Having some oak and beech trees taken down

[Prashun Patel]

I'm having these 4 trees taken down this summer. The beech is about 30" dia and 2 of the oaks about are 18-20". Looking for advice on how/whether to salvage the lumber. There's a local sawyer with a portable mill that'll come on site.

My plan:

Beech: Lower 24 feet: flitch slabbed into wide boards 8/4 and 12/4.
Oak: QS'd into 5/4.

I'll save the wider crotch areas on the beech for turning blanks.

I'm planning to sticker and dry on site.

Anything else to think about? Bad idea?

[Howard Acheson]

The number one thing to do is to immediately end coat the logs you will be keeping. AnchorSeal is the best product. Apply it within a couple of hours of bucking the logs to length. If you wait more than a few hours, they may be already damaged.

[Kevin Bourque]

We had a portable sawmill come here about 6 months ago. We had some big walnut logs, some white oak, and a bunch of ash logs. The sawmill guy had some great advice on how to cut up the logs to get the most usable boards. The most important part is how you dry the boards. It is imperative that you seal the ends of the boards and sticker & stack them properly. We were told to use aluminumized roof coating;the same stuff you use to fix roofs on trailer homes, etc. Home Depot had it in 5 gallon cans for a very reasonable price. If you just stack up the boards improperly you will get long end checks after a few months. I was looking at the stack just last week and it looks beautiful!

We have a huge beech tree that fell a while back and a humungous white oak that fell too. We will probably get the sawmill guy back later next month to cut it up for us.

FWIW: he charges us about $500 a day for his services.

[Prashun Patel]

Thanks.

Howard, I'm one step ahead of you. I've learned the hard way that logs need Anchorseal immediately. As an avid green wood turner, I'm already armed with a few gallons and a paintbrush.

Kevin, yup, that's about what he says he'll charge.

Beech and oak unfortunately are not the most interesting lumbers for me; so this'll be for sentimental reasons.

[Brian Brightwell]

I have had several thousand feet custom sawed and never bothered sealing the ends. Is it really worth the effort.

[Brian Brightwell]

I have had a lot of logs sawed. The mistake I think I made early on was trying to get good wood out of a so so log.
If its not good stuff don't waste the money having it sawed.

[Scott T Smith]

Prashun, I think that you're on the right track. A few things that I would suggest:

1 - take out the trees as late in the year as you can, because you will have less potential for drying damage if you start the process when the weather is cooler. Personally I would suggest October / November timeframe if you can wait that long.

2 - Prepare your drying area in advance.

3 - Use DRY stickers. It's ok to cut up plywood or 2 x 4's, just be sure that they are dry. Typical sticker thickness is 3/4", typical width is either 3/4 or 1-1/4".

4 - Sticker the same day as milling. I would suggest no greater than 18" centers between stickers. The "ratchet strap" method is probably your best bet for maximizing yield of flat, straight lumber.

5 - With respect to quartersawing the oak, when you QS with a band mill typically the first 4 boards have pithwood (juvenile wood) running along one edge. This in turn will cause the board to crook as it dries. It would be best if your sawyer could edge the pith wood off (only required on the first few boards of the quarter).

6 - QS Oak shrinks about 2X in thickness compared with flatsawn oak (around 12%). Thus, if you want to net out 5/4 rough sawn boards after drying, your miller will need to mill them at at least 1-3/8". Most millers do not understand the drying rate difference for QS, so they might tell you that "gee, I've never milled it that way before", or something similar.

7 - A high quality end sealer - such as Anchor Seal Classic (stay away from the II) or Bailey's End Sealer will provide the correct amount of protection (two coats), and not harm your shop equipment. Other options, such as roof coatings, latex paint, etc, have the potential to damage your shop equipment if you don't trim the ends of the boards before processing. A 5 gallon pail of either Bailey's or Anchorseal Classic will set you back around 80 bucks. If you buy the classic, spend a few extra bucks and purchase the "Winter" forumula. It's good to use all year round, and won't go bad if it freezes in the winter. Put on multiple coats ASAP after felling and bucking the trees.

8- Based upon the size of your logs as well as the way that most band millers QS, you will probably net out around 40% as QS, about 40% as RS, and the remainder as FS.

9 - Find a band miller that is familiar with milling "for grade", and not just "yield". The grade millers will produce a product that is much more suitable for furniture making. Also try to find one who is familiar with quartersawing - not all millers are competant in this area.

10- For the highest quantity and grade of QS, your miller will need to center the pith on the log both ways on his mill. Many of them will only center one way (partial taper sawing), which reduces the quality and quantity of QS.

[Kevin Bourque]

I have had a lot of logs sawed. The mistake I think I made early on was trying to get good wood out of a so so log.
If its not good stuff don't waste the money having it sawed.

Agreed! We had a nasty walnut log that was partially rotten on the inside and we tried to get what we could out of it.

Long story short:We ended up with some really pretty firewood scraps.

[Prashun Patel]

Great info, thanks, All. Scott, you have me thinking that harvesting the oaks for QS is going to result in very little usable lumber for the amount of work required. It seems a shame since there are very few branches on the lower 1/2 of these oaks, which makes me think it should be pretty straight and decent inside...?

Would I be better off just having this flatsawn?

[Todd Burch]

In my opinion, flat sawing your own oak is not worth the effort. With the sawing, the drying, the defects you'll get from air drying - it makes the street price of FS oak very reasonable, and you don't have to lift a finger, and they store it for you until you need it to boot!

[Frank Drew]

Excellent advice given above.

If you have the oak flitch sawn you will get some quartered material around the middle of the logs in addition to rift and flat grain.

[Todd Burch]

Excellent advice given by Howard, Kevin and Scott.

So, Brian - you feeling like I do right now? Kind of like standing at the door on Halloween, and everybody gets candy in their bags, but us?

Or, "Hey! SO good to see all you wonderful people! Oh, Hi Todd".

[Prashun Patel]

Todd, don't take it personally. I feel the same way sometimes. I value yr advice on this and other threads. Msure Fred meant no disrespect to you. Maybe to Brian, but not you

[Todd Burch]

Last edited by Frank Drew; Today at 6:33 PM. Reason: Hurt feelings.

Hey Frank - no feelings hurt - just pulling your chain.

[Baxter Smith]

Spalted beech can be a long way from "uninteresting".