Processing Your Own Timber

[custard]

BBC had a great little series, Tales From The Wild Wood, recounting the experiences of the owner of a small woodland.

Here, after huge efforts, he's managed to get the very best timber from his woodland felled and removed to the sawmill.

http://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/p010sxf9

It illustrates just how cheap timber actually is, and why, when a neighbour has a tree down in their garden, the sensible thing to do is quietly walk away!

 

[Rhossydd]

Interesting clip, it ought to be on a sticky.

Although the trunks the mill owner rejected might be useful to turners.

 

[NazNomad]

Bookmarked for later. Beats the Wizard of Oz every time :-D

 

[Rhossydd]

The full episode(and series) is available on You Tube at https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rhv8JdjftUE

and that sawmill's web site is at http://www.whitneysawmills.co.uk/

 

[davin]

Thank you.

you have rescued me from the Downton Abbey Christmas special.............

 

[Peter Sefton]

Will from Whitney Saw Mill is very knowledgeable and great to deal with, I steer away from sourcing and converting my own logs.

All that glitters is not gold!

Great short video, thanks for posting custard, Happy Christmas

 

[Wildman]

following on now I have been offered almost unlimited amounts of christmas tree thinnings up to 18" in Dia, not tried turning any and assume it is too knotty to even think of planking ideas anyone? I understand it is too resinous for burning is that correct?

 

[Jelly]

following on now I have been offered almost unlimited amounts of christmas tree thinnings up to 18" in Dia, not tried turning any and assume it is too knotty to even think of planking ideas anyone? I understand it is too resinous for burning is that correct?

Like most resinous timber, it will burn really well, but only in a fire that's already very hot. The resin needs to rapidly vaporise and burn before it can stick to surfaces for it to work.

I've buned it quite successful on a coal fire, adding it as additional fuel once the fire was hot.

 

[dickm]

Most resinous softwoods are fine in a HOT closed stove. But not a good idea on an open fire because they spit and spark wildly. Need a very fine mesh spark guard for safety.
Have heated our house for free for the last 18 months with larch and spruce logs in the Squirrel.
Reminds me, must nudge Ifor about the dangers posed by the next two larches in his garden,.......,............

 

[Wildman]

I only tried burning it on an indoors fire once, warmed the room beautifully, as well as the flat upstairs when the chimney caught fire and a team of firemen started hammering at the door, always been cautious since.

 

[NazNomad]

I'll take all that ''firewood'' from him. My lathe will love that.

 

[Woodmonkey]

I would say the film illustrates more the lack of knowledge and experience of the guy trying to manage his woodland. Once he's learned what the saw mill is looking for he'll have a much better idea of which trees to extract.
Also, a couple of hours with a chainsaw mill on the neighbours tree can often yield great results, often producing boards which would be difficult or impossible to find for sale commercially, (again some experience is needed)

 

[Jelly]

I would say the film illustrates more the lack of knowledge and experience of the guy trying to manage his woodland. Once he's learned what the saw mill is looking for he'll have a much better idea of which trees to extract.

True, it's a profession which few even consider the existence of but which is very demanding.

I have a friend who manages something like 18000 acres of commercial forest, needless to say it keeps him on his toes. What amazes me is that within a quiet stroll he's able to predict with frightening accuracy the yield of a stand of trees, which mill will pay the best price for that kind of material and at what time in the future extraction would be best (both environmentally and commercially). I believe they're now doing research plantations to see if they can improve the quality of trees grown (not just the yield) by altering forest management practices.

 

[AJB Temple]

This is interesting. I have had very positive experiences of harvesting my own oaks. We had to take the edge off some woodland some rears ago in order to put in a new driveway and felled a number of old oaks, some elm, ash and a couple of small walnut trees, along with a few firs. After the felling, we hired a bloke to come and strip, rough cut and stack the wood properly in a barn and we sold a bit off, which covered our costs. If you happen to own the land anyway (this had been in our family for a good few years on a farm) the timber can be effectively free. Mind you, the quantities of stuff you can end up with is mind boggling and storage can be a real issue as is transporting the stuff. We replanted triple the quantity of trees along the border of another cops and as this was 20 years or so ago some of them are now reaching quite a useful size. It just requires a long term viewpoint.

