Sawmill question about posts/beams.

[N80]

Got a new saw mill. New at this. I need a pile of pine 4x4s for deck railing. Looking at store bought 4x4s most of them include heartwood from the middle of the tree. I assume that this gives them some stability in terms of bending and twisting. Just wondering how critical this is because if it is critical you can only get one post out of each log. Of course you can get other boards etc from the log so its not that I'd be wasting it. It just means more work since 1 log = 1 post.

 

[Rockbadchild]

what kind of pine are you using ? … the side of your tree will actually be stronger then the center but yes it will be more prone to bending and twisting are you drying it before using it ? will you see these 4x4 ? depending of the type of wood you are using and the drying methods it will be worse but i would do what ever makes sense …

 

[N80]

Short term drying. Loblolly pine. They will be showing. They will be deck railing. Not a fancy deck. They will remain sough cut. Heavily stained with opaque stain.

 

[newbury]

Most of the big box stores sell the lowest quality stuff they can get by with.
(I'm assuming

They will remain sough cut.

was to be rough cut.)
How big are your trees?
If you can cut 4x4's without heartwood or barkwood, and dry them correctly, stickered etc. they will be better. But you might need trees of 20" diameter or more.

 

[Sawyer Rob]

Rule of thumb is, for beams, you either want the heart "centered" in the beam, or NO heart wood in the beam at all....

SR

 

[N80]

Rule of thumb is, for beams, you either want the heart "centered" in the beam, or NO heart wood in the beam at all....

SR

Excellent. That simplifies things a lot. I should be able to get at least 2 with no heartwood and one with centered heartwood out of most of the logs in my pile.

Got plenty of standing pines that are 20” if I need them.

 

[Rockbadchild]

so

Short term drying. Loblolly pine. They will be showing. They will be deck railing. Not a fancy deck. They will remain sough cut. Heavily stained with opaque stain.

Loblolly pine is more of a finish wood it won’t bend too much it will be more prone to cracking but i am not too familiar with that wood i could be wrong …. but i would defiantly do a bunch in one log … keep in mind the wood grain and the sun exposure side with installing and it should be good

 

[N80]

so

Loblolly pine is more of a finish wood it won’t bend too much it will be more prone to cracking but i am not too familiar with that wood i could be wrong …. but i would defiantly do a bunch in one log … keep in mind the wood grain and the sun exposure side with installing and it should be good

Thanks guys. These rails will go on a log cabin. Actually a porch rather than a deck but a deck will follow. The logs on the cabin are pine also and they are all checked so checking will be fine. The rails on the steps leading down from the porch were made with commercial treated 4x4s. They have lasted 10 years but they are cracked, twisted and due for replacement soon as well. The issue on the porch is sun. The rails I'm going to make won't get much rain but they get summer sun a good 8-10 hours a day I'd guess.

@rockmalenfant I think most people refer to loblolly as yellow pine. I'm guessing most of what I'm planting now are some sort of loblolly hybrid. I have a mix of planted and volunteer pines.

 

[plowhog]

I'm still new at this, but if you are cutting green lumber and immediately using it (without drying) that could be problematic due to warping and twisting. If you do that, make sure it is will fastened well to inhibit some of the wood movement.

I'd suggest watching some youtube videos on doing quartersawing of your logs. Even if you don't quartersaw, as its more work, you better understand which boards will warp faster and more severely than others-- even though they came out of the same log.

I'm going to start quartersawing all my best woods-- madrone and oak. It simply delivers better, more stable lumber. With wood that moves a lot (madrone), I hope it improves the number of "good pieces" I have after drying. But when it comes to pine, I'm going to keep doing it the easy way.

 

[N80]

I'll dry these 4x4s a month or so. I know they say a year is better but I've got some posts in the drying pile that are at least 50% lighter than when first cut and they've only been on there a few months. We'll see. Even a total disaster here won't be a big deal. If they twist into pretzels I'll take them down and start again. Porch hasn't had rails on it for 15 years.

I have not tried quarter sawing yet. Probably not worthwhile with pine.....but I could be very wrong.

I have a nice 18" white oak that I do plan on quarter sawing as soon as I get my head around it. Planning on using it for built in shelves in a dressing room. It is actually my closet/laundry room but I still want them to be stable but even more so I want that handsome quarter sawn oak look. I will finish them in a typical oak stain. That's a ways down the road though. I want to have the technique down before cutting that tree up.

I now have some large red oak logs that I will practice quarter sawing on.

My mill is totally manual. No hydraulics. So yes, all the log turning and re-sawing will be a lot of work.