Keel in the rough(4 photos)

[Rich VanValkenburg]

Here's a few pics of getting Sonja's keel stock out of a tree. Hope it's not boring for you. I thought it was cool.

http://www.imagestation.com/picture/sraid28/pa64d9cd0a6893781084d0d8d127d58de/fe0a3165.jpg.orig.jpg
http://www.imagestation.com/picture/sraid28/p26441e15797d4d0c694b1f592ce439ac/fe0a3164.jpg.orig.jpg
http://www.imagestation.com/picture/sraid28/p3cff67bdfea6067633f3d5f7a5eea33a/fe0a3162.jpg.orig.jpg
http://www.imagestation.com/picture/sraid28/p001e11c608b7292584d3154eda9a2e56/fe0a3160.jpg.orig.jpg

[Art Read]

Boring, hell! I just want to know what you're gonna do with the off-cuts! http://media5.hypernet.com/~dick/ubb/smile.gif

[True Love]

Rich, I think its cool, too. And what are you gonna do with the left overs?!

[wolfietuk]

From the tree to the finished product, fantastic isnt it. Keep Plenty of pictures comming. Is this the dead tree there was a thread about a little while back?

Rick

[PaulB]

OK, thats cool! I love that saw mill. Makes me think of a few trees I have on my land, that I am building a house on. White Oak, 100+ feet tall, streaght as an arrow, to big around for 3 people to reach around. I would hate to see any of these come down, but if they had to, what better way to end up.

Paul B

[abe]

Not boring at all. Great shots of the Woodmizer in action. An amazing piece of equipment. I recently spent two days offloading about 4000 board feet of eastern white pine from the 40hp extended version of that machine. Probably would take twice as long with that oak.

Thanks for the pictures.

[Rich VanValkenburg]

Wish I had the cut-offs! It wasn't my tree, and it was the only White Oak that became available for nearly three months of my searching. I spent four hours helping out, stickering the 6/4 that he cut, and that was just for one section of trunk. I took home two 5 1/2"x9"x10' beams. There was no deflection in the stock when these were cut, so I think it'll be pretty stable.

[ken mcclure]

How could pictures of big equipment "doing stuff" possibly be boring?

Good pics. And good luck with your share of the wood!

[Rich VanValkenburg]

In case anyone else in Southeast Michigan(or thereabouts) is interested, this gentleman's name is John Haling of Whitmore Lake, Mi. 734-741-7587. He runs his own custom stainless steel business out of a pole barn in his backyard and cuts lumber when he has an order and a tree. His neighbor runs a tree service, so he has some good contacts.

Otherwise, this is where I found him and several others(this is a .pdf document so you'll need Adobe reader)-- http://washtenawcd.org/ps/timberbuyers.pdf

Rick, not sure about that post you mention. This tree was 36" diameter and live, but he told me of a 65" White Oak that was coming down near Ann Arbor.

[This message has been edited by Rich VanValkenburg (edited 12-31-2001).]

[PeterSibley]

Rich,how accurate was that mill?I mean any wave in the cuts?especially the bark edge ones?

[Rich VanValkenburg]

The first cuts through the bark were a little on the wavy side. John sided off most of the bark and then switched to a new blade. Very smooth cuts after that. Dirt in the bark tends to dull blades quickly.

I bought a 2"x12"x16' Mahogany plank years back and had another gent with a Mizer cut 1/4" veneers so we could laminate the cabin and combing sides around a form. Two light passes on each side with a thickness planer gave us clean veneers.

With a sharp blade this is an amazing piece of equipment, just as abe said. This one was diesel powered and just roared through it.

[dasboat]

Rich,WAY COOL!
Hard to express how much fun it is to see stuff like this.From the raw material to the backbone of that beautiful boat....how cold that ever be boring?

Darryl

[Rich VanValkenburg]

I screwed up that timber harvesters' link. It should be-- washtenawcd.org/ps/timberbuyers.pdf

sorry.