Nate1778

Dirtclod, whats going on man. Thanks for the heads up. Would have considered bringing the stuff down to you but Fort Knox is a haul from Oldham County.



Just got off the phone with the guy, he said I can have everything but the ash, he said he was turning into firewood. He also said there was some large Oak logs down the hill that I never saw. Can't pick them up till next week. He is searching for two ~25" Walnut logs he just brought down but thinks they are in a sink hole by now, I hope not.....Try and keep you guys posted.

joasis

The bottom line is maybe several thousand dollars of hardwood there if you had to buy it...sure you don't want to buy a small mill and get busy? Those would be a great start to a never ending supply of wood.

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dirtclod

If you brought them here I would make you the tailman until they were done. Yeah it's too far but I would enjoy the (help) company.

Get a shot of those oaks and the walnuts. As far as firewood is concerned, I can see why he chucked the walnuts...particularly if it had the bark on it. Walnut with the bark on during seasoning (unless it is very tight when processed and kept under roof during seasoning) will be very dirty and shed a lot during handling. At best, it only makes mediocre firewood. But, if it sheds its bark before being cut, it's clean and decent firewood.

If that walnut looks reasonable I would get it. Even if he doesn't want to pull it out I would, if necessary, get (beg/borrow/steal) a snatch block and puill it out with your truck.

Give us some photos.

Nate1778

My wife is do with twins in August (#3 & 4 in our household), I am lucky to be able to pull this off. If I bought a mill it would require a divorce, which would make it a VERY expensive purchase. I am simply trying to stockpile a stash of wood. Would be nice to have one though..........

Nate1778

Update:

SCORE!

Last Tuesday I show up to the house to a 16' Maple log in the front yard. The arborist took it out of a neighbors yard and stuck it in mine, SWEET!. Then I call the guy Friday and ask him if he is going out to the farm, he says, "Yep, I'll be there Sat with my crane". Took the dump home Friday, Sat woke up got in the dump and headed out with my brother to see what we could snag. Get there and he has a boom truck set up and ready to load, He ask what I want and I tell him the Cherry first, and he states, thats fine, "Do you want the trunk behind the cabin as well?"
I hadn't scene this trunk, walk around the cabin and there it is, 26" round and 20' long. One strait long beautiful Cherry stump. Long story short we arrived at my house an hour later with 9 cherry logs all bigger than 12" and 9' in length. Total cost, the sweat from my brow. Had the Sawyer come by and look at the pile of logs I had gathered and he was shocked at the cost, think he will be out next week to start turning it into something useful. I am taking the Dump back this up coming Sat to pick up some Maple, Poplar and Cedar.

Forgot my camera, will get some pics this evening and post in the morning.

dirtclod

WTG! You got some place to put all that lumber? How about stickers?

You'll want to have your trailer handy for when the lumber comes off the mill so it can go right into the trailer without double handling. You may want to put down a tarp to catch the sawdust so cleanup is easier. Got plans for the slabs?

Watch that maple - they go gray quick in this hot weather.

Did you get a chance to look at the logs in the sink hole?

Those are sugar maples in your first two shots. Are you going to get 'em? Daren is right about there being some red oaks in with the ash. One looks like a pin oak. There's some cherry in there also and I think I see a hornbeam (4th shot, center, partially covered) in there.

Nate1778

Well here is what I got thus far, as far as the trailer, I have them sitting right next to where they will be stacked. I don't have any stickers although I have a bunch of scrap hardwood lumber. Might start cutting those up although Bryan, the sawyer said he would sell them to me if I wanted. I didn't get a chance to look in the hole, I am headed back on Sat to get more, he said he had two nice Poplar logs he just put in there. I am going to fill up the dump one last time but I beleive this amount of wood will hold me over for quite some time. Might even grab a couple Cherry logs as well. I just love the color of the back end of one of the trunks in the Pic.........

joasis

I can't imagine the fever to own a mill hasn't hit you hard.

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Nate1778

Man it hasn't, don't know why, I guess I wouldn't have a place to store it. I just want a lot of wood for working. Plus the Sawyer here in town is .30 a bd/ft with no setup charge, that and seams to be a good guy. I am hoping to get 1000+ feet of wood and just let it dry. I am interested in seeing what some of these look like when there opened.

dirtclod

I see you have some pawpaw trees. Ever get any treats off of them?

