# Salvaging some cherry wood



## dustybeer (Feb 24, 2005)

My Father-in-law has a cabin near Lakewood WI and last fall a few cherry trees blew down in a storm. He already turned one into firewood - the others are too hard for him to get to and haul the wood. I am planning on using an Alaskan chainsaw mill to cut them onsite and carry the boards back. I found a website http://www.billswoodcreations.com/dry-wood.html where the person stands the boards on end to dry and says he has better success than stickering horizontal. I have not found any other information on this type of drying anywhere. I am only going to be dealing with a small quantity of lumber milled over several weekends during the Spring and Summer. I would like to know if you think it would work to stand the boards on end inside a large enclosed garage widely spaced by tying the top of the boards to the rafters with piece of twine to keep them vertical and of course for safety? This would also be much easier than investing all the time and materials to properly dry and sticker it outside horizontal.


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## Proj Eng (Feb 24, 2005)

Wouldn't they warp easier than if dried horizontal when weighted down? I'm no expert, but I can't imagine them not going into any sort of natural position otherwise.


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## Elmore (Feb 24, 2005)

It's a shame your not in Alabama as I have a 60 footer that I need removed.


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## woodshop (Feb 24, 2005)

dudstybear welcome to the forum... I have heard of this method, saw it in a recent publication, think it was WOW (World of Wood). I have never tried it, nor do I have space enough to. If we are talking large thick slabs, I can see how it might work, but thinner stuff, as proj said, can't see how it would not warp if not stickered and weighted down.


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## scottr (Feb 24, 2005)

*Vertical drying*

db , a few questions need to be answered . Does this garage have plenty of ventilation ? How thick do you plan on sawing ? What length of boards ? Are the rafters wood or steel ? What will you build with the lumber ? Scott


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## dustybeer (Feb 24, 2005)

First of all - thanks you guys, this is the a great forum. I am a woodworker, and the idea of turning a tree into furniture is thrilling and of course I like new toys. I put together my alaskan mill last night and this weekend I am going to buy two used chainsaws for milling, a 094 and 066. I have been watching these two saws on ebay and can't believe what they sell for. I called the small engine repair place from my home town and he had one of each in great condition and for great prices compared to ebay, so I told him I'd take both. I'Il eventually sell one. Back to the cherry trees - I would not say there is great ventilation, but also I wouldn't be afraid of dumping a 5 gallon pail of water on the floor and have everything turn to mold. Would a fan help? I was planning on milling 8' boards 1-1/16 thick for using for 3/4 finished for furniture. This fall I put the wood in my basement to further dry over the winter. The rafters are wood.


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## scottr (Feb 24, 2005)

*Vertical drying*

db , if you have good ventilation then give it a try . You might get a shadow where you tie the cherry to the wood rafter . I'm not sure about the further drying in your basement . Is your basement heated ? Scott


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## dayman (Feb 24, 2005)

I hope this doesn't break the rule for posting to another industry site. This is a sawmilling forum so I think I'm in the clear.

http://www.woodweb.com/cgi-bin/forums/sawdry.pl

Dr. Wengert is the moderator and very knowledgable about sawing and drying wood. There are many other good people on the forum too. 

cherry will start to decay quickly. the sooner you get the cants off the ground the better. Cut them long and coat the ends right away. Be sure to post some pictures of your project.

Where in WI?


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## dustybeer (Feb 24, 2005)

I have read alot of great articles from Dr. Wengert - I tried to post but woodweb only allows large scale operations to post. I sent Dr Wengert an email but have not heard back. I'll keep you guys posted on how this works out. My wife's parents are from Greenbay and their cabin is near Lakewood, about 80 miles NW of Greenbay.


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## scottr (Feb 24, 2005)

*Vertical drying*

db , I talked to a guy that hangs his wood with a eye screw for drying . He claims it works well . I've seen where the horizontal board or swingset was used to lean boards against at about 75* angle for air drying . Do you plan on flitch sawing your cherry logs ? Scott


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## dustybeer (Feb 24, 2005)

That may work well for me, since the rafters may be over 8' anyway - seems so much easier when dealing with only a few boards. Flitch would be the easiest, what is the smallest size of tree that should be quartersawn? I only have a 6" jointer and usually end up ripping them to 6" anyway.


