0 Members and 1 Guest are viewing this topic.
You all sound like a bunch of kids (great!) Who, us??!! but I have a few questions:First, what would the taper be like for that long a tree and how would you take that into account?RE: taking taper into account - if our goal is to produce a record, then a 2 x 4 would probably be the main end product, with some other boards/beams pulled off from the remainder of the log. With the swing mills, I think that I'd be tempted to bunk the log so that the top was relatively parallel to the tracks, make some cleaning passes and pull a quartersawn 2 x 4 out for record purposes. That should leave enough wood in the lower 2/3 of the log to also yield a couple of very large beams - perhaps a pair of 10" x 20" beams that were sawn out below the 2 x 4.Second, are you taking a board or a timber, say a boxed heart?See above. Third, how you gonna turn that monster for the second, third and final cuts? If we did the entire job with swing mills, we would not need to turn the log. If we incorpored some band mills into the project, then the thing to do would probably be to get a bunch of folks with Logrite cant hooks to turn it. It would probably be easiest using swingblade mills, as cutting a beam like this is where they really shine compared with a bandmill; howerver Arky is one of the originators of the idea and speaking personally it would be great to do a group project with "the Ankansas master"!Fourth, how you gonna move him/her to a place of honor in some building or shrine? You can't just cut it and leave it there, right? especially in the middle of a runway (imagine coming in to land in your 2-seater piper and finding that thing in your path- maybe you could straddle it, maybe not).Good point; some options would be to either mill it on site for wherever it was going to be used at (but then you have the difficulty of moving the log), or once the record is verified to cut the boards/beams down shorter into transportable lengths. Last, and tied to number four, what purpose for the final product? Seems like that should come first, then the means of cutting it.I think that the best purpose would be to have a group from the Forestry Forum teaming together to create a new worlds record. Not trying to be a wet-blanket here; just the opposite: you're more likely to get help when it comes to crunch time if everyone has some goal for using what you cut other than to just beat the record (although that can be a goal in and of itself). Maybe we can brainstorm some on just why you might need timbers that long? Shoot, once you've spent all the time, energy and money setting up to cut one, why not cut a bunch and build something that sets a record also? Like the barn with the biggest sill and/or top plates every made? Guiness might sit up and take notice of that...Those are some great points and good ideas. Looks like we need to keep our eyes and ears open for some potential applications for long beams.Other than northern California, where else are untra large/long straight logs available at? Scott[/size]Ideas?Lj
