Hi Folks,
I am new to this forum, but I think you all could help. I just had a forester take 6000 bdft of red oak, white ash, sugar maple and butternut out of my forest. My intent is to use some for floors stairs, wainscot, moulding and furniture in the future. I would like the oak to be predominantly quarter sawn. The trees are 15 to 26 inches in diameter and between 100 and 250 years old. I am trying to figure out how to have it sawn. Anyone have any suggestions?
Replies
You might try googleing "sawyer", portable saw mill or "woodmizer" There are people out there who will bring a portable sawmill to your property and cut the lumber for a fee. You should do it quick before the wood starts to deteriorate. Also post some pictures of the results.
Troy
Contact woodmizer
If you concact woodmizer corp, they can tell you about sawyers in your area with woodmizer mills. Also, start setting up your drying location and materials (stickers, etc. you can research more about drying lumber on this site and others). Unless you plan to have it kiln dried.
Good luck and post photos.
Sawing logs
I may be mistaken, but I think your question was related to the saw cuts, not the cutter. If I am correct, the only advice I have to give is make sure you, have plenty of 'big stuff' - 8/4. 12/4 and even some 16/4. Most things we make have legs and that is where the 'big stuff' come in.
Frosty
I've been pretty busy, just getting back to this site. The logs are at the mill, not to be sawed until december. The sawyer says the logs will be fine since it is cool and damp in vermont right now. It looks like boards 5/4 and thinner will be kiln dried, and the rest will be up to me. This is a lot of wood, and I am somewhat disturbed by the process. My property is very steep and rocky so even stickering such a pile is a monumental task. I was toying with the idea of putting the green wood in a shipping container with a fan or two.
Another detail which concerns me is the method of quarter sawing. This guy says he slabs four sides, then cuts in half, then cuts parallel boards perpendicular to the slice through the middle. It seems like this will result in an awful lot of flat sawn boards. Anybody know a solution?
Quarter Sawn Oak
The sawer needs to cut 60 to 90 degrees to the face to obtain quarter sawn oak and 30 to 60 degrees for rift sawn. I'm no expert only relaying what I've been told or read. The logs will be fine in your area even if your sawer doesn't get to them in December. That is the easy part: the hard part is stickering and stacking and 6,000 bdf is A LOT! I just went thru this and only half this or less. Here is some rough math that I hope helps. Say an average board is 1 inch by 8 inches and 10 ft or 120 inches. 1 x 8 x 120 / 144 equals 6.6666 bdf. You estimate 6,000 bdf so 6,000 / 6.666 equals 900 boards. Figure 6 boards per layer with space between so 5 foot wide. You get 6 layers in a foot high with 1 inch stickers. So 6 per layer x 6 per foot x 6 foot high equals 216 boards. You can go higher but take into account your base be they 8" x 8" with 4 x4 cross beams or something else. You will need a lot of room! And A LOT OF STICKERS!!!!! This of course is the perfect world which you will not have. You will have all widths of boards and I assume various lengths plus you will want thicker lumber 6/4, 8/4, 12/4, etc. You'll have to take this into account as you stack and sticker. It's a big job but a rewarding one (in the future). Best of luck!
wood air drying
Whoodle, I see that your sawyer has a kiln and you only have to worry about drying the thick stuff, so that should be more manageable for you than what you may have originally thought. I have my own bandsawmill and a ton of experience (read blunders) that I have learned from the hard way. Here is my advice to you:
1. You will have trouble finding a sawyer that will do true quarter sawing for you. Even fewer that have access to a kiln. I prefer to cut "Alternate sawn" were the large logs are quartered and then sliced from alternate faces. This gives a good quantity of lumber (minimal waste) and doesn't add too much time to the cutting operations. Maybe your sawyer would consider this option. In any event only the large logs are suitable for quarter sawing. Since every tree tapers, you may be able to choose the base sections worth quartering and leave the smaller stuff to be plain sawn as they have suggested. You may be able to take the best large logs to someone else for quarter sawing. Just a thought.
2. seal the ends. Especially those thick pieces you are talking about (16/4) otherwise you may have a lot of disappointment later and a lot of wasted material. (I prefer to make legs from the left over of the alternate sawn quarters - just stop cutting when the remaining section is large enough for a good sized leg, it is nearly Rift-sawn in appearance and you waste less of the log) - Note a rift sawn leg has all four sides with the same grain pattern.
3. be careful about putting wood into seacans. If you do not monitor and control humidity and (summer) temperatures you can ruin a whole lot of wood in a shipping container really easily. Note the problems can be too much or too little humidity trapped in the can, depending on what stage of the drying process you are in and if the cans are in full sun or shaded.
4 the kiln dried material will need a safe dry place to be stored. Preferably a heated and moisture controlled space.
5 when you choose the sticker material for your air-dried material be careful not to cause "sticker stain" from using wet stickers or stickers too wide to allow the covered part of the cut wood from drying evenly with the rest of the board.
Good luck with all that nice new lumber.
Robert.
I'm late to the party, but maybe I can lend some advice here.
If your sawyer is unwilling to cut the logs the way you want them cut, then you should seek out a different sawyer.
Quartersawing logs is a lot of extra work for the typical sawyer, because it requires a lot of additional handling of the log, unless the log is being milled with a swing saw. Some sawyers don't give a crap what the customer wants, unfortunately. I had one that I was using quite regularly up until about 12 years ago. He thought he was the only game in town, and regardless of what I wanted, he would just cut them the way it was easiest for him, and give me excuses when I arrived to pick up the lumber.
Finally, I went to him with 8 beautiful logs of cherry, and told him I wanted to be present when he cut them. He refused, so I drove off. I wound up with access to a sawmill from a friend of mine, and milled them all myself.
Go to forestryforum,com, and join the forum. Talk to the guys there about your dilemma. Depending on where you live, you will find a few guys that are trying to keep roofs over their heads, and food on the table, that will saw those logs anyway you want.
Q-sawn red oak looks fabulous for flooring. Most of the rest of your stuff, I would mill flatsawn. Make sure, as Frosty already mentioned, that you get some thicker riftsawn stock for table and chair legs, etc......12/4 should be plenty sufficient. I try to get at least 2 full length 12/4 riftsawn sections out of every log for leg stock.
Good luck, and move on from that guy if he won't cut em' the way you want em'.
Jeff
Sawing logs
Sounds like your sawyer doesn't really want to do what you want. I had a friend who once hired a guy with a Woodmizer come to his lot and cut the logs just like he wanted -- quartersawn. If you go to the Woodmizer site,they will put you in touch with a Woodmizer owner in your area who does this for a living.
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