Bandsaw for resawing up to 200mm oak beams...or do it by hand?

[Tris]

Do you know ow the 'brand' the chines saw mill was?

I have a 16inch husqi chainsaw I use for firewood and small trees etc.

Don't like using it due to all the PPE and risk of certainl death etc, but it might be different in a mill


Thank you

I'm afraid I've forgotten the name but it was a generic one from eBay. Looks exactly like this one
https://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/16670336...XwgzqajSc-&var=&widget_ver=artemis&media=COPY

 

[alex robinson]

Do you know ow the 'brand' the chines saw mill was?

I have a 16inch husqi chainsaw I use for firewood and small trees etc.

Don't like using it due to all the PPE and risk of certainl death etc, but it might be different in a mill


Thank you

Milling is hard on saws. What cc is it?

It is however a lot safer than using them freehand. Any of the cheap "Alaskan" type mills are fine, but be aware you loose a lot of cut width with attaching it at both ends of the bar. You should be ok with 8" cut with a 16" bar though. Don't consider one of the vertical ones they aren't nearly as accurate.

The finish is pretty good once you get in practice.

How are you with a sharpener? Keeping the chain razor sharp is essential.

This isn't to be negative - milling your own timber is incredibly good fun and addictive. I haven't bought timber for years and have a lovely supply of wide native hardwood just from asking people when I see fallen trees.

I agree with @clive griffiths though that hiring a woodmizer might be worth considering.

 

[redhunter350]

Simon, my Grandson cut up a fallen Oak and used it to make a new porch and some mock Oak beams for an old cottage he's renovating. The wood was milled with a chainsaw/ ladder rig, he has milled lots of wood with this setup. We are DIY only don't do anything commercial. Here are couple of photos.

 

[pe2dave]

Or pay someone to rip them to your spec? Cheaper?

 

[Simon A Wells]

Thank you for all the interesting and informative replies. Lots to think about.

Some of the answers seem to be including processing fallen trees, trunks, et cetera, so may not be directly applicable to what I’m trying to do, but certainly interesting.

If you look at these two links, it’ll show you the timber from our nearest timber yard that I’m looking to cut up:

https://savarytimber.co.uk/collections/oak

https://savarytimber.co.uk/collections/framing-timber

https://savarytimber.co.uk/collections/framing-timber-1

Any advice of how to turn this sort of timber into usable planks would be gratefully received.

With thanks,

Simon

 

[Hypnotic Chimera]

Thank you for all the interesting and informative replies. Lots to think about.

Some of the answers seem to be including processing folding trees, trunks, et cetera, so may not be directly applicable to what I’m trying to do, but certainly interesting.

If you look at these two links, it’ll show you the timber from our nearest timber yard that I’m looking to cut up:

https://savarytimber.co.uk/collections/oak

https://savarytimber.co.uk/collections/framing-timber

Any advice of how to turn this sort of timber into usable planks would be gratefully received.

With thanks,

Simon

I'm still reckoning a track saw might be used to accurately and successfully mill those - but maybe only if you'll be cutting into the wide face (although clamping a number of them together in a vertical fashion might also enable cuts into the thin edge?). If losing too much stock is a concern then maybe using a thin kerf blade and several passes going a bit deeper every pass might work.

 

[Fitzroy]

Thank you for all the interesting and informative replies. Lots to think about.

Some of the answers seem to be including processing fallen trees, trunks, et cetera, so may not be directly applicable to what I’m trying to do, but certainly interesting.

If you look at these two links, it’ll show you the timber from our nearest timber yard that I’m looking to cut up:

https://savarytimber.co.uk/collections/oak

https://savarytimber.co.uk/collections/framing-timber

https://savarytimber.co.uk/collections/framing-timber-1

Any advice of how to turn this sort of timber into usable planks would be gratefully received.

With thanks,

Simon

You’re buying from a sawmill so they can mill to your specifications. My assumption is you are looking at the beams and thinking ‘oh, that’s a cheaper way to buy timber’. The timber boards are c. £100/cuft the beams are c. £45/cuft. The difference in price is because the mill is suffering all the waste in sawing a board that is free of defects.

If you look at my post on desk building, where I milled up a sleeper to make a desk, you’ll see the number of defects I had to workaround/fix. As a labour of f love it was worth it, for multiple projects the time impact would be too great.

Fitz.

 

[Beau]

I would see if you can hire in someone with a mobile sawmill

 

[Simon A Wells]

You’re buying from a sawmill so they can mill to your specifications. My assumption is you are looking at the beams and thinking ‘oh, that’s a cheaper way to buy timber’. The timber boards are c. £100/cuft the beams are c. £45/cuft. The difference in price is because the mill is suffering all the waste in sawing a board that is free of defects.

If you look at my post on desk building, where I milled up a sleeper to make a desk, you’ll see the number of defects I had to workaround/fix. As a labour of f love it was worth it, for multiple projects the time impact would be too great.

Fitz.

'My assumption is you are looking at the beams and thinking ‘oh, that’s a cheaper way to buy timber’.

Part of the reason is price, the main part is accesabiltiy for the timber yard, the timber yard in the links is 2 hour'ish drive each way with a trailer on single track, often with mad tourists in hire cars, campervans and the odd local who does not recognise your van so thinks you should reverse uphill into a passing spot with your trailer as they get priority on the road.

We do have a few yards closer but they have intermittent supply and rarely respond to emails / texts and when you do turn up to collect they have run out, but will drop it off tomorrow, but tomorrow is always a day away.

We do have a huge saw mill in the village, apparently the second largest in Europe. But they only sell pressure treated fence posts / rails to the public, some of the softest and wettest wood I have ever tried to work with! Not the stuff for furniture and structaral projects.

