Milled some Silver Maple today,pics

[woodchuck]

I started this yesterday, but really got into the log today, one iffy slab, and 4-5/4"x18"x96"+ boards, the one end has some spalting but seems to be solid enough yet, after they dry for a while any defects will show up. The side of the log has an ugly freehand rip cut because the mill frame that rides against the log doesn't like round, flatter is much better, that edge will just be ripped off with a circular saw and a straightedge later. The deeper into the log the nicer the coloration of the wood, bet this will look really nice after a pass through the planer and a pic with the sun on it. Start to finish time today was only 1-1/2--2 hours, the milling itself takes maybe 10min/slab.


The log with the fresh cut face is the subject for this pictorial.
http://i59.photobucket.com/albums/g292/woodchuck_photos/CSM%20pics/Logstobemilled003.jpg (http://i59.photobucket.com/albums/g292/woodchuck_photos/CSM%20pics/Logstobemilled003.jpg)

http://i59.photobucket.com/albums/g292/woodchuck_photos/CSM%20pics/silvermaple001.jpg

http://i59.photobucket.com/albums/g292/woodchuck_photos/CSM%20pics/silvermaple003.jpg

http://i59.photobucket.com/albums/g292/woodchuck_photos/CSM%20pics/silvermaple004.jpg

http://i59.photobucket.com/albums/g292/woodchuck_photos/CSM%20pics/silvermaple005.jpg

[Riggs]

Nice. So do you suppose they'll warp at all as they dry? Have any good techniques to keep that from happening? I remember that happening some when I did that, but it was all conifer.

[DarthDaddy]

Woodchuck is going to move to the GREAT WHITE NORTH and build himself a log cabin, get a hooded sweatshirt and some dark glasses... Send out some packages and live off the land...

LOL

That is really cool! What are you going to build???

[Cubfan]

Woodchuck, if you have any good "smokin wood" felled on your property maybe we can work something out. I'm gonna need lots of wood for my BBQ this summer; oak, hickory, apple, cherry. Anything but the softwoods really.

[Riggs]

build himself a log cabin, get a hooded sweatshirt and some dark glasses... Send out some packages and live off the land...

LOL


:lol: That'd be about 2 hours from me, that's where he lived.

[woodchuck]

Woodchuck is going to move to the GREAT WHITE NORTH and build himself a log cabin, get a hooded sweatshirt and some dark glasses... Send out some packages and live off the land...

LOL

That is really cool! What are you going to build???


Hey, were you the car that drove by real slow like, cause that's what I looked liked while doing that today.LOLOLOL


Cubfan: If you can get past my dishrag hanging on the kitchen sink, come on up and get some, let's see, Pear, Apple, Cherry, Hickory, Plum, Sugar Maple, Oak-red,white,burr.


Riggs: There's more fieldstone around here than I know what to do with, but, once stacked/stickered it'll get some tin for a cover and the biggest rocks I can lift to squish it all down.

This log is my classroom for now, want to make my mistakes on low value wood before I dig into the money wood(ahem, Sao?) .

Should I do a shed then any defects won't matter when the nailgun gets it, bad checks are easy, just run it through the table saw on the check line and glue it if need be, but that will eliminate the stress and the boards are still good.

[Riggs]

Rocks, of course, that makes sense! I've had three logs I want to make into a slab table drying for about 3 years, but was thinking it still might twist when cut. Course I (and my wife) have a lot of priorities before that. Fun to see yours.

[Cubfan]

Cubfan: If you can get past my dishrag hanging on the kitchen sink, come on up and get some, let's see, Pear, Apple, Cherry, Hickory, Plum, Sugar Maple, Oak-red,white,burr.

YUCK!! I'll bring you some sponges man!

Seriously though. Are some already downed? Would we (or I) need to chop 'em and split 'em?

I could rent a small flatbed and drive up. When the weather warms a bit of course.

[woodchuck]

YUCK!! I'll bring you some sponges man!

Seriously though. Are some already downed? Would we (or I) need to chop 'em and split 'em?

I could rent a small flatbed and drive up. When the weather warms a bit of course.

Small flatbed, dude, how much grilling do you do??