I have often wondered if it is worth buying a bit of woodland, perhaps as a co-operative, harvesting the trees then re-selling the land.

 

[Jelly]

I have often wondered if it is worth buying a bit of woodland, perhaps as a co-operative, harvesting the trees then re-selling the land.

The risk you take is that the Forestry Commission won't Issue and/or Transfer a felling licence for the extraction of the timber, you'd also have to ensure that it wasn't in a Conservation area and there were no Tree Preservation Orders on trees that were desired or which would need to be felled for access, and you may have to get an environmental impact assessment if the scale of felling is sufficient.

All in all the due diligence requirements to ensure you don't loose out would make it worthwhile getting a specialist surveyor or forester to look it all over.

 

[DennisCA]

I only tried burning it on an indoors fire once, warmed the room beautifully, as well as the flat upstairs when the chimney caught fire and a team of firemen started hammering at the door, always been cautious since.

Sounds like the chimney needs sweeping more often. Here it's the law and the sweeper comes every other year or so depending on your setup, regardless if you ordered it or not, the county sends him. I think in finland softwoods account for most of the firewood. Birch is the finer firewood for rich people looking for a nice open fire, it does yield very good energy return however. I just think birch is too valuable as woodworking hardwood to burn up.

 

[heimlaga]

I harvest and process quite a bit of own timber. It is neither difficult nor problematic if you have the proper skill set and own the proper equipment.
If there are shortages in equipment or knowledge it suddely becomes very laborious. I think it would be very hard to start from scratch if you haven't taken part in it since childhood and have nobody to teach you. Most beginners run into those startup difficulties and give up.

By the way I don't consider hobby sawmills efficient enough to justify the cost. I always bring the logs to a local sawmill and get them sawn by a professional.
I spent enough time offbearing at various sawmills as a teenager to know pretty well what materials one can expect to get out of a log.

My chainsaw is a Husqvarna 353. A 53cc chainsaw built for professional use. As I do this just as a hobby and side income I sometimes limb with an axe. That is just a wee bit slower and not as hard on the body.
I wear a hardhat with earmuffs and a visor. Safety boots and safety pants and clothes enough to keep me warm. In my pocket I have a tape measure for measuring log lenghts. Perocessing a tree from standing tree to logs doesn't take long.

For the transport I use an old Swedish style log trailer. The boggi can be slid forwards or backwards to fit the general lenght of the logs. This one fits logs between 2,5 and 8,5 metres long. It fits a farm tractor.

The stakes are held in place by a lock mechanism that can be opened from the opposite side of the trailer. I just give the safety chains a bit of slack and open the locks and half the load rolls off in one go with the stakes ending up on top of the heap. Then it is easy to unload the other half of the load with a digging bar.
Transporting logs on a trailer that isn't purpose built is very inefficient and troublesome work.

For hauling the logs out of hard to reach places and skidding and loading them I use a logging winch. It fith the three point hitch on my 1971 model Massey-Ferguson 165. Made in Coventry in England. The tractor itself is fitted with a safety cab and a front guard and an oil pan guard and heavy duty tyre chains and a big toolbox.

The winch boom is easy to remove and without the boom the winch is ideal for hauling logs with the 50 metre wire rope and for skidding logs using choker chains hooked to the winch frame.
With the boom in place the winch functions as a log loader. Since the first picture was taken we have modernized the winch by adding a hydraulic side to side movement which is visible in this picture

Back from the sawmill I remove the bark from all waney edges and stack the wood and build a temporary roof from tin salvaged at demilition sites.

Most of the equipment is from the 1960-ies-70-iesand 80-ies. Rather outdated in the eyes of the big boys...... but very efficient for small scale logging. The total investment should be somewhere between 7000 and 10000 euros.
The investment paid itself back in a few years time.

Now there has been a two years break due to bad health but I am hoping to start again next winter.

 

[Doug B]

All it really showed me was Rob's inexperience, I've been having my own timber converted for years but I wouldn't dream of taking anything that I had a doubt about to the sawmill.

 

[Wildman]

The risk you take is that the Forestry Commission won't Issue and/or Transfer a felling licence for the extraction of the timber,

The forestry commision no longer exists, it disappeared with the mining industry.
AFAIK

 

[Phil Pascoe]

They're still advertising jobs ...