# milling crooked logs



## 1953greg (Mar 11, 2008)

i have a 24" x 12' black cherry log that has a very gentle 30" curve in it. has anyone tried cs milling w/ the curve then lying the stickered boards on flat surface for drying? like running the trac along the back of the bow. surely this would work and surely someone has tried it. 

whadda u think??

tried the search but didnt find anything


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## woodshop (Mar 11, 2008)

1953greg said:


> i have a 24" x 12' black cherry log that has a very gentle 30" curve in it. has anyone tried cs milling w/ the curve then lying the stickered boards on flat surface for drying? like running the trac along the back of the bow. surely this would work and surely someone has tried it.
> 
> whadda u think??
> 
> tried the search but didnt find anything



It'll work, but why would you want to? Lots of extra space to dry and sticker them, and then what are you going to do with a curved board in the woodshop? I usually mill off enough to straiten out the log first. Yes you lose some good lumber, but you will most likely end up doing that anyway in the woodshop.


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## BobL (Mar 11, 2008)

1953greg said:


> i have a 24" x 12' black cherry log that has a very gentle 30" curve in it. has anyone tried cs milling w/ the curve then lying the stickered boards on flat surface for drying? like running the trac along the back of the bow. surely this would work and surely someone has tried it.
> 
> whadda u think??
> 
> tried the search but didnt find anything



I should be OK. Use a few extra stickers around the curve.


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## 1953greg (Mar 11, 2008)

woodshop said:


> It'll work, but why would you want to? Lots of extra space to dry and sticker them, and then what are you going to do with a curved board in the woodshop? I usually mill off enough to straiten out the log first. Yes you lose some good lumber, but you will most likely end up doing that anyway in the woodshop.



i want to use them as panneling in a room w/ 10' celing. if i cut the log into 6' then there will be a seam. 

if placed w/ the outside of the curve up, wont the boards just flatten out on the floor w/ weight placed in the middle on the "back" of the boards? prolly take more weight than usual but i think some concrete parking bumpers should work. 

what i was searching for is if anyone had tried this before?


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## DRB (Mar 11, 2008)

1953greg said:


> i want to use them as panneling in a room w/ 10' celing. if i cut the log into 6' then there will be a seam.
> 
> if placed w/ the outside of the curve up, wont the boards just flatten out on the floor w/ weight placed in the middle on the "back" of the boards? prolly take more weight than usual but i think some concrete parking bumpers should work.
> 
> what i was searching for is if anyone had tried this before?



I bought a lift of 1x6x12' rough cut hem/fir from the local sawmill a couple of years ago. I have been told that when the gang saws cut up a log into multiple boards in one pass if the log has a curve in it the log will go through in a curve. 

The saws cut the lumber and chipping saws cut off the slabs as chips all in one pass. Log goes in one side and comes out the other side as boards. No resawing. I was the first man to touch the wood as I load it into my truck. Faller/buncher, skidder/forwarder, processor, log loader, logging truck, through sawmill all with out any human touching the wood.

When I stacked the lumber I noticed that some boards had a bow in them. I was nailing them on a roof for strapping and this did not cause a problem. Although the mill will not accept badly curved logs

I am not sure if I would try it with a CSM I have always best luck bucking out the bends and defects 

Sorry about being long winded. Hope this helps Let us know how it goes if you try it show some pics


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## Mike Van (Mar 12, 2008)

Those boards will always have tension in them - You may flatten it out with enough weight, but they'll always want [and some will] re-curve. If you saw the log so every board is an arch, they'll stay flat, but like the other guy said, unless you need a lot of short pieces, what'll you do with all those curved boards. It's really not a "good" sawlog.


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## timberwolf (Mar 12, 2008)

+1, if you saw them with the curve they will be forever unstable even if pushed straight to dry.

Couple options:
Start with the curved hump up and start slabbing off, the first couple boards and last couple boards will be mostly wasted. Also you end up with a lot of cleft grain so they won't be strong structurally, or slab them with the curve to the side and edge the slabs more, might get a couple narrow boards. 

Likely the best though is to cut the length in half, if it's half as long it's also half as crooked.


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## Sawmill (Mar 12, 2008)

I have sawed alot of curved wood like this but usually it is only good for short pieces. If you try to straighten it with weight like you want to due to the stress in the wood it will probably split on each end. what ever you do good luck


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## GeeVee (Mar 12, 2008)

*Greg...*

I will reverse engineer this log for you.....

Paneling vertical, and wanting ten feet coverage is tough to get with milled wood. ESPECIALLY if you plan on butt joints. Not so much if it would be board-and-batten, or board-on-board.

If you really want butt joints and would consider my architectural advice-

Consider using the "seam" to your advantage. Use real wide planking vertically as a Wainscoating, possibly B & batten, a milled Chair rail, and then above go horizontally with slightly different plank width or vertical again with narrower, butt jointed.

I agonized for two years on my lumber, red and white oak, hickory, how I would utilize it. And then said EFF it, I used all three styles..... Rustiic as can be, and I wouldn't change a thing. 

NONE of it got run through a mill, a planer, or even a table saw. How it dried, is how it got nailed. Square cut the ends to lenght and shoot it into place.


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## user 19670 (Mar 12, 2008)

We have a local artisan here in Nolalu who milled a curved log and then used one of the curved planks for trim around a door frame. "Sounds" silly but the end result is a one of a kind door and matching frame with trim that provides the entrance to her sauna. The door is actually 3-sided rather than 4 and the side opposite the hinges is curved so that it actually comes to a point at the top of the door.
She worked with the curve and used it to advantage. Everyone who sees it makes very favourable comments.

Will try and get a pick or two in the next few days and you can see for yourself.


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## 1953greg (Mar 12, 2008)

thanks guys, thats what i needed, really. original ideas. now you all have my cork bobbing!!!!


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## olyman (Mar 12, 2008)

i brougth this up some time ago, and got shot down. but i bielieve this would work like you said. id put the arch up, lay a 2x12 over the top--screw the ends down, and start milling.then cut the boards to whatever length you wanted. i aim to do this to a curved cottonwood, and use the boards for roofing sheating----


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## sawyerDave (Mar 14, 2008)

*Tension wood*

Will abound in cherry with a curve. You will want to lay the curve to the left or right, and cut the log through and through, start on the best face, and follow the surface grain, leaving you some c shaped boards and a little waste on the bottom. I cut with a Woodmiser LT15 band mill, and have some experience in this. What I always wanted to try was to use the wood with a c shape, here's how: Make a router template that follows the curve of board, and use that same template to cut every board to the same exact shape, then use as paneling or for a floor, say next to a curved wall of the same rough curve. The one part missing in this fantasy, is that you will find that the cherry may begin to twist as it air dries, cherry once grown bent, likes to hold on to the bend, if you try to outsmart it, it'll twist, just to spite you! Wood is what you make out of it, cut it like you want, and see what happens, whether it is beautiful or firewood, it still has a use if you learn something from it!


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## user 19670 (Mar 16, 2008)

I finally got over to see Phillis and take a couple of pics of the sauna door. Even managed to get her in one of them.  

















Phillis said that sometimes it is better to work with nature than against it.

I do have to stand corrected. She didn't mill the wood, she used a curved log. I like her choice of a door handle too.


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## 1953greg (Mar 17, 2008)

wow gordie
thats way too cool


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## Dai Sensei (Mar 17, 2008)

2nd that


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