Milling Dead Wood

[DTrap]

Hello,
I am wanting to get started doing some milling and have tons of large standing dead ash around my property. Like a hundred trees at least. Most have been dead at least 2-3 years and are nice and tall and straight. I was wondering if this wood can be milled reasonable with my Alaskan Mill. It seems like it would be really slow going and would dull the chains pretty fast. Thanks for any help and advice.

 

[Quietfly]

Well i can't comment from experience since I've just received my milling set up yesterday, however what i can say is, everything I've read says that dried wood is tougher on your mill. With that in mind, I'd say keep an eye on your chain sharpness, and run slow and rich.
All perfectly generic Semi- useful advice.
I'm hoping the pros chime in with the real stuff sometime soon.

Good Luck!
Post Pictures!!!
-Chris

 

[Mad Professor]

It will mill up fine but get to it. Ash will start rotting quick. Be careful of dry rot in milled boards/beams from standing dead. End coat the logs as soon as you buck them ash likes to end check. If you find rot sacrifice that log to the firewood God.

 

[DTrap]

It will mill up fine but get to it. Ash will start rotting quick. Be careful of dry rot in milled boards/beams from standing dead. End coat the logs as soon as you buck them ash likes to end check. If you find rot sacrifice that log to the firewood God.

Sounds good. I will give some a try in a few weeks when I get some time. I have cut a ton in the past year for firewood and most have been rot free. Thanks for the advice.

 

[rarefish383]

I milled some dead, bark falling off Red Oak, and it was easier than green Hickory. That being said, if I could peel the bark off I'd do that. The bark holds lots of wind blown dirt and dust that dulls the saw. I find that I only get about 3 slabs and I have to touch up the chain. My slabs are 7 to 8 feet long and 27 to 35 inches wide, 3 inches thick, Joe.

 

[DTrap]

Joe,
Thanks, I will be sure to peel the bark. It comes off very easy anyway. I cut a ton for firewood and almost all of the bark fell off when the tree hit the ground and the rest would just fall off when I split it. I sure hope it mills nice cause I have access to a ton of it within a hundred yards of my back porch.

 

[Sawyer Rob]

I mill dead tree's all the time,

They make GREAT lumber,

I built this entire building out of several year old dead tree's, that I harvested and milled,

SR

 

[DTrap]

Thanks SR that building looks great. Im gonna give some a try in a few weeks. I am looking forward to seeing how it comes out.

 

[Sawyer Rob]

Don't forget to take some picts!

SR

 

[DTrap]

Will do for sure. I've never milled before but have wanted to for some time. Bought an 066 last week to dedicate to my 30" Alaskan mill so I'm getting ready to give it a go. Just gotta get some free time away from work now and get it done.

 

[Promac555]

I milled some dead, bark falling off Red Oak, and it was easier than green Hickory. That being said, if I could peel the bark off I'd do that. The bark holds lots of wind blown dirt and dust that dulls the saw. I find that I only get about 3 slabs and I have to touch up the chain. My slabs are 7 to 8 feet long and 27 to 35 inches wide, 3 inches thick, Joe.

Green Hickory is the work of the devil and should be avoided at all cost!!
Every day - last July (gulp) I had a contract job to board out a big Hickory tree and it was super hard on both me and the saw.
The job paid great and a huge bonus was that I was smart enough to save the sawdust and now every time I smoke a ham, that AWESOME Hickory smoke reminds me of that job and now it doesn't seem half as bad!!

Joe - I never thought about how some species had bark that would "hold" the wind blown dirt. I guy I knew once in PA referred to Chestnut Oak as "dirt Oak" because it left his bar and chain covered in brown crud. Now all that makes sense - freaking learn something every day!!! Thanks Joe !!

 

[Sawyer Rob]

Green Hickory is the work of the devil and should be avoided at all cost!

Really? I don't ming milling hickory at all!

It makes some GREAT lumber,

I wish I had more of it!

SR

 

[Promac555]

Really? I don't ming milling hickory at all!

It makes some GREAT lumber,

I wish I had more of it!

SR

 

[Promac555]

Nice sarcasm Sawyer Bob -
I was talking about using a CSM to drive through a green Hickory tree - by hand.
As opposed to you bragging about your high dollar band saw mill and a tractor with trailer and then "talking down" to the guys who mill "old school."
I don't see you in any of your photos, sweating and covered in sawdust and doing any work.
We should support every other person on this forum and - have I made my point?

 

[Sawyer Rob]

Nice sarcasm Sawyer Bob -
I was talking about using a CSM to drive through a green Hickory tree - by hand.
As opposed to you bragging about your high dollar band saw mill and a tractor with trailer and then "talking down" to the guys who mill "old school."
I don't see you in any of your photos, sweating and covered in sawdust and doing any work.
We should support every other person on this forum and - have I made my point?

WOW, if you think THAT is what "I" was doing, then you need to have another cup of coffee or beer??

That is NOT what my post was about at all, I made the post because it's the truth! I DO like hickory and I try to get every one that I can... And YES, I mill them with my BSM, but it sure as heck isn't a "high dollar machine", it's just a manual mill that I've had a LONG time and it's paid for itself several times over.

That's something anyone can do, if they think positive and work at it a little...

Sorry you are having such a bad day...

BTW, I started out using a chainsaw, to mill with...

SR

 

[Quietfly]

So today was my first experience milling dead wood with the csm. Man what a pain in the arse, according to the forestry service guy this ash has been standing dead for about 3 years. It was illegally ringed, but no one ever came back to harvest it.
I had to stop mid cut to resharpen the chain, and it was litterally like cutting rock. I nearly quit twice. Also as an aside wedging is super important!
Anyway here's some pictures.

 

[DTrap]

Thanks for the confirming what I was afraid of. I have cut tons of dead ash around my area for customers and it eats my chains up. Some of the bigger ones over 25"-30" I have to stop and sharpen my chain after only bucking 6-8 logs. We had three houses in a row last fall which had 23 standing dead ash total. They paid to remove 14 and left the rest as they were far enough from the houses not to worry about them. It took 3 days just to log them all out and load them up after laying them down. I will probably stick with the cherry, oak, and locusts around the property before worrying about the dead ash for a while.

 

[BobL]

Dry Ash has a Janka hardness of 1320 lb force.
For comparison, Radiata is 710 lb dry, and about 500 when Green.

The softest stuff I usually mill is a Eucalypt called Marri which has a green hardness of 1452 Lb,
Typically I'm milling in the 1750 lb force hardness range
The Tuart I milled last week is 2068 lb when it is green and 2400 when dry. Worse still, this tree sucks up a lot of soluble silica (sand) when it is water stressed and unless the logs have come out of a park or garden they are all water stressed in my area. The silica precipitates out in the wood and its like cutting in dirty wood all the way through the cut. Sometimes you can even see the odd spark as the chain hits a grain.
Touching up is advisable after about every 32 sq ft of cut.
There's also a lot of stuff quite a bit harder.

With these hardnesses you learn how to sharpen or like you said "give up"
Have you tried progressive raker setting?
If you want a diagnosis of your chain cutters post a close up side on picture of some of your cutters - as close up as you can and still be in focus.

 

[Quietfly]

I took these pictures after i sharpened the chain, and before you asked for a side view.

 

[Quietfly]

Ive read your progressive raker posts, and have set all my rakers using the regular file raker tool. Id love to try progressive, but dont completely understand it.