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## glens (Feb 24, 2005)

Don't compromise the structural integrity of your garage.


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## woodshop (Feb 25, 2005)

dusty, not to throw a wrench in the fan, just saying that if you are going to mill them as thin as 1 1/8, unless they are pure quartersawn, and even then... I fail to see how you are going to prevent some warp and twist as they dry. In my stickered drying stacks (normal way) the top boards are almost always a bit more twisted than the ones down in the stack that have the weight on them. I suppose if you watch the drying process carefully, not letting it dry too fast, you might be OK, but I have never had the time to do that. As for air circulation, I found that to be very important. Even in my stacks that I have against a tall fence, the stack right against the fence sometimes gets a little mold growing on the inner boards in the beginning because the boards are out of the airflow. The moisture coming off those boards has to be taken away or exchanged with less moist air, its as simple as that. 

btw, I'm no pro and I have not had a problem signing up and posting on Woodweb in past, but have not posted recently. Have they changed their criteria maybe?

Also, I echo glens caution, wet wood is heavy, around 5 lb per bd ft, so an 8 ft board could weight in at 40lbs or more depending on how thick you mill it. Multiply 40 times number of boards and you start getting serious weight leaning against whatever, just something to think about.


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## woodshop (Feb 25, 2005)

oh, congrats on those two saws dusty, hope they work out for you. Once you get into this though, I bet you won't want to sell one of them as you say, but keep it, and then add more later... it gets addicting


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## scottr (Feb 25, 2005)

*Number*

db , how many boards cut to 1 1/16" thickness do you think you will be cutting out of the remaining cherry trees ? Also what diameter are the cherry trees ? Scott


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## scottr (Feb 25, 2005)

*"Small-Scale Drying"*

db , here is an article that might help . http://www.sawmillmag.com/articles_index.html?article_id=84 Scott


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## dustybeer (Feb 25, 2005)

What is a good thickness to mill the boards to in order to get 3/4 finished? I didn't measure the one we cut down last fall, but from what I can remember it was least 16". I haven't seen the others that are down, I think there are two or three more. I'm sure I could convince him to let me cut a couple standing ones too. His wife doesn't like it because she says that cherry makes the best fire wood. The majority of the trees are aspen - are those good for milling? I have a feeling that this could be addicting, but having a smaller saw may be better than two 90+ cc's. I'll let you know who makes the better saw.


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## dayman (Feb 25, 2005)

I doubt that you'll have good luck air drying in your basement unless you have heat ducting in. Basements in the midwest are too damp. Air dry in the garage and then try to find a place in the house. SWMBO will probably have something to say about that. 

Go to the library or bookstore and read a copy of "Understanding Wood" by Tauton Press, the Fine Woodworking publishing company. You'll learn all you need to know about wood and wood drying. 

Since the cut will be rough you'll need at least 1 1/6" to be sure to get 3/4" boards. I've found that the rough milling reduces thickness more than the shrinkage from drying. Bandsawn wood can be slabbed thinner than chain or circle sawn.


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## woodshop (Feb 27, 2005)

scottr said:


> db , here is an article that might help . http://www.sawmillmag.com/articles_index.html?article_id=84 Scott


Great article Scott... I subscribe to Sawmill and Woodlot... good mag. As article says, exchange of air is essential. So are good stickers. I make mine from clear tulip poplar boards by the hundreds to support my milling habit. Milling tulip poplar tree to 1 1/4" boards and planing and ripping stickers from them gets me down to about a nickle a sticker. Still quite an investment when you are talking several thousand of them. Stable solid base is another must... used to use concrete blocks with 4x4 laying across, but blocks would slowly sink in dirt with all that weight, stacks would shift and even fall over sometimes. Got serious, covered a 4x6 PT frame with 2x6 decking, and sat that on concrete footers you can drive a truck on, and that solved that problem.


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