Milling newbie questions

[Ingram306]

Ok so I'm thinking about trying my hand at milling. I have an 880 that doesent get much use, and this would help me justify keeping it. I am currently remodeling my entire house, including the fireplace. I thought it would be pretty cool to cut and mill a nice slab of red oak for my mantel. From what I've read, I would be ok cutting the oak and milling it the same day, I am a little confused on the drying process though. I've gathered that it needs to be at around 6-8% moisture to use and stain. Maybe some of you guys can help me out with this. I was also wondering approximately how long this would take to dry. I was thinking its going to start off around 4x14 ish. Once it's dried an ready to go I would shape all the edges and probably knock off a good chunk of that. Obviously kiln drying is better, but its not really an option to
build one right now. Would I be able to dry it in one of the kilns that the firewood guys use?


Sorry for the essay, and Thanks in advance for any help

 

[groundup]

I'd say green red oak four inches thick would need close to three years to be at 8% mark if you dried the correct (slow) way. When drying for lumber the ends should be painted and the wood dried as slow as possible

 

[Dave Boyt]

A 4" thick fireplace mantle will see some pretty dry conditions, and should be either kiln dry or dried in a heated room (maybe an attic) for several years. The problem with the firewood kilns is that they are not very controlled, since it doesn't matter if a stick of firewood splits or warps in the drying process. Your mantle will have to be dried slowly to keep from splitting. Groundup has good advice-- seal the ends of the mantle with a product like Anchorseal to prevent end cracks. By all means, it will be easiest to mill the log right after the tree has been cut. Dry wood fibers are much harder to cut. Good luck!

 

[Ingram306]

Thanks for all all the replies guys. Appreciate the help