# Spraying water on log piles?



## Dalmatian90

Guess since this is a screen capture from Swamp Loggers, I'll ask here first:







Anyone know why?

Logs should be too big to be a danger of spontaneous combustion (like wood chips can be). 

Next guess be something to do with drying, but they can't dry out that fast in North Carolina, could they?

=============
Side note, I was reading a nice history of what is now the Yale Forest in Connecticut. After the '38 Hurricane, they filled up one of the ponds with white pine logs in order to preserve the wood till they could get it all through the saw mill on site, which took until 1941.


----------



## chucker

beetles and more beetles, keep it wet to postpone the hatch of the little buggers eggs!! they bore through logs like rats breed in a dump...


----------



## OregonSawyer

Dry logs don't saw as easy as wet/fresh ones. The drier ones tend to produce a bit finer dust that can fill up the gullet an get between the saw and the log causing your saw to "snake". Some places still use ponds even, for reasons beyond maneuverability. The mill I used to work for had a small pond at the log yard as well as sprinklers all over the place (like in your picture).


----------



## Joe46

Common practice in Eastern Wa. Not many mills left over on the dry side.


----------



## Gologit

Common in California, too.


----------



## paccity

every summer here, till they shut it down. now they are prosesing the bark from the cold deck. making mulch.


----------



## Mike Van

Dalmatian90 said:


> =============
> Side note, I was reading a nice history of what is now the Yale Forest in Connecticut. After the '38 Hurricane, they filled up one of the ponds with white pine logs in order to preserve the wood till they could get it all through the saw mill on site, which took until 1941.


 
I knew a man that worked there, a few years ago he passed away. He told me any body of water they could find, they put white pine logs in. The sawyer beetle will ruin pine logs in a flash. Can you imagine today, just dumping logs into peoples ponds? The courts would be more tied up with lawsuits than the forests were with down trees.


----------



## Rookie1

Mike Van said:


> I knew a man that worked there, a few years ago he passed away. He told me any body of water they could find, they put white pine logs in. The sawyer beetle will ruin pine logs in a flash. Can you imagine today, just dumping logs into peoples ponds? The courts would be more tied up with lawsuits than the forests were with down trees.


 
Shows you how times have changed for the bad in some ways. 
This has been an informative thread.:msp_smile:


----------



## Dalmatian90

> I knew a man that worked there, a few years ago he passed away. He told me any body of water they could find, they put white pine logs in



Thanks for that tid-bit Mike!

Yale Forest is close enough, I usually go through there once or twice a year when out on Sunday drives.

And thanks to the rest, I would've never have guessed it was about beetles (or even known they were that big of a problem with dead wood).


----------



## Ramblewood

Hardwood mills in the east used to have ponds for a few reasons . In hot summer, logs will dry out and split . I have seen ash logs quarter (split into 4 pie-shaped quarters) just sitting in the yard . Same with walnut . The ponds also helped get the dirt and stones off the logs back before debarkers were common and that keeps the saws sharp longer . The Amish around me don't use debarkers and you can see plenty of sparks fly off the headsaw . A lot of the small Amish mills I used to visit had trouble cutting "true" thickness because of dull saws and lack of solid foundations under the headrig . Wet or very dry weather would make the timbers they sit on "move" and throw off the set of the carriage . A lot of the boards were 4/4 on one end and 5/4 on the other . Makes it hard to plane the finished product since most planners I see can only take about 1/16th on each face . According to National Hardwood Lumber Association (NHLA) rules, that is classified "miss-cut" and is measured only on the thin end throwing away a 1/4" of thickness on the thick end .


----------



## Gologit

Another reason for running sprinklers on log decks is to keep fire danger down. I've seen log deck fires and they're always hard to put out. Sometimes the inside of the deck will be burning and the whole thing will have to be torn down. And sprayed with water again. And stacked somewhere temporarily. And then re-decked when the fire is out.. Every time you handle a log it costs you money so sprinklers are actually a money saving deal.


----------



## sbumgarner78

North carolina the concern is blue stain. It's a fungus that spreads throughout the log when it gets hot and dry. Trust me I have had mills reject my logs for blue stain before. It costs them to much to dye the wood chips back to white for making paper when it has blue stain.


----------



## floyd

Too bad the marketing on blue stain pine was not stronger.


Sprinkling keeps dust, fire danger & checking down.


----------

