Milling heaven

[BobL]

Spent part of today helping yard owner Jeff lay out the next round of logs for milling.

Some of Lemon Scented Gum cache, dumped on the ground.

The armpits of these branches promises some interesting fiddle.

Laying out the gluts.

This shot gives you an idea of the size of these babys. That's an 066 in the shot. In the background you can see the 30" diameter log of another Blue Tipped Leaf Jarrah

 

[BobL]

Milling Heaven part II

Small Sugar Gum

Close up of cross grain of Lemon Scented Gum. This stuff is dense and H..A..R..D as . . . . .

All 8 logs ready to start miling, almost 20 tons of trees to mill. Jeff arriving with the well earned medicinal (Corona) beverages.

And one for your imagination!

 

[slabmaster]

Looks like some nice logs to mill Bob.They should keep you busy for awhile.Looks like some nice crotch boards coming with flame.I'd like to see the pictures of them when cut.

 

[Nikko]

opcorn:

Nikko

 

[dustytools]

Nice logs Bob!!! Im looking forward to some milling pics.

 

[Trigger-Time]

Nice logs Bob!!! Im looking forward to some milling pics.

+1

 

[Backwoods]

Nice

 

[peterrum]

This is going to be good

 

[BobL]

This is going to be good

Perhaps instead you should have said, "this is going to be hard" which it is. This stuff, also known as Spotted Gum, when green, is as hard as Pecan when it is dry, but it's not the hardest stuff I've milled.

Cheers

 

[woodshop]

This is going to be good

I agree... can't wait to see what you come up with opening up some of these (to me/us) exotic beauties. Blue tipped Jarrah... Lemon scented Gum... foreign language, makes my mouth water. I too can't wait to see some fiddleback figure in some of those crotches. Very interesting post.

 

[BobL]

Cheers Guys.

One thing I forgot to add is that one of the Lemon Scented (or Spotted Gum as it is sometimes called ) trunks has been hit by a lightening strike. It can't have been a direct hit as there is no visible physical damage in the timber. When these trees get a direct hit they often explode. The bark is not visibly singed but on one side its been dried out like its been in an oven and is flaking off in half hand size patches. The is definitely some alteration since all the wood is a grayer brown that the other logs. We'll cut a couple of slabs and see how it goes.

Anyone else have any experience milling something like this?

 

[deeker]

Looks like a lot of work, great pics...and keep it up!!!!!

:yourock: :yourock: Always need more pics.

Kevin

 

[peterrum]

Waiting patiently for the show to begin but I am running out of popcorn.

 

[BobL]

Sorry - major distraction in progress, plus wild wet weather to contend with. This week, arborist yard owner and I purchase a large (1/2 ton?) 3 phase planer/jointer, and I had to go back to the day job. Could be a while getting back to the logs.

 

[HarryHarley]

Nice logs. But I'm not sure if I like the fork lift better!!!:hmm3grin2orange:

 

[BobL]

Nice logs. But I'm not sure if I like the fork lift better!!!:hmm3grin2orange:

She's a little beauty alright but it's limited to about a ton so it couldn't lift those bigger logs. It's very good for handling slab with that long reach and decent height.

 

[BobL]

Lightening Strike

This is the first of the 7 Lemon Scented Gums in milling heaven. This tree also called Spotted Gum and is pretty ho-hum for most aussies but I thought the rest of you would like to see what it's like. When green it's quite dense, 72 lb/cuft; and hard, when green it's about as hard as pecan is when it is dry! But it's not the hardest thing I have milled green.

This particular log is the narrowest of the pack, almost 2 ft in diameter, but the longest, 13 ft long and was also struck by lightening or more likely was in the vicinity of a lightening strike as a direct hit usually blows them apart. This tree lost its bark all down one side so we had no idea what it was going to be like.

The other thing this log had was bright green inner bark - that could be a reaction to the lightening strike or something else.

Some grain close ups.

 

[BobL]

Lightening Strike II

First cut was OK in terms of speed because of the narrowness of the cut and the sharp chain but this stuff being quite hard dulled the chain pretty quickly. I should have changed the chain after the third slab so sawdust generation was down and the dust was coming off as powder rathe than chips.

I took this short for fun but now realize I can work out the chain speed from the blurred line of each cutter if I know the camera shutter speed.

Here what happens of you hand onto the mill frame at the same time as the camera when taking the picture! I could probably work out the vibration frequency if I knew the shutter speed.

Critters move in quickly to reclaim habitat.

Final shot of the day.

 

[AndyR]

That is gorgeous wood Bob. Not a knot in sight.

Glad to see you found some time to get into these logs, I think we're all waiting on the edge of our seats for more pics.

Can't wait to see more milled lumber and the projects that come from it too.
Cheers,
Andy

 

[woodshop]

Very interesting Bob... always look forward to your posts. That storage container should be getting pretty filled by now, no? Do you have a dry safe place to store you dead stacked wood once dry? Today I moved 300 bd ft of while oak up to my Dad's little farm to try and make some room here. But he's (at todays prices) $42 worth of gas round trip. So I just added 25 cents to every board foot of that oak taking it there.

Keep those interesting pics coming Bob.