Took a Maple down in Yard, what size to
I had to take a large maple tree down in my yard a month ago. About 8′ from the ground the tree must have had a large section break off before we bought the house. Was rotting more than halfway through the trunk. Above this area and below this area the wood seems fine. The base was about 26″ or so I would guess. I am considering having someone come out and rough saw it for me. Having never done this. Up to what size should I save the tree for cutting to boards? And what should go into the wood pile / chipper? I have no clue on what prices go for sawing on size with a portable mill. Basically save everything for boards 8″ and larger? 6″ and larger? At what point do you reach diminishing returns on the size of wood vs. cost of cutting to get some boards?
I am sure the sawyer will have something to say as if they charge by bf they will not want to do the small stuff anyway. But any information would be appreciated.
Replies
Ben
You want your lumber to be cut from the main trunk. Branches, regardless of size, contain reaction wood, which will cause difficulty in drying, especially if you're inexperienced. Also, you will have problems with the lumber when you go to cut it.
The limbs may be good for turning stock, but you'd be better off talking to turners for that. I'm not a turner.
Coat the end of the logs as quickly as possible with end grain sealer. After the boards are cut to thickness, make sure you stack them level, and sticker uniformly every 16" to 24" on center, with the stickers aligned vertically in the stack.
Keep your stack out of the sun. I could go on and on, but if you decide to do this, you can search here, or go to the drying forum at http://www.woodweb.com. There, you will find lengthy articles and threads discussing all the things you need to be aware of to get the most out of your experience.
Good luck, and be ready for some heavy lifting.
Jeff
I have lots of room and was considering building a solar kiln. My in-laws just bought 12 acres near by full of hardwoods. I was considering buying a portable saw mill, but decided I will pay for this first tree to be cut up. And see how that works out first.
Just in the learning stages now, trying to collect information. I love working with Maple and really hated to cut the tree down, but it was 8' from the house. And with the bad spot up the trunk I just didn't trust it.
Ben,
I would suggest that you take it one step at a time and wouldn't jump inot a solar kiln right away. There are MANY things to consider and trying to understand all the aspect at once can be a bit overwhelming. All above suggestions are right on.
One thing is to consider how you will have the tree sawn, for grade, slab and in the boule, etc. I had some cherry sawn and the sawyer went for grade which in retrospect I think was a mistake, on my part.
I suspect I would have gotten a lot more figured wood if I had it slabbed (boule) for the outside cuts and the center cut 12/4 where there is a lot of straight grain. This would have made really good leg stock. I'm just skimming the surface and I'm sure others will have different views. One thing to think about is how you will use this wood.
Just my 2¢,Bob @ Kidderville Acres
A Woodworkers mind should be the sharpest tool in the shop!
Right now I have no plans for it. Basically want to see the quality of the wood from it first. I also know that its going to take a while to air dry it. I have already done some leg work on the solar kiln and picked the design I want to build. Nothing huge, I would suspect it would only hold about 1/3 of what I would get from this tree. Basically I am just starting small. The in-laws property has quite a bit of hardwood and I can harvest what I want (within reason). Obviously this is not something I plan on doing in a week. Long term plans and ideas. I have to balance working on a 100 year old new to us colonial house, and my play time in the shop. But I do have to do something with the tree that is already down. I probably can't get it sawn to lumber until about April though. Can't get to it now with the snow. :-)
Ah, I see you're up near Banger, ME. Musta just went thru the same storm we just had here. Bright blue sky on it way to ya as the sun is blazing here. I'm just about due West of ya in NH.
More on the way Sunday night I hear tell! Tain't right but it's so.
Sounds like you're on to it right well. Even if you don't get a lot of great wood the process teaches you a lot about wood; at least it did for me. I had about 350 bf of black cherry done nearly 2 years ago and if I were to do it again I would have air dried it a lot longer.
