Options for Milling Lumber

[Matt Walton]

Hi all. A few weeks ago, my dad cut down a tree next to our house, and let me haul the branches to the burn pile (that was fun :rolleyes:), and he cut the pieces nice and short before I could get to them, but I saved them anyway, to see if I can get some wood out of them. The tree was a live oak, and the logs are about 2' long, maybe a little less. Anyways, they have been sitting in the hanger (see picture) since then, and I was wondering the best way to turn them into boards. Me being a "half-brained teenager", I just wanted to get out the chainsaw and start cutting. Dad being an engineer, he assured me the only way would be to use a specialized lumber mill costing a few thousand dollars. We both strayed towards the middle, so now we're wondering what the best and cheapest way to cut it is. Is all we need a big chainsaw, or am I missing something else?

Also, with one of the logs being crotch wood, can anybody tell me if oak ever has any figure? If nothing else, this will serve as an experiment, to find out the best way to do it for next time somebody has a real tree to cut down (That happens all the time, right? Right?).
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[Josiah Bartlett]

You will waste a lot of chips with the kerf, but with a chain saw you can do it if you can guide the bar straight. A better way is with a large bandsaw, or split it and then cut it with a smaller band saw. You need to slab them up while they are still green, or they will crack and be fairly useless for lumber. You also need to seal the ends to keep them from drying out too fast, or, again, they will crack. Maybe they already have.

[Greg Book]

If you have a bandsaw, just resaw the logs on that. You may need to cut them lengthwise first using the chain saw. Resawing on the bandsaw is actually pretty easy and the results are quite nice.

[Mike Schuch]

:) Have fun! :)

I did the same thing once for some walnut. I don't mind buying milled lumber after that experience any more!

It is a very good lesson on the properties of wood though and hence definitely worth the effort... once! Slab a piece limb while you are at it. It is very interesting to see the forces in the wood at work while drying.

[Bryan Cramer]

I cut hundreds of board feet of maple with my 14" band saw and a jig. I has a riser bock to cut bigger logs. Most of the logs were cut under 2' to handle them easier. If they were too big, over 10" in diameter, I cut them in half with the chainsaw. The larger portion of the tree was over 4' in diameter. A friend of mine has a small sawmill and I used that to cut the large section. But the tree was too large so I had to cut it in half! It took me all day and a gallon of gas to split it! Never will do that again. The chainsaw mills are nice, but they cut extremely slow. Instead invest in a band saw saw mill. Your work can be done with your shop band saw. I hope to post pictures soon.

[Matt Walton]

We do have a fairly good bandsaw, it's the Rikon 14" Deluxe (http://rikontools.com/productpage_10-325.htm) model. But that still doesn't negate the fact that those logs are at least 50 pounds each. Not quite sure how to heft one of those onto the table. Also, what kind of blade would I use? And yes, they are starting to crack from the middle of the log, so I need to get started soon. How thick would you recommend cutting them? And what would you use to seal the ends?

[Ryan Hellmer]

Do you have a lathe/interest in turning? Crotch is best for turning, even better when the wood is still green. I have a bandsaw mill, so can't stand the thought of standing at a regular bandsaw hefting chunks of log around. I would recomend halving or quartering the log with a chainsaw and then sawing the smaller pieces with your bandsaw. Best of luck.

Ryan

[Andrew Gibson]

My understanding is you can get away sealing the ends with normal paint. latex would work if you have some left over from the last time the house was painted.

50 lb is not that heavy. If it is, it's time to start hitting the weights... jk I know your a teen. If your interested in getting strong I could recommend a good book from a fellow Texan.

the way I would go after it would be to split the straight logs in half then resaw the half's into boards. Or you could simply use the chainsaw to make a flat on one side of the log, and make the log small enough to fit through the bandsaw.As for the crotch I would trim the wide sides down with the chainsaw so that it has 2 flat side and will fit through the bandsaw, then saw out some nice crotch slabs.

