My first Saw Mill experience <<PICS>>

[Jeff Pilcher]

I had my first experience at a sawmill today. I recently found a place within 10 miles of my house. I have only ever used BORG lumber on my projects and I wanted to see what it would be like to work with something else. I had hoped to find some 8/4 & 12/4 pine for the bed I am building. It was an interesting day as I got to watch them cut some fairly large logs while I was there.

The selection was limited at this mill, with very little pine that was even close to dry enough with which to work. I bought some rough sawn 5/4 stuff just to see what it is like to work with. The guy said it was still a little wet and I should plane it smooth and let it sit for a week or two before doing any glue ups with it (I guess he knows best).

He tried to convince me to go to another mill because he does not keep much kiln dried stock in inventory. Most of this stuff is for large orders and he usually packs the kiln clear full and sells the entire load all at once with very little extra, if any, for walk in customers.

Sorry there are no pics of the mill, I forgot the camera.

Here are some pics of the stuff I bought ...

http://www.epilcher.com/wood/bed/wood1.jpg

http://www.epilcher.com/wood/bed/wood2.jpg

http://www.epilcher.com/wood/bed/wood3.jpg

Here are some before and after planing pics

http://www.epilcher.com/wood/bed/wood4.jpg

http://www.epilcher.com/wood/bed/wood5.jpg

[Richard Wolf]

Sounds like a fun day. I think a mositure meter is in your future.

Richard

[lou sansone]

Saw mills are great places to visit and see how things are done. I happen to have my own mill and it is really fun cutting up quality saw logs. You never know what you will find. I agree with richard on the moisture meter. I use one regulary for all of my lumber.

ejoy
lou

[Jeff Pilcher]

I think a moisture meter is in your future.


I agree with richard on the moisture meter. I use one regulary for all of my lumber.

Oh Boy, more to learn. Well, since you guys brought it up ...

Care to recommend a brand or a source?
What moisture level do I want to wait for?
Was the mill guy correct when he recommended that I plane the wood before I let it dry?
As I said, working with non BORG lumber is a new experience for me.

[Keith Christopher]

Oh Boy, more to learn. Well, since you guys brought it up ...

Care to recommend a brand or a source?
What moisture level do I want to wait for?
Was the mill guy correct when he recommended that I plane the wood before I let it dry?
As I said, working with non BORG lumber is a new experience for me.

1) So many out there, and so many reviews in mags. you do want one that will pierce the wood. Do not use one on wood with sealed ends or a heavy patina. Take a block plane with you and scrape alittle away and test there. (better on end grain but often they won't cut it for you. little scrape and test and you're off.
2) I like 6-8% moisture, but some go as high as 10.
3) Well if the board is sealed with wax then I would agree.

[Dev Emch]

Hey Jeff....
Oh Boy was that not fun! What kind of mill was it? Did they have band saw or a large circular saw?

My plan is to build my own saw mill as I love to build machines in my spare time. The problem is finding 4 cylinder diesels motors and not paying a year's mortage payments to get it. Most likely its going to be based on the woodmizer design with some of my own refinements. I just love to saw nasty old logs into nice lumber.

When you air dry, make sure you sticker the lumber with dry stickers of hopefully the same wood. Also plan on about 1 year air dry time for each 1 inch of thickness. Usually, lumber of 4/4 and 5/4 can be air dried. The thicker you go, the more risks you will have with drying checking.

I personally would not bother with planing it right now. Never heard that one before. Let the wood dry and move as it wishes and then you can figure out how to mill it into something useful. I personally like to get my lumber as fuzzy and as rough as I can.

Glad to see you had a good time. And how about that aroma!

[Ian Abraham]

I saw and dry my own wood to.
Pine isn't my favourite - nasty sticky stuff when it's freshsawn :(
Give me cypress any day :D

Pine will dry much faster then 1" per year.
Even if it's green from the tree it will dry down to below 15% in under 3 months (in summer anyway). The 1 year per inch is a very conservative rule of thumb, any wood in any climate will be dry in that time:) . Most times you can dry 1" stuff in 6 warm months. If the seller says it's still a bit green, then sticker it up for a while to dry further. I wouldn't bother planeing it untill its properly dry, it will move a little, especially around the knots.
If you store the wood in a nice warm shop it will soon dry to whatever the equlibrium is, prolly around 10%??
If you dont have a moisture meter, weigh a sample piece on accurate scales. Weigh it each week and when it stops getting lighter it's as dry as it's going to get in that environment. If you want to want to know the actual m/c you can play around with a microwave oven and digital scales and work out exactly how much water is in there.
Hint - use an old microwave, it will smell very 'woody' when you finish :D

You should find out what the other mill has in stock, you may be able to pick up all sorts of stuff, well anything that grows locally anyway.

Cheers

Ian

[Jeff Pilcher]

Hey Jeff....
What kind of mill was it? Did they have band saw or a large circular saw?


Hi Dev,

There were two saws, both of them were circular saws. One was probably 4' diameter with huge replacable carbide teeth. The blade was mounted vertical (perpendicular to the ground), he said he could cut up to 24' logs. This saw was very old (but I did not ask how old). The other saw was much newer and smaller (maybe 18" diameter) the blade was mounted horizontal (parallel to the ground). I think the label said it was a Petersen Portable saw (or something like that). I got the impression from talking to him that the mill was a part time business.

