I have some 4 foot long, 4-6" diameter oak limbs
from our tree and for the heck of it I'd like to turn them
into boards, let them dry, and make something.

What's the best home workshop tool for turning a limb
this size into a board?

Thanks,

Mike

Finding the keyboard operational
Michael entered:

I have some 4 foot long, 4-6" diameter oak limbs
from our tree and for the heck of it I'd like to turn them
into boards, let them dry, and make something.

What's the best home workshop tool for turning a limb
this size into a board?

Thanks,

Mike

I am using a old craftsman bandsaw. I've done some hickory and have some
maple to do this weekend. Some of the hickory was 6 - 8" so I had to split
some of the pieces in half.
Make sure that you have plenty of support on the infeed and outfeed sides.
It would be impossible to cut otherwise. One trick I wish I had done from
the begining was to take a chalkline and markout the first cut or two. Use
the lowest tooth count blade you can get your hands on and feed the limbs
very slowly. Check for imbedded objects before making a cut.
Bob




--?
--?
Coffee worth staying up for - NY Times
www.moondoggiecoffee.com

Attach the limb to a carrier board and run the carrier against the fence.
WL
"The Other Funk" wrote in message
news:FIhTg.77$Oh3.52@trnddc04...
Finding the keyboard operational
Michael entered:

I have some 4 foot long, 4-6" diameter oak limbs
from our tree and for the heck of it I'd like to turn them
into boards, let them dry, and make something.

What's the best home workshop tool for turning a limb
this size into a board?

Thanks,

Mike

I am using a old craftsman bandsaw. I've done some hickory and have some
maple to do this weekend. Some of the hickory was 6 - 8" so I had to split
some of the pieces in half.
Make sure that you have plenty of support on the infeed and outfeed sides.
It would be impossible to cut otherwise. One trick I wish I had done from
the begining was to take a chalkline and markout the first cut or two. Use
the lowest tooth count blade you can get your hands on and feed the limbs
very slowly. Check for imbedded objects before making a cut.
Bob




--?
--?
Coffee worth staying up for - NY Times
www.moondoggiecoffee.com

In article . net,
"Wilson" wrote:

Attach the limb to a carrier board and run the carrier against the fence.
WL
"The Other Funk" wrote in message
news:FIhTg.77$Oh3.52@trnddc04...
Finding the keyboard operational
Michael entered:

I have some 4 foot long, 4-6" diameter oak limbs
you can get your hands on and feed the limbs
very slowly. Check for imbedded objects before making a cut.
Bob
I have sawn up some maple, Oak, Plum, Pear and Peach. As others have
said, you loose a lot to twisting, but you may get something. I just
used Highland Hardware's Woodturners blade to saw up the Pear and it
really made things easier. Do use a sled.

Thanks everyone for the tips on this. I appreciate it.

Mike

Michael
I do this fairly often. Check my site under working green wood. It is from
the wood turner's perspective but it does apply.
______
God bless and safe turning
Darrell Feltmate
Truro, NS, Canada
www.aroundthewoods.com
"Michael" wrote in message
...
Thanks everyone for the tips on this. I appreciate it.

Mike

In article , "Michael" wrote:
I have some 4 foot long, 4-6" diameter oak limbs
from our tree and for the heck of it I'd like to turn them
into boards, let them dry, and make something.

Good luck with that... limbs, sawn into boards, will warp all over the place.
Google "reaction wood" for a thorough explanation. The short version is that
growing in any direction except vertically causes the wood on the upper side
of the limb to be in tension, and the lower side in compression; when the limb
is sawn into boards, these stresses are released and the boards warp.

Four to six inches diameter is too small to make into boards of any
decent size anyway, even if it weren't reaction wood. You don't want the pith
(center of the limb) in a board, because it isn't stable. Remove that, and
remove the bark, and you're left with boards that are 2 to 3 inches wide, max.

What's the best home workshop tool for turning a limb
this size into a board?

Chainsaw and axe -- for firewood. Do you have a lathe? It might be useful for
turnings -- ask over at rec.crafts.woodturning for more info.

--
Regards,
Doug Miller (alphageek at milmac dot com)

It's time to throw all their damned tea in the harbor again.

In article ,
Michael wrote:
I have some 4 foot long, 4-6" diameter oak limbs
from our tree and for the heck of it I'd like to turn them
into boards, let them dry, and make something.

What's the best home workshop tool for turning a limb
this size into a board?

Thanks,

Mike



I just finished reading a long sawstop thread so when I saw your
subject beginning with "cutting limbs" I was not thinking of the
wooden kind...

Anyway, for a 4 ft, 4-6" dia log, it is easy enough to make a jig
that can be used on a bandsaw. Should be easy enough to find an
example with a web search.

You're probably going to get some comments about the suitability
of using (I'm sorry but after the sawstop and tablesaw accident
threads I just can't bear to use the word limbs here) BRANCHES
to make boards, but you did say it was for the heck of it.


--
No dumb questions, just dumb answers.
Larry Wasserman - Baltimore, Maryland - lwasserm(a)charm(.)net

Michael wrote:

What's the best home workshop tool for turning a limb
this size into a board?

Turning is usually the best way to use up branches, especially
interesting forks, but oak isn't a particularly good timber.

I'd suggest a froe (or the right shape of axehead) and cleave them, as
these are only small boards. As others have posted, limb wood is going
to suffer badly as reaction wood, but you might manage to make smaller
medieval repro stuff from oak limbs.

If you have a decent sized bandsaw, then that will saw them up pretty
well. However you really do need to make a sliding log carriage for it
first. Far too unsafe without, especially for snatching and kinking a
blade. The carriage (plans are around) is just a long plywood sled
that slides on the saw table and has blocks to support a log and clamps
to hold it in place.


Remember that any tree always turns into far smaller and less useful
timber than you'd expect. This seems on the firewood size, not useful
boards.