Has anyone worked with milling River logs?

[Carl Beckett]

A friend of mine has a lead on some white pine logs that have been in a river for some time, and is asking about considerations on what he should do to extract/dry/mill these.

What to look for to determine if they are worth going after?

Should they be dried/stored before milling?

Any problems expected during cutting?

Special drying after milling? (can they just be stickered/air dried)?

Is there a market for this wood?

Other considerations?

[Gary Breckenridge]

Yes, they could be worth going after. But consider that white pine is not a wood that sells at the same price as cherry. Next, are they big trunk logs or will they be full of knots? After you get them pulled out of the river and cut into 8 or 10 foot lengths I'd hose them off to get the mud and grit off them. Coat the log ends. Keep in mind that safety in river salvage is a consideration. Also getting a tractor stuck in the river can be a bit of a problem. Get the logs to the sawyer sooner rather than later. Then sticker and dry them as any other lumber. Maybe put some weights on top of the stack to prevent warpage. Some white pine is really soft so I'd cut off a chunk and check that out first. I'd also slop a bit of stain and finish on that chunk and see what it looked like finished.:cool:

[Greg Portland]

What to look for to determine if they are worth going after?

Should they be dried/stored before milling?

Any problems expected during cutting?

Special drying after milling? (can they just be stickered/air dried)?

Is there a market for this wood?

Other considerations?We had some large trees in our local river and called up a salvage company to see if they'd be interested in removing them. Basically, the wood had to be old growth lumber for them to make money. Obviously if it had axe marks (felled by axe) then it was going to be old growth. Beyond that it took a trained eye looking at the logs. The company pressure washes off their bark and uses a band mill to cut the boards. Drying procedures were the same as any other log.

[Neal Clayton]

what to look for is ring density. greater than 10 per inch. simple way, if you got a buddy with some scuba gear, have him go down with an underwater light and see if you can clean the end of a log off well enough to take a look.

white pine doesn't grow a strong and distinct heartwood like the yellow pines in the south do. so it won't be magically transformed from softwood to hardwood like the yellow pines do with age. it'll be a softwood good for what softwood is for (exterior application, low impact, value of rot resistance over density).

that said, i do know of historic restoration type folks in the northeast who prefer old growth white pine for certain things, so there is a market for it, albeit a smaller one than there is for the yellow pines.

[Lee Schierer]

You might also want to check with the state government before you participate in retrieval or sawing of those logs. I recall there was a TV program where someone was recovering river logs and got in a bit of trouble for their effort because the logs belonged to the state or a permit was needed to work on the river.

[Kevin Begos]

Agree with above posts, but absolutely check about permits.
In FL, I think it's about a $5000 permit to remove river logs -
that's if they are on public waterways.
If your logs were on some private water (pond, etc.)
they could be "owned" by someone.
In some cases the water is public but the bottom isn't...