Felling a London Plane

[Mreagleeyes]

Unfortunately this enormous London Plane needs to be felled and I'm just looking for ideas or someone with a Planking Machine??.
I do a few days a week with the Tree Surgeons that share the Yard with my workshop and when they get large trees to fell I get first shout on the timber.

Below is the Tomograph Report.
Thought you might like to see what's happening in the tree surgeon world.

So the poor thing is going to be coming down and as you can see there are some very large pieces that could be used.

 

[wizer]

:shock: :shock: Bagsy some of that!! Any largish bits that might make interesting lathe fodder, let me know!

 

[Chris Knight]

That's very interesting! Thanks for posting it.

 

[head clansman]

hi
keep us all posted with pics especially if you managed to get it all planked up . hc

 

[jasonB]

Try Scotts my local mill they have a mobile saw

http://web.ukonline.co.uk/scottimber/saw-on-site.htm

Jason

 

[Paul Chapman]

My local tree surgeon let me have some London Plane - mainly for fire wood because the tree had also suffered from rot and decay. From the look of the better bits of the stuff he gave me, it should be nice if you can get some decent pieces out of it.

Cheers :wink:

Paul

 

[paulm]

Could be some very interesting figuring in the burred sections ?

Cheers, Paul

 

[Ironballs]

An interesting read, thanks for posting. Hope you'll get some decent planks from that (and burrs), London Plane is a lovely wood

 

[wizer]

What are the characteristics of LP? Is it durable? Used for Workbench\Tool Making or quite soft? Could it be used for kitchen utensils? Spatulas, bread boards and the like?

 

[Benchwayze]

Isn't this the species that surrenders Lacewood?

Something ticking in my memory here, but I could be wrong.

Edit... (Nahhh I said I was confused didn't I?)
Edit again!

http://www.english-country-garden.com/t ... -plane.htm

yes it is sometimes called Lacewood! Duhhh! :roll:




Don't let it go anyway Paul...



John

 

[Mreagleeyes]

Try Scotts my local mill they have a mobile saw

http://web.ukonline.co.uk/scottimber/saw-on-site.htm

Jason

Thanks Jason. The tree surgeons are just worried about getting rid of the timber so if I can get a 'Planker' on site the day we fell it then I could get all the timber delivered to my workshop and I could work out what to do with it.

The only problem is and it's a big one if your Planking machine cost loads of money and I'm sure they do.
The "Blitz", the tree is located in a heavily bombed part of London and I reckon it's full of shrapnel from the War. Maybe I should just ignore this and hope Mr Scott Timber is not on here!!!!.

 

[wizer]

You will be charged for the cost of each 'blade'. I can't interpret the report, but it will depend on yeild. If the yield is high and the burrs come off intact then you could more than cover the cost of planking + blades. Although, if you plank the vast majority of it, you have to have somewhere to store it for 2,3,4 years.

The burrs should sell instantly. Put my name down for one

 

[Mreagleeyes]

You will be charged for the cost of each 'blade'. I can't interpret the report, but it will depend on yeild. If the yield is high and the burrs come off intact then you could more than cover the cost of planking + blades. Although, if you plank the vast majority of it, you have to have somewhere to store it for 2,3,4 years.

The burrs should sell instantly. Put my name down for one

On the woodwork course I did the guy had a large pile of timber out side with just a metal roof on it, no sides or protection from the elements and it seemed fine.
I have room to make an outdoor timber area, but have never known what's involved in allowing the timber to 'settle'.

 

[laird]

Interesting report, thanks for sharing.

 

[Benchwayze]

You will be charged for the cost of each 'blade'. I can't interpret the report, but it will depend on yeild. If the yield is high and the burrs come off intact then you could more than cover the cost of planking + blades. Although, if you plank the vast majority of it, you have to have somewhere to store it for 2,3,4 years.

The burrs should sell instantly. Put my name down for one

On the woodwork course I did the guy had a large pile of timber out side with just a metal roof on it, no sides or protection from the elements and it seemed fine.
I have room to make an outdoor timber area, but have never known what's involved in allowing the timber to 'settle'.

I am reliably informed that a weatherproof roof is the only real cover you need. It helps to use laced tarpaulins to cover the side exposed to the prevailing wind, but you could cover all four sides with tarps. The air that gets through the 'cracks' helps to provide air currents to aid drying. You could roll the tarps up in a dry spell of course. It helps if you keep the planks as neatly 'sticked' as possible, and keeping the sticks uniform in size is good.

HTH John

 

[Mreagleeyes]

You will be charged for the cost of each 'blade'. I can't interpret the report, but it will depend on yeild. If the yield is high and the burrs come off intact then you could more than cover the cost of planking + blades. Although, if you plank the vast majority of it, you have to have somewhere to store it for 2,3,4 years.

The burrs should sell instantly. Put my name down for one

On the woodwork course I did the guy had a large pile of timber out side with just a metal roof on it, no sides or protection from the elements and it seemed fine.
I have room to make an outdoor timber area, but have never known what's involved in allowing the timber to 'settle'.

I am reliably informed that a weatherproof roof is the only real cover you need. It helps to use laced tarpaulins to cover the side exposed to the prevailing wind, but you could cover all four sides with tarps. The air that gets through the 'cracks' helps to provide air currents to aid drying. You could roll the tarps up in a dry spell of course. It helps if you keep the planks as neatly 'sticked' as possible, and keeping the sticks uniform in size is good.

HTH John

Nice one. Can see myself laying a 6' x 8' concrete bed in the Yard now to take my timber.
That's what I like, the whole process of getting and sourcing my wood and showing the customer.

 

[wizer]

Yeh, just needs to be away from the driving rain.

 

[Benchwayze]

As Tom says... Agree.

My stash is in a corner of the yard. High brickwalls to end and one side. All the planks in stick and covered over with flexible sheets of fibreglass roofing. The side is protected with a half sheet of WPB plywood.
The timber is fine.

If you want more permanent side covering, use 4 x 4 as uprights, and fix 4 x 1 battens, 4 inches apart, each side of the 4 x 4s. Staggering them (As per a screen fence) so you have ventilation coupled with protection from the driving rain. (This is an ideal way to recycle Pallets!)

Somewhere I have an article on sticking and storing timber. I'll look it out for you.

Regards
John

 

[LocalOak]

If that tree is where I think it is I walk past it regularly on the way to one of my regular jobs. Any idea when the work might be done so I can keep an eye out? Selfishly, I'd love to see a big planker at work.

 

[Offcut]

Does it really need to be cut down?