# Oak milling



## hautions11 (Jul 2, 2006)

I have been working on this oak for quite some time. I quartered a lot of it and even though it was time consuming, the wood is beautifull. Today we were cutting 22" wide planks. It was all my 064 (thanks Tkemble) wanted.


http://i39.photobucket.com/albums/e165/Hautions11/Oakmilling3.jpg
http://i39.photobucket.com/albums/e165/Hautions11/Oakmilling1.jpg
http://i39.photobucket.com/albums/e165/Hautions11/Oakmilling4.jpg

Now the only downside was it was 92 degrees outside!!! I am going out early and cutting 3-4 boards.


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## thompson1600 (Jul 2, 2006)

Great pics. keep them coming. Nice looking wood. Think how much that slab would cost at the store and it makes it worthwhile. Are you getting good meduliary rays or is it coming out rift sawn?

Milling with an Alaskan in the summer is brutal.

Tom


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## woodshop (Jul 2, 2006)

Great pics hautions, nice peeler there, don't see too many large knots in any of those boards so they'll dry up nice and strait if you sticker them and don't dry too fast. My eye is on that huge chunk in the background, I see some serious crotch figured pieces coming from that huge piece once you clean it up and get it into something you can mill. Yeah, milling in the summer is a good way to burn some calories, but then thats what I want to do these days. If I can do that and also be doing something I get enjoyment from that's icing on the cake.


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## aggiewoodbutchr (Jul 2, 2006)

thompson1600 said:


> Great pics. keep them coming. Nice looking wood. Think how much that slab would cost at the store and it makes it worthwhile. Are you getting good meduliary rays or is it coming out rift sawn?
> 
> Milling with an Alaskan in the summer is brutal.
> 
> Tom



Look at the last pic. I believe I can make out some niecly pronounced rays.

Good job, hautions11!


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## hautions11 (Jul 2, 2006)

*Crotch wood*

Woodshop,

Are you talking about the stump? I never thought to cut it up.


I saw your walnut pics and they look good. Here are the walnut kitchen cabinets I made and a variant of the shaker table in walnut. The table has a rounded steamed front and drawer with the tapered shaker legs.

The rays in the narower pieces are spectacular! When I quarter saw the log the pieces are really unbelievable.


http://i39.photobucket.com/albums/e165/Hautions11/WalnutCabinets.jpg

http://i39.photobucket.com/albums/e165/Hautions11/WalnutTable.jpg


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## hautions11 (Jul 2, 2006)

*Quartersawn*

Here is an earlier piece with nice rays.

http://arboristsite.com/attachment.php?attachmentid=31780&d=1141506898


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## 046 (Jul 2, 2006)

good to see an 064 can handle milling...



hautions11 said:


> It was all my 064 (thanks Tkemble) wanted..


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## woodshop (Jul 2, 2006)

hautions11 said:


> Woodshop,
> 
> Are you talking about the stump? I never thought to cut it up.



silly me... I thought that was the TOP of the tree, not the root system. Now that I look at the pics, I can see its the bottom of the tree, my mistake. Hey, NICE kitchen cabinets. And NICE side table. I like the curved front, with the drawer cut out of the piece so you can follow the grain all the way across, sweet. Looks like we have several woodworkers on this site, glad to see it. Wish I could quit my job and do that full time, but have to wait for retirement, 7-8 years down the road. Do you sell anything you make or just do stuff for self and family as I did for years?


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## hautions11 (Jul 2, 2006)

*Furniture*

I have sold a number of items to fund my hobby projects. I have built desks, cabinet doors, pencil post beds etc.... Typically things for our house. I built a cherry dinning room set that turned out really nice. I like walnut with some tongue oil like the table and cabinets. Beautifull rich color. I have not cut any of my own wood until now. It is very gratifying. In my old neighborhood, there are a lot of Spring storm damaged trees. I have cut them for firewood in the past, but I have always cringed at cutting some of the nice logs in to firewood. The ability to cut those logs in to lumber is really cool. I have limited time at the moment due to job and travel, but I find the diversion very stress relieving. I'll keep posting pics of my milling efforts, as I find the info here very helpfull. Thanks for the encouragement!


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## oldsaw (Jul 2, 2006)

hautions11 said:


> I have sold a number of items to fund my hobby projects. I have built desks, cabinet doors, pencil post beds etc.... Typically things for our house. I built a cherry dinning room set that turned out really nice. I like walnut with some tongue oil like the table and cabinets. Beautifull rich color. I have not cut any of my own wood until now. It is very gratifying. In my old neighborhood, there are a lot of Spring storm damaged trees. I have cut them for firewood in the past, but I have always cringed at cutting some of the nice logs in to firewood. The ability to cut those logs in to lumber is really cool. I have limited time at the moment due to job and travel, but I find the diversion very stress relieving. I'll keep posting pics of my milling efforts, as I find the info here very helpfull. Thanks for the encouragement!



You are telling my story...except for the making of big pretty things. Love to mill lumber, very stress relieving for me too. Love to show off my stack of boards, impressed a friend of mine last night. But, I don't have much time either due to work related travel...just like you. My pretty things are coming.

