I have access to some short logs of red and white oak from trees which fell in our recent hurricanes. The logs are 3 to 4 ft long and about 18″ to 24″ in dia. My question is how to store these logs until I can process them. Also how long can I store them before they are no longer good for anything. In the past I have split out cypress logs and milled them using my bandsaw and power jointer and thickness planer and have come out with some quite nice boards. Can I do the same with the oak. I have the wedges, maul and froe necessary to do this. Should I let the logs dry first or is it betted to do this green. The cypress I have used were some very old logs that I pulled out of the swamp. It split quite easily but it’s very straight grained. any suggestions or opinions will be greatly appreciated.
Thanks, ZABO
Replies
You may want to saw or split up the logs real soon (tomorrow). Working with dry logs is tough- a lot of checking, uneven drying, etc. Stickered, uniform boards from green wood will result in better stock for sure. If you wait, you may end up with really nice firewood.
-Paul
Zabo
First of all, it's very important to seal the ends of the logs. You can use a heavy coat of latex paint, or go buy some anchorseal at your local Woodcraft. Keeping the moisture and end of logs from drying faster than the interior will keep the boards you mill from checking. White Oak dries pretty well when air dried, but red oak can sometimes be very difficult. I mill and dry all my lumber, and have had mixed results with red oak.
Of course you can split and process the logs by yourself in the way you suggested. That's how they did it a few hundred years ago, going back as far as woodworking goes. Make sure you sticker the wood right away, and stack the boards so the stickers are vertically in line, top to bottom. A lot of weight added on top works great to impede movement, or some guys use ratcheting come'along straps to restrict their wood piles.
Jeff
Bear in mind that the logs may not be useful for lumber. Wind strong enough to blow the tree down probably also had twisting motion along with the straight winds. This twisting motion can cause checks and fractures in the finished lumber. These generally would not be visible until the lumber was finished out.
PlaneWood by Mike_in_Katy (maker of fine sawdust!)
PlaneWood
My thanks to everyone. Yes I will paint the ends of the logs. I'll process them as soon as I can I don't have the time at the present. I've seen sawmills do this, however I don't know how long they store the logs before they mill them. It seems like I've seen them stacked up for quite a while. So, I'll go ahead and paint them and do something as soon as I can and hope for the best.
ZABO
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