Milled Some Blue Oak 1st Post

[820wards]

I wish I could get my logs to levitate off the ground like this. It would sure be a more comfortable way to mill.

QUOTE]

It's all in where you place the magnets:hmm3grin2orange:

I'm telling you guys, it's an easy mill to operate. Bluerider has seen it in operation.
jerry-

jerry-

 

[peterrum]

Nice thread, nice wood, nice saws, nice scenery......well done

 

[BobL]

Thats some nice wood you milled up. Thank you for the pics. and enjoyed lookin at em...

+1

 

[mikeb1079]

great posts jerry. i could look at those landscape pics all day. that blue oak aint to shabby looking either!
thanks for taking the time to post all those pics, i appreciated it.

 

[SDB777]

I spent today figuring out how I'm going to put the bench together with the wood we milled for it. I'm going to start Friday and I will post pictures.



jerry-

Go with tenons and shims....no nails/bolts or wierd stuff! Gives a very rustic look that will compliment thos slabs!!





Scott B

 

[820wards]

Go with tenons and shims....no nails/bolts or wierd stuff! Gives a very rustic look that will compliment thos slabs!!
Scott B

I was thinking of using dowel pegs and wedges, I've never tenons. Have you got any pictures I use that may help me?

Headed out milling till Friday again so I won't be check site until late Friday or the weekend.

jerry-

 

[SDB777]

I was thinking of using dowel pegs and wedges, I've never tenons. Have you got any pictures I use that may help me?

Headed out milling till Friday again so I won't be check site until late Friday or the weekend.

jerry-

Actually don't have any of the benches I've made left....they've all been sold. And the with constant rain for the last week(maybe longer, I forget when the last time I saw the sun was), I haven't started another yet.

I use a router to make the tenons, and the slot it goes into on the sides. Nothing special, just a rounded 'tenon' that gets hammered(gently) into a rounded slot.... Sometimes a shim is needed, but most times....nah, solid!



Scott B

 

[820wards]

Now It's a Bench

Here are some pictures of the Blue Oak log we milled that I turned into a bench for my friends who own the ranch. They really liked the bench.

Here is what the log looked like when we found it.

Then I turned it into this bench.

Here are my friends who own the ranch. Really nice people and they loved the bench. He wanted to know when I was going to start on some chairs. Right.... And she wanted to know if I could make a swing out of it. Right...

She didn't want her boots to show in the picture because she had been out earlier feeding her pigs and they were dirty. They are pretty down tom earth people, she has two masters degrees and he has a PhD. jerry-

 

[rarefish383]

Jerry, this is a real easy way to do mortice and tennons on a bench. First I set the seat slab on some old pavers to get it 18" high. Then I set the side pieces up against it. Traced lines along the seat onto the sides. I used the natural check in the seat to make my tennons, so they are not dead even side to side, one is a little farther forward than the other side. I cut my planks 3" thick. To make the mortice I just did a plunge cut with my circular saw. You do have to hold on tight, the saw will try to run on you. The circular saw didn't go quite all the way through so I finished the cut with a sawzall. Then I trimmed 3" off the seat to make the tennon. It took very little work with a big wood rasp to square up the mortices. Did the back the same way. From the time I set the seat on the pavers till I plopped my behind on the bench was almost 3 hrs to the minute. This was on a broiling hot day in July, Joe.

On the left, top side, of the back you can see a piece of a long furniture clamp sticking out, that's all that was holding every thing together while I traced my lines on the 2 side pieces.

In the next 2 pictures you can see how the mortices are not symetrical, but are cut to take advantage of the natural check in the planks.

I used the natural check in case it ever got loose I could just add a wooden wedge. It's been sitting on the pattio sice last July and it's so thight I'm going to have to use some force to knock it apart. I sanded most of it last year and it was realy pretty, now it's all greyed out. I'm gonna knock it apart and lightly sand it and try some Cabot's Australian Timber Oil on it, Joe.

 

[820wards]

Joe,

Nice bench!

Thanks for the detailed info and pictures. If I get pieces as wide as your bench I'll try making one. The bench I built was made from a log that wasn't as wide as you have.

jerry-

 

[rarefish383]

Jerry, I just knocked it apart and started to resand it. I'll take some more pics of it apart. It was much easier to make than I thought it would be. My planks were from a Tulip Poplar that had been standing dead in my inlaws back yard for about 5 years. It finally fell down and I was cutting it in pieces just big enough to throw back in the woods. As I started getting into the bigger wood in the bottom 15 feet red sawdust started coming out. That's when I decided to mill the rest of the log. When I first cut it there was quite a bit of blues, reds, and the natural yellow of Poplar. Now it's all grey and faded. After sanding on one piece for about 2 hrs the wood is very blond with some yellow, and a couple smaller patches of blue. I might start a new thread as I put it back together, Joe.

 

[TraditionalTool]

These trees are protected in some areas of CA.

That is true in some areas, but I don't believe in your area. I have checked about that in Lake County, not far from you, and they told me there wasn't any restrictions.

