How do I cut this reclaimed lumber into boards?

[Jason White]

Came home yesterday with about 80 lineal feet of reclaimed white oak from a 1700's timber frame house (at least I think it's white oak).

Lots of good wood in there, but I'm sure there will be a bunch of waste because of all the mortises, some checking, etc.

Most of the timbers are 8x8, 8x10 and 8x12. What can I use to rip these buggers down into boards? All I have is a 7-1/4" worm drive and a 14" bandsaw, neither of which is big enough.

Jason

[Kevin Stricker]

I think you need this saw:

Makita 5402NA 16-5/16 inch Beam Cutting Circular Saw with Electric Brake, 2200 RPM, 15.0 Amps

or maybe a bigger bandsaw.

[Rick Fisher]

I think you need this saw:

Makita 5402NA 16-5/16 inch Beam Cutting Circular Saw with Electric Brake, 2200 RPM, 15.0 Amps

or maybe a bigger bandsaw.

Most rental yards will have a 16" Circular saw..

[John Keeton]

Jason, a couple of thoughts -

From the one beam you have a fresh cut on, it looks like the pith of the log is in the center of the beam. Much of the boards you would cut from that board would not be of much use IMO. They may be unstable, and the grain would not be good in appearance. Hopefully, the others are different in that respect, but I have found that many of the timbers were, in fact, the center of the log and that the original sawyers took the available planks from the log, leaving the timber/beam.

I would give some thought to using a chain saw to section the beams into sections clear of mortices, etc. Then, you should be able to resaw them in a 14" bandsaw. Not sure what blade you have, but with the right one, it should be able to handle much of what you have. That would seem to be the most efficient way of doing this, as you will come out with very few, if any, long boards from looking at the beams.

[Jason White]

Yikes! I hope that isn't the case with the other boards!!

Although, I did only pay $1 per lineal foot. I figured I'd roll the dice on this one. But, with my luck, this stuff will end up as sawhorses or firewood.:o

Jason


Jason, a couple of thoughts -

From the one beam you have a fresh cut on, it looks like the pith of the log is in the center of the beam. Much of the boards you would cut from that board would not be of much use IMO. They may be unstable, and the grain would not be good in appearance. Hopefully, the others are different in that respect, but I have found that many of the timbers were, in fact, the center of the log and that the original sawyers took the available planks from the log, leaving the timber/beam.

I would give some thought to using a chain saw to section the beams into sections clear of mortices, etc. Then, you should be able to resaw them in a 14" bandsaw. Not sure what blade you have, but with the right one, it should be able to handle much of what you have. That would seem to be the most efficient way of doing this, as you will come out with very few, if any, long boards from looking at the beams.

[sean m. titmas]

I had some 12x12 posts that needed to be ripped down to 10x10. I used a circ saw to make the cut from both sides and the recip saw with a 10' blade to finish the cut. I ground off the teeth from the last 2" of the recip saw blade so that it would not wander off from the kerf made by the circ saw. it worked great and all i had to do was clean up the cut face with a couple passes of the planer.

[phil harold]

the first picture looks like some kind of pine to me

[brett gallmeyer]

if u check around with some local cabinet shops. someone may have a baker resaw. we had one at the shop i worked at in colorado.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7FQAdkrR0vk

it would be perfect for sawing these into boards. we used to rent our out to other shops.

[Caspar Hauser]

I had some 12x12 posts that needed to be ripped down to 10x10. I used a circ saw to make the cut from both sides and the recip saw with a 10' blade to finish the cut. I ground off the teeth from the last 2" of the recip saw blade so that it would not wander off from the kerf made by the circ saw. it worked great and all i had to do was clean up the cut face with a couple passes of the planer.

+1 I had the same issue with some Chestnut beams, circular saw, sawsall, wedges, mallet, worked a treat.

[phil harold]

I ground off the teeth from the last 2" of the recip saw blade so that it would not wander off from the kerf made by the circ saw.

Thanks for the tip
I am going to do that next time...

[Kevin Groenke]

how about the DIY bandmill?

put your bandsaw on base with 2 V groove and 2 regular casters

lay a piece of angle iron as long as the beam on your shop/garage floor

put the beams on stands 1/4" higher than the saw's table, parallel with the angle iron, the first one 18" from the end.

roll the bandsaw down the angle iron while an assistant moves the stock stands from in front of, to behind the saw.

to automate, set the whole thing up on a sloped driveway or pull it with a counterweight, garden tractor or something equally crazy.

Sounds pretty easy eh? Someday I AM going to try something like this, it just sounds FUN!!

or buy a chainsaw with a rip blade, an alaskan mill to guide it if you want more toys.

or a Prazi beam saw

[Ken Platt]

If there is anyone with a bandmill nearby, that'll do the job quick and easy, minimal loss to kerf. A friend of mine with a woodmizer frequently resaws large timbers. Cool looking stuff, I still think you'll make out ok for a buck a foot.

Ken

[george wilson]

I also think the endgrain shot looks a lot like pine. Any shots of side grain with a patch planed off to see the grain?

[Paul Atkins]

Seems like a waste of material and time to cut these into nondescript boards. This wood has a story to tell by the way it is. I'm not saying this is the best way to use these, but it seems to me these are worth lots more as timbers. Most old boards were a hundred years old when harvested. These were also -250 years ago. There is a designer or architect or builder willing to pay big bucks for those too. In California 1920's is antique. My 2 cents.

[harry strasil]

A good metal detector is the first order of business.

[Pete Bradley]

I wouldn't be surprised if they're worth a lot more as-is than if they were sliced into lumber. Around here there are companies that sell antique beams for good money as architectural enhancements.

Pete

[Jason White]

Not likely. Most of these were sill plates and have lots of mortises in them. Also some rot and insect damage in spots.

Jason


I wouldn't be surprised if they're worth a lot more as-is than if they were sliced into lumber. Around here there are companies that sell antique beams for good money as architectural enhancements.

Pete

[Virgil Johnson]

A good metal detector is the first order of business.
Yes very important.

Just got a lot of chestnut from a 1770s house also.
There are a quite a few cut nails - small ones - in the logs.

But they will make nice boxes of some sort of which the house's current owner can stash little bits of history we found.

--like the peach pits buried in the clay that padded the beams on the stone walls -- etc.