Building with your own trees

[woodmills1]

stain, at least blue stain, is primarily a soft wood problem. i have cut three year old oak logs, and while thier texture was different, there was no staining. white birch will rot as the bark is waterproof. maple and birch can get spalty after long periods of damp storage. few people will be able to tell the lumber was cut from old logs.

 

[woodmills1]

i have an HD 40 lt with hydraulic loader so only need to keep logs off the ground. It will lift a 20 foot red oak at 14 inch dia at top. painting ends is fine if you want, just put it on a fresh chainsaw cut.