Mike Holbrook
05-01-2005, 2:55 PM
I had to clear an area for a septic line for my dog training building. We had to take down 2 Tulip Poplar, 1 Sweet Gum, 1 Elm, 1 Pignut Hickory. These trees were at the edge of a dense hardwood forest. They were very tall, (tallest around 100 ft) not exceptionally large in diameter 12- 24 inches, mostly somewhere in the middle. I will end up with at least a dozen 8 -10 foot logs, probably more like 16-18 before I am done. I am cutting 10 ft. lengths with 8 ' at the end if I can not get 10' (allowing an extra 3-6 inches on each log. I am also planing on taking down a very large Sycamore that is damaged and a good size Oak that was killed by a fungus. I have two Black Walnut that are too close together and I may take one of them too. There appear to be some mice Ash too, but maybe I already have more than I can use.
So I am going to have a bunch of hardwood and a pretty good mix. I can use the area under my training building deck to store lumber. It is a 55 X 10 foot area that I can use 30 X 10 or more of. The building is facing South with a cleared field in front of it (full sun). I have 10 pieces of 16 foot Galvanized tin roofing I can use. I had a sawyer out pretty recently and plan to call him right after I finish this post.
I am wondering If I might be able to set up some sort of "pore mans" solar Kiln under my building. The deck is around 9 feet above a deep gravel floor. With lots of 6/6 posts that I could staple green house plastic and or insulation board too it seems like I should be able to rig something up to speed up that drying process. I have a Solar Kiln plan from Weed Web but I would like to make something using the existing structure. With all the building projects I already have I am hoping I can do something simple so I can get around to doing some wood working sometime soon.
Using the wood calculator on Wood web I figure I should be able to conservatively get 4800 board feet in 10x10, 6 foot tall stickered stacks. Two or three stacks like that should fit in the area I have. There will be 10 feet of decked & roofed space behind my wood drying area, but I need that space for training. That area will remain open, saving chain link fencing though so I should get good air flow.
I have the digital camera charged up and plan to post some pictures tonight. I am hoping you guys will have some good suggestions concerning caring for this lumber.
So I am going to have a bunch of hardwood and a pretty good mix. I can use the area under my training building deck to store lumber. It is a 55 X 10 foot area that I can use 30 X 10 or more of. The building is facing South with a cleared field in front of it (full sun). I have 10 pieces of 16 foot Galvanized tin roofing I can use. I had a sawyer out pretty recently and plan to call him right after I finish this post.
I am wondering If I might be able to set up some sort of "pore mans" solar Kiln under my building. The deck is around 9 feet above a deep gravel floor. With lots of 6/6 posts that I could staple green house plastic and or insulation board too it seems like I should be able to rig something up to speed up that drying process. I have a Solar Kiln plan from Weed Web but I would like to make something using the existing structure. With all the building projects I already have I am hoping I can do something simple so I can get around to doing some wood working sometime soon.
Using the wood calculator on Wood web I figure I should be able to conservatively get 4800 board feet in 10x10, 6 foot tall stickered stacks. Two or three stacks like that should fit in the area I have. There will be 10 feet of decked & roofed space behind my wood drying area, but I need that space for training. That area will remain open, saving chain link fencing though so I should get good air flow.
I have the digital camera charged up and plan to post some pictures tonight. I am hoping you guys will have some good suggestions concerning caring for this lumber.