I have a great spot for a solar kiln and will probably make one down the road. It seems to me that solar can be a lot more forgiving during the drying process. Not concerned about having the wood yesterday. :-)
Regards,
Bob @ Kidderville Acres
A Woodworkers mind should be the sharpest tool in the shop!
Edited 2/14/2008 11:04 am ET by KiddervilleAcres
Most sawyers don't like cutting yard trees due to the increased likelihood of foreign objects. If you can find somebody with a metal detector they might be able to scan it for you.
Benhasajeep,
Well you are lucky it's winter and everything is frozen. Wait much longer and you'll be in trouble.. of all the wood I've dried over the years maple is by far the worst to successfully dry..
First go out and seal those ends I mean right now!
What you're still here? I said get out there now!
<grin>
but seriously seal them up quickly.
paint will work as will the waxy stuff they sell for this purpose.
then before you do anything you will need enough clean dry uniform thickness strips of wood to properly seperate drying boards.. Wood will work if it's dry and won't transfer stain.. dark woods are out. Plastic is perfect. Fiberglas or something not metal. will also work.. even metal will work if it's painted completely with absolutely no possiblity of rust coming out.
You will need a lot of them .. a lot! a smallish tree maybe 30 to 40 and a really large tree you'll want up to 100
one for every 18 inches or so of length at least as long as you plan on making your stack wide..
Now maple is valuable if it's all white.. The darker heartwood isn't as desirable.. So go for value not size.. that way you will have narrower boards but they will be all white mostly. He'll have to keep turning the tree to get that which will add to the labor. once he's peeled off all the white then go ahead and slab cut it to whatever size you want..
Maple isn't one of those woods used for big structural stuff so stick to 4/4 wood. That will yield solid 3/4 inch boards predominantly and that's what you will use mostly.. If you should happen to need some 8/4 wood or 16/4 wood you can just glue it together.. glue lines aren't real visable in maple.
Make the boards 8'6" long not just eight feet.. the extra will be nice for dealing with splits and checking..
Now seriously get out there and seal those ends before it's too late.. When you do saw the wood as soon as it's sawn get it on stickers and covered. (on top not the sides.. You'll want to strap the woodpile so the top boards don't curl up on you.. I know some advocated using cinder bloacks or some such but clearly they don't buy the shapner blades. cinder blocks leave all sorts of sand and grit in the wood..
Keep the sides open so air will flow around it.. make sure you stack in a dead level place. and irregularities where it's stack will translate to bends twists and warps in the board which won't want to come out once it's dried..
If you use latex paint to seal the ends reseal them once a month untill you no longer see any sign of checking or cracking.. in my case I was resealing every few weeeks fora couple of months.. The waxy stuff only needs to go on once.
Actually I missed the storms, no snow or ice for me.
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I am in Atlanta right now, heading for CA on Sunday. Wife is home stuck with the snow / ice. :-)
The main portion of the tree has not been sectioned yet. Still one long main laying on the ground. I started to remove the smaller side branches so they could be piled up for chipping. Thats when the weather came in and basically I stopped there. I was originally just going to cut it up for fire wood. But then thought that would be a waste of the tree. If the drying process doesn't work out. Will just toss it into the fire anyway. But with the opportunity of the hardwoods on the in-laws property. I would like to give my own milling / drying a shot. I have no immediate plans for the wood. So if it needs to air dry a couple years. I am fine with that. Once it is dry I have plenty of indoor storage for it.
benhasajeep,
It is still below freezing there, Right? if so it's still fine.. the problems comes once it starts to thaw..
saw while frozen or as shoertly after as possible.. three reasons.. first you won't get mud ground into it rolling, dragging it around.. second you don't risk mold or spalting forming, third working on frozen ground is a lot more pleasant than working in mud..
It will dry nicely outside if not as fast..just keep a tarp or something on the top of it (sides need to be open for air flow reasons)
Have fun
this is gonna be harder than you think but it's going to be more fun as well but the real payoff comes dacades later when you point to your grandchildren and tell them I made that from a tree that fell down in my yard..
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