The place did indeed smell wonderful. But, it was very disorganized and messy (scrap wood and sawdust/shavings piled everywhere). My first reaction as I drove up to the place was how it looked to be very unsafe. This feeling was confirmed as I was walking around. His main saw had sawdust piled up where the operator would stand so there was no way to get a solid footing.

I already planed the wood and I did sticker the wood for drying. He said the wood was almost fully dry and only suggested the extra drying time as a precaution. He had it stacked and stickered inside a barn (one end of the barn was open though) and said it had been there for over a year.

I now want to visit more mills.

BTW ... Several years ago I was doing some consulting for a large lumber/paper company in the Northwest. I spent about four months working at a paper mill. That aroma I can do without.:eek:

[Jeff Pilcher]

I saw and dry my own wood to.
Pine isn't my favourite - nasty sticky stuff when it's freshsawn :(
Give me cypress any day :D

You should find out what the other mill has in stock, you may be able to pick up all sorts of stuff, well anything that grows locally anyway.

Cheers

Ian

Ian,

I am not sure how much more wood I will buy like this. I am strictly a part time / hobbyist woodworker and I do not have the patience or the space to let wood dry on its own.

The guy at this sawmill suggested another mill where I could get almost any species and I could buy it almost any size and at almost any stage of dryness or surface finish. It is a lot farther drive to the other mill though.

My current project is a bed for my son and I wanted pine so it would match other pieces in his room.

My project wish list is getting very long (especially since I joined SMC and saw what others are doing). I will be using all sorts of different woods if I get far enough down my list.

[Jim Becker]

Jeff, the suggestion to get a moisture meter is a good one and not necessarily predicated on buying rough lumber. It's a good idea to check the MC of all material going into a project...the closer everthing is to each other, the more predicable things will be relativel to accomodating wood movement.

I use the Wagner pinless; the Mini Ligno gets a lot of kudos, too.

[Richard Wolf]

Jeff, I hate to throw more infomation at you than you may want to digest at once, but, the problem with air dried pine is that the pitch never really sets hard and may always remain sticky. I seldom work with pine and never work with air dried pine so I do not speak with first hand experience but maybe others can add to this infomation for you.

Richard

[Dan McGuire]

Jeff,

Where is this mill located? I live south of Chicago and have been poking around for a couple of mills to visit. I am interested in various types of hard wood for a couple of projects that I have in mind. Plus, I figure that rough sawn lumber would help convince SWMBO that I truly need a planer..

[Curt Harms]

but I have an air dried lumber source very near me. I check lumber of the same species that has been in my basement shop for a year or more. If the recently purchased stuff is the same moisture content as the stuff that's been there for 1 yr +, I figure it's good to go. I purchased a few boards 2 weeks ago-they were 12%. I put them on a rack and checked 'em a week later-6%. My stuff (mostly oak & ash) will run 6% in the winter with the furnace running and 10-12% in the summer without A/C. A moisture meter is pretty much mandatory-I have a mini Ligno but there are several brands that get good reviews.

Curt

[Jeff Pilcher]

Jeff,

Where is this mill located? I live south of Chicago and have been poking around for a couple of mills to visit. I am interested in various types of hard wood for a couple of projects that I have in mind. Plus, I figure that rough sawn lumber would help convince SWMBO that I truly need a planer..

It's called The Russell Mill, located in Russell, IL. It is near the IL/WI state line about 1 mile East of Interstate 94 on Russell Road. I came across this mill when I visited www.wdfinder.com (http://www.wdfinder.com)

As I mentioned before, this guy is actually setup to supply bulk customers. He openly admits that small order customers usually go elsewhere (at his recommendation). He was very open with me about this and said I could stop by and poke around if I wanted to as he had lots of misc wood piles sitting around in which I might find enough wood for small projects.

[Dev Emch]

Richard W. is correct. Pine needs to be tempered to something like 120 or 130 degrees as part of the drying process. This is to prevent pitching. What will happen is that in the course of summer and winter, untempered pine will always release tiny little golden beads of resin even years after it was used. I first saw this in the attic when I noticed that some boards had lots of these tiny golden beads which by then had hardened. The temper process basicly allows the board to go to 120 degrees before it starts pitching again. We have lots of HUGE lodge pole pine and ponderosa pine. Often these are hit with beetle infection which results in a sky blue staining of the wood. Beetle Kill as its called is actually a premium product and it looks really good when used as T&G in rustic ski lodge, condo and mountain home environments. One saw guy once told me that his lumber goes into only two places.... Barns and Multi-Million dollar homes. Not much inbetween.

[Jeff Sudmeier]

Welcome to a whole new aspect of woodworking! I sure love working with rough lumber!

It is great to see the peice come to life as you plane it down.

[lou sansone]

moisture meter = mini-lingo with the pins... works great for me!

and as others have said, with pine you have to set the pitch using some form of kiln process. I never work with pine so it is not a problem. I use poplar and aspen for my light secondary woods
lou

[Keith Christopher]

Jeff, I hate to throw more infomation at you than you may want to digest at once, but, the problem with air dried pine is that the pitch never really sets hard and may always remain sticky. I seldom work with pine and never work with air dried pine so I do not speak with first hand experience but maybe others can add to this infomation for you.

Richard

Yeah I don't work with pine much. But MAN I love cutting mortises in it ! Or planing it or the way it glides through the TS. Much easier ripping pine than Lyptus. LOL. Yeah it does gum up the blades awful bad. I use to have a set of CC and RIP blades just for pine but I scrapped that and the pine. I'll take poplar over pine personally.


Keith