I have a large blue oak I'm trying to save, it's probably about 150 years old.

The key thing about blue oak is that they are deciduous, so they shed their leaves in the winter, opposed to say, live oak which doesn't shed and is a part of the evergreen family. The blue oak leaves are more rounded at the tips, if you would call them tips.

On my friends ranch the trees were growing under some high Here is a view from the 6K acre ranch. The weather was beautiful both days we were up there.

Holy crap, 6k acres? I can't feel any pity for folks with 6k acres of land in Cali...lucky folks!

 

[rarefish383]

Here's a couple pics of the bench coming apart.

Trying to find some shade in the garage, this dry Poplar is making a ton of real fine dust.

This is about 2hrs of sanding. The abstract center piece is from a block of Cherry firewood I noodled at my BIL's.

Last one for today, one good coat of Cabots Australian Timber Oil, Joe.

 

[820wards]

That is true in some areas, but I don't believe in your area. I have checked about that in Lake County, not far from you, and they told me there wasn't any restrictions.

I have a large blue oak I'm trying to save, it's probably about 150 years old.

I have some friends who live on Clear Lake so I know your area. This ranch is down in the SF Bay area and permits to cut any trees down around here are required. This ranch backs up to a state park so they really watch what is going on on surrounding ranches. They got after my friend for just enlarging an existing stock pond on his ranch that he ended up in court to justify. There is a park helicopter that flies over his ranch and surrounding ranch's to see what is going. I always salute them when I'm out varmint hunting.

The key thing about blue oak is that they are deciduous, so they shed their leaves in the winter, opposed to say, live oak which doesn't shed and is a part of the evergreen family. The blue oak leaves are more rounded at the tips, if you would call them tips.

Yep the leaves are a dead giveaway. Gone in the fall and back in the spring.

Holy crap, 6k acres? I can't feel any pity for folks with 6k acres of land in Cali...lucky folks!

It's pretty cool place to go have fun. I'm taking my son and 4yr. old grandson out this Saturday to go fishing at his biggest pond. He loves fishing and it's perfect place to take him. I have done a lot of varmint hunting and pig hunting on this ranch so I figured making this bench from wood on his ranch was one way of saying thank you.

jerry-

 

[820wards]

Rarefish383,

That's going to be a cool bench when you finish it. Post pictures when you are done.

So what is that in primer in the background.
rarefish383....
Barracuda with a 383ci motor?

jerry-

 

[TraditionalTool]

I have some friends who live on Clear Lake so I know your area.

Jerry,

I am not up there yet, still building the log shell down in Morgan Hill. My plan is to move it up to my property where I will put it on a foundation. If you know Clear Lake, my property is inside Buckingham Park, the peninsula that separates upper/lower lake, so you have to go in from the west side over by Kelseyville. BTW, the lake is pretty depressed since the resort closed down, IMO.

This ranch is down in the SF Bay area and permits to cut any trees down around here are required.

Holy Batman, not only do they have 6k acres, it's close to SF...OMG...it doesn't get much cooler than that...

Sounds like a heck of a ranch...:msp_smile:

Yep the leaves are a dead giveaway. Gone in the fall and back in the spring.

Yes, because of the big blue oak, I have leaves about 6" thick around the property...there's a lot of leaves...

It's pretty cool place to go have fun. I'm taking my son and 4yr. old grandson out this Saturday to go fishing at his biggest pond. He loves fishing and it's perfect place to take him. I have done a lot of varmint hunting and pig hunting on this ranch so I figured making this bench from wood on his ranch was one way of saying thank you.

Sounds like a great place, and I envy them to have so much acreage so close to the city...a real treasure, IMO.

Even up by you would still be cool, but near SF is priceless...

 

[rarefish383]

Rarefish383,

That's going to be a cool bench when you finish it. Post pictures when you are done.

So what is that in primer in the background.
rarefish383....
Barracuda with a 383ci motor?

jerry-

Yep, it's a 68 Formula S, 383 4spd. Chrysler only built 64 of them, 40 4spd's and 24 auto's. The last I checked there were 12 known to exist. Most were hot rodded so the super rair exhaust manifolds and a few other model only parts are usually missing. I'm lucky, every single part that came on the car is still there. Might not be in real good shape, but it's there, Joe.

 

[820wards]

Yep, it's a 68 Formula S, 383 4spd. Chrysler only built 64 of them, 40 4spd's and 24 auto's. The last I checked there were 12 known to exist. Most were hot rodded so the super rair exhaust manifolds and a few other model only parts are usually missing. I'm lucky, every single part that came on the car is still there. Might not be in real good shape, but it's there, Joe.

Joe,

Cool car, I think I remember seeing one race at the Fremont Drag strip back in the early 70's. It was sponsored by a local Dodge dealer. I hope some day you will get it going, it's a neet car. I have a 1966 GT-350H Shelby that I bought in 1971 for $700. Spent two years putting it back together and I still drive it today.

Thanks
jerry-