How to rough cut a log..

[Dennis McGarry]

Ok need a little direction from the pros here.

I have never rough cut logs for anything other then firewood in the past. I have a few pieces of oak that I want to try and cut into pen blanks. How would I go about doing this?

I know from reading that for bowls I would cut down the middle or through the heart and have two halves then for bowls. But what do I do if I want to cut pen blanks? How do I know which why to cut the grain? Honestly to me, the grain goes everydirection, since its a circle.

Thanks in advance for the help.

Dennis

[Brian Brown]

Most commercially available pen blanks are cut with the grain of the wood the same way dimensional lumber is cut. There is no law that says you have to cut them that way. I like to cut some 45 degrees acrosss the grain.

[Scott Hackler]

When I cut up logs (green) for future pen blanks, I cut them @ 30-45% to the grain and about 1" square. An overnight soak in Dna and stagger stack them up on a shelf to dry. I found that silver maple it fully dried in a month and 2 1/2 months later the black walnut still isnt! If the grain is all twisted around (burl) you need the extra dimension of the blank to compensate for the warping and twisting of the wood.

I also cut the length to 6", just in case the ends crack a bit.

[Bernie Weishapl]

When I want pen blanks I cut right down the heart of the log. I stop before going all the way thru. I then cut the same direction as the last cut except I make the slab about 1" wide. Once the slabs are cut I go to the bandsaw and cut them into 1" square pieces and like Scott I always leave mine about 7" long in case of cracks. I soak in DNA and then let flash dry maybe 20 minutes so the outside is dry then I dip the ends in achorseal stack and let dry.