Slabbing Cottonwood and White Oak in California... pic heavy...

octam1 · March 09, 2013, 10:08:28 PM

Been reading here for a long time but have not been able to post much... internet connection issues are behind us so we should be able to post more moving forward... This post will be picture heavy cause I know everyone likes to see pictures of what others are up to... lol...

I appologize that some of the pictures may have alot of shading in them, we where lucky enough to be under the shade canopy of some pretty big oak trees on this project...

Getting cottonwood log in the mill and ready to slab

Getting the first cut started

This was two slabs in if I remember correctly

Dads working on the third slab

Lots of nice colors and grains in this cottonwood

Just under 3' worth of cut

Lots of nice figure in the crotches

Has some nice bullets embedded inside too

These slabs came out pretty good

Dad even had a good time running the Lucas... lol

for those of you unfamiliar with the Lucas Slabbing attatchment, this is the oiler side out at the bar tip...

This is the clutch and drive sprocket side of the bar

Makin some chips fly...

Nice stack of slabs, all 3" thick

we moved the 3" slabs in front of of this stack of 2" thick slabs that came off of the LT40 manual

octam1 · March 09, 2013, 10:19:51 PM

Here are some pix of a large White Oak log from the same project...

Loading the oak log in the mill

3" thick oak slabs get pretty heavy... Pretty wood tho...

Hard to see the grains in the picture but it looked pretty good

Oak slabs wuz kindar hard for dad to hold up, but he managed for a pic... lol...

I had to get myself in there too...

Stack of White Oak 3" thick slabs ready for drying time...

I have more pictures to post in this thread but I am on a sattalite connection so its kind of slow for me... I will get some more added in here soon...

Charles.

kderby · March 09, 2013, 10:36:08 PM

Thanks for the tour Charles!! 8) 8) 8) 8)

Kderby

Lud · March 10, 2013, 12:03:10 AM

Good lookin' slabs. How do you dry them? Slow and long?

customsawyer · March 10, 2013, 05:44:19 AM

Very nice slabs. I bet you guys slept fine. :D

WDH · March 10, 2013, 07:56:59 AM

Charloes,

Nice work! Those white oak brutes look heavy. Do you have to spray for powderpost beetles?

terrifictimbersllc · March 10, 2013, 10:33:56 AM

Enjoyed seeing this. How do you move out the slabs?

octam1 · March 10, 2013, 12:28:30 PM

Thanks guy's! Yes the slabs of oak are quite heavy but these ones arent as heavy as the ones that followed them... they got stacked and stickered under sone heavy tree cover, we wighted them down with outer slab cuts and buckets of sand followed by covering them to shed water... as for moving them around, we used wedges to get some pieces of pvc pipes under them, some of them we rolled off into a stack but we used a tractor to move most of them, they quickly got to be too heavy for me and my dad to easily move them by hand... we sealed the ends with baileys end sealer but did not spray them down with anything...

octam1 · March 10, 2013, 12:36:51 PM

here is one of the crotch sections we slabbed

even with the bark inclutions, still some nice slabs of oak

lots of figure in these ones

these should make for some really nice and crative table tops...

that about does it for the small ones... lol...

redbeard · March 10, 2013, 12:48:22 PM

Very nice set you guys have and awesome slabs.

octam1 · March 10, 2013, 01:10:35 PM

we also had the opportunity to do some just slightly larger on this project...

This log was just shy of 18' long and had to be moved one side at a time... little by little... lol...

with the Lucas set up around it you can get a better idea of just how small it was... lol...

just about ready to get started

I probably shouldn't repeat the things dad was saying... lol... it was something like "this thing is pretty neat-o big" but not in those same words... lol...

wholly cow, only 9' more to go... lol

Man that's alot of bf rite there...

now we gotta move that sucker...

at this point the slabs are just about 36" to 38" at the far end...

Dang... we getting tired... lol...

pretty wide at this point, it was over 4' wide on the side closest to camera...

we tipped this one sideways while we were moving it to get a pic of just how big these slabs are... 3" thick, over 48" on the left and just under 18' long...

