# using my milled wood -- board and batten siding



## mtngun

Here's some of my CSM'd douglas fir being put to use.

The slabs were edged with a worm-drive circular saw, but otherwise left rough. They are random width -- whatever width I was able to get out of a particular slab. One coat of Walmart's honey brown penetrating oil. A few screws in the middle of the board, no screws on the edges of the board, so the board should be free to expand and contract. Eventually battens will cover the edges.

The black stains are mold. Some of the boards were stacked in the drying tent while they were still wet. No big deal, it'll all look the same after a few years. 

This project is being done in my so-called spare time, so it'll drag on for several weeks. In addition to the siding, the entire house will be trimmed with CSM'd lumber, inside and out. Just gotta find time to do it.


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## gink595

That should look good! Be sure to post pics of it finished.


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## irishcountry

sweet looks real good!! I like the look of board and batten the CSM marks are hard to see did you have and washboard marks that really stick out or does it all blend once you put it all together?? I was thinking of doing the same thing for a chicken coop for my wife thought that would look neat sorta rustic. How thick are your boards?? Great job


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## gink595

irishcountry said:


> I was thinking of doing the same thing for a chicken coop for my wife thought that would look neat sorta rustic. How thick are your boards?? Great job



Thats funny you say that, thats what my intentions were for a chicken coop for the wife, but I bought lumber yard wood instead


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## wavefreak

Nice.

Are the battens milled by you as well?


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## mtngun

The saw marks are barely visible. Full comp ripping chain leaves a darned smooth cut. In any event, this is part of a rustic cabin, so a few saw marks here and there are appropriate.

I'll rip the battens from my CSM'd slabs, too. I just haven't got that far yet. Need to get some trim pieces up before installing the battens, because the battens will butt against the trim.

Boards are nominally 1" thick, some more, some less. These particular boards were milled about a month ago, and are only about half dry, according to the moisture meter in the seat of my pants. I do have some well dried boards from last year, but naturally, they are near the bottom of the pile.  Seriously, I'm saving the well dried boards for indoor applications.

Considering douglas is not the world's prettiest wood, and doesn't always react well to stain, I like the way it turned out. It looks good to my eye. 

I'll post more pics as work progresses.


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## BIG JAKE

Looks good Mtn-keep up the good work. I've got a growing lumber package of beams and 1X's for a porch cover I'm building. I'll be up milling again this weekend. Soon as I have enough lumber I'll build it, and there's plenty of milllin' time left this year to get it done I figure. Thanks for posting


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## dustytools

I like it!! If it werent for the maintenance I would love to have my house covered in board and batten siding, sort of my alternative to the log cabin that my wife has always wanted.


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## mtngun

dustytools said:


> If it werent for the maintenance I would love to have my house covered in board and batten siding, sort of my alternative to the log cabin that my wife has always wanted.



Dunno if you have seen it, but some people are running rough sawn boards horizontally, leaving an inch gap between boards, and then "chinking" the gap. From a distance, it looks like a log cabin. _ Updated:_ here is a pic of a neighbor's house with the horizontal faux log siding. I think it looks handsome, and this is something that could easily be done with your milled wood.

Boards, posts, and beams were all cut from diseased douglas fir from the back yard. A portable bandsaw was hired to saw the logs. All wood was left rough and received a single coat of penetrating stain.

BTW, both entrance doors were also made from doug fir. The homeowner is a custom woodworker who specializes in rustic doors made from douglas fir.





Close up. Random widths. After staining, log cabin type chinking was applied. Only downside is that chinking is very spendy and not necessary since it is only for appearances -- you might consider less expensive alternatives.





If you don't mind the rustic look, doug fir board and batten doesn't require much maintenance. Here's a cabin and outbuildings that have been around at least since the 30's. I imagine the boards were sawed on site with a portable saw mill, using local trees. I'm not sure if the boards are ponderosa or douglas -- ponderosa is more prevalent at this particular ranch, but the ranchers prefer to use douglas as much as possible, since it lasts longer. The siding hasn't been stained in recent history, and I dunno if it has ever had any stain at all, but judging by the dark brown appearance, I'm guessing it received a coat of stockholm tar when it was built. 