I've probably got the right tools to reduce a log to smoking cubes. Would limbwood work for you, cuz I have a 50' hickory on the front lawn that's been dead a little over one year, thought it was just taking a year off, but that isn't the case, that should provide plenty of work. There is some cherry, hickory, oak, maple, walnut in a tree line that I am clear cutting, small stuff, would be good for your purpose.

Give me a cubic foot box you want to fill, 128cuft is a full cord(4x4x8 ), use this as point of reference, and we'll go from there.

[Cubfan]

Um, I grill a lot. And I plan to smoke foods on the BBQ a lot this year too. Plus if I end up with too much, we have a lot of bonfires in the backyard too. I'm getting tired of buying the bundled stuff outside the grocery store at $5 for like 5 tiny logs!!

Small chunks would be great, but small logs or limbs would work good too. By "limbwood" do you simply mean cutting the limbs off?

I have no idea as far as size. Um, as much as I can fit in the back of my Nissan Pathfinder, or that small flatbed.

[woodchuck]

Okay, now I have a better idea of how to go about this, what is the deck size on the flatbed that you have in mind?

[Cubfan]

Knowing that my buddy wont let me borrow his flatbed that he tows his snowmobiles on... I have a Uhaul rental just a couple miles away. They have various sized flat beds. I would probably get the 5x8. Here is their link.

http://reservations.uhaul.com/(wyl1dd55pb4hhl55feye5345)/quote.aspx?referenceNumber=1042213920&move=intown

We have time with this, no need to make any decisions now. I'm not getting out there until it's above freezing.

[jim]

Hey cubfan.

Is this the type of flatbed load you want.

http://www.everwoodtreatment.com/images/trucking.jpg

[Cubfan]

Jim - that's the perfect amount of wood but you're not supposed to use treated lumber to cook on :wink:

[woodchuck]

Jim, don't go gettin him all excited like that, I'm just a one man operation.:)

I may have just the thing for you Cubby, mix of cherry, oak, maple, elm, all cut, split, for almost one year now, if I remember, I'll get a pick of it tomorrow, all you'd have to do is back up next to it and keep going until the pile is gone. It measures 7' tall by 14'wx20"L , just a bit over a full cord by volume. With a power mitre saw and a hatchet the smoke wood can be reduced easily. Just looked at that 5x8 trailer, fill that no problem, and the vehicle too.

Then there'd be time for a wet.;)

[sao95]

This log is my classroom for now, want to make my mistakes on low value wood before I dig into the money wood(ahem, Sao?) .



low value wood? maple? maple is one of the most expensive domestic hardwoods :shock:

[sao95]

here's a fairly accurate going rate for kiln dried, for air dried it's about 60-70% less
Domestic Lumber Pricing:
Wood Size 0' - 49' Price 50' - 300' Price 300'+ Price
Aromatic Cedar 4/4 2.75 2.35 2.20
Ash 4/4 3.45 2.85 2.59
Ash 8/4 3.95 3.20 2.90
Basswood 8/4 4.25 3.50 3.10
Basswood 4/4 2.65 2.25 2.15
Basswood 12/4 5.50
Basswood 16/4 5.50
Beech 4/4 3.45 2.85 2.59
Birch 4/4 4.85 4.35 3.95
Butternut 4/4 5.50 4.50 4.25
Cherry 4/4 5.98 5.50 5.20
Cherry 5/4 6.78 6.20 5.78
Cherry 8/4 7.50 6.98 6.50
Coffeenut 4/4 3.75 3.35 2.95
Cypress 4/4 3.95 3.50 3.05
Cypress 8/4 4.85 4.30 3.75
Elm 4/4 3.95 3.50 3.05
Hickory 4/4 3.75 3.35 2.95
Holly 4/4 15.00
Holly 8/4 18.00
Maple 4/4 5.75 4.65 4.35
Maple 5/4 5.98 5.50 5.25
Maple 8/4 5.98 5.50 5.25
Maple B.eye
4/4 15.00 14.00 13.00
Maple Curly 4/4 12.00
Poplar 4/4 2.75 2.25 1.95
Poplar 5/4 2.95 2.50 2.25
Poplar 8/4 3.45 2.85 2.45
Red Oak 4/4 3.95 3.35 2.95
Red Oak 5/4 4.95 3.95 3.55
Red Oak 8/4 5.75 4.60 4.30
Red Oak Qtr.sawn 4/4 5.95 4.95 4.45
Sassafras 4/4 3.65 2.95 2.75
Sitka Spruce 8/4 15.00
Sycamore 4/4 3.95 3.20 2.90
Walnut 4/4 5.98 5.20 4.98
Walnut 5/4 6.78 6.20 5.78
Walnut 8/4 6.98 6.50 5.98
Walnut 10/4 9.00 8.00 7.00
White Oak 4/4 4.35 3.70 3.30
White Oak 8/4 5.95 4.80 4.50
White Oak Qtr.sawn 4/4 5.95 4.95 4.45
White Oak Qtr.sawn 5/4 6.75 5.30 4.95

