The poplar tree is down, now what?

[Mike Cogswell]

A large tulip poplar tree on my property was damaged this fall when the remnants of a hurricane split it. The tree had matured into a Y shape with two substantial trunks above the Y, which is where it split. I had the tree cut down and cut into 3 1/2 to 4 foot lengths, which were about the longest I could realistically hope to handle by myself. The main trunk below the split tapered from almost 4' diameter at the ground to almost 3' at the split, after it was cut I wound up with a dozen large segments from below the split and about two dozen from above the split that are from 5" to about 10" in diameter.

So, now what?

I hope to be able to recover the wood and use it in future projects. The big pieces were too much for me to get out of the woods alone, so I split them in half. By using multiple wedges in both the sides and the ends, I was able to do a pretty good job of getting clean splits. All the pieces from above the split are still intact.

At the moment they are standing on end on lengths of 4x4 on a concrete pad. They are out of direct sunlight, and under an overhang so they won't get rained on. I sealed the ends with a couple of thick coats of some exterior latex paint so they wouldn't dry out too fast while I figured out my next move.

So, I could use some advice on the next move. And the ones after that!

Should I get a froe and split them into slabs or let them dry a bit first?
When should I remove the bark?
Should I split all the smaller ones now?

Any and all advice is welcome.

Mike

[Jim Andrew]

Sounds like you made firewood out of them.

[Mike Cogswell]

Why do you say that? I don't have any problem with the length of the logs and half logs, all of them are longer than any of my planned use of the wood. (Drawer sides & backs; rails, stiles & panels for shop cabinets etc.)

Splitting the big ones in half lengthwise didn't do anything to reduce any possible usable width.

[Bill White]

Get the bark off, rough out the splits, stack with stickers for good air flow, let 'em dry, then do the final resawing. Got a moisture meter? Know anybody with a band mill?
Bill

[Joe Angrisani]

This is more a question for those who know...

Is the wood above the 'Y' going to be reaction wood with it's inherent internal stresses?

[Scott T Smith]

This is more a question for those who know...

Is the wood above the 'Y' going to be reaction wood with it's inherent internal stresses?

Joe, it depends upon the degree of angle of the 'Y'. If it is very narrow, then he should be ok. The easiest way to tell is to look and see how centered the pith is in the log. If it is substantially off center, there will be a lot of reaction wood in the boards.

Mike, as to next steps, if it were me I would skip plane your boards, planks and slabs in order to smooth up the surface (boards with smooth surfaces have less degrade while drying), and then stack and sticker them for air drying. Poplar is relatively easy to dry, and it dries fairly quickly.

What are the dimensions of the boards and planks that you've split thus far?

[Cody Colston]

From what I understand, the short pieces are either still in the round or split in half in the case of the larger ones.

You should get the stock sawn to a dimension that will dry quicker than logs or half-logs. Such short lengths will be difficult to saw on a bandmill but it can be done...just a lot more work for the sawyer. If you leave them as they are, they will stain and eventually rot once warm weather arrives.

I suppose you could rive pieces out of the present stock if you are a true knuckle dragger but like Scott said, planed stock dries with less degrade than rough-sawn ...18% less degrade in fact.

Once it is reduced to a smaller dimension, sticker the pieces, cover the stack and wait on it to dry. Don't put much stock into the "one year per inch of thickness" that gets repeated on woodworking forums. 4/4 Yellow Poplar will air dry from green to 20% MC in 40-70 days, 8/4 to approximately 23% MC over the same time period. By mid-summer, the thinner stuff will likely have reached EMC.

FYI, even though long stock is rarely needed in furniture building, starting with long boards gives many more options for grain/color matching and avoiding defects. It would have been much more productive to have left the logs in 8' - 10' lengths for sawing into lumber. The lumber could then be cut to length as desired. By cutting the logs into short lengths, you have eliminated many of those options and made sawing/handling/storage much more difficult as well.