I was there, today; you know, right place and right time! I was in North Shropshire Sawmills just moments after they'd finished slabbing a huge oak trunk which had burr down an entire side of it. There were 2 fork-lift loads on skids which had just been taking to the air-drying sheds, each load being about 8ft long, 5ft high and 4ft deep, all ripped into slabs and planks. My luck came in the mill, where I was looking for one of the workmen to help me to manhandle some 4" lime. I noticed a big lump of burr which had broken free of the trunk as it was being being trammed through the bandsaw-mill and had gone unnoticed until after they'd cleared up and taken the timber away. Luckily for me, it was easier for them to just name a price and get rid of it, then it was to reset the mill to handle a relatively small piece, so I bought it .....for £20. It's just under 3ft long, 13" wide and 9" thick.
Now here's my problem. It's green; 3 days ago it was still standing. I really don't fancy trying to air dry it over the next few years, so what's the best way to tackle stuff like this? I've turned green-ash to 4 or 5 mm and dried it over a few weeks, and I've rough turned oak and beech oversized and dried it in a box of dry shavings, so I'm fairly familiar with those methods. Does anyone have any useful info on the best way to approach this?
Thanks...Les
p.s. I don't want to rub it in (much) but I also got a wheelbarrow full of offcuts of this burr for £5...some of the offcuts were 4" thick
