We have some of PMB's fine wood in my living room. It's all on prominent display. Last week a customer came over and complimented us on it. I grinned ear to ear when he asked where it came from. I said "A friend".

Yes we saw your stereo tabletop. I was willing to sacrifice a left nut for something like that.

NOW I know why your ole lady keeps you around! Nice work and a fun video!

I operated a circle mill in high school, I think it was 72". Powered by a 1930s inline 6 gas. Big fat kerf, clouds of sawdust. Loved it.
I've been considering adding a circle mill to the herd.


Damnation. How does the allergy show up? That sucks.


I wear the exact clothes at this time of year that I do in cooler times of the year. My temperature reaches boiling point and no higher.


Do you have dimensions that you're looking for? I am cleaning out around here.


Does the cedar slab table bear beauty marks from a long life? My favorite.
One of the tables out in MT has a couple of hundred knife point marks where I sit... I slam the tip down in the Doug Fir table top between cuts just for giggles, and I like the marks.



Almost anything is reasonable if you take on the labor...
What dimensions are you looking for?


You did see the 4 second video at the end of the first post, yes ?


I'm honored, my friend.


(looking down shyly, eyes raised) But would you take it face down and dry over a splintery sawhorse?

I'm willing to put some slabs up to WaGunners for a reasonable donation to WaGuns. I won't need to see a penny of it, but if you work it out amongst yourselves and the head honchos think it's reasonable and a good deal for the donator , you don't even need to tell me how much.

Ah, I forgot the best video Jim.
This fellow is up in Ontario I think.

https://youtu.be/zCoSTnI1JpA

Simpler :

https://youtu.be/Obi8Vym7VGc


https://youtu.be/wWGdVV1toug

Nice vids.

Yep, sensitivity to wood dust comes on fast... one day you're cruising along thinking... man, I love smelling this stuff as I work then BAM! Blinding headache from a mere sniff of dust.

That redwood is gorgeous! I'd love to put one of my satellite sanders on a slab of that to flatten it out and give it an oil finish. Bet you get some deep reflective ribbons in those slabs if sanded well and oiled.

Very cool Mike!

Western Red Cedar:

Very nice!

Nice!

Brings back memories of a portable mill I helped run when we built a brewery & sunroom on our property in Bonney Lake...

Great pics!

My flattening sled for chainsaw free cut slabs from old growth long butt cedar downed in the early 1900's by hand loggers was six feet by twelve feet, all angle iron and 2x12's for the bed.

Carriage rode on aluminum wheels on 1x1 inch angle iron set point up as a self shedding track.

Chain and hand wheel for dancing end to end on the table, and a gear reduction power feed with forward and reverse for traversing the table side to side.

Vertical travel was also hand crank and lock.

Power head was a 220 volt 5 hp motor swinging a tool head that mounted 6 carbon steel blades that could be replaced in sets to keep sharp steel on the wood - each cut was 6 inches wide.

I cut a lot of slab by hand, and even more with an Alaska mill and my Husqvarna 2100 which I still have - after 34 years of felling and milling, the damm thing still runs.

My biggest hand cut slabs were clear red cedar, 54 inches wide from a long butt that was half rotted into the forest floor.

We used a Gilchrist log jack to pry it up, and I free cut 6-8 inch slabs out of it from top to bottom.

Wish I had kept one - that stuff was dark milk chocolate in color, and you needed to use a magnifying glass to count rings, they were so tight together.

Ah, you're the only other person I've found who uses steel for the flattening sled.
I use Unistrut of course, but same idea. I placed a wooden bumper so as to not touch the router bit to it.


Holy Shugar. That was fancy and must have been high production. How big around was the cutter?


My biggest is 52".

What did people use 6" to 8" thick slabs for? I have made benches and tables 6" thick, but have only given them as gifts, not sold them.
I ask because I am completely bushed from working in the heat and smoke today, not sure that I want to put more labor into a few cants. haha

So today I made two grand mistakes, 4-5 big ones, and about 150 regular ones.

Grand mistake one - Putting in a full day in the heat and smoke/air.
GM#2 - I put on a Tyvek suit when I was debarking the 2nd biggest beast log, and somehow got into a groove of working before taking it off.

Spoiler: show

Of course I knew that I was feeling hot, but you don't think much about details when you're really leaning into a job, right?

I think this is the "Come in for lunch!" visit.

Spoiler: show

The order of the photos that the Dread Princess took when she came over to bug the hell out of me with Balrog in tow is odd. She has a pic of me with an area debarked, and I'm not wearing the Tyvek suit. I must have taken it off for a lunch break, then put it back on when I went back out.
Someone call the psych ward ASAP please.

Me: "Get down off of there, Balrog."

Spoiler: show

Spoiler: show

Balrog: "You're not the boss of me!"

The pics don't show the smokey air, but from what I gather, we're all swimming in this stuff.

For all of her sass, the Balrog makes difficult jobs like squaring up the logs easier for me. I sit on the forklift, and she rolls them up on their bark sides.
She's handy to keep around.

Spoiler: show

It doesn't look like too much.

Spoiler: show

Spoiler: show

30" across, after being squared up.

Spoiler: show

It's just too big for my mill. I can cut it, but I can't keep enough tension on the blade for perfectly flat cuts when it is this wide and has big knots, and this tree had plenty.

Spoiler: show

This is where Old Growth's circle mill really shines. His Lucas Mill can cut wider and flatter than my band mill. Each type of mill has its advantages, but there is no comparison when you get into the really wide stuff.
I plan on building a new mill this winter (The Dread Princess laughs) and will have 2.5" to 3" shafts and 30" steel wheels, so I should then be able to cut past 48" and keep it flat with a sharp blade.

I called it a day before I finished this log, because :
1. My shirt and A-shirt were positively dripping heavy with sweat under that Tyvek suit.
2. My nose, throat and lungs were straining under the heavy air.
3. I'm old, and just can't work as long or as hard as I could even 10 years ago.

Here's one of the cants from the log : 12" x 30" x 102"

Spoiler: show

There's still another big cant on the mill that I'm slabbing off one-side live edged pieces. It's about 18" x 30" x 102"
I'm tuckered out.

PMB? You are the man! I envy you being able to do that, both having the equipment and the Wood available to do that.

I never thought i would say this to another Man, but can i have some of your Wood?

Strike that, you need to be PAID for your Wood my friend, it's beautiful.

X2

You're welcome to some.
Chris, you have not been by to visit in too long. Stop by.