Hello all, new here.
I just had a beautiful Ash cut down and am going to have it milled to 1” boards and also going to have a couple of 2 inch boards milled for cutting boards.
im going to paint the ends of the logs to help prevent checking. I plans to store it in my garage until next fall and hope this will prevent warping.
I plan to put stickers and to use ratchet Straps to help with this, I live in central Maine so I get all typed if weather here. Any suggestions if I’m doing this right? I just cut it down a couple days ago and will be milld in mid November.
Replies
I read that wood borers like bark. Debarking discourages them. Beautiful looking ash. Good luck.
I read that some where also
If you want 1" material for projects have the logs slabbed to 1.25-1.5" to allow for the inevitable distortion as it dries. The longer you want the finished planks to be the more you should allow for final milling.
Hi and ty for the reply’s, I failed to mention how long these Logs are. One is at 10’4” and the other two are 9’4” and 8’4” . I went an extra 4” on them to help with shrinking.
Don’t do it. Stack it outside, covered. Here are a lot of comments about why it’s a bad idea. https://forestryforum.com/board/index.php?topic=107462.0
Wow thank-you for the Tip! Didn’t realize how much water I would be releasing into my garage… I will be storing outside under a tarp
Latex paint is formulated to be "breathable". Moisture vapor moves through it readily. End sealants should have a low moisture vapor transmission rate to be effective. Commercial materials are mostly wax. Yellow glue works well. Building a thick film with 2 coats also helps.
It’s going to rain all week here in Maine, so I will not be able to coat ends until Thursday afternoon
Time to order a pint of Anchor Seal from Lee Valley !
Am leaning towards this product, can it be applied to wet wood?
It’s meant to be applied to freshly cut lumber so I would say yes, I use it on green wood all the time.
You have the sawyer lined up?
My recommendation is to watch the heart... that is the part of the wood that is going to move and check... get it out, or isolate it on one/two pieces of the lumber and the remaining 'free of heart' stuff will be much higher quality.
I would flat sawn this... ash looks great - to me - flat sawn. If this was oak, I would recommend quartersawn, but I don't think ash is great looking quartersawn - again, just me.
Then absolutely keep it out of the sun. Get it high off ground. Have a really level surface to store it on. You will have a few knots in there, especially from that big branch you removed... those pieces unlikely to be good in that section. The first 30 days or so of its drying process are critical to insure success.
Once its under this tarp, check it after heavy rains to insure you don't have trapped water in there. If so, let it air dry w/o the tarp, then reinstall.
4/4 will take 1 year, the 8/4 longer. After 1 year outside, you can safely bring it in doors and let it seat there for longer.
Good luck!
Thank-you Sir for all this Great information! This is all noted and I will try to follow this. I don’t have any of that sealer for fresh cut logs so I am going to try what another guy posted and get some tite bond wood glue and paint that on the ends, I went out yesterday and put a coat of exterior paint on the ends because that’s all I had. I did notice it had a couple Checks in the ends already!, hoping for the best here.
A friend of mine is going to mill it for me, and I’m going to have it milled to 1 1/8”- 1 1/4” to adjust for shrinkage and other problems. I am going to put it on a flat surface up off the ground so it doesn’t soak up ground moisture. And I will be getting a moisture meter also. Thanks again for the info!
As Johngi suggested, avoid latex paint as it might not serve the purpose well, being a breathable material. Instead, you can use end sealants that have a low rate of moisture transmission. Also, rains could add moisture to the climate, you should be extra wary of protecting the logs from water and vapors.
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