Ability to get the right size wood as and when I need it is the main reason.

 

[toolsntat]

Perhaps of no use in this instance but I'm reminded of our late departed forum friend Richard Tomes and his great project.... "The thing in the garage"
Cheers
Andy

https://www.ukworkshop.co.uk/threads/the-thing-in-the-garage.37191/

 

[toolsntat]

@Simon A Wells
https://www.ukworkshop.co.uk/threads/hammer-n4400-bandsaw.150870/

I know nothing of its suitability other than what is stated, just letting you know about it.
Cheers
Andy

 

[recipio]

Resawing beams is something of a false economy. They are likely to warp especially if case hardened. You would ideally need a 3 phase bandsaw with a power feed. For that kind of money a bandmill would be a better option
I did find a bandsaw on YouTube with sliding tables.looks very useful but has to come from India !

 

[alex robinson]

'My assumption is you are looking at the beams and thinking ‘oh, that’s a cheaper way to buy timber’.

Part of the reason is price, the main part is accesabiltiy for the timber yard, the timber yard in the links is 2 hour'ish drive each way with a trailer on single track, often with mad tourists in hire cars, campervans and the odd local who does not recognise your van so thinks you should reverse uphill into a passing spot with your trailer as they get priority on the road.

We do have a few yards closer but they have intermittent supply and rarely respond to emails / texts and when you do turn up to collect they have run out, but will drop it off tomorrow, but tomorrow is always a day away.

We do have a huge saw mill in the village, apparently the second largest in Europe. But they only sell pressure treated fence posts / rails to the public, some of the softest and wettest wood I have ever tried to work with! Not the stuff for furniture and structaral projects.

Ability to get the right size wood as and when I need it is the main reason.

I thought you had a huge stock of beams that you wanted to turn into something useful. I agree with the other posters that buying beams deliberately to resaw is a bad plan. Any form of resawing involves a surprising amount of waste.

Could an alternative answer be to make a decent sized wood store and just make a stockpile? That way a few big shopping trips would mean you had all the range of sizes you wanted. Just think of how much extra timber you could buy if you didn't have to spend on a huge bandsaw!

 

[Fitzroy]

Ability to get the right size wood as and when I need it is the main reason.

Totally understand that, living in Aberdeen sourcing wood has been an issue. Scawton sawmill, which does well priced oak, is between me and my Mum (Nottingham) and I somewhat overloaded the car on a return trip once when I had a gate, desk, and shelves all on the todo list. Glad I wasn't stopped by the police as I doubt I was legal.

If you are needing a bandsaw for your general woodworking and will buy one anyhow with the hope that it will do the job discussed then I think I would go up one size and get the 450 rather than 350. Since my 'fun' I have changed to an Axminster SBW4300 which is a 17" wheel 1500W machine that will take a 1" blade. With a Tuffsaws 3/4" M42 3TPI blade it will rip 250mm deep oak much better than the old 352, tested last night. I have not tried to cut a whole sleeper as they weigh 90kg+ and are not fun to manhandle.

The two main issues I had were:

1. It is impossible to hold these heavy beams consistently against a fence. To counter this you have to square off the edge that runs on the table such that the beam doesn't change it's orientation as it runs past through the blade. Draw a line of the surface of the beam and hand guide the cut.
2. There is so much friction between the beam and the tables that moving the wood at a constant pace is almost impossible. As a result you end up surging the wood into the blade as you push it and it suddenly moves. The machine hates this and the blade deflects in the cut. I bought 6 of these (link) and set up infeed and outfeed tables fractionally higher than the saw table.

Regards

Fitz

 

[MarkAW]

You could do it much safer with a froe and splitting wedges, planing smooth afterwards (even with an electric hand planer), but that will be very labour intensive and will loose a lot of stock.

I also agree with the others on difficulty passing through a bandsaw. I have prepared planks from logs on my bandsaw before, but they've not been more than a metre long.

 

[thetyreman]

if you were going to do it by hand that would be an insane amount of work, I'd have thought that an industrial tablesaw would be best for this.

 

[Terry - Somerset]

I have read this thread with interest. A few comments - to set up a machine to resaw 200mm oak:

• needs a large machine, possibly 3 phase power supply. Better to buy one that will comfortably rather than "just about" do the job based on the spec.
• needs infeed and outfeed tables, a way to lift and control the timber on, off and during the cut. Even a 200x100 beam will weight 40-50 kg if dry, more if green.
• set up will take several days, cost - all items needed will probably need delivery down your tourist infested tracks
• cost, even if wisely bought s/h, will not be trivial - guess £1-2k all in
• if your "workshop" is a shared double garage there would be limited room for anything else

I can understand the desire, and possibly satisfaction to do the whole job, but you would need to saw a lot of wood to even break even on the costs and effort involved. Personal view if faced with your project list:

• buy a smaller capacity machine which will fit your workshop space and could resaw smaller sections of larch which is half the density (much easier to handle) of oak.
• buy in the oak beams already re-sawn to an easier to handle size. These could be reduced further on a smaller machine if needed.
• agree with others that whilst the apparent cost of re-sawn beams makes DIY look attractive, taking into account wastage and the time involved the financial difference largely disappears.

 

[sploo]

Resawing 200mm thick oak will be quite a task. A couple of suggestions (cost-effective) suggestions might be to either build your own large bandsaw (e.g. see some of the machines at https://woodgears.ca/tools.html), or this sawmill https://woodgears.ca/bandmill/plans/index.html

I suspect you'd be likely to be able to build a pretty powerful machine (e.g. 3hp) for less than the cost of buying a commercial unit.