Fruits of logging with my JD790

[Slamfire]

It took us 5 hours to mill it.

I've heard those band saws are slow. /forums/images/graemlins/tongue.gif

 

[sewells]

Actually, the saw was really fast. The problem was that the log was too big. The saw will handle a 36" diameter log but this one, being a little oddly shaped, had to be helped along by trimming it here and there with a chainsaw. Also, the automatic log roller on the saw wouldn't turn the cant by itself. So, most of the time was spent trying to get the log positioned properly to get the cuts I wanted from it.

The saw took about 10 minutes for a cherry log that was 18" in diameter and 17 feet long. Pretty sweet unit run off a 58 horsepower diesel. If I had a spare 42 thousand dollars I'd buy one.

Steve

 

[wroughtn_harv]

Morning Steve,

It's nice to see someone that has the ability to see warmth and soul in a log. I guess it's kinda sorta like the person who doesn't see a sheep so much as a potential sweater.

You're a fortunate person. That makes us lucky too.

 

[woodmills1]

nice whack o lumber you got there, don't ya love it the walnut cuts with a green color that turns brown and the yellow cherry turns white. Love the smell of the cherry i do. After you air dry what do you do to lower the moisture content for furniture? I tried to see the spacing between your boards in your stacks, make sure to leave a generous inch or more between them for efficient drying. by the way what color was that sawmill? my orange mizer with 24 HP onan will cut wood faster than I can offload it working alone.

 

[have_blue]

</font><font color="blue" class="small">( I just love wood. )</font>

Yea, me too. I miss Kentucky. Down here our wood is fitten only for making pallets and bracing. And that's in the best lumber yards. The woods are even worse. /forums/images/graemlins/smile.gif

 

[sewells]

I'm trying to find a steam powered kiln for the walnut as I've heard that is the best way to kiln dry walnut. I guess I'll dry the cherry that way too if I can find one. There are plenty around, just nobody that wants to fool with my piddly amounts of lumber.

If I can't find a commercial rig that will let me piggyback my stuff in with theirs, then I guess I'll build a solar powered kiln. They can be put together pretty reasonably and I have a lot of glazing I salvaged from a couple of old houses. The plans I've looked at seem doable for me and I think I can rig up the instrumentation for humidity control via a wireless link to my computer network. I think it would be cool to be able to keep data showing the humidity levels over time and control the whole process while I drink my coffee in the morning from my office.

Each solar kiln would dry about 4000 board feet. I have to confess that I'm starting to wonder if I couldn't make a sideline business out of high quality lumber for furniture makers. There a lot of high quality logs around here that just get sent to the circular mills when they really should be quatersawn on a bandsaw mill. I think if I offered the loggers a little better price for good logs than the circular mills can that I could pick up 16000 board feet or so a year to make into high quality furniture lumber.

Anyway, I looked on wood web and the sticker recommendations were for 3/4" by 3/4" stickers so that is what I milled up out of maple and used. I've got the stacks up off the ground on concrete blocks so I should get plenty of airflow. My idea is to air dry to around 20% moisture and then finish in a kiln. I think wood benefits from a slow gradual drying to begin with followed by kiln drying to a final moisture content of 7% to 10% or so.

Thanks for the reply.

Steve

 

[MossRoad]

I had a friend who's parents used an old school bus to dry lumber. They sealed it up pretty well and faced the windows on one side to the south and painted over the windows on the north. Then they stuck a home de-humidifier inside it and let it run. I forget how long they said it took, but they liked the results.