By the way, the present owner moved into the cabin as a newlywed bride back in the 30's. No electricity, no phone, no TV, but they do have gravity flow water from a spring. Wood cookstove. She stills lives here in the summer. Neat lady.


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## mtngun

Worked on it for a few hours this evening. Lots more to do.


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## rmh3481

Very beautiful! Thanks for showing your work.

Best wishes,
Bob


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## excess650

Nice work!

I used the CSM to cut some DF slabs, but have been cutting boards with the bandmill. I showed the slabs to a friend, and he thought they were cut with the bandmill. He couldn't believe a CSM could cut that smoothly.

Most of the DF I've cut has been left with the guy who owns the logs. I took some 2x6s and 5/4 boards for a project of my own. Our new house has 8' wide covered porch all the way around. On the east end, I'm building 4'x8' "steps" to stack firewood and such. The wood in the ground is treated, but the remainder is all DF.

The logs that I've milled were cut and stacked about 18 months ago. Some has milled(BSM) OK, but some has been a real :taped:. It has all been stacked and stickered, and despite being straight when cut, some still warped considerably. For a "softwood" it sure is dense.

BTW, I was using 20P coated sinker nails from Lowes. They go in treated lumber like butter. In dry DF at least 1/8 bend and have to be pulled. I bought nails from another local source(made in Korea) and had no more problems.


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## mtngun

excess650 said:


> The logs that I've milled were cut and stacked about 18 months ago. Some has milled(BSM) OK, but some has been a real :taped:. It has all been stacked and stickered, and despite being straight when cut, some still warped considerably. For a "softwood" it sure is dense.
> 
> BTW, I was using 20P coated sinker nails from Lowes. They go in treated lumber like butter. In dry DF at least 1/8 bend and have to be pulled.



Most of my 1" boards will cup a little as they dry, which you have to expect with flatsawn lumber, but rarely do they twist or warp. On the other hand, it's been my experience that economy grade storebought DF will twist more often than not if exposed to sun or moisture. 

As I mentioned, my neighbor makes custom doors out of douglas fir, but he uses a top grade of quartersawn DF from a local specialty mill, not the cheap stuff that stud mills crank out. He claims he has few problems with DF warping.

The Rocky Mountain variety of DF grows slowly because of the dry climate. It typically takes 100 years to reach 18" - 20". I'm not sure how that compares to the DF you have in Pennsylvania, or how that effects the grain and stability.

Yes, DF is pretty hard when it dries. Besides being difficult to nail, it also splits easily when it is dry (I've been drilling the screw holes for my board and batten siding, to avoid splitting). That's good if you are splitting firewood, not good when you are nailing a board. 

It is far easier to frame with DF when it is green. I've done a little interior framing with semi-green DF and have been pleased with the results -- it was much easier to nail, there were no splits, and none of it has warped. You do have to allow for shrinkage, of course. 

However, I'd think twice about exterior framing with green DF, unless you could get it closed in real quick. Sun and rain would likely result in warping.


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## Coalsmoke

I sure like the looks of that dark stained horizontal siding with the chinking, I'm going to have to keep note of that one for future use. 

mtngun, looking great, like the cat door.


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## mtngun

Finished the front end of the house. Still gotta do the gable end on the rear of the house, but you get the general idea.


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## SilverBox

Looking good.


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## mtngun

Finished siding on the rear gable end. Nothing fancy, but perhaps some day my grandchildren will brag about how about how grandpa made those boards with his bare hands (and a Stihl chainsaw). Plus, this wood was salvaged from local blown down trees that would have otherwise rotted. It doesn't get much more environmentally friendly than that.


