Wood

[jeff...]

Well I've been sawing with my mill for a little over a year and 1/2 now. I've really learned mostly by my mistakes. I've learned a lot about logs, more than I ever thought I would need to know. Couple of things I wanted to share with you all.

Ugly trees - make the prettiest lumber. I'm not talking about limbs that are stacked up like domino's on the trunk either. I'm talking about something that has swirls in the truck, if you spot a tree that the bark spirals up the trunk. Chances are pretty high it's curly and will be highly figured.

QS'ing there are perhaps 3000 different ways to QS, some yield more QS boards than others - there's really no right or wrong way to QS find what works for you and stick to it. One thing about QS Oak - butt wood is by far the best to QS. Sycamore any grade 1 or 2 log will work just fine as long as it's a good sized dia. There is no real defined difference between heart and sap wood on sycamore so people really like a natural edge.

Flat sawing, box the heart and saw down to the bed. You can really kick out some BF per hour flat sawing. Book matching can be real fun too. Square the log, saw down till a few board shy of the pith, flip the cant and saw down to the bed - every board will book match the next.

Helpers... you can produce 3 times the amount of lumber with one helper as you can doing it by yourself. Sounds odd but is true... The more time you can keep the blade in the log the more lumber you will produce. Material handling consumes a lot of time, not to mention is a lot of hard work. You develop a rhythm after an hour or so with a good helper. But remember if you start to feel like you need a break, your helper needed one 15~20 mins ago. Be kind to your helpers, pay them well and treat them with a lot of respect...

Log handling - I've moved logs many different ways and a lot by hand by myself. Par buckling makes it easy to roll big logs around with a pickup truck or a 4 wheeler. But a machine (bobcat / tractor / yard lift) is essential if your serious about making lumber.

Lumber handling - once the board comes off the log, try and put on the trailer. This way you only have to move the board one time. Keep fresh cut lumber out of the sun, I've lost a lot of lumber just taking a break to eat, come back to find the face has checked so bad the top layer of boards became trash. Remember boards spent their entire life inside a trunk and have never seen the light of day. sunlight will dry up fresh cut lumber so fast it'll split in a heart beat. ALWAYS end coat your logs, trim the ends even if it's only a few inches and apply Ancorseal liberally. If you think you may not have put enough on, then you haven't, apply another coat...

Trailers - Trailers have tires, rubber tires and weight just don't mix very well. Expect to rotate trailer tires often and go up to the next load range if you want to get any mileage out of the tire. Just because a tire is bald does't mean it won't get you home - just means it needs to be replaced soon... One good thing about trailers there's not much to maintain and they really don't cost you anything. Buy once and that's about it... little welding and here and there and bearing grease and your good to go. Check tire air pressure before you head out with a load but don't exceed the max, a few lbs less is better than a few lbs over when it comes to tire wear. Find the sweet spot on your trailer to much tail weight and you'll tail wag going down the road. To much tongue weight and the rear end of the truck will squat making it difficult to steer (find the sweet spot).

Limbs are fire wood irregardless of how clear they are... Never cut limbs into lumber, limbs are full of stress and the lumber will never dry flat. Limbs are firewood period.

Yard trees are a crap shoot at best, Avoid them when you can. What possess people to pound nails in trees I'll never know. Metal detectors only scan so deep into the log and are basically useless. If theres trash, you'll almost surely find it on the mill and can be dangerous not to mention damage to blades and shafts. Don't ever pay more than firewood prices for yard tree logs no matter how good they look, 8 times out of 10 that's what they will become. Don't ever sell lumber from a log with trash, for obvious reasons. Sometimes you may get lucky with yard trees, logs 8' and up from the butt are sometimes clean, unless someone climbed a ladder to hang that yard sale sign or clothes line. Buy forest logs from a logging company, develop a good standing relationship with them. Remember loggers talk Ben Franklin, you'll be amazed what loggers will do when when you talk their language.

Hardwood Log grades (16' 6" min length) -
grade 1 = 4 clear faces (saw Logs expect less than 100% yield, the rest is fire wood)
grade 2 = 3 clear faces (good for saw logs expect less than 75% yield the rest is firewood)
grade 3 = 2 clear faces (expect less than 50% yield more than half the log is fire wood)
grade 4 1 clear face (fire wood)
junk 0 clear faces (pallet cants)

More to follow later...

[skysharks]

Thanks for the education Jeff.
enjoyed the read.
Now quit teasing me with that green walnut and that price. I can't afford it right now, but I want some. You know how it is.

[JackLeg]

Good info, Jeff.

[scsmith42]

Jeff, very well stated and right on target. I take a different approach in only one area, and that's trailer tires. I prefer to air them to maximum pressure and leave them there. They may wear a bit more, but they are stronger when carrying max weight and less likely to have a blowout (versus an underinflated tire).

All in all well done and a good read!

Scott

[JimmyC]

Jeff,

Thanks for the info, it's been very interesting.



Jimmy

[Travis Porter]

With the exception of white oak, I like flat sawn lumber. Easier to match boards and you get a variety. Unless you get it from a sawyer, seems like it is a bit uncommon. Am I wrong? If I'm not, any thoughts on why?