[Cubfan]

Woody - sounds great, thanks. I'm not sure about maple and elm as a smoking wood though. I'm sure they would work, I just dont hear about them being used.

Yeah, any pictures would be cool. Like I said, no hurry though. Thanks!

[woodchuck]

You smoke what you want, the elm would be for the fire pit, might as well get all yer shopping done at once.:)

[woodchuck]

Sao, we may have to re-negotiate the terms, I had no idea the wood was worth that much. :p

Hmmm, I just split about a cord of curly maple for firewood. oops.

[Cubfan]

You smoke what you want, the elm would be for the fire pit, might as well get all yer shopping done at once.:)

Well I know most of the woods while they are in the tree form. But chopped and split they all start looking the same to me!!

[sao95]

I'm just the opposite, can't tell ya most when they are standin, but let me see the grain and I can tell

[woodchuck]

Cub, we'll get your identification certificate all taken care of over a couple wets.

When a landowner says cut this, save that, without a guided tour, it would be bad form to make a mistake, I cut a 24" black walnut up for firwood and didn't realize it until I was splitting it, same thing with a hickory that size too, after those 'misappropriation of resources' screwups I made a point of learning to ID trees, and wood. Now that I have a way to mill where the tree falls I'll be even more selective about what goes for firewood.

Sao, National Audobon Society Fieldguide to North American Trees, best damn book out there for id'g a tree in the raw.

[chuck]

All I can say is I wish I lived a lot closer to you woodchuck! I at one time owned a woodworking business (called woodchucks fine woodworking! ) I made many items from furniture down to toys, you all most have me in tears when you say you were cutting up curly maple for fire wood, wood like that here on the east coast is way out of control expensive! I've seen a really nice black walnut tree 24+ get bought as it stands for well over $5000 here in NJ! old stands of wood here are pretty rare and most of it is either pretty ugly or softwood. Even oak is expensive in these parts!
A board like you have in your pics =P~ I would expect to pay well over $100:shock: for here (dried of course). The problem I think is all the lumber comes from out west and getting it to here is what kills the price, never mind price gouging. Hmmm.... maybe I should get one of them small flat beds and take a little drive, I'll bring the beerchugchug: and a dish cloth don't bother me at all.

[woodchuck]

Chuck, just for you I'll try and fetch a chunk off the pile and snap a pic, you can tell me if it is curly or just knarly.

[Hockeyfan]

I used to know all my trees by leaf, twig, standing tree (summer or winter condition) and some by outline. I think I forget most of that now. Timber has great value. There are alot of people who buy a house with a bit of land, just for the value of the timber. I did some timber cruising in college. Working in the woods is fantastic. So how far is Chicago from Wisconsin? I figured that sounded far, but who knows. Isn't there any wooded areas in and around the Windy City? Get it now, cause in a few days its all going to be burned to the ground after Indy gets done with the Bears in the SB. There will be rioting in the streets!!! Sexy Rexy must go!

[Cubfan]

Isn't there any wooded areas in and around the Windy City?

Not really. There are lots of forest preserves though but those are protected of course. Actually I'm on the outskirts of the metropolitan area, and there are some forested areas but the issue here is land ownership. Woodchuck owns a nice forested chunk of real estate. I'm hoping he gives me a nice "SAHD Discount". :D I could buy some firewood from several landscaping companies, but they charge an arm and a leg. Plus I just enjoy getting out and kicking around the dirt. There's no fun in having a pile of wood dumped in my driveway while I sit there and watch!

