Daninvan
ArboristSite Operative
After a delay of three weeks my bowl buddy and I were all set to go back last Saturday a couple hours to the east to get some more maple http://www.arboristsite.com/community/threads/milling-maple-in-the-mountains.252521/. Alas, as Saturday approached, monsoon-like weather was forecast. So we cancelled, and that turned out to be wise as it poured that day.
So we deferred to Wednesday, then checked with the property owner, who suggested we call the neighbour to the property and verify that the snow was gone. (!) This was a bit of a surprise, but we decided to follow his advice and check.
So I called the neighbour said he that yes, in fact the snow was almost gone, but unfortunately a huge windstorm had come through and blown two big trees down across the access road! He suggested we defer until after this weekend, when he hoped to get those trees bucked up which would allow us onto the property.
So that is a very long introduction to say that I went back to the beach to do some milling today! Got there a bit earlier than usual, caught the sunrise over downtown.
A bunch of cherry had appeared in the log dump, so I picked a couple of them.
Also a short piece of Port Orford Cedar, and my bowl buddy found a small piece of locust that looked promising for a couple of deep bowls.
We made pretty fast work of the smaller of the two cherry logs. Then it was on to the larger cherry, which was only about 5 ½’ long. Since I got rid of my van and went back to borrowing my wife’s Subaru I am limited to shorter logs.
The dust was really flying off the cherry log!
So we got 5 slabs out of each of the cherry logs, plus 6 from the Port Orford, all milled to 2 ½” thickness. We also milled up the locust into a single 6 ½” thick blank and my buddy cut a couple bowl blanks from it.
We had unbelievably great weather, sunny with just a mild breeze, enough to blow away the dust and fumes! So many people out walking and wanted to stop and chat, one guy asked outright if he could have a slab (“No” was my answer!), we cut some scraps up for another lady. Certainly the mystery is gone from the slab table style, virtually every single person who chatted asked us about it. I joked with my buddy if one more person asked if we were we building tables I was going to scream. Several more did but I refrained.
The saws and everything worked great. I did not have to sharpen my chain until on the last cut with about 3” left we hit a nail.
After the milling was done we divvied up the slabs and my buddy cut his into bowl blanks for the lathe. I also cut out some rotten sections, I am getting smarter about not carting home crappy stuff that I just have to handle until it is dry, then I throw it out anyways!
By the end of the day the kite people were out and some clouds were rolling in..
So we deferred to Wednesday, then checked with the property owner, who suggested we call the neighbour to the property and verify that the snow was gone. (!) This was a bit of a surprise, but we decided to follow his advice and check.
So I called the neighbour said he that yes, in fact the snow was almost gone, but unfortunately a huge windstorm had come through and blown two big trees down across the access road! He suggested we defer until after this weekend, when he hoped to get those trees bucked up which would allow us onto the property.
So that is a very long introduction to say that I went back to the beach to do some milling today! Got there a bit earlier than usual, caught the sunrise over downtown.
A bunch of cherry had appeared in the log dump, so I picked a couple of them.
Also a short piece of Port Orford Cedar, and my bowl buddy found a small piece of locust that looked promising for a couple of deep bowls.
We made pretty fast work of the smaller of the two cherry logs. Then it was on to the larger cherry, which was only about 5 ½’ long. Since I got rid of my van and went back to borrowing my wife’s Subaru I am limited to shorter logs.
The dust was really flying off the cherry log!
So we got 5 slabs out of each of the cherry logs, plus 6 from the Port Orford, all milled to 2 ½” thickness. We also milled up the locust into a single 6 ½” thick blank and my buddy cut a couple bowl blanks from it.
We had unbelievably great weather, sunny with just a mild breeze, enough to blow away the dust and fumes! So many people out walking and wanted to stop and chat, one guy asked outright if he could have a slab (“No” was my answer!), we cut some scraps up for another lady. Certainly the mystery is gone from the slab table style, virtually every single person who chatted asked us about it. I joked with my buddy if one more person asked if we were we building tables I was going to scream. Several more did but I refrained.
The saws and everything worked great. I did not have to sharpen my chain until on the last cut with about 3” left we hit a nail.
After the milling was done we divvied up the slabs and my buddy cut his into bowl blanks for the lathe. I also cut out some rotten sections, I am getting smarter about not carting home crappy stuff that I just have to handle until it is dry, then I throw it out anyways!
By the end of the day the kite people were out and some clouds were rolling in..
