Milling

The milling team is primarily involved in reclaiming fallen trees and milling them into usable timber. Small teams operating mobile timber mills are able to travel within the local area. We are always keen to receive donations and are considerate of your individual requirements. If you would like to offer a fallen tree on your property, email Kevin Bamkin, Milling Team Lead, milling@gidgegannupmensshed.org.au or drop bye the shed during opening hours, currently Saturday and Wednesday 8am – 12pm

Milling Timber at Tilden Park April / May 2023

The milling team at Tilden Park recycling felled fire ravaged verge trees and some fallen trees on member’s property. Some magnificent slabs of timber for Men’s Shed projects.

Milling Demonstration & Community BBQ Event Saturday 21 January 2023

On a scorching hot day, January 21st, 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!

Milling Team Activity Saturday 2 April 2020

Our first milling activity happened today – a group of members learnt how to mill using a Lucas Mill. Thanks to David Strickland for leading the demonstration using his Lucas Mill on old fallen logs at Charles Coppack’s farm on Berry Rd, thanks Charles. If you would like to join us at the next activity just fill in a Membership Application form:  https://gidgegannupmensshed.org.au/membership/ .