Stack of slabs stickered up...

usually at the end of the day, if we have not finnished the log, we cover it with sawdust... not sure if it helps but we figured it can't hurt and it's just what we always do... lol...

Dads pose'in with some of them slabs... give ya a visual reference to just how big they are...

Different view of the slab stacks... and still more to come...

same stacks, different view...

the slabs added up quick, but that was not all of them...

drobertson · March 10, 2013, 01:18:40 PM

Nice work Octam1! real nice, what is the market for these monsters? david

terrifictimbersllc · March 10, 2013, 04:37:50 PM

Quote from: octam1 on March 10, 2013, 12:28:30 PM
Thanks guy's! Yes the slabs of oak are quite heavy but these ones arent as heavy as the ones that followed them... they got stacked and stickered under sone heavy tree cover, we wighted them down with outer slab cuts and buckets of sand followed by covering them to shed water... as for moving them around, we used wedges to get some pieces of pvc pipes under them, some of them we rolled off into a stack but we used a tractor to move most of them, they quickly got to be too heavy for me and my dad to easily move them by hand... we sealed the ends with baileys end sealer but did not spray them down with anything...

Do you raise the rails out of the way after each cut, to move off a slab? Is it easy to get the setting back?

beenthere · March 10, 2013, 04:45:02 PM

Prolly just slides them off onto those long multi-forks on that bucket FEL. ;)

SAWMILL BUDDY · March 10, 2013, 05:35:01 PM

Nice slabs. How wide is your slabber? I sure could use one.

octam1 · March 10, 2013, 05:56:40 PM

Market for the slabs is to be determined... Our customer said slab it, so we slabbed it...

As far as moving the rails... no we dont ususally move the rails... we usually work some straps under the slab and then put the straps on the forks of a tracktor or bobcat... The tracktor we used at that jobsite was provided by them so we just looped the straps on the tines of the orchard rake... at our place we use a fork lift or the fork attachment on a skidsteer to move slabs...

we tried moving the rails down and out of the way, but we decided it's just easier for us to lift the slabs out with hyro power, we try to be really careful so we dont damage the rails, we have done a some logs with nothing to move the slabs but people power, and we usually work some pvc pipes under the slabs and push them off into a pile... it's harder that way but it works...

if I remember correctly it will cut 60" at this time... but I do have drawings started for a another carrage I would like to make that will allow us to make some wider cuts... but thats project is a ways off, too many other projects and things going on for the time being...

as you can see... we are not affraid of working with the bigger stuff and the word is getting out that we mill bigguns...

these ones landed in our yard... still have to get to them tho...

customsawyer · March 10, 2013, 07:53:18 PM

I like the biguns. Very nice pics. There is some great looking slabs in that stack.

Woodkiller · March 10, 2013, 08:24:33 PM

That is very cool! Those slabs are simply amazing 8)

WDH · March 10, 2013, 09:29:27 PM

My body hurts just looking at those slabs

. Have to spray oak down here or powderpost beetles are sure to get in them.

drobertson · March 10, 2013, 09:46:40 PM

You guys are in 8) I looked at the slabbers, never knew how they worked, a must have for what you all are doing for sure. I have turned down some big oaks in the past the very reason of no way to cut them. Just can't justify the cost for the limited use. Still makes one want one all the same, love the pics, keep them coming as you can, I remember the slow internet, what a pain this can be, david

ayerwood · March 11, 2013, 12:31:54 AM

Those are some beautiful slabs for sure. Nice work! I got a slabbing attachment last year and am planning to do some large maple stuff this summer. These pics have made me want to move up the start date!

justallan1 · March 11, 2013, 09:32:07 AM

Great pictures. Now I understand a bit more about that sort of mill, thanks.
Allan

thecfarm · March 11, 2013, 11:38:10 AM

Nice picture of the one on edge with your Dad standing by the slab that is held up by the tractor. This dial up did fine with your pictures. Well worth the wait. That customer has the slab market cornered.