Mark


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## hautions11 (Jul 2, 2006)

*tops*

Here are some pics of the start of my project. It was much cooler when I started.

http://i39.photobucket.com/albums/e165/Hautions11/Tops.jpg

http://i39.photobucket.com/albums/e165/Hautions11/Startingoak.jpg

The clear piece next to the stump is still waiting to be cut up. It is very clear, no knots. I wanted to cut other logs to get practice before starting on the nice piece.


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## hautions11 (Jul 3, 2006)

*Todays work*

I'm actually getting a little faster. Cut a couple of 20" wide pieces and some more of thje 10" quartersawn.
Done by 10:00 to stay out of the heat. 94 today. The oiler on the 064 either clogged or quit working. I noticed the bar getting hot during the 20" cut. I switched the mill to the 044 to make one more quartersawn piece. It did pretty well on the narrow stuff. I'll go down in the shop this afternoon and disect the 064. The shop is in the basement, so it is nice and cool.

http://i39.photobucket.com/albums/e165/Hautions11/TodaysCrop.jpg
http://i39.photobucket.com/albums/e165/Hautions11/Nicerays.jpg
http://i39.photobucket.com/albums/e165/Hautions11/CloserRays.jpg

Don't have any good projects lined up, other then gunnels for the cedar strip canoe. I'll send pics in a day or two.

http://i39.photobucket.com/albums/e165/Hautions11/Canoeproject.jpg


Here is a teaser


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## woodshop (Jul 3, 2006)

Hautions did you make that canoe also? What finish are we looking at covering the bottom of that beauty. Gosh with all the rocky bottomed streams and rivers around here, I'd be afraid to take that out in the water and get it banged up. Maybe on the Delaware River, nice and deep... or a lake.


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## hautions11 (Jul 3, 2006)

*Canoe*

Yea Woodshop, I built the canoe. It is cedar strips covered with fiberglass. Once you glass the wood, the fabric is no longer visable. This canoe is actuallt 20 years old, so I know longer worry about scratches. It actually flew off the top of the truck one day at 55 mph. Barely scratched it. I am in the process of a rebuild with some new glass patches and a coat of spar varnish. I am also replacing the gunnels, as some sections were rotten. I am using some of my new oak. It is pretty when done. I'll post some pics. I am taking one of my boys to some local creeks next week after we finish the rework project. I've made 7 of these strip canoes over the years. This is the original prototype so it has lots of cosmetic problems. It is not a piece of furniture and has seen plenty of rocks in Seattle where we first built it.


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## hautions11 (Jul 16, 2006)

*1st Milled oak used*

I have been traveling so much I haven't worked on anything at home. BTW if you ever have to go to Romania PASS!

Here is wood from my first milling stock as gunnels on a cedar strip canoe. It's working out really well.


http://i39.photobucket.com/albums/e165/Hautions11/CanoeGunnels.jpg


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## woodshop (Jul 16, 2006)

Well OK then, next time work wants to send me to Romania, I will tell them to send somebody else.  

How thick was it milled, and long did you have to dry it before it became part of your canoe?

Isn't it rewarding when you make something from wood that you milled, that would probably have been burned or end up in a landfill to rot otherwise? As I said before, thats the best part of milling. Not having to buy the wood is just icing on the cake. I've kept close track for business purposes, and even having to drive 2 hours to the tree and back, plus paying myself $25/hour to mill it and sticker it, plus depreciating my saws and mills over 10 years, I can STILL get my wood for less than a buck a bd ft. If I just count transportation and my equipment then its way less than that even. Plus its custom milled, so the wood is sawn exactly the way I want.


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## hautions11 (Jul 17, 2006)

I agree woodshop.


A couple of years ago I helperd my neighbor cut down a 60" tree. A local contractor brought in a portable saw mil and cut 2500 BF of nice lumber. I got some of the scrsp and built my neighbor a library table. He was thrilled and it was fun.


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## hautions11 (Aug 17, 2006)

*Finished project*

OK I know I am slow, but i am time limited. My first use of my own milled boards. 1/2 on the outside and 1/4 on the inside. Some one asked how long I dried it. About 6 months. It is not furniture or inside, so it seems to work ok. The second picture is the canoe with a small stack behind it waiting to go in the shed. This is fun!!!!!!!!!!

http://i39.photobucket.com/albums/e165/Hautions11/Canoedone-1.jpg

http://i39.photobucket.com/albums/e165/Hautions11/Canoeandstack.jpg


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## smithie55 (Aug 18, 2006)

Excellent pics.
And beautiful pieces that you have built.
Very inspiring.
Thanks


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## woodshop (Aug 18, 2006)

hautions11 said:


> The second picture is the canoe with a small stack behind it waiting to go in the shed. This is fun!!!!!!!!!!


Understatement, milling logs, and then using the wood down the road indeed falls under that "fun" category, as well as the "satisfying accomplishment" category. Simply the fact that one can go through all the steps from standing tree to finished product, is rewarding. Nice canoe pics, thanks.


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