I would think the widest resaw blade your saw can handle with few teeth and a nice wide set would work best. I would seal the ends first. Then cut it up.

lastly, once you have the boards sawn out make sure you stack and sticker them. it would probably also be a good idea to weigh them down with a cinder block or something heavy to help them dry flat.

[Matt Walton]

Ok, I just came in from weighing and measuring them, and the smaller one is a mere 80 lbs! The bigger one measured 105 lbs, but for both of them, that's the minimum, because I was using our bathroom scale (don't worry, it stays outside anyway), and they weren't completely on it. The smaller one is about 18" long, and the bigger one is about 20" to where it starts branching off. And I wasn't so much worried about the weight for myself, but more for the bandsaw. I was just imagining hefting one of those things on there, and then throwing it all out of alignment.

[Steve H Graham]

Live oak has a reputation for cracking and twisting, but it's excellent for barbecue.

[Prashun Patel]

First thing you should do is seal the ends. Those logs will check right quickly; I'm surprised they haven't already. If you have some old candles, melt them and paint the ends with the wax. That will slow but not stop the moisture loss.

Those trunks look a little small to make much 'flat' out of. I'm with the below poster that these would make excellent turning blanks.

As for cutting them up - either for turning or flatwork, I would first slice down the sides with a chainsaw to remove the bark on opposite sides. Then I'd cut through the center -right thru the pith, which is where most of the cracking would radiate from. Once you have two 'D's, clean up the sides with a plane to create flat surfaces. That's the critical piece to safely cutting it on the b-saw. Then you can take it to the bandsaw and either cut it into a round blank - or resaw it.

If you do this on the bandsaw, you'll need a 'green wood' cutting blade. That usually means a 3 tpi blade with a set that can eject wet wood easily. If you don't have a flat surface or the right blade, you risk ruining your piece, ruining your blade, hurting yourself (or all three).

To preserve the "feather" figure in the crotch, you have to cut across the crotch; that is, cut it into two "Y" pieces; don't do the intuitive thing and cut through the crotch to create two circular logs.

Last, you might take this to the turners forum. That's where I learned.

Oh yeah, if you really want, there are sled jigs you can make which will hold your unchainsawed log blank securely enough to ride thru the bandsaw.

[John TenEyck]

If you actually undertake this on a bandsaw, be sure to clean up thoroughly when you're done. Get all the sawdust out of the machine and wipe the table with WD-40, oil, etc., or you'll have rust everywhere that wet sawdust is. AMHIK. I think you'll find the effort hardly worth the reward with the wood you have, but I did a few pieces on my bandsaw when I first got interested in cutting lumber. It didn't take long before I looked for a better way w/o spending a fortunate.

[Chris Fournier]

I can't understand how those logs can be cut on a 14" bandsaw if you're after the crotch figure! You have two choices the way I see it. One, get a fella with a larger bandsaw to do it for you; the portable band mill guys would have your wood cut in half an hour tops. Two, rip with a chainsaw. You could rip really tidy slabs with a sharp standard chain but I have done lots of this kind of work with specialized "ripping" chains and the task is much easier. Ripping chains aren't overly expensive but you'll likely have to order one in from a local Stihl or Husky dealer. Seal those log ends to buy yourself some time.

[John TenEyck]

As far as I know, neither Stihl nor Husky make ripping chains, although you could take one of their pro round tooth chains and regrind it to 10 deg. or so. Oregon, Granberg, and Bailey's (Carlton, actually) do, however. Of those, I like Oregon best.

[Chris Fournier]

I bought Stihl ripping chains for my work. The ripping chain has less TPI than the standard crosscut.

[Henry Ambrose]

Coating the ends is a good idea to lessen splitting and checking as the wood dries. Just lay them over on their sides and rip them with your chainsaw. No need for a special chain. When the pieces look more manageable, take them to the bandsaw for more cutting.

[Matt Walton]

Well, I waited too long to do something with them, and the were starting to crack from the center out, so I just threw them in the burn pile. But for future reference, what should be the ratio between the thickness of the wood and the length of the saw blade?
Thanks for the help anyways.