NuggyBuggy
ArboristSite Operative
Newbie alert (I've been around a few years, but still working on my first log :msp_scared:
I've got a Granberg mill and a few ~ 30" logs to mill. Someone advised me to cut my slabs thick, so I did my first few at 2" (only took a few years). I know this way it minimizes waste.
But then I realized my slabs are about 30" wide. When I eventually get to building furniture - someday - how would I take these slabs down to likely working thickness ? I could hand plane them (would take forever), but most of the time I'd be wasting half of the slab. I only have a 14" bandsaw, so I can't resaw them - and if I had a bandsaw big enough, I couldn't manhandle those slabs through one, anyways.
So what to do ? Should I cut closer to more common furniture working thickness, and just suck up the waste due to kerf ?
p.s.
As for why it's taken so long... it seems like every time I'm ready to mill, I run into problems that cost me a few months while I detour and try to figure it out. My most recent detours have included learning how to make chains, finding out I put a few links backwards, having my sprocket covers vibrating loose in the cut, spending about 20 minutes trying to get through the thickest part of a log before realizing I just ran out of bar and wasn't actually moving, etc. All of this made worse by the fact my stuff is at my cottage and I have two little boys....
I've got a Granberg mill and a few ~ 30" logs to mill. Someone advised me to cut my slabs thick, so I did my first few at 2" (only took a few years). I know this way it minimizes waste.
But then I realized my slabs are about 30" wide. When I eventually get to building furniture - someday - how would I take these slabs down to likely working thickness ? I could hand plane them (would take forever), but most of the time I'd be wasting half of the slab. I only have a 14" bandsaw, so I can't resaw them - and if I had a bandsaw big enough, I couldn't manhandle those slabs through one, anyways.
So what to do ? Should I cut closer to more common furniture working thickness, and just suck up the waste due to kerf ?
p.s.
As for why it's taken so long... it seems like every time I'm ready to mill, I run into problems that cost me a few months while I detour and try to figure it out. My most recent detours have included learning how to make chains, finding out I put a few links backwards, having my sprocket covers vibrating loose in the cut, spending about 20 minutes trying to get through the thickest part of a log before realizing I just ran out of bar and wasn't actually moving, etc. All of this made worse by the fact my stuff is at my cottage and I have two little boys....