Dick Smith Posted March 31, 2007 Share Posted March 31, 2007 Ah - that got your attention, Chris, Dave, John!I've been playing this morning, and I'm sorry if this is a lengthy post but I want to explain, and it has several questions in it.As I say, I've been playing with some rough-sawn white oak I took as offcuts when the builder put up some faux colombage (you've seen the pictures). It has been seasoning for 3 years, and is now pretty dry. Some is also a bit helter-skelter, but that's to be expected. I have decided to make a small drawer cabinet for keeping router parts in as a practice project.I tried planing it to a finished surface (electric planer, seem to have left my Stanley No5 in France). Lovely finish. Took out some cupping, it works very nicely. Very pleased.So - if I buy a load in France (where it is £1 a metre rather than £6 in England...) and bring it back that would be lovely. I will probably need a planer/thicknesser, and to store some of it in France for space reasons. Will a reasonably cheap p/t be up to the job?http://www.axminster.co.uk/product-Perform-CC10T-250mm-Thicknesser-32570.htmDo I season the timber first (in France) and then mill it, or mill it and then season it? I am assuming the former, as it will move whilst it is drying out. Either way the p/t will probably have to be in France for space reasons.Finishing - I have sanded some test pieces well, routed some edges and finished with Danish oil. Can I wax over it?Only fly in the ointment is some burning from the router cutter (1/2" Ogee) on the end grain which has been very hard to sand out. I guess that is a care and control lesson.Thanks for reading, I am looking forward to advice from the usual wood suspects.[geek] Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Dave&Olive Posted March 31, 2007 Share Posted March 31, 2007 hi Dick ok the only trouble with the perform model .it uses a brush motor !!! very noisy, very noisy. but do not expect to get a good finish without using a chip collector . theses machines take off a lot of stock ,you will soon have mounds of it, unless you have a chip/dust collector it builds up in the cutters and rips the surface, and blunts the blades PDQ. burning of the wood when using ogee type cutters is the feed speed is too slow ( not too fast as you might think).always season wood first , unless you are going to do a Chris and make green oak piecesyes you can wax over D oil .Whats the saying for Danish oil ??? somthing like 1 coat a day for a week 1 coat a week for a month 1 coat a month for a year . so why polish it ? if you want to recoat it you will have to strip back the polish. didn`t Norm put 30 coats of danish oil on a table ??? dave Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Dick Smith Posted March 31, 2007 Author Share Posted March 31, 2007 Right - that's useful (especially the advice about the chip collector). Could I rig up my shop vac for that?I don't want to use green wood - what I have in mind (drawer units) is quite small and delicate.I'll keep plying the DO and see how it looks.How long should I think about seasoning the timber for?Julie has now OKd me buying the p/t, but I think the payback will be new doors for the kitchen in the UK. Shaker doors I can make, but what do I do about the fronts/ends of the units and wall cabinets? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Dave&Olive Posted March 31, 2007 Share Posted March 31, 2007 hi Dick will let Chris answer the question on seasoning oak .I just use a moisture meter ,sad i know. before i bought a chip colector I used my trend t120 dust extractor with the 2" tube for the router table taped to the outlet , it worked .....better than nothing but only lasts say 5 mins before it`s full ,a pain . any way get the OH to buy you one of thesehttp://www.woodfordwm.co.uk/ dave Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Dick Smith Posted March 31, 2007 Author Share Posted March 31, 2007 No chance. Be nice though.I'll only be using it occasionally (I think) and I need to be able to store it away under the new workbench I am working on getting. Oh, and an A3 printer...Tricky choices! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Chris Head Posted March 31, 2007 Share Posted March 31, 2007 I had the idea a few days ago of getting dried Oak to you frustrated woodworkers.I need to do a little asking around but what I'm thinking is this.....I have a kiln and would be willing to source and dry Oak down to 10 - 12% for a few forum contacts only, so long as you're not pro's or won't re-sell, that's my only condition. I can't sell my own timber as I'm chocka with projects and am working two years in advance at the mo.This is a not for profit offer. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Dick Smith Posted March 31, 2007 Author Share Posted March 31, 2007 Very,very tempting. Ta. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Alane Posted March 31, 2007 Share Posted March 31, 2007 I've just spent the day in the garden and I ache in every muscle. Not gardening but feeding 150mm beams into a planer thicknesser to even them up to make the housings for window frames in my Normandy barn conversion. The beams weigh a ton (not literally). I bought a 1500W Brico Depot 300mm thicknesser about 2 years ago and it is fine for planks and beams up to 100mm. With the 150mm beams it is very difficult to get the height of the roller stands feeding the timber into the machine spot on and the feeder tables deflect under the load so it takes many feeds to take off the required thickness.The machine looks similar to the Axminster product so I suspect there is a sweatshop in China making machines for all Western outlets. My machine is generally fine. I'm sure a 3 phase workshop machine would do a better job. It is VERY noisy - I was waiting for the neighbours to complain today but maybe I didn't hear them as I was wearing ear defenders. I bought a load of green oak planks and posts from a supplier in Berkshire on e-bay a couple of years ago and it has been air drying in the back garden since. The wood ripples and warps as it dries so definitely wait until it has dried before planing. The planks have come up really well in the thicknesser and I'm very pleased. 100mm post were also fine but the 150mm posts have some black marks where the rollers have struggled to pull through the heavy timber - these will sand off easily. To be fair this work verges on abuse of the machine although it is advertised as being suitable for 150mm timber.Chris - I'm not going to have enough timber to finish so I would be interested in kiln dried oak. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Chris Head Posted April 1, 2007 Share Posted April 1, 2007 Blimey Alane, you sound like a sucker for punishment! At least you know your planer can take some abuse though!If your Oak is for any sort of formal project it really should be dried down further than air drying, two years of seasoning isn't enough.I'll try and check prices and qualities next week, I think E500 - 600 should buy a cubic meter of 25mm- 30mm, it'll take a couple of weeks in the kiln to get it to 10-12%. UK prices are in the region of 1500gbp m3 I think.The cost could be shared by those interested. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Alane Posted April 1, 2007 Share Posted April 1, 2007 ChrisThe planks so far are for outside use only, shutters, faux colombage etc and seem to be ok. I made a set of shutters last year from the first batch I bought and they seem pretty stable and I made an external ledged plank door three years ago from some green oak I'd bought in France and air dried. The door is in full sun and allowing for the fact that the wood expands and contracts winter and summer it seems ok. As you say I wouldn't use it for furniture making!I'm just taking a break from making the mortices in one of the posts and it seems to have come up pretty well. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Chris Head Posted April 1, 2007 Share Posted April 1, 2007 Alane, an alternative to planing the 150 x 150mm is sanding with flap disc.The joinery was done on this frame first, it's been lightly 'carved' with chainsaw then sanded.The window recesses were all 'roughed out' with chainsaw to within 3 - 5mm and cleaned up with a router.[IMG]http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v609/chrishead/DSC01392.jpg[/IMG]Cheers. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Chancer Posted April 1, 2007 Share Posted April 1, 2007 [quote user="Chris Head"]Blimey Alane, you sound like a sucker for punishment! At least you know your planer can take some abuse though!If your Oak is for any sort of formal project it really should be dried down further than air drying, two years of seasoning isn't enough.I'll try and check prices and qualities next week, I think E500 - 600 should buy a cubic meter of 25mm- 30mm, it'll take a couple of weeks in the kiln to get it to 10-12%. UK prices are in the region of 1500gbp m3 I think.The cost could be shared by those interested.[/quote]Count me in as a potential oak hoarder, let me know what sawn dimensions you propose, at the moment I have a good (i.e. free) source of S.N.C.F. wagon oak floor timbers about 8" by 2".I have made great use of them for bars and counters but also need say 6 by 3's and 6 by 1's etc for framework and cladding/panelling etc for other projects. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Chris Head Posted April 1, 2007 Share Posted April 1, 2007 That timber sounds good JR! What condition is it in?The offer was really to make kiln dried Oak accessible to those who can't progress in their hobby or projects due to cost and availabily problems but if I can help with other section then I'd be happy to. I'll try and get more info next week.You're quite a way from here but I'm going back to UK with an empty truck in July so that might work? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Dave&Olive Posted April 1, 2007 Share Posted April 1, 2007 [quote user="Chris Head"] Blimey Alane, you sound like a sucker for punishment! At least you know your planer can take some abuse though!If your Oak is for any sort of formal project it really should be dried down further than air drying, two years of seasoning isn't enough.I'll try and check prices and qualities next week, I think E500 - 600 should buy a cubic meter of 25mm- 30mm, it'll take a couple of weeks in the kiln to get it to 10-12%. UK prices are in the region of 1500gbp m3 I think.The cost could be shared by those interested.[/quote] hi Chris just for info 3 years ago in Wales plenty of oak ,I used to pay between £21- £30 a cubic foot , cherry, oak . not kiln dried just seasond and rough cut 25-30 mm planks leave you to do the maths Dave Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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