A nieghbour just cut a tree down in his yard and asked me if I wanted a 7′ or 8′ piece to mill. My question is this How long should the tree dry before it goes to the mill to be cut into planks to be kiln dried. The piece I’ll be recieving is about 12′ to 14 “in diameter thanks for all your help. I have a correction to make the tree is about 24” in diameter and approximently 25 feet long.
Edited 8/1/2006 8:12 pm ET by dustcollecter
Replies
Take it now while it is green.The sawyer will help you decide how to have it milled. Green wood is easier to mill than dried.
mike
Hey dusty, I have a sawmill just outside my door, and I am not sure I would take the time for a tree that small with everything in place. For the amount of time, vs. the amount of quality lumber that you are likely to get, it is not likely to amount to any savings.
However, the knowledge that you gain may be worth a whole lot more, and we all have to start somewhere, so as you stand at this fork in the road, choose one, stick with it, and good luck. K
I had to remove an 18" walnut in our yard. Anxious not to waste this resource, I had them cut the trunk in 4' lengths. Darn near ruptured myself getting the piece on my "specially rigged" bandsaw table. As one of the posts says, the products of my labors were not worth the effort. Too much bark and sapwood. From here on in I buy my wood pre-milled. The green stuff is too heavy.
Frosty
In his book Sam Maloof relates that only once did he ever saw his own lumber, too much work, too much time away from building his chairs.
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I too have found the myth of sawing ones own stock to save money to be true. Time is better spent in the shop.
I have milled trees on three different occasions. The first and second were hard maples and the last was cherry.
I had good luck on all occasions. The first one I left propped up on 2x4"s for a year and covered it with a plastic tarp to keep it dry, or so I thought. The wood experienced spalting in places which did not harm the wood but gave an interesting pattern to the finished product. Next, I cut it to rough boards with a chain saw and after drying it in a dry room for a year until the moisture content got down to about 8 % I ran it through a thickness planer and built three computer desks which I donated to a local school. The rough boards, as you can imagine were odd thicknesses and inorder to plane them to size, I had to fasten each on to a flat board during thichnessing. Once one side was flat, I was able to turn it over and do the other side without need of the flat board.I wasted a lot of wood because of the irregular thickness though.
The other two I had cut into boards by a professional mill. I then dried them myself for over a year until I got down to the right percent. I saved a bundle of money by doing what I did and got some very beautiful wood out of it. The big secret I believe is in drying the wood properly and sealing the ends to prevent cracking during drying.
I hope this helps you. Jig Maker
Absolutely do it, it's a great learning experience.
1st question...why did he cut it down. If the answer is "because it was dead," then you should prepare yourself for some rotten wood on the outside layers, 1-2" is possible. Also there may be bug holes, which create an interesting pattern in the lumber if you're into that (I am).
Milling it should cost you from $.25 to $.40 per bf. More than that and you may be dumping good money after bad. Depending on the tree, only 20% may be number 1 wood, with the rest as shop shelf lumber. A small tree such as this may have very little knot-free boards.
In the yard? How about steel? The sawyer will want to know this. Blades are usually $20 apiece if you hit steel, and he will charge you for it. Ask your neighbor if he tacked a birdhouse on this tree in the past.
I've milled dozens of logs for my own use, and love it. It's a great experience, and you may get addicted, so be careful. Great lumber, beautiful stuff that you can't buy at the store...interesting grain and knots. Good stories to go with the piece you build, as well.
If you get about 23 BF of good stuff @ $5 = about $116 value. For that, you would have to hall the very heavy log to the mill, have it cut, then hall it back, and that is a lot of work. Your biggest problem is finding a miller willing to gamle his blade against what he could find in your log...for about $116 worth of wood. He won't do it.
Oldtoll,
On the other hand the story he can tell abiout that piece or whatever he builds with it has value beyond what a pro could put in the bank..
Besides I think every body should see a sawmill in operation at least once.. Life isn't all about bank accounts now is it?
You are right. I live around several saw mills here in Ohio and love to go there to buy my wood , even down to one or two boards.
Oldtool,
Where are the sawmills you visit in Ohio? I'm down here in Cincy and I'd to go check what they have if they're relatively close to me.
Thanks Mike
Tell me and I'll forget, show me and I'll remember, but let me try and I will understand.
My favorite is Dale W Riddle Forest Products in Laurelville and Hocking Hills Hardwoods, also in same town. There also are a lot of smaller Amish Mills in area that dont stock, but will sell what they have at time.
HI
I would mill it as soon as possable when it starts to dry oue it will start to check or crack on the ends first then in the center of the log as it tries to dry out and the wood shrinks. you can coat the ends with ancorseal or pafferin wax to slow the checking.
Have a nice day Lee
Hello,
make sure that the ends are sealed with paint immediatly after, then take it to the mill as soon as possible. Lay the pieces of the branch horizontally in the same sequence that they were cut with 1in spacers in a dry spot.
Will you be drying this yourself, or sending it to a local kiln?
Do be sure to seal the ends as many have already advised;
I work with a wood mizer mill, and have lost 1/3 of a trees
usefull lumber to checking. Luckily our mill is on 100 acres
and we have many more fallen trees to mill than we can
keep up with.
(so we're starting a hardwood flooring business)
Try to measure the width of the hearwood in the log,
and keep in mind that most of your good boards will
come out of that.
Also, don't forget to subtract the pith (the very center)
because boards cut from this almost always warp beyond control.
If, after taking these things into account, you still have enough straight long boards of desirable width, then go for it- The experience is well worth it!
-vincent
Vincent. Are you saying that you are loosing 1/3 to checking after sawing it? That sounds like too much. If you are end-coating, and having that much of a problem, it sounds like you may be letting it dry too fast initially. Do you follow the woodweb sawing & drying forum?
http://www.woodweb.com/cgi-bin/forums/sawdry.pl
If I were you I would describe your drying process to Dr Wengert over there and see what he suggest to reduce your waste.good luck Keith
this was on an 8 foot board with NO end coating... I've learned my lesson.thankfully this only happened to a few boards.
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