Live Edge Pine from a Sawmill question

[oosik]

For a couple years prior to building our log cabin I read everything I could get my hands on. I two sided the logs because I wanted a tight fit & didn't want to have to calk between logs. I allowed a three inch gap over all the windows and doors for shrinkage.

After a year the gap was about half an inch. I stuffed the gaps with fiberglass insulation and called it good. Covered the gap/insulation with 1x6 chainsaw sawn boards.

 

[workinonit]

I let all of my lumber for my house dry for 6 months. I stacked it on edge with 1 x 1 stickers and covered it with roofing metal with cross ties on top of that for weight. It was the perfect moisture when we started nailing it up.

 

[kenmbz]

I used an alaskan mill and did 2"x7' planks and used the 1/4 log bottom for a bench. I let dry for about a year and it did split a bit on the ends. Now varnished and sitting outside and seems to be dry. I second getting a moisture meter.
The Kiln dry sounds like a great idea if these will be indoors.
What kind of finish are you going to use , oil ?

 

[EddieWalker]

I've been watching some Youtube videos on Alaska Mills and might give that a try. Seems like the hardest part is the first cut. I'm don't want to make lumber, I just want slabs for the wall.

I haven't put any thought into how I will finish the boards. I want a smooth, easy to clean finish. But an oil finish would be faster and easier.

 

[forgeblast]

Too wet and when they dry they will shrink and you will have to go back and re do a lot of work. Best bet make a simple solar kiln. It will save you a ton of work down the road. I have done a lot of green wood projects but for sheathing I would make sure its dry and stable. Amazon has simple wood moisture meters too.

 

[ponytug]

I've been watching some Youtube videos on Alaska Mills and might give that a try. Seems like the hardest part is the first cut. I'm don't want to make lumber, I just want slabs for the wall.

I haven't put any thought into how I will finish the boards. I want a smooth, easy to clean finish. But an oil finish would be faster and easier.

Smooth, easy to clean to me implies planed or sanded and sealed, as roughness tends to harbor dust.

There may be folks in your area that will saw the logs for you for a few or a share of the lumber. A downside to Alaskan mills is that the kerf is thicker and you have a slightly lower yield on lumber. As your goal is basically paneling, you could go pretty thin on your boards, which would be lots of cuts and more waste with an Alaskan mill. Just a thought.

All the best,

Peter

 

[EddieWalker]

Thank you. My ultimate goal is to be able to have my taxidermy mounts on the wall. I want the slabs to be thick enough to be able to hold the weight of my heaviest mounts. Another concern is being able to adjust them on the wall if I ever get any more. My big dream is to one day have an Alaskan Moose on the wall, which would mean that whatever is up there would have to be moved to accommodate the size of a moose. This is why I was thinking 2 inches. I could probably get away with an inch and a half, but I don't think anything less would work.

I have a lot of pine trees that I want to remove. If I get four slabs out of each length of tree, that would be ideal. I'm thinking that I'll cut each tree into 16 foot lengths and then get four slabs from the center part of the log. I want to see part of the edge of the long when it's on the wall, but fill in the gaps with chinking of some kind. Maybe an inch of the live edge exposed and the chinking would be an inch thick?
I'm torn on what I want the finished slab to look like. Chainsaw marks might add a lot of character to it. A smooth, cabinet finish might look nice too. But in my mind, I'm thinking that a combination of both some distressed, cutting marks and some smooth finished areas would look the nicest.

I still have plenty of time and lots of pictures to look at. There is a point where it needs to get done and if I over complicate it too much, it will never get done.

This is part of my collection. I forget how many I have, I'm guessing it's somewhere close to 40 mounts. This is inside my shop, which is the room that I will be converting into my new living room. The walls are 12 feet tall, and what I want to cover in the live edge slabs to look like an Old Kentucky Log Home, or something you might find in the Rocky Mountains.

 

[ponytug]

Since you know what you want the walls for, have you thought about reinforcing a section of the actual wall for your eventual prize moose? It might simplify things when the time comes. (2x6, or 4x4 running along at the height(s) you want your trophies mounted at?)

A friend took an axe and an adze to otherwise finished boards to give a hand hewn look. If you didn't look too closely, it looked as if the boards were hand hewn.

It sounds like you are having fun!

All the best,

Peter

 

[Rustyiron]

Eddie I did this exactly as your OP. I had a bunch of pine stabbed @ 2", I'm not exactly sure of the drying time but you've been around enough to estimate this. I basically picked up an end and if it was similar to an equivalent piece of framing lumber, go with it.
I nailed up osb and for the "chinking", nailed on some wire mesh and just used joint compound. I feel that 2" gives the "proper" depth to simulate the real thing. I would peel the bark and hire the guy with a bandmill. It's a nice finish that you can lightly sand so that you can at least broom off the dust. Cobwebs and dust can be miserable on rough sawn lumber. Put on any finishing you want on your logs before chinking. They have real chinking that is somewhat elastic for the real thing but it's pricey and when I did this, it was way before the internet and the simplicity that provides searching for odd ball construction materials.
It may be not that expensive today with the competitive pricing that the net has created.

 

[EddieWalker]

Do you have any pictures? I never thought about joint compound and wire. Did you have any cracking?