The Lucas sawmill is first and foremost a circular blade sawmill. Mine uses a 21″ diameter 3/16″ thick 5 tooth blade to rip trees into 2×8″ and smaller boards. However, here I’m using an attachment that Lucas offers called the slabbing attachment. The idea is to cut logs into slabs for table tops or benches with what is essentially a gigantic 60″ horizontal chain saw bar run by the 25 hp sawmill motor. It works like a dream but you definitely want to keep body parts away from the spinning chain saw blade.
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- First slab off of the top
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- View of the slabber
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- Midway through the log
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- Finished slabs
The wood grain in the crotches of oak trees is some of the densest and most beautiful you can find in any tree. Its density makes it very hard to work with also. You can get an idea of what the grain looks like here but a splash of tung oil will really bring the grain to life.
This oak weighs around 50 lbs. per cubic foot in the undried state it is in currently. The top slab will weigh approximately 600 lbs. – slightly less after about 6 months of drying. The other slabs are slightly less thick but are still super heavy. I’m not worried about anyone wandering by and stealing these monsters! Can you believe that this is just a branch of a tree we had to remove from the front yard? It’s one that my granddad planted back in the mid 1930’s.
I’ve got a couple of table projects in mind for these beautiful slabs.