Sawmillin'

[oosik]

TnAndy - I wonder. Your third picture down shows popular logs?? Our popular trees NEVER get that big. Must be a completely different species. Our popular are about the same as our cottonwood. They are no good for lumber - not even any good for firewood. The water content is too high and the wood is like a sponge. The cottonwood is like a stringy balsa wood tree.

You sure do have some nice lumber cut up there.

 

[Thomas]

Like the setup. :thumbsup:

 

[Egon]

There are many different poplar species. Some will get quite large in diameter and height.

 

[HawkinsHollow]

TnAndy - I wonder. Your third picture down shows popular logs?? Our popular trees NEVER get that big. Must be a completely different species. Our popular are about the same as our cottonwood. They are no good for lumber - not even any good for firewood. The water content is too high and the wood is like a sponge. The cottonwood is like a stringy balsa wood tree.

You sure do have some nice lumber cut up there.

The trees out east here are called tulip poplar and they can get HUGE! There is a place called Joyce Kilmer Forest that has old growth poplar with 7 and 8 foot diameters. Not the prettiest wood but usually pin straight and really clear of knots

 

[TnAndy]

TnAndy - I wonder. Your third picture down shows popular logs?? Our popular trees NEVER get that big. Must be a completely different species. Our popular are about the same as our cottonwood. They are no good for lumber - not even any good for firewood. The water content is too high and the wood is like a sponge. The cottonwood is like a stringy balsa wood tree.

You sure do have some nice lumber cut up there.

Yep....as HawkinsHollow said, it's tulip poplar. It's the most common 2nd/3rd/etc. growth tree here. I have a lot of them in the 24-30" DBH range. Used mainly for veneer in the furniture industry, these clear, straight logs, often called 'peelers' supply a lot of the 'undercarriage' of fabric covered chairs/etc in the form of plywood + solid lumber.

The first/second logs of larger trees makes great lumber. It will generally stay very straight. Once you get into the 3rd/4th log, or small diameter trees, they tend to bow quite a bit as the are sawed.....seen them arch several inches off the saw bed as the log is sawed. In the pic of the 2x4's, you might notice some bow in the last small pile of 2x4's that came from the upper most log.

What I do when stacking them to dry is start with the most bowed wood. Put it on the bottom of the pile turn on it's 2" edge, bow up, then stack the rest in a normal fashion on it's 4" face, along with some old roofing metal to shed rain, and topped with a pallet of block for more weight. This tends to straighten most of the worst offenders as it dries.

 

[TnAndy]

Another GREAT use of poplar is wood siding. Almost every shed/barn on my place has a tapered (top to bottom) siding sawed out of poplar (or white pine back before the Southern Pine beetle killed off most of my white pine).

I'll start with a log I can get a decent sized center (heart) cant out of.....say 14-15" or larger small end. Saw out a 4 sided cant (square log), taking the side lumber off two sides in the form of 1x or 2x depending on log size, working down to 8" wide by whatever tall I can get. Ended up an 8x13" in this case. (Log was spray painted black on this end to make this show up better in pics)

Then I 'cock' the cant to me with a peavy, and stick a couple of shims of 5/8" plywood (found that gives me the taper I want) between the cant and the bed rails on the far side. Run the blade down it and off comes a piece of tapered siding. Next cut, take the shims out, the taper switches sides...keep going until the cant is gone.

I shoot for about 1/4-5/16" on the thin edge, to 3/4-7/8"ish on the thick edge. I expose 6" when using it, letting the thick over lap the thin side by 2". Stack on sticks to dry about 6month, and put it to use ! When the materials are dirt cheap, you'll come up with stuff that needs building

 

[oosik]

Ah, sooo....... a big poplar here MIGHT get 8" on the butt. The bark on yours is even different. Here the poplar, birch and quaking aspen all look very similar. Very tall, wispy and lots of leaves - way up high.

At the specialty wood store in Spokane they sell Tulip Wood. Wonder if it's what you have there. I've used it a few times making small bowls and ornamental music boxes. For music boxes nothing is a good as Rosewood - if I can get it. A Rosewood music box will amplify the sound.

 

[TnAndy]

Ah, sooo....... a big poplar here MIGHT get 8" on the butt. The bark on yours is even different. Here the poplar, birch and quaking aspen all look very similar. Very tall, wispy and lots of leaves - way up high.

At the specialty wood store in Spokane they sell Tulip Wood. Wonder if it's what you have there. I've used it a few times making small bowls and ornamental music boxes. For music boxes nothing is a good as Rosewood - if I can get it. A Rosewood music box will amplify the sound.

I have one piece of East Indian rosewood....5/4 x 9-10" x 8' long I bought at World of Hardwoods in Maryland in the 70's. I understand it is now restricted from export by the Indian govt.

Still waiting on the appropriate project to hit me for it. REALLY hard, dense pc of wood, I'll tell you that !

 

[radios1]

I'm surprised nobody mentioned the ends of the wood need to be sealed up when drying so the wood don't split!..

 

[TnAndy]

I do that on more valuable hardwoods, using old paint, applied to the log before sawing. It helps, but doesn't eliminate it completely. On my 'construction' grade stuff, I don't bother...I simply cut the logs 12'6" to 13' for 12' stuff, and trim off the ends. Most of the time it's not a huge issue, as I'm air drying.

Commercial sawmills do it because they kiln dry lumber, often way too fast (time is money), and would suffer significant loss if they didn't.