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## SilverBox

Nice, I like the angled battens to make them perpendicular to the roofline.


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## tomtrees58

nice work hares mine not as big as yours its all red oak tom trees


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## mtngun

Red Oak for siding ? Man, I would die to have oak or walnut to mill for furniture and cabinets. But, I guess you use what is available in your area. Oak siding looks nice.


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## treemandan

yes very cool


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## rkwelp

Very nice cabin. Fantastic job. Wish I could build something like that.


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## MR4WD

More pics. I had planned all year to go out in the fall and mill up a bunch of boards for batten siding on my shed.

I was thinking of milling fir in 3/4~1/2" thickness though.


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## tomtrees58

mtngun said:


> Red Oak for siding ? Man, I would die to have oak or walnut to mill for furniture and cabinets. But, I guess you use what is available in your area. Oak siding looks nice.



thanks the red oak here on L I is big 40 to 60" dba lots to mill tom trees


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## tomtrees58




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## tomtrees58




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## tomtrees58




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## tomtrees58

tom trees


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## mtngun

Wow, I am drooling over Tom's stack of oak boards.  Thanks for posting those pics.

Looks like you are in need of a drying shed, and some sealer for the ends. Those boards are checking pretty bad at the ends. 

Nice chain sharpening setup, by the way.


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## tomtrees58

mtn gun said:


> Wow, I am drooling over Tom's stack of oak boards.  Thanks for posting those pics.
> 
> Looks like you are in need of a drying shed, and some sealer for the ends. Those boards are checking pretty bad at the ends.
> 
> Nice chain sharpening setup, by the way.



no i found that if you nail the wood up wet it works better let it dry no to much checking i cut the wood over size the trim to fit thanks tom trees


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## tomtrees58

tom trees


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## BIG JAKE

mtngun said:


> Finished siding on the rear gable end. Nothing fancy, but perhaps some day my grandchildren will brag about how about how grandpa made those boards with his bare hands (and a Stihl chainsaw). Plus, this wood was salvaged from local blown down trees that would have otherwise rotted. It doesn't get much more environmentally friendly than that.



Looks good mtngun-how'd you get the concrete so straight and even with the log ends without coating the log ends? BTW looks like God's country-nice place you have there!


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## BIG JAKE

tomtrees58 said:


> nice work hares mine not as big as yours its all red oak tom trees



Nice work tom on the shed and the stack-thanks for posting you should more often.


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## tomtrees58

BIG JAKE said:


> Nice work tom on the shed and the stack-thanks for posting you should more often.



thanks big jake i will i pots in the tree service side but will do it here tom trees


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## tomtrees58

sweet gum tom trees


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## mtngun

BIG JAKE said:


> Looks good mtngun-how'd you get the concrete so straight and even with the log ends without coating the log ends? BTW looks like God's country-nice place you have there!



The secret is ..... take the picture from a distance, LOL!. The cordwood wall started out pretty rough and not-so-straight but practice makes perfect and it got better as I worked my way up the wall. After some experimentation, I settled on letting the log ends protrude 1/4", just enough to give the wall a little texture and provide a corner for chinking. Some people prefer to make it flush with the wall, though.

Not God's country, more like ranching country as I am surrounded by large ranches and their cows and goats and the flies that go with them, but it's as close as I will come to God's country until I win the lottery.

Tom Trees, I was referring to the checking on the stacked boards. Your siding is handsome, but the oak in the stack is begging for a little TLC.


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## tomtrees58

one of my 084s tom trees


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## Mike Cantolina

I finally got started on my siding, I used a Norwood mill though and planed one side.


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## hamish

Nice job Mike!

Cant show Bridezilla your pictures, already have enough jobs to do.


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## mad murdock

Milled up some WRC BnB for a renovation project this summer. turned out nice!



one of my "hired hands(older son)"




we actually milled all the timbers, studs and 2x6 floor joists of doug fir. will have to get some more interior pics up later


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