This is the first stage

[Chain Bender]

of building a house yourself.

Losing about 100 feet of the front yard due to 4 laning. State won't pay a dime more for the lad with the trees than they will without them so I'm gonna put them to good use. Plan on building my son a house on the corner of our property.

Gonna let these logs sit for about 4-6 months. That will let a lot of the turpentine bleed out and let the wood dry and shrink also. Will post picks of the saw mill running when we cut.

Chain Bender

 

[ncnurseryman]

I really look forward to seeing some pic. I have thought of building a small one room "getaway" cabin on our place for hunting season or what ever. Good luck.

 

[Mike476]

Looks like a few days of milling, are you going to mill full dimension?

 

[Chain Bender]

Looks like a few days of milling, are you going to mill full dimension?

Probably do the 2 X 4's at 2 X 3.5 and use them rough cut. 1 by's will be cut at 1" and planed down to 3/4 boards. Will cut some 15/8" stuff for base boards and plane down to 1/2".

CB

 

[BHD]

you may want to check with your sawyer
you may end up with better quality lumber if it is cut wet and properly stacked and dry-ed after cutting,

 

[Chain Bender]

you may want to check with your sawyer
you may end up with better quality lumber if it is cut wet and properly stacked and dry-ed after cutting,

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the problem with cutting wet/sappy pine is so much drag on the blade(s) and a mess to handle. Plus, if the boards are "dried in the log" they tend to warp and twist a lot less. I don't plan on running them (2 X's) through back through a table saw to size/edge them, so the less and more uniform shrinkage I start out with the better

CB

 

[Groo]

Dry wood is often harder to cut, but Red Pine? isn't bad either way.

looks like you have a fair number of decent sized logs there. got enough logs for a log cabin?

you might just consider squaring them on 3 sides, and maybe do a vertical tongue and grove on them.

 

[Chain Bender]

Dry wood is often harder to cut, but Red Pine? isn't bad either way.

looks like you have a fair number of decent sized logs there. got enough logs for a log cabin?

you might just consider squaring them on 3 sides, and maybe do a vertical tongue and grove on them.

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Are we talking about building a log cabin or cutting wood to frame a house? Some of those logs are30+ inches on the butts and others are a solid 14+ frm butt to small end. Most in the big pile are 16-17'. Logs in the other two piles are 10-12's and the rest are 8's. Several of the trees hat three 17' cuts in them before the first limb.

 

[Groo]

I was thinking a log cabin with the suggestion for a 3 side slabbing.

maybe even pick up something like this;
http://www.export-forum.com/americas/sawmill/logs_debarker.htm

are those Red Pine? Its hard to tell for sure from the picture. Maybe you should have brought in a utility pole buyer. The pay thousands for the prefect trees.

 

[Chain Bender]

I was thinking a log cabin with the suggestion for a 3 side slabbing.

maybe even pick up something like this;
http://www.export-forum.com/americas/sawmill/logs_debarker.htm

are those Red Pine? Its hard to tell for sure from the picture. Maybe you should have brought in a utility pole buyer. The pay thousands for the prefect trees.

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Not sure what a red pine is. As far as I know they are slash pines. Might be known by another name else where though.

CB

 

[riversedge]

I've built a lot of red pine log homes. The sap staining (bluing) occurs more when the logs are not winter cut. Removal of the bark before seasoning will help avoid powder post beetles. I agree with others above having someone come in with a bandsaw and flattening 2 or 3 sides is an easy way to have wall log stock. Shorter 10-20' lengths offer easier handling and stickering. We built my grandmas house like that, 4 outside log walls topped with standard truss roof. Economical. Good luck!

 

[varmint]

My initial thought when I saw the first post was a log house, too. Might make more sense to square them up to the smallest consistent height and width, and stack them up instead of sawing and milling them this way and that, and then sticking all the little pieces back together into a framed house? (could be I just getting lazy and old?) In any event, I look forward to seeing how they work up, and the sap/drying issues.

 

[Chain Bender]

My initial thought when I saw the first post was a log house, too. Might make more sense to square them up to the smallest consistent height and width, and stack them up instead of sawing and milling them this way and that, and then sticking all the little pieces back together into a framed house? (could be I just getting lazy and old?) In any event, I look forward to seeing how they work up, and the sap/drying issues.

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there are literally gallons of sap on the ground on both ends of the log pile. Some of the top logs have "drip lines" all the way down to the ground. Several of the stumps were pure fat pine or liter wood. Now worth much so far as making a board. I will have a friend who uses a fireplace do some more cutting on the stumps.

I cut 4 trees back in Dec and had them cut into "one by wides". But have been unable until now to really get in there and do the labor. TKR I had in April of 2011 is about to fall apart. Knee giving out while working with big pines and a big chain saw is a bad combo. Walking amoungst all the limbs and vines is hard enough on me. These 95 degree days will help dry them out pretty good and pretty quick. Logs are n the sun most of the day.