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Thread: From Tree to Boards

  1. #1

    From Tree to Boards

    FROM TREE TO BOARDS.

    How to take a log and turn it into flat boards for furniture making
    I always look forward to a good wind storm; it means more wood for furniture. In 2007 we had a storm that produced 130km winds and blew down an acacia tree. I got the wood. Here’s the process I used to turn it into usable boards, and a six foot long sideboard.
    A. FROM TREE TO PLANKS
    1. Cut the logs into usable lengths, usually around 6ft., and haul them off to a mill. (All this requires a hamburger and beer along the way.)
    2. Have the man cut them into 1 ¼ “ planks (aka 5/4s)
    3. Take them home, hose off all the sawdust and wash both sides of all the planks with a dilute solution of bleach; about 1c in a bucket of water. Use a broom to do this. This is very necessary as mould will go through the wood as it eats the sugar in the sap, and turns the wood gray.
    4. Stack and sticker the planks with spacers right at each end, and one or two in the middle.
    5. Strap them with perforated metal strapping used for securing water tanks, pipes etc.
    6. Bolt the straps together as tight as you can.
    7. Cut wedges about one foot long and 6” high, and hammer them into the strapping to pull it tight. Drive a nail through the wedge into the top board so it won’t loosen. . (Put a low grade board on top.) These straps should be checked occasionally for looseness.
    8. Paint the ends of each board, at least once with water based contact cement to inhibit cracking.
    9. I let my wood dry for one year in our carport (Vancouver is a very wet place.), and then one year in my basement. (You always have to plan ahead with this hobby.)
    A. FROM PLANKS TO BOARDS (Flattening warped boards)
    When you unstrap the pile of dry wood, you will inevitably find that some planks are warped, and look like airplane propellers. If the wood is warped really badly, it may be necessary to cut it into smaller pieces first. There is hope.
    1. When you put a board through a planer, the rollers will push the board flat, but won’t take out the warp. You just get a planed warped board. You need a planer sled, which is any flat straight piece of wood at least as long and as wide as your rough cut plank. Part of a solid bifold door is perfect, or some ¾” or 7/8” plywood.
    2. Cut about a dozen little wedges about 2” long, and from 1/8 to ½” high at the end.
    3. Place the plank on the planer sled. Two opposite corners will be touching. Using a hot glue gun, glue those points down to the sled. Make sure the other opposite corners are off the sled the same amount, otherwise one corner will be planed very thin. You can put glue on a couple of other contact points too, if you wish.
    4. Now, wherever there is a gap between sled and board, put a bit of glue on a wedge and stick it into the gap, so the wood can’t be pushed flat.
    5. You are ready to plane. Plane that side until it is flat, pop the wood off the sled, and plane the other side. If you are going down to ¾”, leave an extra 1/16” on for further planing and sanding.
    6.The final step in this process is to square the edges. Run the concave edge through the jointer until it is straight, and then rip the convex edge on the table saw. Now all edges should be staright and parallel.
    I find this whole process really enjoyable. It is rough work, you don’t have to be exact, and the results are fast and spectacular. There’s a lot to be said for a hundred year old tree lying on the neighbour’s lawn
    Ken Bryden, West Vancouver, BC, January, 2013
    Last edited by Ken Bryden; 01-27-2013 at 2:32 PM. Reason: one step omitted

  2. #2
    Join Date
    Jun 2009
    Location
    Milltown Indiana
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    300
    I don't do all the steps you do. Maybe I should? Sealing the ends of the boards I think is unnecessary. Not many of mine split. Also, IMHO, if a board is going to warp it is inevitable. Either it will warp while drying or after it is unstrapped. I have 2k more feet under wraps I need to get sawed, Walnut, Oak, Cherry,and some poplar.




  3. #3
    Join Date
    May 2012
    Location
    Glenmoore Pa.
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    767
    We use ratchet straps to hold the wood down. They cinch up nice and tight and when the wood dries and they get loose we just ratchet them up tight again.

  4. #4
    A reader made a good suggestion. Don't use metal strapping but ratchet straps instead. They are much easier. and can be tightened up every month or two. Regarding the comment about not being necessary to seal the ends, I think it reduces the splitting and is not a great effort. Ken Bryden Oct. 24 2015. West Vancouver

  5. #5
    A couple of more comments. I should have mentioned that trimming off the rough sides with a hand-held circular saw is necessary and easy (good firewood). At the big community workshop I use, we have more acacia (black locust) which I think is wonderful. Fortunately a truck driver went careening down a steep hill, blew several stop signs and knocked down three more acacia trees. Bless him!
    Ken Bryden, Nov 2017

  6. #6
    Join Date
    Oct 2007
    Location
    New Hill, NC
    Posts
    2,568
    A few comments from someone that does this for a living...

    1 - end sealer is only effective if applied within three days of end trimming. You lose about 30% effectiveness per day, and after three days it is not worth applying unless you trim the ends of the log/board to eliminate any checks that have started.

    2 - placing weight on top of your stacks is an alternative to using straps or the banding/wedge method (good idea by the way!)

    3 - Not all species will benefit from end sealing. Species with a lot of sap - such as southern yellow pine - will not benefit to speak of.

    4 - Drying rates vary per species. In the SE USA, 4/4 fast drying woods such as pine, poplar and cedar will air dry in less than 60 days in the summer. Maple, cherry, and walnut will require about 120 days. Oak requires about one year.

    5 - instead of using bleach, a high quality fungicide will provide better results if needed. Quite frankly as long as you sticker relatively soon (same or following day) a fungicide should not be needed.

    6 - Boards milled at 5/4 exactly are not considered to be 5/4 because they will shrink from 6% - 12% depending upon cut and species. If you want to net 5/4 thick after drying, they need to be milled at 1-3/8" green.

    7 - six foot long logs are too short for the fences on some sawmills (my Baker mill requires at least 7' long). Eight foot minimum lengths are pretty much an industry standard for traditional flat-sawn milling.

    Scott

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