[Alan in Little Washington]

Originally Posted by Travis Porter

With the exception of white oak, I like flat sawn lumber. Easier to match boards and you get a variety. Unless you get it from a sawyer, seems like it is a bit uncommon. Am I wrong? If I'm not, any thoughts on why?

After building my shop cabinets out of locally cut oak, I have decided I definitely do no like any variety of flatsawn oak. Esthetically, I just don't like the look of the "cathedral" grain pattern. Give me rift or quartersawn any day. With wide flatsawn boards, I cut off and use the rift/quarter outer part, then use the flatsawn center part for interior framing or for pieces where only the edge is exposed. The danger is flatsawn stuff can be less stable. I actually think it is easier to match riftsawn oak.

[Travis Porter]

That was why I made my comment on white oak. For WO, I definitely prefer QS. Maybe I mean rift sawn and not flat sawn.... Have to look to see what each is.

[toolman]

Jeff

Thanks For the Log Cutting Info, I would be interested in more info on log cutting, (More Info)

[erasmussen]

You have learned a lot.
And it looks like you enjoy what your doing, thats improtent.
GOOD FOR YOU

[jeff...]

Originally Posted by Travis Porter

With the exception of white oak, I like flat sawn lumber. Easier to match boards and you get a variety. Unless you get it from a sawyer, seems like it is a bit uncommon. Am I wrong? If I'm not, any thoughts on why?

Travis, with regards to QS'ed lumber what I can recall at the moment is NHLA rules state that a piece is considered QS when 80% or more of the radial grain is at 45% or less with one face. I'm sure, I'm paraphrasing, because I don't have the rule book in front of me. Oddly I don't recall any mention of rift sawn in the rule book, I'm not saying it's not there I just don't recall reading about rift sawn lumber.

From an appearance perspective QS lumber will display the wood's growth ring structure on its (face), as opposed to flat sawn which shows it's growth ring structure on it's (edge), QS lumber also shows figures and grain patterns better than flat sawn.

QS lumber also has several structural advantages over flat sawn a few of them are, it:
shrinks less
swells less
twists less
cups less
splits less
wears more evenly
and is more naturally resistant to water

In my opinion, QS lumber, irregardless if it's sawn for appearance or not is a much more higher quality product than FS. Everybody has their preferences and what your happy with is what's important to you.

I just ordered a load of white and red oak butts from a logging buddy of mine, that'll be coming off then next tract he's going to start sawing in a few weeks. It'll be nice to rip into and kiln dry some nice oaks again. Red Oak is by far my favorite lumber...

Thanks

[JackLeg]

You're right on this one, Scott. Keep 'em tight!

[JimmyC]

I just ordered a load of white and red oak butts from a logging buddy of mine, that'll be coming off then next tract he's going to start sawing in a few weeks. It'll be nice to rip into and kiln dry some nice oaks again. Red Oak is by far my favorite lumber...

Thanks[/quote]

I have to agree with you about red oak, it's also my favorite wood, I know a lot of people are tired of it because it has been overused, but the grain and color just speak to me.

Jimmy

[jeff...]

A little more to share...



Lumber is cut from the trunk of the tree that begins just above the stump and continues to just below the crotch. anything above the crotch is to be considered firewood.

Most forest trees will yield at least two, perhaps three and sometimes four 16' 6" logs per trunk.

The bottom log will be the butt log and depending on diameter may be a prime candidate for quarter sawing; else it may be flat sawn. The lion’s share of your clear high quality lumber will be contained in the butt log.

The next log up from the butt log typically produces plain, bland, straight grained lumber, valued by the commercial market to be turned into flat sawn lumber for mass consumption. However depending on the diameter it to may be ok for quater sawing.

The top log is the crotch log and is typically cut just below the point where it forks into limbs although some cut the log too far below the crotch. The grain from the outer most boards is usually twisted and curly up around the crotch area. However in some tree species the grain from the first couple of boards may resemble flames. The swirl figure quickly changes to a well formed feather in the very most center of the log and usually only contained in two boards either side of the very center of the log. The longest crotch feather I’ve seen came from a very old black walnut and measured a little over 30” long. Don Patterson now has those two boards book matched boards.

Burl wood is produced from a large wart like growth on the trunk of the tree; the grain from burl typically resembles a series of random placed eyes in swirls of grain. Burls are usually sliced off the log and sealed in wax emulsion paint like ancorseal to be sold whole. If the burl is big enough it’s typically sliced into thinner chunks, sealed and sold as burl chunks.

Stump wood is produced from the base of the tree including the root system and is also sometimes called a root ball. The wood is almost always a twisted swirl grain pattern and usually is accompanied by flame and patches of burl. It's by far the most difficult to saw. A root ball is usually very short, awkward to maneuver and sure death to any blade that touches it, regardless of how many time you may power wash it . Once you can get past the blade destroying debris, you'll usually yield highly prized blocks for making gun stocks and smaller chunks for turning.

Thanks