Playing with maple

[1947wdx]

Howdy guys,

I was able to put both my mills to work this weekend. I started out with the Logosol timberjig on the 394 to get a flat surface, then used the alaskan/3120 to mill out some boards. I was originally hoping to get some nicely figured crotch wood but as it turned out there was a split almost all the way down the log. I don't know if I'll be able to do much with these slabs due to the split unless it's something "artsy". But it was a chance to try the mill combo out on some hardwood. (And sugar maple is hard. I'm sure there are harder woods, but this will do for now... )

My alaskan mill was almost too short to span the one end. (30 inch) This is the widest I've done so far.

The "boys" ...

Here's another "issue", some of the slabs had more of this almost what I would call "punky" center then others. It might be OK with some epoxy or other hard finish but as it is, it's fairly soft.

 

[mtngun]

You've got some nice saws. :biggrinbounce2:

Thanks for sharing.

Your pics are 1280 pixels wide. Since Bmorgan forced me to upgrade to a widescreen monitor a while back :hmm3grin2orange:, I was able to fit your thread into my screen -- barely. But 1280 is too wide for some screens. Just something to think about.:deadhorse:

 

[mikeb1079]

nice work 1947, looks like you have some nice figuring in that maple.
how do you like the 3120 for milling? i'd like to pick one of those up.

 

[1947wdx]

You've got some nice saws. :biggrinbounce2:

Thanks for sharing.

Your pics are 1280 pixels wide. Since Bmorgan forced me to upgrade to a widescreen monitor a while back :hmm3grin2orange:, I was able to fit your thread into my screen -- barely. But 1280 is too wide for some screens. Just something to think about.:deadhorse:

Thanks for that feedback. I have a large monitor as I use it for work all day long, and sometimes forget.

How's 800x600?

Or is 640x480 still the standard?

 

[1947wdx]

nice work 1947, looks like you have some nice figuring in that maple.
how do you like the 3120 for milling? i'd like to pick one of those up.

The 3120 is awesome. It's 22 or so pounds just for the power head however, so lift with the knees, not the back! :hmm3grin2orange:

It also sucks the gas. I filled it up after two slabs because I stopped to move the log a bit to get it up on some supports. I don't think it would have made a full third pass. I'm assuming that is similar for all the big saws however, and it was "worken mighty hard." (You have to say that with a heavy new england accent... :hmm3grin2orange

 

[Brmorgan]

You've got some nice saws. :biggrinbounce2:

Thanks for sharing.

Your pics are 1280 pixels wide. Since Bmorgan forced me to upgrade to a widescreen monitor a while back :hmm3grin2orange:, I was able to fit your thread into my screen -- barely. But 1280 is too wide for some screens. Just something to think about.:deadhorse:

LOL I'm never gonna live that one down... At any rate, I was in the same boat as you @ 1280 - my screen is 1360 wide right now so I can get the pics in but not all the user info etc. along the left hand side of the thread. Not that I mind much. I could set this monitor to a higher res like 1600 X 1200 (actually it can do full HD at 1920 X 1280) but icons etc. start getting a bit too small to be practical since it's only a 19"

Back on topic though, it's too bad about that split down from the crotch, but that's part of the fun of milling - you never know until you pop the log open. The best treatment to harden "punky" wood is Cyanoacrylate (CA) glue, which is just a generic term for Super/Krazy glue. Most big woodworking shops carry it in bulk bottles expressly for this purpose - I just picked up some 2-oz bottles of a couple different formulas (different consistencies) for about $10 a pop. That might not sound very cheap until you realize that the real-deal Krazy Glue goes for about $4 per two milliliter tube - I got like 25 times more per bottle for barely double the cost. It gets a lot cheaper in higher volumes too - they also had what appeared to be 1-pt (or metric equivalent) bottles of it for just over $30, which was probably a dozen times what I got for three times the price.

The CA glue works really well to harden wood, but you'll want to get about the thinnest variety you can find so it can really soak into the wood as deep as possible. The wood can really soak it up too, so I wouldn't recommend doing it to large surface areas of wood unless it's a fairly important piece, as it'll quickly turn into an expensive piece of wood. It won't discolor the wood at all though, or at least it hasn't with the limited number of species I've tried it on. I've used it on Birch which is very similar in color to Maple, so I would presume the results would be similar.

I think two slabs and a bit per tank of fuel on that 3120 sounds fairly average. My milling saws are nowhere near as pretty as yours are! But they run well, which is all I can ask of them really. I see you're packing a cordless drill - if you have the cash to spare, I'd really recommend keeping a cordless impact driver on hand as well. My Makita 18V has paid for itself in spades, and along with the drill that came with the set, was the best money I've ever spent on a tool. It'll drive a 6" X 3/8" lag bolt right in to the hilt without even hiccuping, and is handy to have in case I want to pull the clutch off a saw to swap a sprocket, not to mention on-the-job saw repairs if necessary (and they have been necessary a few times). And the Lithium-Ion batteries last forever and are really light compared to NiMH or NiCad - the two batteries that came with the set will get me through an entire day's work no problem, regardless of the job.

Keep the pics comin'.

 

[mtngun]

Thanks for that feedback. I have a large monitor as I use it for work all day long, and sometimes forget.

How's 800x600?

I use 800 myself, seems to be acceptable on every forum that I regularly visit.

Some forums have rules about image width, but Arborsite seems to allow any image as long as it doesn't exceed 300 kb.

 

[BobL]

Nice Pics and nice wood. It's a real pity about that pukey wood problem.

