I like tools as much as the next guy but what I need is more wood. I see these photos of workshops chock full of tools, which is great if tool collecting is your thing, but when I build a piece of furniture I typically use three different chisels at the most and one is and old Stanley that I sharpen with a belt sander which I use mainly for scraping excess glue out of corners. Maybe I do a different type of work than the guys with 65 or 100 chisels but without wood to work those chisels just sit there. . Does anybody have experience with milling fruit tree wood into usable cabinet lumber? I live in orchard country and am surrounded by apple, pear, cherry, apricot and peach orchards among others. Most orchard trees are short and stocky so I know you wont get anything very long. I tried milling some apple wood that had been lying on the ground for a few years. It had some spalting and was kind of pretty but it also had alot of checking and worm damage and was difficult to get more than small pieces. I’ve got access to some huge piles of cut up cherry trees. I need to cut into some of it and see what I can get. I’d love to get some chair parts. Anyone with any experience along these lines please advise. I just need wood! .
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Replies
I stood by the freeway entrance with a sign reading "Will work for wood" for weeks. All people wanted to give me was fire wood. Worse, most of it was already termite infested! ;-)
Sorry I can't be of real help with your question about milling fruit woods for cabinet applications. Although many of the species are "pretty", it seems to me that most of the trees are too small to produce boards suitable in dimension for cabinet applications.
smaller green timbers are good for turning -
You can mass produce and sell chisel handles to the rest of us with too many tools .
SA
haahahahahahaha!
If you have a lot of trees that need milling your best bet might be to hire someone with a portable saw mill to slab them out for you. The companies who sell portable saw mills typically have a list of owners by region. You can do an internet search on "portable saw mill" to find these companies.
gdblake
I've been milling my own
I've been milling my own lumber for over a decade from trees similar to what you speak of, except not from an orchard. Apple, pear, walnut, and cherry are all excellent woods for woodworking, as we all know.
Your problem is going to be finding a sawyer who wants to mess around with small logs. I spend time on a forum all about sawing, which is http://www.forestryforum.com, and most of those guys who mill for $$$ won't touch the smaller logs. Why? Because, for one, the mill decks aren't all set up for small logs, and proper support and dogging (holding the logs rigidly in place) don't exist in the right place.
Smaller mills, like the woodmizer LT-15 excel at this, but small logs require a lot more work to mill, so expect to pay a bit of a premium compared to if you had 10 foot, 28" diameter logs.
Still, you can have a real goldmine of a fine in that pile of small logs. How often do you really need a 10 ft board to make cabinetry........you're gonna cut it up shorter anyway.
Good milling,
Jeff
BTW the forestry forum is a great place to find sawyer in your area. Another place to check is at woodweb.com
Jeff
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