - 8 ft lengths
4) since no mill I know of can handle this size of log what would work best to downsize the logs.....I have an old stilh 050 and was thinking of a mini mill just to get to a manageble size....sound reasonable?? other options?
5) When using something like the woodmizer or norwood mill what size planks should be cut.....I was thinking maximum width of the wood & 1.5 inch thick??
6) I will not have a kiln or access to one so the wood would be air dried while stacked in a steel shipping container. Good enough?
7) once dried I thought I could cut the planks into flooring sizes (max 3 in width) and plane them with a portable planer. I was NOT plannig of T&G each piece....is it possible to lay flooring without T&G (use shiplap joints?) or with just edge to edge. I suspect expansion / contraction would make the joint look huge?
I guess what I am looking for are hints or suggestions to turn the raw wood into something to be proud of. In this case is it reasonable or is the project a dream. Best to get feedback from the pros before I spend a lot of money & time on this one.
Any thoughts pro & con on this. I apologize for creating a novel but I have so many questions and relatively little experience in this area.
Regards
Present situation:
1) property is on an island with no ferry or road access so barging or boating everything in/out. Not really possible to get the wood to a mill for finishing & cost would probably be a killer.
2) I don't have a mill at present but am considering an entry level woodmizer or norwood unit ... a manual unit without bells & whistles
3) I will have a small excavator for moving the log sections...presently bucked into 6 - 8 ft lengths
4) since no mill I know of can handle this size of log what would work best to downsize the logs.....I have an old stilh 050 and was thinking of a mini mill just to get to a manageble size....sound reasonable?? other options?
5) When using something like the woodmizer or norwood mill what size planks should be cut.....I was thinking maximum width of the wood & 1.5 inch thick??
6) I will not have a kiln or access to one so the wood would be air dried while stacked in a steel shipping container. Good enough?
7) once dried I thought I could cut the planks into flooring sizes (max 3 in width) and plane them with a portable planer. I was NOT plannig of T&G each piece....is it possible to lay flooring without T&G (use shiplap joints?) or with just edge to edge. I suspect expansion / contraction would make the joint look huge?
I guess what I am looking for are hints or suggestions to turn the raw wood into something to be proud of. In this case is it reasonable or is the project a dream. Best to get feedback from the pros before I spend a lot of money & time on this one.
Any thoughts pro & con on this. I apologize for creating a novel but I have so many questions and relatively little experience in this area.
Regards