Milling up some Madrona...

[epicxt]

I seem to get a wide variety of jobs partially because of a fairly broad base of hands-on education back in the '90s and partly because people seem to know that I have a hard time saying no.  This particular job came my way because the clients are some close friends that I have done some projects for.

The situation is that my friends have access to a cabin in the San Juans that they regularly use.  The neighbor had a few Madrona trees down on his beach (above the high-water line, thankfully) and was trying to get people to come get them out.  Problem being there is no vehicle access to the beach (other than boat) and apparently no one wanted to undertake the process of getting them out.  Enter us.

My buddy rounded up a portable Alaskan Timber Mill, rented a chainsaw, and we made it up as we went along.  I think the pics are pretty self-explanatory.

Here's our first set-up.  It went surprisingly well.[attachthumb=1]

Sorry for the fuzzy photos.  I think my phone was a bit sweaty...[attachthumb=2]

Tools of the trade:[attachthumb=3]

[attachthumb=4]

This is one job site that I didn't mind...[attachthumb=5]

More sawing.[attachthumb=6]

Some cool grain...[attachthumb=7]

15' long log.  Ended up cutting 2" slabs.  [attachthumb=8]

Some of the slabs...[attachthumb=9]

Long story short, we got quite a bit of usable live-edge slabs.  I've got 4 of the smaller slabs earmarked for a big table.  Good weekend in all.

 

[tiralie]

Cool!
That looked like fun..
Nice location. I hadn't heard of Madrona before.
Some work taken those slabs off the beach though
Are you gonna air dry those slabs?
Tim

 

[NL-mikkla]

Impressive,that looks really cool to do, and a very nice location
Nice way to get some free wood slabs
I just recentley found out about a portable sawmill, as I only knew the Logosol



Your "machine"  looks way easier
I was wondering about the horizontal allignment of the sheets, but with this machine it's only the first cut that is difficult, right?
hence the wooden beams?

After the first cut you support on the next slab.
Are the slabs evenly thick and overall length oke?

Regards,
Mikk

 

[epicxt]

Correct. The first cut is the tough one as you have to build a frame or platform for the guide to slide on. After that you just use the flat edge from the previous cut. I was actually shocked at how well it worked.
The slabs ended up being very uniform thickness. I cut the shorter ones at 2.5" thick and the long ones 2" thick, and the long ones were pretty tough getting off the beach to our air-drying location.

 

[SMJoinery]

Nicely done.
One of my friends uses the same set up and calls it an Alaskan Mill.
To see it in action is extremely cool and so simple.
He uses a long aluminium ladder and under slings the mill from that and you wouldn't believe how straight they are.
However he is also the best chainsaw sharpener that I know!!
First time I seen him use it was on some wind blown trees at the golf club. Within hours the trees were down, milled into boards which were subsequently cut into heavy path edging for use at the club.

 

[Stephen B]

[size=12pt]

And from down under comes -

http://www.lucasmill.com

 

[epicxt]

Little update:
It's been nearly two years since we milled up these slabs and I got a chance to start surfacing a few for
a small coffee table project.
Here's a few pics of what's happened so far this weekend.

 

[ear3]

Sweet.  What size bar is that, 28"?  And what model Stihl? I got a MS361, which is 59cc machine, which I gather is the absolute minimum one can do for log ripping.  I got it to take down trees when we go to visit my wife's aunt up in Maine and at my parent's house in upstate New York, but haven't had an opportunity yet to do any slabbing.

 

[rizzoa13]

I haven't used a chainsaw mill Edward but I've cut ALOT of big trees for firewood. At 59cc Id imagine you would need a skip tooth chain to ease the strain on the motor. I've got a Husqvarna 576xp at 75cc and I can noodle a stump pretty easily but it can still bog down at times. May be an excuse to get a bigger saw

 

[epicxt]

That was a 28" bar, good eye. At the time, we rented the Stihl, so I don't recall what model it was other than we purchased a ripping chain for it. Now we have a Stihl 064 for future work.
I've got to say, the of2200 really has been shining on this project along with the Amana surfacing bit. All told I had to remove 19mm of material to get the slabs flat on both sides.
Also, while the ct sys doesn't have quite as much suction as my ct26, it's been indispensable for being able to fit all the tools I needed for the project in a volkswagon Passat wagon to get on the island. Add in a dust deputy and capacity is less of an issue.

 

[PreferrablyWood]

Very interesting process, labour and time intensive..

Great that you share it..

Thanks

 

[blk65brd]

Thanks for the write up on Madrona, we have a lot of it on our property along the Willamette river, for those that have not heard of it, here is a bit of information, it is a leaf bearing evergreen, the bark which is tan colored peels of late in the summer as growth occurs.  It is a great tree for fire wood, burns hot and long and is in the price range of oak if you have to buy it.  It is a challenge to dry which the op may have found, tends to twist a lot.  The tree is not easily started from seed, and is sensitive to having the roots disturbed, it will generally die and turn dark grey, great firewood at that time, moisture is out of it and simply needs to be cut, split and burnt.  If you lived in Southern Oregon or northern Ca it would be Madrone and not Madrona.  It is found from central Ca to the Vancouver Island area in the NW coastal areas.

 

[epicxt]

Excellent extra info! You're lucky to have a bunch on your property. We lucked out and the large log we milled up was 14' long and straight with no branches in that section. It air dried under cover stickered and banded and while the shorter thicker slabs had a bit of twist, the long ones have dried very straight with very little cupping.
Here a few more shots from today.
Straight-lined with TS75 and joined with 14mm dominos

All clamped up for the night.

 

[peter halle]

What a great resurrection of a two year old thread!  Can't wait to see more.

Peter

 

[epicxt]

What a great resurrection of a two year old thread!  Can't wait to see more.

Peter

Thanks, Peter!

 

[epicxt]

Ok, not a lot more to show. I sanded the side that will be the bottom of the table up to 100g and the top side to 220g, mostly to see what it would do to the grain. Can't tell much from these cell pics, but it really does enhance the contrast in the grain. I'll work this tabletop more on the next trip up to the island. Next steps are reinforcing some cracks with some inlaid butterfly pieces and fill some large cracks with epoxy before the final sanding and finish coats.

 

[epicxt]

Finally made some time to finish up this table. A few butterfly joints, epoxy fill for the cracks, and finished it with several coats of Dalys ProFin. My fabricator friend made the base and had it powder coated.
Doh, I'm going to have to get to wifi to upload the photos.

 

[epicxt]

Delivered to the new owner and they were pleased. The best part is I've got a bunch more of this for future projects![emoji2][emoji106]