cedar lumber question

[RobS.]

I have 2 large dead cedar trees in my yard from which I want to mill lumber. One tree has been cut down and cleaned up and yielded a log 24" x 8'. The other is still standing and looks like about 28" diameter by about 6' or 7' of length in the trunk log. I will likely sell a lot of it. So, assuming (and praying) that the logs are solid, what would be the optimum deminsions for the boards? I was just planning to have it cut to 4/4" thickness and mill 1 x 4's and 1 x 6's. I also thought about leaving some boards very wide. Any advise or suggestions on how to cut it?

I have some other cedar that is in random widths like 1x3, 1x4, 1x4.5, 1x5 and 1 x 6. These were cut from small diameter logs so I took what the log woud yield. I'd like to keep this new wood more uniform in size. Just wondering what potential buyers might be looking for and if there are advantages to milling other sizes. Thanks,

Robert



I've kept some of the older wood for myself just in case the 2 trees turn out to be fire wood.

 

[Jeff]

Maybe consider the Doyle Scale to estimate the potential bf yield from the trunks. It starts at the narrowest diameter of a trunk.

http://tinytimbers.com/doylescale.html

http://tinytimbers.com/pdf/virginia420-085.pdf

Thanks to Jeff Mills for enlightening me so I'm passing along the knowledge.

 

[RobS.]

Thanks Jeff. I used to cruise timber. We figured everything on Scribner and International. Don't know why we didn't use Doyle.

I wasn't concerned about the volume so much as how wide I should cut the boards and the illustration in figure 2 gave me something to think about. I guess the sawyer will want to know about bd ft though. I've still got my volume chart.
I recently (this morning) sold several hundred bd ft of cedar I've had for a long time to make room for this wood. The wider boards were prefered. I have about 100' of 1x5, 1x4, and some 1x3 left. So I think I will go for 1x6 and wider.

 

[Jeff]

Rob,

You might send a PM to Scott Smith (scsmith42) in New Hill or to Jack Murdock (saw4you) in Rolesville. Both are resident sawyers at this site and they'll give you some guidance. It seems that 24" diameter logs could yield some nice stuff in an ideal world. My simplistic cant from Sketch Up is 17" x 17". I think that 4/4 lumber is rough sawn at about 1 1/8" thick and there is saw kerf to be factored in to the loss. Also, I don't know if pith wood rejection is a factor when sawing softwoods.

http://www.ncwoodworker.net/pp/showphoto.php?photo=68769&title=cedar-log&cat=500