Work offered!

[tracy]

London Plane needs a sawmill (not that sort of plane!)

Anyone interested in a job? A large plane has been felled, and needs sawing up. It is a paid job, and might also make a nice woodlandsTV film if they are available and you don't mind! A chainsaw mill would do the job.

Tree:

Average diameter: at the base of the log 1.5 metres

Circumference: at the base of the log 4.8 metres, at the top of the log 4.3 metres (there is some flare-out at this point)

Length: maximum 7.1 metres

Jeff says:

FYI some of the sawmills I’ve spoken to have also been worried about possible shrapnel in the wood, which apparently can be a problem with trees from London and which can potentially damage sawblades. To my knowledge, eight or nine high-explosive bombs or anti-aircraft shells fell in nearby streets to the west and south-west of the vicarage (where the tree was felled) on 12 September 1940. About half a dozen exploded. Most were around 400 metres away but two were at a distance of about 200 metres.

Let Tracy know if you are interested to take part in this project!

[John H]

Where abouts in London is it?

I may be interested but I have a strong aversion to driving up to London.

I have have the Lucas mill and a chainsaw mill. Any photos?

John

[tracy]

I will find out more about it tomorrow - I am guess Dulwich way. I do have a couple of photos and will try to work up the energy to upload them to flikr!

[tracy]

The tree is in Dulwich, photos of it:

http://farm5.static.flickr.com/4014/4542921894_ab9c29678e_o.jpg

http://farm3.static.flickr.com/2755/4542921796_f90e6aa86a_o.jpg

please contact

[email protected]

if you are interested in being a part of this project

[John H]

Thanks Tracy, it looks a nice log. I have emailed Jeff.

John

[John H]

Looks like I've got the job. I will take some photos.

John

[John H]

Well, I got the job done, it was not without some stress.

I think the customer was happy, however I am not looking forward to seeing the video as things were not going too well when the film crew were there.

http://www.flickr.com/photos/[email protected]/

[tracy]

Glad you got it done ok, what was the stress? Looks like a very big tree!

[John H]

I set of from home at 7.30 am on Saturday morning and reached Dulwich about 8.30.I soon had the log cut into two ten foot halves, but that was when the fun started. In order to get clearance for the first half to be milled we had to roll the second half out or the way.By this time 4 helpers had turned up and the film crew wanting to see some action. We eventually shifted it and I was able to start setting the mill up and I soon found out that this was not an easy job when the log sits on top of a mound. Bear in mind that this was only the second log I had milled with the Lucas mill.

I started milling about 11.00am and my blood pressure dropped back to somewhere near normal as the boards started to come off. We were all astounded by the ripple in the grain of the quater sawn boards. Unfortunatley there was quite a lot of rot as I approached the centre. Who ever had condemed the tree had made the right decision considering how close it was to the Church and Rectory. At around 3.30 I was approaching the bottom of the first log when I hit metal, all the carbide tips on the blade were ruined. We decided to leave the rest of that half and take the mill down returning on Monday to tackle the big end.

[John H]

Here is a clip that Jeff took. I hope the Dulwich Studio guys got some better film but I must admit I am a bit worried that it may be a comedy of errors.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9wzkrzyB46I