From logs to bench top, guidance, opinions and advice requested.

[Steven Wayne]

I hauled all of these home..
https://lh4.googleusercontent.com/-Kf-lVyJPxw4/TqhheMOfVdI/AAAAAAAAGI4/WmU77xvwC-o/s800/IMG_4818.jpg

And am wondering if these Japanese Maple logs would be good candidates for a bench top..

https://lh3.googleusercontent.com/-eEVofB7SiCg/Tqhhe6jzb5I/AAAAAAAAGJI/BwxPWOYdz08/s800/IMG_4822.jpg

This is what it looks like after a pass or three on the jointer..

https://lh5.googleusercontent.com/-tMPg9V6_iis/TqhhfTB_qrI/AAAAAAAAGJQ/1JvNcSAEf3Y/s800/IMG_4823.jpg

All of the logs were given to me by a good friend. They are from a local tree that he found cut down several years ago. They have been air drying in his shop for many years.

I have a big stack of 5.5" x 5.5" x 9' very old oak beams that were salvaged from a brewery. I had been thinking of using the oak to build the base and the maple for the top of a bench.

Discuss away. I appreciate any input.

[alex grams]

I have minimal experience with milling and drying my own lumber, but from everything I have seen and heard, logs with twist like the ones you have are incredibly difficult to get flat lumber from in any significant length.

I went to a yard in Hawaii where a guy would cut down and make his own lumber/slabs, and he had some HUGE trunks (40'+ that were 4'+ diameter) that had huge twists in them. I asked what he was going to do with the pieces (slab them, or whatever?) and he said he cuts them up to use them for either bowl blanks or shims for stickering/stacking lumber, because they do not dry flat.

Someone who knows more than me may know better, but that is my experience.

[Scott Driemel]

Hello. I saw a fair amount of maple with my Lucas Mill & here's what I found. Everyone may & probably does have an opinion so here goes. Ornamental maple (Japanese) is somewhat of a dwarf specie in that it's "caliper" (diameter) never gets very big. Your size in your pic indicates to me those trees were fully grown. Hard to find an ornamental jap maple over 30-35 feet here in the Northwest. Now with the trees being tall & rather spindly and often planted to be "specimen" style trees they often are planted in areas where they need to twist somewhat to aquire direct sunlight. Your pics display serious twist. Ornamental maple is notorious for spiral twists and this is brutal, not for cutting, a saw will cut it fine, but when it dries it will twist if left in longer or wider boards. I need to clarify, on a sawmill it will cut alright, but a bandsaw might bind because of the tension being released so be carful. Make or arrange to have some thin shims avail if needed. Carvers quite like this wood. Small pieces, interesting grain. Or perhaps small projects too. (small boxes etc) The trick will be to cut it and sticker it and dry it so it doesn't warp too badly. This will be the hard part. And just because you can strap something green down and dry it so it doesn't warp too bad does not mean it won't go squirrely when you begin to re-surface the boards for a project later on. Turners might also quite like the wood though as again it has alot of "character". Jap Maple is similiar to "Vine" maple I believe in that it can suck up a lot of sand into it as well. Tough on machines. Where I am acacia does the same as well. Sorta' like willow does down south I imagine. I suggest cutting then into blocks 2 1/4" thick x their length. Cut the checks out first, and after you make your boards seal the ends with ideally a wax sealer, if not paint will work too. Seal it as soon after you cut as you can. Sticker then with 3/4x3/4" stickers, and place as big a weight as you can on it. Don't dry it in a warm heated area, let it dry slow. Slower the better to help with the twist. Lots of articles here on how to dry green wood. Best of luck, they can have some pretty wood in them but man, that twist is a death sentence. My 25 cents.

[Steven Wayne]

Scott, Thank you for the information. The logs have been drying indoors for a few years. The ends were sealed with a wax sealer when they were brought indoors. I think I will saw up a couple of the logs into slabs and sticker them for a while and see how they move.

[John TenEyck]

Go ahead and give it try, but I think you've got mostly firewood there. There's so much twist and end checking in most of them that I don't think you'll end up with much usable lumber. But free is your friend so why not. I've milled a fair amount of lumber in the past several years for my furniture making. When I started, any free log was a treasure. Today, I wouldn't waste my time on ones that look like that. Just my opinion.

Those oak beams you mentioned, however, should make great material for a bench base. I made my bench mostly from reclaimed beams and pallet beams (that I let air dry for 2 years). I had to work around some cracks and defects, but it still came out great - and the cost was nearly nothing. Good luck.