You got a good score. The wide whitewood on that maple should yield a lot of lumber. I hope he has a bandsaw so you can flat saw all of this load. Cherry can be qsawn but its rayfleck is small. And unless you're specifically after qsawn cherry, flat sawn will look good, and allow you to maximize the white board yield on the maple. You'll have to turn the cants frequently.

Just a little note on bucking these: It's tempting to make 'em long so you can get long boards and bragging rights. But the yield will go down as too much of it ends up in the slab pile during the squaring process. The boards will misbehave more as the grain will not be paralell to the edges. And you often include defects in longer lumber that would be bucked out of shorter pieces. But when you have your own sawmill you can justify (economically) putting those shorts on the mill and recovering them.

BTW - did you spot any walnut?

Nate1778

Not yet, I am on the hunt though. So your saying its better to cut the curved ones in half at the curve, correct. It is a band saw mill as far as I am aware.

dirtclod

Part economics vs personal wishes on that one. Short pieces take longer per bf to saw. But crooked logs take more setup and sawing time, produce less and poorer quality lumber when making true boards. Ask the advice of the miller. Remember, he works by the bf and will try to do it the fastest way he can. But I suspect he'll still give good advice about bucking the logs. A 4' length may be the minimum he can saw.

One or more of the logs could possibly be cut into flitch arches if you desire and the miller is willing. So long as the sweep is not too great he may be able to get through the cut without stopping and repositioning mid way. This is quick but tricky.

Bottom line is to buck the logs properly the first time. Some of the logs customers have had us saw were so crooked that it was a waste of our time and his material. But the customer is allways right.

Nate1778

Finally got these milled, hear are some pics...........

Maple:











Some of the Cherry, stuff is absolutely beautiful...........















I am really happy, its about 1100bd/ft all together. I would say 40% of the cherry has that figure heavy. What is that considered, its not curly is it?

Once again fellas thanks for all the advice, I will be doing this again real soon..............

TexasTimbers

Nightime millin. You remind me of me.

Man that stuff is gorgeous. No wonder you couldn't quit milling it. Nice job.

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Daren

Wow, that cherry is just fantastic. That little bit with the figure would hit my "stash" and never come out .

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Daren

Sorry I missed the question, too busy staring at the pictures. I would say more quilted than curly. From looking at the picture of the log on the mill I see where a big limb used to be. Am I correct it assuming the figure was on that end of the log ? If so that was basically a giant crotch that caused the figure. Whatever you want to call it, go for it, it's your wood . I just say its pretty, I would like to see a piece after it has been planed.

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Nate1778

Yes that was the top of the main trunk and there was a crotch. Every board that came out of that log had that quilted look. The lower half of the main trunk (both logs were roughly 9') produced less dramatic figure but still some like this.












I will post some pics once it drys a bit and plane it. The Sawyer kept saying he couldn't beleive someone would just give these logs away. He also said he was having fun with these particular Cherry logs. He is coming back this evening to finish the last 6 of the logs, if the weather holds..............

Daren

Ain't nothing wrong with that, you will be surprised just how much figure is really there. I mill abit of figured wood and can see stuff in rough sawn some may not...shined up that is going to be some lovely stock. Good for you Nate

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ecologito

All I can say is WOOOOOOOOW.... that is a pretty good deal for all that lumber. I HATE LIVING IN SMALL APARTMENTS ! !

I wish I had room to expand my shop / get some logs, mill... So many cool things to do, so little room and time. ( but I will take donations)

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dirtclod

Daren's description of the figure is the best I can think of. You have a nice haul.

Rain just rolled in here.

I'm concerned by how close your stack is to the ground. The bottom boards stand a good chance of molding. Try to keep it mowed close and keep the weeds out from under it.

Your stickers should be ~18" apart, aligned vertically, and should be supported right through to the ground. My favorite way to support a stack is to put 4 concrete blocks on end, lay two timbers long-ways across the tops of the 2 pairs of blocks, then span the timbers with ~2x3's to form a ladder shape. The 2x3's serve as the first stickers and support for all the stickers above. The boards from around the crotches and the wider boards will want to cup, bow, twist, etc., so weigh the stack down heavily when you're done.

Have you spotted any walnut to go with the cherry?