Pics and updates on milling a large beech tree trunk.
This is the trunk section of this massive tree that blew over in a storm back in 2019:
I posted progress on other things made from this tree here too:
https://www.donaldsimpson.co.uk/2020/07/27/slabs-sleepers-and-stumps/
These giant chunks of wood have sat patiently outside my shed for the last 2+ years, like a massive looming todo list…
Now this (and a lot of sawdust) is all that’s left in the spot they occupied for so long:
It took me years to get around to it, but only a couple of Saturday afternoons to mill it all.
I used my Husqvarna 365 X-Torq chainsaw, along with a 42″ low-profile bar fitted with a 3/8 Lo Pro .050 ripping chain with 137 drive links… 137… I am not looking forward to sharpening that!
This, for me, is a whole load of bar and chain to run. It more than maxed out the cutting width of my Alaskan Mill setup, which was just a little too short to cope with the widest parts of this trunk, so I had to take a couple of edge sections off.
The Husqvarna 365 did a great job getting through this much solid beech wood – I expected more of a struggle, but as long as I took it slowly and used wedges to keep the weight from pinching the bar & chain, it chugged through it no problem. Having the trunks at a slight angle meant that gravity lent a hand too.
Great chain and bar from https://www.chainsawbars.co.uk/ along with their usual great service and helpful advice too, thank you again guys, this worked perfectly.
Here are some of the slabs that were produced – I don’t think the pics properly show how big these are, and they definately don’t convey the weight of them! I had to ‘walk’ the thicker ones over to the shed, one corner at a time.
These slabs are now stacked, spaced and weighted in my wood shed with a dehumidifier and fan on them (running off my small solar setup!). Hopefully in a year or so I can try giving the thinner slabs a final flattening with the router sled then turn them in to tables.
I’m hoping that void and inclusion on two of the slabs could work out quite nicely too – I’m not normally a fan of epoxy resin but this could be a good place for it? Maybe? Or just go with the ‘feature’ perhaps?
There are three 4″ thick slabs that will take even longer to properly dry, but if they don’t warp or split they should become very characterful – and heavy – tables.
To fit these in to my shed I had to take out a load of planks I milled a couple of years ago, many of which have come out nice and straight – so making something useful from those is now next on the todo list. My wife has already placed an order for some waney-edged bookcases for the Yurt… possibly curved to match the walls… ?!
