recomendations on milling thickness?

[joe pezza]

Hey all,

I had a 24" maple go down in a storm on my property last yr. Well I finally got back there and cut a nice 7 ft section and hauled out with the tractor. It seems to be spalted. Well, I lined up a band sawyer that will do it in his down time for me. I would like to have it done it 5/4? Any thoughts.
I am really excited because after its air dried in a couple yrs, it will be the first wood I've worked not kiln dried. I can also add it to the oak and white pine that also came off my own property. That was milled and kilned, but that guy sold his kiln. I find it really convienent to do this sort of thing, because I always have a nice supply of wood at a much better price than retail, and to me, its as much fun as being in the shop!!

joe p

[thomas prevost]

you can always plane or resaw it thinner, but it is real difficult to plane it thicker if you need thicker wood. Also, often air dried wood can cup. and if there is any soft rot in the spaulting, it man shrink quite a bit. 5/4 will give some additional space to work in if this happens.

[Tim Sproul]

What do you make?

Spalted/figured stuff often looks really good as bookmatched panels. Might want a few milled thicker than 5/4.

[Adam Grills]

Personally, I don't mill anything smaller than 5/4. I use to do 4/4 but not any more. Most is just over 6/4 and 8/4. You will have to wait longer for it to dry but its worth the wait. You can always resaw it to make it smaller but you can't make wood bigger.
Adam

[Dan Forman]

I don't know about this, but wonder if it's already spalted, whether air drying would it allow to keep on spalting, perhaps more than you would want? I've seen some spalted birch that was useless because it had gone too far. Might be worth checking out.

Dan