Turning Sandy Tree into Lumber

[Paul Shaffer]

Hi,
First of all, my heart goes out to anyone in the New Jersey, New York area that is still baring the aftermath of Sandy. Sandy basically missed us here in New England, but I was walking through our woods yesterday and found that we did lose a moderate sized cherry tree. It is about 23 feet from where it broke to the first branches and straight. It is about 12 inches in diameter at the base and 10 inches at the first branches. As another post on here mentioned (looking for professional logging service), I would like to turn this tree into some "Sandy" furniture, like keepsake boxes for the wife and kids. I realize there won't be a whole lot of lumber coming out of this size tree, but I thought it might be fun to try. I have never done anything like this, so I am seeking advice. My ideas were:

Cut it into 6 foot lengths with a chain saw.
Cut it into 4/4+ flitches on the bandsaw. (Use a carrier board to cut two sides and make them square and then just slice with resaw fence).
Coat the ends with Anchorseal.
Sticker it in the unconditioned (but fully enclosed) shed for a year.
Bring it into the shop (attached to house, so mostly conditioned) for a month or two to finish the air drying before using it.

My questions are:
What pitfalls should I look for from people that have done this before? What blade should I use on the bandsaw (14 inch grizzly with riser)? Can my wife, son and I get a 6 foot long, 12 inch diameter log through the bandsaw? What should I watch out, such as bugs and rot, in the wood?

Thanks for all advice in advance,
Paul

[Al Weber]

Trying to do this on a 14" bandsaw is going to be tough. A 6' cherry log will weigh somewhere in the neighborhood of 200 lbs. Without some infeed and outfeed support and a sled of some type, it is going to be impossible to manhandle the log onto the saw and feed it straight especially on the first cut. A log that size won't yield much lumber anyway but if you want to mill it, I'd recommend buying an Alaskan mill or similar for your chain saw and milling it in place. The Alaskan mill is only a few hundred dollars (maybe you can borrow one?) and a ripping chain is inexpensive also. If you want to mill this log, paint the ends now with Anchorseal and get it up off the ground on blocks to keep it out of the moisture. If you do this, you have a year or so to get it milled. You really don't want the initial drying in an enclosed shed. You want airflow over stickered boards covered on top but not on the sides. Depending on conditions, it could be sufficiently dry to take inside in 6 months or it may take a year. Use a moisture meter to monitor it. I've never seen a New England cherry with much bug infestation if it is a healthy tree. If it is rotted, it is full of bugs so walk away.

Good luck. I milled a lot of NH cherry and maple before moving to the warmer southland and still miss doing it.

[Carl Beckett]

Hi Paul,

I get where you are coming from. And have tried to save some of these logs from becoming firewood. The last was two very large cherry trees ((more like 20 to 24" in diameter) - that I couldnt save (the neighbor was wanting firewood and although he let me leave some 'longer' chunks for sawing, the rest is now firewood).

And I currently have some old white oak beams I need to get cut up.

My first recommendation - cut a length and lift it! This will give you an idea of what its going to take to be able to handle it and guide it accurately through a bandsaw. (people have done it, but its tricky).

As for yield - you get whatever you get. If you are doing small projects (boxes, picture frames, etc), you can get some useful wood and its really fun to gift something from a tree that stood in someones back yard.

[Rod Sheridan]

http://www.sawmillcreek.org/showthread.php?182034-Making-Lumber-on-a-Bandsaw&p=1877202

The above link will take to my post where I milled some ash on my bandsaw.

That's the stack of quarter sawn ash I cut and dried, sitting on my patio before I covered it for the winter..........Rod.

[Paul Shaffer]

Carl and Al, thanks for the advice so far. Al, good call on the weight, I looked it up and at 45 lbs/ft3, 200 is right on. So maybe 3 foot lengths, since I am not going to be building big projects anyway. I would definitely have infeed and outfeed supports, plus a sled to screw the log to on the first couple cuts to give square faces, plus wife and son to get it up on the table and in position. I am worried about the snow here soon, so I want to get it out of the woods sooner rather then later. Even a foot off the ground, it would be buried in snow this winter. The tree (at least the stump) is healthy.

Are there any Boston area residents on the board with a chainsaw mill interested in an hour of fun with a six-pack (your choice) and an Andrew Jackon for payment ;).

Anyway, I think I will do as Carl suggested, cut it up into 3-6 foot segments, life them up and see what I think, carry it down the hill to the shop, paint the ends with Anchorseal and then decide. Any harm in leaving lengths intact (sealed) for some time?

Thanks again,
Paul

[Paul Shaffer]

Rod,
That thread is like a how-to manual. I didn't find it in my search of logs to lumber threads unfortunately, so thank you for pointing it out. If I run into problems building the sled and support tables, do you mind if I PM you?
Awesome.

[Prashun Patel]

Cherry tends to be relatively stable as long as the ends are sealed. That being said, I always have best luck getting the pith out of any wood. So, if you can't mill it, i'd rather see it stored as chainsawed "D"s sealed than as whole logs. If you are going to store whole logs, then I prefer to keep it as a single long log.

The narrower the boards, the less waste you will have. Don't get stingy about wanting to make the thickest boards out of the center.

I'm in the process of drying a bunch of beech and oak for the first time and am learning a great deal...

[Rod Sheridan]

Rod,
That thread is like a how-to manual. I didn't find it in my search of logs to lumber threads unfortunately, so thank you for pointing it out. If I run into problems building the sled and support tables, do you mind if I PM you?
Awesome.

Of course not Paul, I would welcome an e-mail from you............Rod.

P.S. You can see the jig I made in use in this Hammer video.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=16Nhq5swos8

[Michael W. Clark]

Of course not Paul, I would welcome an e-mail from you............Rod.

P.S. You can see the jig I made in use in this Hammer video.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=16Nhq5swos8

Rod, that is a pretty slick jig. Am I correct in assuming there are screws that protrude through the end pieces of the jig to secure the workpiece?

Mike

[Rod Sheridan]

Rod, that is a pretty slick jig. Am I correct in assuming there are screws that protrude through the end pieces of the jig to secure the workpiece?

Mike

You are correct Mike, however usually only one screw is required per end, so I put 3 per end at different heights to accomodate the cant as it got smaller.......Rod.

Did you watch the Hammer video I posted a link to?.........Rod.

[Al Weber]

My mill jig is almost identical to Rod's as taken from a description in American Woodworker a number of years ago. I use lag bolts rather than screws through the ends to hold the log in place. Mine is 4' long so it holds a 3' log with about 6" of free space on either end. I have milled up to about 10" in diameter with it using a Timberwolf band that is made for cutting green and wet wood. I think it was a 2-3 tpi of some kind. It is listed on the Timberwolf website where they show the best blades for certain uses. I'm not a big fan of TW bands but that particular one really works well for me.

One other point. It is best if you remove as much bark as possible before milling. The dirt and grit in the bark dulls bands very quickly. I use a large concrete chisel to remove the bark as I can pound on it with a mallet or hammer to assist.

[Paul Shaffer]

Thanks for all the advice. I got home before dark tonight and checked out the tree. Its actually a red oak, not cherry. Also, my purchase of a 14 inch bandsaw from craigslist fell through (I love CL in theory, but I hate the flakes that post stuff on there). Between no bandsaw and red oak, I figure I will offer it to neighbors for firewood. Thanks for all the advice, hopefully one day I will find a log I can use it on.