Finally started milling

[phred45]

Hi everybody,
Just read your new thread Mntgun. Great speed and thanks to everybody for answering most of my questions before I could ask them.

I cut an oak that had root rot (Armillaria) and grew too close to where my barn is going to be. Counted about 98 rings, so for an Oak pretty young. Most of the bigger trees here are between 70 and 120, a few older Pines. It used to be farm and ranch land before. The widest slab will be about 2"x 12" when the sides are cut. Does a circular saw work instead of a skil for cutting the sides?

Here are some pics of the slabs. Have to figure out a better way of stacking slabs and boards. Nothing out here is ever level. It got late and there was no time to weigh them down and I did it the next morning. They had already started warping. On the cross section of the log you can see that they are really 2 trees grown together. The board for the first cut wouldn't sit right on the side so the slabs ended up going sideways through the log at an angle. Will that cause the boards to warp a lot more? I would have liked to cut the slabs through the narrow side so the two trees would have gotten separated and wouldn't have ended up in one board.

To make 2"x 6" boards should I cut them in half now or let them dry first?

 

[robfromaz1977]

Nice looking lumber you are making.

 

[phred45]

Here are some more pics. The first row of stickers had to be shimmed to be level, hope that works. Are regular pine 2x4's ok to cut up for stickers? I had a few old ones. The top of the stack now has corrugated roofing on it (that has really gotten expensive, $17.70 for a 12' sheet).

One of the slabs from a branch has a soft area in it, will that effect the other wood? Will it spread?

Have to wait until next week before I can mill again. The Poulan broke the pawl and it had to be ordered from ebay. Maybe Santa can can bring another saw.

Meant to ask if it is normal that the old Poulan 260 has trouble getting the chain tight enough, mine seems to.

 

[mtngun]

Thanks for the pics, phred45. :rockn:

A circular saw will edge 2" boards ...... for a while. I burnt up a Rigid circular saw in only a couple months of edging slabs. The Makita hypoid drive replacement has been working hard for over a year, but is beginning to sound a little tired.

None of the universal motors will last forever, but the worm/hypoid drive saws are geared down so the motor doesn't work as hard. Also, an 18 tooth ripping blade makes like easier on the saw.

You may not be able to get two decent 2x6's out of one 2x12. That's where the art of sawyering comes in, being able to "read" the wood and predict how it is going to warp when sawn.

For example, yesterday I was edging a 20" slab and only got a 2x6 and 2x4 out of it. If the slab contains a pith, you have to either cut it out or else center it. Some of the sapwood was punky, so that had to be cut out. Then there were some pitch cracks that have to be either cut out or else centered.

Some wood is going to warp no matter how careful you are. "Compression" wood, where the growth rings are tighter on one side than another, will almost always warp. There will often be warping around big knots as the wood dries.

If I suspect a board is going to warp, I'll cut it 1" wider, let it warp, then go back and recut it straight.

I'll be edging today, so maybe I'll take a few pics. Not that I am the expert, Backwoods or Sawyer Rob or Deeker or BrMorgan or any of the "pros" know much more than I do.

 

[phred45]

This is going to be a learning curve that will take time. Fortunately most of what I intend to mill is ERC and warping isn't bad with those. The oak is just a bonus if it works out. Would be nice for stairs and such.

Maybe I just start cutting cants and then mill them, no debarking or side cutting. To get 2"x 6" or 8" how thick and wide should I cut the slabs? It's just for building lumber so no planing needed except for the nicer boards later.

 

[BobL]

Yep sure is nice looking wood.

 

[phred45]

Thanks, Bobl. I hope some of the slabs will turn out, there are only 7. 5 are 12"-13" and 2 are only 7" to 8" when the sides are gone. It wasn't a big tree. None of the trees here are big but those Oak slabs weigh a lot. Don't know that I'll ever get to mill one of those great huge trees like you guys often mill.

 

[jimdad07]

Thanks, Bobl. I hope some of the slabs will turn out, there are only 7. 5 are 12"-13" and 2 are only 7" to 8" when the sides are gone. It wasn't a big tree. None of the trees here are big but those Oak slabs weigh a lot. Don't know that I'll ever get to mill one of those great huge trees like you guys often mill.

No matter, you still made it look good. Nice work.

 

[betterbuilt]

Thanks, Bobl. I hope some of the slabs will turn out, there are only 7. 5 are 12"-13" and 2 are only 7" to 8" when the sides are gone. It wasn't a big tree. None of the trees here are big but those Oak slabs weigh a lot. Don't know that I'll ever get to mill one of those great huge trees like you guys often mill.

Those trees have a way of finding you.

 

[phred45]

Sheer luck so far. Just hope I won't ruin them since I don't know what I'm doing.
I try not to cut any trees unless there is no choice. Have decided to let our 2 old Kentucky Coffee trees live out their natural lives, just clean them up a bit.
The land we have doesn't really have much besides a lot of tall ERC, a few pines with beatle damage and some oaks with root fungus. We got it cheap because nobody thought it worth messing with. I love it. It's only 20 acres but it sits between 400 acres of pasture on one side and 500 of woods on the other side. Paved county highway goes right passed our long driveway but almost all the traffic branches off further downhill. Hope it stays that way during my life time.

Mtngun, I ordered a Makita 5477 this morning. Big splurge but looks like that is a good saw for a lot of the things I need to do. Thanks for all your advice, can't imagine where I would be without this forum. Will send some pics when the slabs get sided. It looks like your barn is comming along nicely.