To answer your other question, Hockey, I'm about 2 hours away from Woodchuck. But him and Darth are practically neighbors! It's not too far, actually Milwaukee is Chicago's biggest suburb! laughing

[Hockeyfan]

Thats not far at all. Thats a little weekend gettaway. Even a day trip. Definately more fun to get out and crash around the woods. See some deer and who knows what else. Plus a SAHD discount is always good. And for what your using it for, I would just cut down timber that will not be used for anything else. Split trees and crooked ones etc. It would be like a thinning expidition.

[Cubfan]

Splitting wood is a lot of fun. My folks own a forested property and once or twice a year we get out and cut fallen trees down to size with chainsaws, then split them with a pnuematic splitter. (insert Tim Allen's grunt here). However this year my dad had 2 of my BIL's out there one weekend that I couldn't make it and they got a lot done. 'Bout time he got some work out of those 2 guys! But my folks burn so much firewood that their property has thinned out ALOT over the last few years so he wont give me much anymore.

[sao95]

I at one time owned a woodworking business (called woodchucks fine woodworking! ) I made many items from furniture down to toys

don't leave us hangin, throw up some pics :)

[woodchuck]

The first two are of the corner of our place, as you can see, plenty of fallen stuff to come out.

#3 is 4' wide maple log, I'll pull out the 075 w/42" bar for that, when some guys show up, we can try to mill the crotch.

#4 is the split stuff, mixed, the mainly cherry stack is the dark one, easy to get to.


http://i59.photobucket.com/albums/g292/woodchuck_photos/woodshed%202006/firewood004.jpg

http://i59.photobucket.com/albums/g292/woodchuck_photos/woodshed%202006/firewood002.jpg

http://i59.photobucket.com/albums/g292/woodchuck_photos/woodshed%202006/firewood001.jpg

http://i59.photobucket.com/albums/g292/woodchuck_photos/woodshed%202006/firewood003.jpg

[Hockeyfan]

Nice. Love the woods. How many acres do you have? I'm sittin on .26 acres of cleared developement.

[woodchuck]

Nice. Love the woods. How many acres do you have? I'm sittin on .26 acres of cleared developement.

8 total, the corner has 2 acres wooded, the other 2acres wooded is spread out more. And I'm growing trees on 1acre of field now, so it'll be a 3acre block of hardwoods when it's all mature, for a ratio of 5wooded, 3 open.

[Cubfan]

uhh, I'll take the stuff that's already split!

What town are you closest to? Did I hear you once say Eagle?

[woodchuck]

Plus I just enjoy getting out and kicking around the dirt.


changed yer mind?:-k

Palmyra

[Cubfan]

Uhhhh, I was just looking at those big suckers, boy o' boy....

Damn, I first guessed Palmyra, then backspaced and typed Eagle!!

[GrahamsPapa]

Slab me off some 4-6" stock and I'll make you some bowls
http://66.116.216.38/images/Brown19a.jpg
Actually I'm pretty spoiled living out here in the pacific northwest, black walnut, big leaf maple, cherry, oak, madrone, myrtle.....
I'm saving up for one of these http://webpages.charter.net/scharkee/woodmizer.jpg O:)

[woodchuck]

Beautiful bowl there, with the cool weather here I can just see some steaming gumbo in there, mmmmgood.

Spent a summer in Cove, OR, Uncle had a hot spring fed swimming pool there.

[sao95]

nice lookin bowl, I've never tried to turn one, except for the pottery type, what kind of finish do you put on it? Also have you tried pen turning? I've been lookin into it but haven't taken the plunge yet....

[GrahamsPapa]

This type of bowl is function ie salad, pasta, gumbo so it will hand washed daily so I use walnut oil. It pentrates and hardens unlike some oils, more importantly it's easy to reapply from time to time.
Pens are fun, I don't sell too many but they make great gifts. I did design a desk pen http://66.116.216.38/images/Brown2a.jpg
I use curly wood for the pen to look like the feather of a quill pen which fits into the base which is turned to look like a ink well. I call it the "Joyce Harrington Quill Pen" after my MIL whe gave me the idea.
Sorry, woodchuck, didn't mean to highjack your thread.

[woodchuck]

Good on ya mate, speakin about wood, he look, some of that curly firewood.chugchug: