Advice needed to saw this crotch

[Garry Smith]

I have a large maple crotch that I would like to saw to get the most figure.
I am sure that I will need to chunk it up with the chainsaw to get it on the woodmizer but would like some advice on how to get the best figure from this mass. There is birdseye in the trunk of the tree but I do not know what to expect from the multiple crotches at this point.
This page has additional photos of the crotch and other parts of the tree if you care to look.
http://www.superwoodworks.com/Wood/GraylingMaple_2005.htm
Thanks
Garry

http://www.superwoodworks.com/Wood/GraylingMaple/GraylingMapleCrotch1Small.JPG

[lou sansone]

normally crotches are sawn so that you make lots of "y"s out of them. You have a pile of little shoots going off in many directions. I would still favor picking the dominate fork and sawing in that direction. the rest will come along for the ride. I am not sure about maple crotches having bark inclusions. Cherry is one that tends to have them and so you really don't see great cherry crotches like you do with walnut or mahogany. best wishes
lou

[Garry Smith]

normally crotches are sawn so that you make lots of "y"s out of them. You have a pile of little shoots going off in many directions. I would still favor picking the dominate fork and sawing in that direction. the rest will come along for the ride.
lou

Thanks for the reply lou.
So would I saw across the "y" or in the same direction as the crotch?

Garry

[Jay Kilpatrick]

You would normally take slices in the orientation depicted in the picture.

[Steve Clardy]

Everyones given good advice here on sawing crothes. But you will have to do some serious trimming on the log to get it on the woodmizer. Most have 24" throats, as did my LT-30.

[Tom Sontag]

I doubt the crotch shown will yield anything much. FIrst off, it is more V shaped than U shaped, so it likely has bark inclusions or voids. But more importantly, the best figure, if any, has already been cut off. If it were U shaped, the crotch figuring would go 12-36" down from the branch union and this piece looks like it was cut 6-8" from the top of the union. (We are talking about the union near the bottom, right?)

But give it a try. Trim it up and take a chainsaw right through the three pith points making two Y shaped pieces. If there is any reason to go forward from there, you will see it.

[Garry Smith]

Thanks Jay,
That makes it pretty clear
Garry

[Garry Smith]

Everyones given good advice here on sawing crothes. But you will have to do some serious trimming on the log to get it on the woodmizer. Most have 24" throats, as did my LT-30.

We may get a little more Steve, We will be using an LT40
As you can see here
http://www.superwoodworks.com/Wood/Basswood_July302005.htm
The last basswood we cut, the woodmizer still was not enough.
Garry

[Jay Kilpatrick]

Thanks Jay,
That makes it pretty clear
Garry

Gary,
You're welcome! But looking back at the pic, I notice the larger cross-section of the crotch is on the right side as opposed to the front view we see. So I'd suggest rotating the saw, as depicted above, 90 degrees counterclockwise with respect to the x axis... hope I didn't lose you on that one.

[lou sansone]

Gary,
You're welcome! But looking back at the pic, I notice the larger cross-section of the crotch is on the right side as opposed to the front view we see. So I'd suggest rotating the saw, as depicted above, 90 degrees counterclockwise with respect to the x axis... hope I didn't lose you on that one.

hey jay.. thanks for clearing that up. I was about to post a response to your picture indicating that I thought you had it wrong. looks like you also spotted your mistake. I do agree with others that I personally don't think you are going to get much but a bunch of knotty pallet cants but who knows.

lou

[Mike Mastin]

Garry,

That log does not look ot be a good candidate for sawing crotch figure from IMO. The best crotches usually have a defined "U" shape at the crotches and not a "V" shape. The "V" shaped crotches usually are loaded with bark from when the tree was much younger, and has now grown together.

From the amount of limbs along the trunk, I would imagine that you are going to have a hard time getting a lot of good long lumber from that log given the amount of sawmilling time that will be involved, but give it a shot. If you have never sawn many logs, the experience may be worth the cost of milling. Not trying to rain on your parade, but just trying to share my experience with logs like this one. If you can use shorter lengths on your lumber, then it may be worth the saw time.

[Garry Smith]

Thanks Jay for taking the time to insert the chain saw in the pic but now I don't quite understand your correction to your first post. I do appreciate the time you took to answer my post. I am not a sawyer, it just happens that I have these hunks of trees available at the same time as I have the woodmizer availabel and am trying to utilize them while the opportunity is available.
Garry

[Garry Smith]

Garry,

That log does not look ot be a good candidate for sawing crotch figure from IMO. The best crotches usually have a defined "U" shape at the crotches and not a "V" shape. The "V" shaped crotches usually are loaded with bark from when the tree was much younger, and has now grown together.

From the amount of limbs along the trunk, I would imagine that you are going to have a hard time getting a lot of good long lumber from that log given the amount of sawmilling time that will be involved, but give it a shot. If you have never sawn many logs, the experience may be worth the cost of milling. Not trying to rain on your parade, but just trying to share my experience with logs like this one. If you can use shorter lengths on your lumber, then it may be worth the saw time.

I am used to the wet parade Mike. I don't mind taking the time even for short peices as I can use them for boxes of door panels used in furntiure pieces if the quality is there.
Garry

[Jay Kilpatrick]

Thanks Jay for taking the time to insert the chain saw in the pic but now I don't quite understand your correction to your first post.
Garry
Gary,
A picture is worth a thousand words, so rotate the log about 90 degrees as shown in the picture by the arrow. Good luck!

[Jerry Crawford]

If you slab that out in 3" thick pieces you might get some pretty nice gun stocks out of it. The most desiarble stocks come from crotches

[Gary Breckenridge]

This is the problem that they had cutting ships knees in the old wooden boat days.:cool:

Wax or paint the ends as soon as possible to avoid losing 6" at each end of the boards. ;)

[Garry Smith]

Gary,
A picture is worth a thousand words, so rotate the log about 90 degrees as shown in the picture by the arrow. Good luck!

Ya, I get it now. Thanks Jay
Garry