It also sucks the gas. I filled it up after two slabs because I stopped to move the log a bit to get it up on some supports. I don't think it would have made a full third pass. I'm assuming that is similar for all the big saws however, and it was "worken mighty hard." (You have to say that with a heavy new england accent... :hmm3grin2orange

It's not unusual to have to refuel (and even pull the mill out and resharpen) half way down a big (3'6" x 12') Aussie hardwood slab, sometimes twice!

 

[Brmorgan]

I use 800 myself, seems to be acceptable on every forum that I regularly visit.

Some forums have rules about image width, but Arborsite seems to allow any image as long as it doesn't exceed 300 kb.

Ya, that's the baffling part here - I sometimes have difficulty fitting my 1024 images into 300kB without drastic compression loss.

It's not unusual to have to refuel (and even pull the mill out and resharpen) half way down a big (3'6" x 12') Aussie hardwood slab, sometimes twice!

Refueling I don't mind much, but sharpening mid-cut is a beeyotch, especially if it's a fairly long cut, you're near the end, and you have half a dozen kerf wedges jammed in behind the saw. Forgive me if I sound bitter on that topic... :monkey:

 

[1947wdx]

Back on topic though, it's too bad about that split down from the crotch, but that's part of the fun of milling - you never know until you pop the log open. The best treatment to harden "punky" wood is Cyanoacrylate (CA) glue, which is just a generic term for Super/Krazy glue. Most big woodworking shops carry it in bulk bottles expressly for this purpose - I just picked up some 2-oz bottles of a couple different formulas (different consistencies) for about $10 a pop. That might not sound very cheap until you realize that the real-deal Krazy Glue goes for about $4 per two milliliter tube - I got like 25 times more per bottle for barely double the cost. It gets a lot cheaper in higher volumes too - they also had what appeared to be 1-pt (or metric equivalent) bottles of it for just over $30, which was probably a dozen times what I got for three times the price.

The CA glue works really well to harden wood, but you'll want to get about the thinnest variety you can find so it can really soak into the wood as deep as possible. The wood can really soak it up too, so I wouldn't recommend doing it to large surface areas of wood unless it's a fairly important piece, as it'll quickly turn into an expensive piece of wood. It won't discolor the wood at all though, or at least it hasn't with the limited number of species I've tried it on. I've used it on Birch which is very similar in color to Maple, so I would presume the results would be similar.

Thanks. Given the size of the affected area on these slabs, I'm not sure it will be cost effective, but it's something to think about.

I think two slabs and a bit per tank of fuel on that 3120 sounds fairly average. My milling saws are nowhere near as pretty as yours are! But they run well, which is all I can ask of them really.

The 3120, alaskan mill, and the Jonsered 2165 are all local Craigs List finds. The 394 is not as nice as it looks in the picture, but as with your's, it runs well and gets the job done.

The 2165 is my "go to saw" for just about everything besides milling.

The 3120 I bought with the mill specifically for milling, but If I replace the milling chain with regular it will make noodles like you wouldn't believe! I can splits big rounds with it almost as fast as a splitter.

The 395 is off E-Pay, and was originally slotted only for milling. I had won it just a day before checking craigs list and finding the 3120. So while it isn't doing the milling I originally expected, I now have it hooked up to the Logosol for creating the first flat cut. (It may also see more use with the Logosol on smaller logs.)

 

[1947wdx]

It's not unusual to have to refuel (and even pull the mill out and resharpen) half way down a big (3'6" x 12') Aussie hardwood slab, sometimes twice!

Yikes, sharpening part way through a cut! That is hard wood. Refueling I expect but luckily I haven't needed to resharpen other then my normal touch up at the start of the day.

 

[rarefish383]

I wouldn't mind finding something similar where 2 trunks have grown together like that. I like the looks of the compressed bark in the center. I'm thinking about ordering a 36 inch Alaskan for my Homelite 1050 today. Hows Granberg for having mills in stock. I'm gonna be on my farm the Sat through Tue before Thanksgiving and would like to take it up with me, Joe.

 

[1947wdx]

I wouldn't mind finding something similar where 2 trunks have grown together like that. I like the looks of the compressed bark in the center. I'm thinking about ordering a 36 inch Alaskan for my Homelite 1050 today. Hows Granberg for having mills in stock. I'm gonna be on my farm the Sat through Tue before Thanksgiving and would like to take it up with me, Joe.

Not sure on Granberg as I haven't ordered from them directly. (Mine was a craigs list find.)

Baileys has them, and is fairly good about letting you know what is or isn't in stock.

 

[Can8ianTimber]

I was originally hoping to get some nicely figured crotch wood but as it turned out there was a split almost all the way down the log. I don't know if I'll be able to do much with these slabs due to the split unless it's something "artsy". ]

Yeah that darn maple doesn't crotch well. You just find a long skinny line of bark in the tree. Had that happen to me on a 50" maple and it just killed me. I look a maple totally different now.

 

[1947wdx]

Yeah that darn maple doesn't crotch well. You just find a long skinny line of bark in the tree. Had that happen to me on a 50" maple and it just killed me. I look a maple totally different now.

As I said, I may have to do something "artsy" with it and make it look like I intended it to be that way...

Nice slab in your avatar by the way...

 

[billstuewe]

In reference to filling the punky centers--I also use the thin CA glue on very small areas. Otherwise I mix epoxy and on the first application, I add the correct amounts of hardener and resin THEN I add denatured alcohol in an amount up to 50% of the hardener by volume--this make the epoxy very thin and runny--like the alcohol--and it soaks into the punky pretty well. Wait a day and do it again, wait a day and do it again--until it is filled. On large voids, I stuff them full of bark, bugs, scorpions, tourquoise, gold nuggets, etc. and then add the epoxy. Use your imagination. (And put plastic down on you bench first and try to tape any cracks that go all the way through or your nice slabs will become the new permanent top to your bench)--(experience!!!)

An example: