Little bit of walnut

My Dad got his FEL fixed up and helped me bring some more of the walnut back to the house. One of the pieces was too big for him to lift, so I had to mill some of it in place. I took 2 2" slabs off of it, and made a freehand cut along one edge so I could fit my 24" mill around it.



This was one of the main logs, and it looks like they were all hit by lightning at some point. I'm just going to try to saw around it the best that I can.



I hosted my best friends bachelor party (no pics from that ) so I didn't get much done this weekend. More pics to follow!

 

great pics Shawn!

 

Still a lota good wood in there, nice work

 

Beautiful slabs Shawn.

That milling kit for your saw looks compact and affordable. Mind if I ask what brand & model it is?

 

Thanks! That's a 24" Granberg Alaskan mill mounted to the bar, and the Granberg 9' guide rail kit mounted to the log. It's one of the cheapest ways to go, but requires a bit more labor and skill than other systems.

 

Are you suggesting it may not be a good option for a newbie? Or just that it may take a bit of time to get skilled?

 

I think it's a good option - it won't break the bank to get you started, and with a little practice, your results will improve. The part the requires practice is getting on and off of the cut without too much snipe. I've been getting some practice on a couple of dead red pines that I cut down earlier this summer, and I think I'm really starting to get the hang of it. My Dad was quite impressed with how smooth the cuts turned out on these.

 

Good to hear, thanks. Sounds to me like a case of getting to know where and when to shim the cut with wedges to reduce binding, no?

 

I finally got a chance to mill up some more of the log tonight after work. I wanted to get some slabs going right through the crotch, so I decided to leave it in the same orientation, which also allowed me to clean and square up my freehand edge first. I also wanted to waste the heart and remove most of the lightning damage.

I managed to get 90% of it in the first slab - which started out about 4" thick, tapering to 1" at the crotch end. I plan to resaw that piece - the lightning damage is contained in around a 4x4 area, so I can probably get a shorter, narrower board or 2 out of it. Then I made 2 more 2" slabs before I had to pack up and call it quits for the night.

 

Wow that's nice stuff, almost all hartwood there, great job bud ​

 

How long does a cut like that take?
Walnut has always been my favorite wood. Nice slabs ther Shawn!

 

Man that's gorgeous grain and colour going on there Shawn. Do you have plans for it yet?

 

Thanks! It took me around an hour or so altogether to make the 3 slabs, including setup time. It probably took about 3-4 mins with the chainsaw to make each cut.

If I can get them to dry without much cracking in the crotch end, I'd like to take a book matched pair and make a tabletop for a dining room table or something. If they do crack badly, I may cut it off and keep the rest for straight lumber. I'm going to end up with a lot of slabs like this out of that tree; but long, straight pieces of lumber are going to come at a premium.

 

Here's the rest of the slabs. There was sort of an oddball knot or defect in the wood at the one end. It's huge, but it doesn't actually go all the way through either slab, and it seems to be filled in with bark.



Started reorganizing my lumber storage tonight too.

 

Do you have a lota room to store all that stuff you been milling ?

 

My garage is 20'x40' with 4 bays. Im rearranging things in there so I can take up the last bay for lumber storage. I've got my grilling and BBQ stuff on that side too, but eventually that stuff will move onto my back deck after I build that out; hopefully next year.

 

I like the "character" of knot's & such myself. Now the hard part, what to do or make with them.

 

That knot could easily be stabilized with some epoxy. I am starting to like knots, cracks, and defects more and more.