Need advice on milling 48" white oak

[Sparky Norton]

Hello,
I was fortunate to acquire some very large (for this area) white oak logs. The largest is about 48" in diameter and the smallest about 30". These are not very long, only about 6 feet. The problem is... the person doing the milling has a portable mill that will not accommodate the biggest logs so they will have cut with a chainsaw first.

My question is, and I'm sure there are a hundred variables, what is the best way to cut these logs before going through the bandsaw in order to get the "best" lumber? Should they be split down the middle or should the sides be trimmed off?

I have absolutely no experience in how lumber should be milled so any other tips would be VERY much appreciated.

Thanks in advance,
Sparky

[Scott T Smith]

Sparky, I mill 30" - 60" diameter oak logs for a living. Most large diameter logs are milled with a swing-blade mill, or some type of custom slabbing mill, as they can mill the larger diameters w/o having to split them.

However, if you don't mind doing some heavy chainsaw work, a bandmill is a viable option, and may even yield some wider boards than the swing mill. You will need some serious HP on your chainsaw though - probably nothing smaller than an '066 Stihl with a 42" bar.

Without question, I would quartersaw as much of the wood as possible. You can do this one of three different ways. The first (and best) way is to split the log into thirds. You will have two sections (the top and bottom) that are round on the outside, with a flat bottom. Take these sections and split them in half, so that the two pieces resemble a pie section. The boards are then sliced from the sections by alternating faces, sawing from the bottom.

The middle section from the log should be split into two beams (split through the pith), and then saw these on the band mill to yield the highest quality quartersawn boards.

Here is an example. The heavy interior lines represent your chainsaw cuts, the thinner lines represent the bandmill cuts.

qs pattern2.JPG

Your second option is to chainsaw the log into quarters, and then mill each quarter the way depicted in the diagram. You will not yield as much high grade QS by this method though, as opposed to the "thirds" method.

You can also chainsaw the log down into quarters and then flat saw them.

Be sure to trim the ends of the log and apply a high quality end sealer as soon as possible. Your yield will go up significantly. Also, if you QS the boards, add 1/8" over standard thickness to make up for the increased shrinkage during drying that QS experiences. Thus, for 3/4" S2S boards, you should mill at 1-3/16" instead of 1-1/16".

[Sparky Norton]

Hi Scott,
Thank you for your comments and expertise. This is exactly what I was looking for. I want to maximize the amount quartersawn lumber and will recommend your first method of cutting to the bandmill owner/operator.

Do you, or anyone else here, have any comments on storing and drying the wood? I will likely store the wood outside the back of my barn (north side). My plan is to stack the wood (stickered) on pallets on a concrete slab. Is it better to keep the wood out of the direct sun? I'm also not sure about whether it should be covered with a tarp, poly or perhaps build a shed roof to keep the rain and snow off it.

Any advice is much appreciated.

Thanks,
Sparky

[Scott T Smith]

Hi Scott,
Thank you for your comments and expertise. This is exactly what I was looking for. I want to maximize the amount quartersawn lumber and will recommend your first method of cutting to the bandmill owner/operator.

Do you, or anyone else here, have any comments on storing and drying the wood? I will likely store the wood outside the back of my barn (north side). My plan is to stack the wood (stickered) on pallets on a concrete slab. Is it better to keep the wood out of the direct sun? I'm also not sure about whether it should be covered with a tarp, poly or perhaps build a shed roof to keep the rain and snow off it.

Any advice is much appreciated.

Thanks,
Sparky

Sparky, there are a lot of threads in the archives about stacking and air drying wood. Oak is one of the more challenging species to dry successfully; however this is a good time of year to initiate the process.

Step 1 is to end seal the logs as soon as possible after felling. If checks have already started, chainsaw a few inches off of the end of the log and apply two coats of Anchor Seal Classic, or Baileys End sealer.

When you mill, have your miller be as uniform as possible with the board thicknesses. You don't need to mill everything to the same thickness, but you want for each board on the same layer in your stack to be the same thickness as the one next to it.

For every inch of lumber thickness, add 1/8" to your normal thicknesses when milling quartersawn, as it will shrink more in thickness during the drying process as opposed to flat sawn.

When you stack and sticker the lumber, maintain at least 8" - 12" from your bottom layer to the slab/ground. It's a good idea to put a vapor barrier down on the slab below the stack too. Use dry stickers (industry standard is 3/4" x 1-1/4", but 1" is fine for air drying), stickered on 16" - 18" intervals. If you are really anal, you can go with 12" centers. I would not recommend going much beyond 18" though. Be sure that your stickers are in line from top to bottom.

Put your widest boards towards the bottom of the stack. These are the most valuable, and you want the weight of the lumber above them to help keep them flat. Do not be afraid to mill as wide a QS board as possible; I mill up to 20" wide all the time.

Edge off any pith wood from your boards before stacking and stickering. It will move and check on you anyway.

DO NOT PUT FANS ON YOUR STACK for the first few months. Oak needs to dry very slowly; prevailing winds should be fine. Cover the top layer of your stack with a "roof" that will overhang it by a foot or so all of the way around. Do not tarp the stack; if your winds are too brisk then consider covering the outside with a porous cloth such as shade-dri (or screen mesh). A shed roof is a great idea.

Re stacking on pallets, only if your bottom layer of pallets is perfectly flat. Personally I would advise against it; it would be better to stack up some pressure treated beams underneath your bottom layer as this should provide a more consistent (ie flat) support for that first layer.

In order for the air to properly flow through the stack, there needs to be a space between the stack and the nearest wall (if it is stacked near a shed wall). The rule of thumb is to add up the total thickness of all of your stickers, and that's the amount of space that you need. As an example, if you have 30 layers of boards with 1" stickers between them, you'll want at least 30" of clearance between the stack and the nearest wall.

One other thing - if your band miller is fairly experienced, he can mill the "quarters" slightly different than my drawing and yield more QS. It will require him to shim up some of the quarters though - this can be a little tricky to do.

[Sparky Norton]

Scott,
Thank you again for the valuable information. This is my first experience drying and stacking my own lumber and want to make sure I do it properly. I will take your advice and pick up some PT beams to stack the lumber on.

I have a couple more questions for you if you don't mind. What about winter... is snow an issue? If so, what precautions should I take? Does leaving the live edge on the boards have any impact on drying? Is that something I should or shouldn't do?

Thanks,
Sparky

[Joe Angrisani]

Wow. What a great forum, huh? Just superb, Scott....

[Scott T Smith]

Scott,
Thank you again for the valuable information. This is my first experience drying and stacking my own lumber and want to make sure I do it properly. I will take your advice and pick up some PT beams to stack the lumber on.

I have a couple more questions for you if you don't mind. What about winter... is snow an issue? If so, what precautions should I take? Does leaving the live edge on the boards have any impact on drying? Is that something I should or shouldn't do?

Thanks,
Sparky

It is best if your boards are not "re-wetted" after or during drying (irrespective of the species). A little snow powder on the edges won't hurt. As long as you have adequate protection over the stack you should be ok.

The problem with leaving a live edge is that usually the sapwood on oak dries to a slightly different color than the heartwood, so you'll probably end up cutting it off anyway. If you have an application for a live edge, then go ahead and leave it on.

Having said that, the exterior portions of the log (near and in the sapwood) often contain some powderpost beetles, so you'll get more pinholes there. If these show up, be sure to sterilize the lumber in a kiln before using (which I recommend for oak).

[Scott T Smith]

Wow. What a great forum, huh? Just superb, Scott....

Thanks Joe. I've learned a lot from fellow members of SMC; thus helping others is how I pay them back.

SS