How to proceed- a customer wants me to take his 6×6 walnut beams.
The wood is well seasoned, milled feom trees on his property quite a few years ago.
and make a kitchen counter with it, maybe 2″ thick.
This is for inside a barn/poolhouse kitchen area.
There is enough material there to make it
I’m thinking maybe chain saw the 6×6 into slabs (freehand ?). Then go get myself a makita 12″ planer, run the 2 1/4″ x 6″ slabs thru that a few times, joint edges, glue up with titebond type 2 and plenty of #20 biuscuts.
Crazy ? or close to possible
Replies
You'll make better planks with a bandsaw, do you have access to one, or is there someone in your area who does?
Is there a small sawmill in your area?
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I been wanting to procrastinate, but I keep putting it off
Have you ever tried to rip a board with a chain saw? Man that is time consuming. Find a shop that will resaw it for you. Wont cost all that much. A few hours of labor will probably do it.
Have you considered cutting it into 3 or 4" thick pieces and making a endgrain/butcherblock top?
Doug
My local planing mill has a resaw type bandsaw - big rollers and a deep blade - that is the tool for this job, or someone with a wood-mizer.
I resawed a lot of heartpine with a chainsaw once, then dressed it with a hand planer and belt sander. You will save a week or two's work by not doing it this way, and get better results.
The others have covered the cutting and milling part but I will add, DEFINIETLY use the biscuits! I made a maple top a few years back similar to what you are doing and I did everything except the biscuits and wish I did now as a few spots have moved on me leaving small gaps andor uneven surfaces.
Even Titebond fails after some time and wood movement being the top is 8' long and is made of solid lengths.
Mike
I'd sure be looking for someone with a bandsaw. Wood-Mizer makes a great saw, the kerf is going to be much narrower than a circular saw blade, and much, much more accurate than a chainsaw. Even with a guide, a chainsaw is going to eat up a lot of material.
Sounds like a fun project.
Greg
Someone with a decent woodshop should be able to rip them down on a bandsaw for you. TYou will want to run the over a jointer prior to planing them as they will likely not be flat after slicing them. this often releases drying stresses in the wood so be sure to leave some thickness to allow for that when bandsawing them.
I don't know, man, I'd probably just set up my table saw and run the 6 by through one side and then flip it over to get the other......
That leaves you roughly 2" in the center that you could wedge and split ........and plane in a couple passes.
I would also rip those babies narrower than 6" ......glue/clamp/no bicuits....build the thing on a work bench....and if I was worried about the boards spreading I'd flip to the under side and dado a slot every so often and let-in a 1x? (if you do that remember not to run the slot through the front board as it will show when you place the counter.:-)
Don't know what type of table saw you have, but my 10" Grizzly will make a cut over 3" deep. With a hard wood like walnut, you'd want to take that in stages, though.George Patterson, Patterson Handyman Service
When I was building cabinets I had a delta uni-saw........and I seldom if ever cut with a fully extended cut but I though it was like 2 3/4, but it could be more........When I rip a board as thick as that even if I could get all the way through on the second pass I would opt to leave a bit of a connection.......then shut down the saw and clean up the split part........always seemed safer to me.
> ... but I though it was like 2 3/4, but it could be more........I went downstairs, cranked the blade up, and measured mine before I posted.> When I rip a board as thick as that even if I could get all the way
> through on the second pass I would opt to leave a bit of a
> connection.......then shut down the saw and clean up the split
> part........always seemed safer to me.If you put something in the kerf to keep everything straight, there shouldn't be a problem. I've resawn 1x6 pine and some rock maple this way.That said, I agree with those who recommend a bandsaw set up for resawing. I use the table saw 'cause it's what I have, but a big bandsaw is better for this job.George Patterson, Patterson Handyman Service.
jjwalters,
My Grizzly can cut 4 inches,, but then I have a 12 inch Grizzly rather than the normmal 10 inch blade used on 99% of saws.
The table saw is maybe an option- I have a makita 10" and could see
ripping it twice to size it down to planks. what about the planer -anybody have that unit ?
noelski,
call woodmiser, they have portable sawmills in your are that will come out and turn your beams into planks with a lot less waste. Plus you will be surprised at how poorly those chainsaw mills work.. they are far from a start it up and make boards deal they advertize.
Freehand? You might get two boards per timber, maybe! If you are extremely patient and carefull. however going from there to running them thru the planer and getting smooth boards will take endless hours of time (I've done it) whatever you do, start with the thickest end first. when it jams (and it will! trust me, back off untill you can get it thru at all then go down by about 1/2 a turn each pass. You can easily take ten or more passes per board if they aren't perfect..
I had several that took over 20 passes and per board I had nearly 4 hours.
In any case you will have to buy a planer to turn the planks into something smooth enough to work with.. You will need a jointer..
Thank you frenchy- the chain saw idea is dead in the water- now its the table saw or find a willing band saw owner
A 14" bandsaw will resaw pretty much 6" right out of the box-my delta will, anyway. But it bogs down a bit on the hard stuff when I max it out. Bandsaw or tablesaw is the way to go, chainsaw will take forever! I wish I had one of those woodmizers-someday maybe. Post some pics of your progress, I would like to see those beams.
Dustin
IMO. After you resaw the timbers, I would let them dry out (acclimate). If you don't, the center of the timber will have more moisture than the outside, causing severe wood movement.
Do you have a sawzall? I once resawed an 8x10 SYP beam into a 6x10 by ripping both sides with a skilsaw and cleaning up what was left with a sawzall. Your beams would be easy in comparison. Like others have said I'd use a tablesaw for the rip cuts.
I wouldn't bother with biscuits; plane the edge until they fit together nicely and use cauls to keep the boards aligned while you glue up. 2x4's with blue tape on the edge make good cauls. Clamp the cauls so two of them are sandwiching the countertop at 2' or 3' intervals. They will keep the boards well aligned.
Biscuits will align the boards too but not as well, they aren't nearly as strong as a good glue joint is on its own, and they aren't as good as cauls at keeping the whole glue-up flat.
How do you plan to surface the countertop once it's glued up? Easiest would be finding someone with a wide-belt sander (aka "Timesaver") but I've done it with hand planes and/or belt sanders.
That Makita is a nice planer.
Do you really have any idea of the time you are going to spend on this - & priced it accordingly.
Made a maple top similar, ripped on 10" table saw. 26" by 12 ft, probably 20 hours time including finish sanding.
SREWED/glued the 3ea. 3/4 thick recorcinol glued strips together at one time to the next set of strips with 3" deck screws. Biscuits might hold it together also, otherwise you will get cracks. DRY DRY DRY.......
After reading what everyone else wrote, I would just add that you may want to check the beams with a metal detector before trying to saw them--just in case there may be pieces of old fence, wires, etc. imbedded in the wood.