Matthew, I just wanted to tell you how much I enjoy your channel. I am not able to do any of the things you do because when I was 12 years old both hips slipped out of joint and I have be handicapped ever since. In my mid 40's I developed a Neuro Muscular disease that made impossible for me to walk, or breath. So now at age 72 I am confined to either my bed of electric wheelchair. However, I get a lot of enjoyment watching your channel. I may not be physically able to do what you do but I enjoy watching you do those things. I will just add this one note. I have for 60 years fought to do things myself. I worked my entire life and ended up as the lead programmer at a large hospital. So a handicap is only a handicap when you allow it to be one.
Matt - It's been an absolute pleasure watching you build and use your saw ........ thank you for being a persistent young man ......... now it's time to watch the shop videos ......... JRW
Hey Matt. I would love to see you follow some of the slabs that you keep. Show them and talk about what you expect to see as they dry, then a follow up in another year comparing that to what actually happens. changes in color, cracks, warping, and whatever else can happen during the drying process. I love what you do man.
I have truly enjoyed this journey from the design and construction of the saw to the testing and use on various wood species. It has been great fun to watch the discovery as the figures show up during the milling process. While it is impossible for me to be there, your videos afford me the opportunity to enjoy the discovery process with you. It must be very gratifying to see the results of your efforts displayed in these gorgeous slabs. Thanks for sharing.
Matthew the ash log had such beautiful slabs the wood grain was fantastic not too light not too dark just right.I am soo glad to see you get help thats great.Thanks all be blessed.
Incredible. Very cool to see your mobile lumber mill. Simple works. Would be cool if you could cover wood aging, drying time, benefits of each type of wood, what you're going to do with them, etc.
Respect on the work you put in and love what your doing. I recently lost a 250 year old willow oak to an ice storm and been cutting it up for days. Gonna try to mill it with a granberg and save what i can. Just moving that stuff around on a budget is a hell of a task. Thanks for all the videos! !
Amazing that ash tree was found in a landfill site. That is some great looking slabs that came from it. Just be thankful it wasn't cut up for firewood. LOL
glad to watch . pardon me Matthew do you have a video making several pieces from one board on your band saw ? like book matching a board and how do you do it . i heard you say you dont use a guide fence any more ?
The ones with the widest bases would make some great waterfall tables with the wide part being the down leg. probably have to be in a public place as they are so wide though. Your truly building up and American treasure with all those slabs
Hey, there's Jim. Howdy Jim. Good to see you again. Hey Matt, you got me drooling with the size of those slabs. One beautiful log. That's one ash log that won't go to waste .
I am so jealous of your machine. Loved watching you build it. My only ask is that you PAINT your shed door please. haha... Keep up the good work and looking forward to more videos.
Im guessing Jim enjoyed the cutting and exposure of the wood as much as you did. Maybe not so much on moving them though. (Next morning - Oh my aching back - haha). Your a lucky guy to have met and been mentored about logging and guidance for milling by Jim. He's a wonderful man and friend! Oh and yes the wood milled out very nice also!!
Great show loading such a big log with simple cheap rigging tools and trailer. To get the best boards of such a big log, it would be wise to first cut it in 2 halves, then allowing them a couple of months in a shed to dry completely. Only afterwards will you resaw them in flat boards. This way you'll get true boards with better dimensional stability, they will have less tendancy to warp, flex or crack overtime. You'll be able to build better pieces of furniture.
Matthew, that is an awesome log. Would you do a video about what you do with those slabs once they've sat drying for however long they take to dry? (not these particular ones, slabs in general) It would be really cool to see the process of taking one of those big slabs and breaking it down to ready for use in a project. (given that you're not making just a table top out of one.)
+Makercise I will :) they were surprisingly manageable. I think because they came off the mill at waist height so there really wasn't much lifting. Just slabs hanging from our arms
Matt Thanks for the video! I always enjoy your videos. Unfortunately, the Emerald Ash Borer has decimated the Ash trees in the area. Most of the Ash trees around here end up in the firewood pile. I have grown to love the figure in the wood, particularly the crotch figure. The slabs you cut are very good examples of what most people are burning in the fire without knowing what they are missing.
yeah it's really unfortunate. EAB just got here with an official sighting this year. There's going to be a lot of trees like this that are going to need saving over the next several years.
I'm a medieval weapons enthusiast and ash is prized for spear and polearm shafts as well as bowmaking. the sapwood edges with some heartwood are ideal for longbows/self bows. You could make some money with what you might currently consider scrap
I love ash, great video. I make cutting boards and wooden coasters from scrap from work. Why do you splash water on each slab? I see that on sawmill videos, always wanted to know. My name is Ivan Mercado and I live in Brenham, TX. We moved here from Miami, Florida back in July 2004. My wife's family lives here. I work in a cabinet shop but now the shop only makes cabinet doors. Evans Cabinet Doors, Ltd. Thanks for your awesome videos, keep having fun.
I often wondered how the tree "went back together" when you cut and stickered it. You answered my question when you and Jim flipped the slabs over when you stacked it. I never heard this explained.
Hey Matt, love your vids they're really awesome man! As a fellow woodworker (luthier, cabinetmaker) I love seeing those big logs get cut up. Ive been wanting a sawmill for quite some time but cant see myself making one. May buy a used one in the future something American made. I resaw Claro Walnut, Curly Maple, Rosewood, Wenge, Red Oak and Black Walnut into 1/8" sheets for instruments. Keep up the great work and keep putting out great content. Salutations from Dallas, Tx.
i like your videos, i wish i could cut wide slabs like that. we got some huge trees around here, most i wouldn't ever think of cutting them up we have some oak trees that been here since the beginning of America. not too many trees survived the logging industry in michigan. whats a ball park cost of that mill. i got a woodmizer LT40 super, every time you cut a log for your self you get excited to see what its going to look like inside. i found a oak burl stump it was under the ground i cut it into a table. it was normal on the out side but it is almost darker then walnut on the inside i have looked all over the internet but i haven't seen anything else like it. only thing im not crazy about the woodmizer is the beeping when you turn the debarker on.
Matt, I've watch ALL your videos & wondering did you do one showing how you had the levers???? If so could you tell me when???? I do wish you people would number your videos. Jim sure is a blessing. Like in fishing he's a keeper.
Holy moly Matt - just awesome and what a great friend you have! Can you share how often you need to change bandsaw blades? For example, was your blade shot after this log? Thanks as always.
Do you dry these things before milling them to something thinner? I grew up with wide-plank flooring and it looks like those pieces... Well, not that wide. but I was smaller.
