Milling

On a scorching hot day, January 21^st, 2023, where the temperature rose to 41C in Gidgegannup, our talented Milling Team demonstrated their skills to showcase the Hardwood Timber Mill to the local community, Men’s Shed of WA, Rotary WA and members of GMS.  The 50 plus crowd who gathered in the shade of the verandah of the Shed enjoyed a BBQ breakfast of sausages, eggs and bacon.  A jarrah log was loaded onto the milling platform, stabilised and levelled before a demonstration on slicing and quarter sawing techniques.  Thank you to our milling team and members who were involved in orchestrating such a successful day.

Some background information.

We took delivery of the Harwood Timber Mill on 21 November 2022. It arrived in numerous pieces in two large crates with an instruction manual. The mill was a dominant feature of the Shed for about a month.  With an enthusiastic team building the mill progressed well throughout December. Cheers could be heard above the sound of motor purring when the mill started the first time and the team celebrated a job well done.

The milling team have quickly mastered the new type of mill – different from the Lucas Mill with a swing blade used previously.  The team has been very impressed with the ease of use and quality of cut timber produced.

Facts about the mill:

• Bandsaw Mill – thin blade that runs horizontally on two wheels.
• Powered by a Honda 23hp, 4 stroke petrol engine.
• Mills timber logs up to 864mm in diameter (34inch), 4.9m long (5.8m long when fitted with extension), maximum depth of cut is 457mm/18inch, maximum board width 737mm/29inches, minimum board thickness we have cut so far is 5mm.
• Mill is mobile and licensed for road transport, it weighs 1100kg.

The main purpose of the mill is to supply Gidgegannup Men’s Shed with useable timber for projects to be completed at the shed for community and members in an affordable and sustainable way. The mill will recover wood that lays dormant and decaying in the paddock and fashion it into timber that is both useful and beautiful.

We have a list of timber waiting to be milled and we are always interested to hear from anyone who may be willing to donate logs or trees that have fallen and would be suitable to reclaim as useful timber.

A special thank you to Rotary Western Australian for their funding generosity!