s219
Super Member
- Joined
- Dec 7, 2011
- Messages
- 8,548
- Location
- Virginia USA
- Tractor
- Kubota L3200, Deere X380, Kubota RTV-X
I finally had a chance to catch up on some milling this weekend, using my Stihl 461 and Granberg Alaskan rig (I have the mini mill to square up cants, and a slabber to cut boards). The logs were cut between 1-2 years ago, some after Hurricane Irene in 2011 and some while clearing our new property in 2012-2013. Here's what I dragged out from my stash:
There was some poplar, walnut, oak, and pine. I ended up choosing one walnut log, one poplar, and one oak for lumber. The rest will be cut up for firewood. The walnut had a very distinct heartwood (chocolate brown) and sapwood (blond) when cut down in 2011, but over time the color evens out as the log sits. Mills will actually steam walnut logs to accelerate the coloring process, as it nets more of the desirable dark wood. Here's the squared up walnut cant:
And here's some milled boards (5/4" thick):
Within minutes of cutting the wood changed color, going from green/brown to more of a pink/brown.
Next up was white oak:
Then poplar:
Here's todays cutting stacked in my garage with 1/2"stickers between boards (the board on top is the LVL beam I use as a guide board for the mini mill):
I run a de-humidifier in the garage, which will help the wood dry out and not cause moisture/mold issues in the garage. Right now it smells real nice out there! Nothing like fresh cut lumber.
Tomorrow I'll go and buck up the rest of the logs into rounds and pile them into my trailer for splitting and stacking as I have time. I'm glad I was able to saw up the good logs, and will be thinking of uses while the wood dries over the next 1-1.5 years. It's especially nice to have some wood taken from our new property right where the house sits -- I'll have to do something special to incorporate this wood into the house.
There was some poplar, walnut, oak, and pine. I ended up choosing one walnut log, one poplar, and one oak for lumber. The rest will be cut up for firewood. The walnut had a very distinct heartwood (chocolate brown) and sapwood (blond) when cut down in 2011, but over time the color evens out as the log sits. Mills will actually steam walnut logs to accelerate the coloring process, as it nets more of the desirable dark wood. Here's the squared up walnut cant:
And here's some milled boards (5/4" thick):
Within minutes of cutting the wood changed color, going from green/brown to more of a pink/brown.
Next up was white oak:
Then poplar:
Here's todays cutting stacked in my garage with 1/2"stickers between boards (the board on top is the LVL beam I use as a guide board for the mini mill):
I run a de-humidifier in the garage, which will help the wood dry out and not cause moisture/mold issues in the garage. Right now it smells real nice out there! Nothing like fresh cut lumber.
Tomorrow I'll go and buck up the rest of the logs into rounds and pile them into my trailer for splitting and stacking as I have time. I'm glad I was able to saw up the good logs, and will be thinking of uses while the wood dries over the next 1-1.5 years. It's especially nice to have some wood taken from our new property right where the house sits -- I'll have to do something special to incorporate this wood into the house.
