My first on-site mill job

[BigOakAdot]

I recently got hooked up with a guy through craigslist, who had an add for "black cherry for firewood". It was a codominant tree, with many pieces +20" diameter, all in 10' sections...

Here's my first cut on a slab about 2' in diameter


Those dark marks are from some aunt rot at the bottom of the leader. It felt extra wet, hence why it stands out so much. Don't remember thinking it was that pronounced in person though.




Some cookies he asked me to cut for him from the trunk in the first pic...

And the first cut on a 20" log. Bottom had a crack in it, but the home owner let me keep the more stabile middle pieces.

The biggest of the two leaders looks amazing with absolutely no cracks. I'm finishing that portion this weekend. It's a perfect 8'6" long log and looked fairly straight.

Oh and any help drying cookies is definitely appreciated. I've read up on it and it sure seems like a lot of luck! Thanks.

BOA

 

[mdavlee]

Don't dry the cookies quickly. You may have to seal them to slow it down.

 

[JohnWayne]

I believe the only way that you can make the cookies stable enough to be usable is soak them in a vat of PEG (Polyethylene-glycol) for an extended period of time. This is what I believe wood turners do for very large pieces. Otherwise you will end up with at least one crack driving toward the pith. If you were to try and stabilize it with a key, or something similar, it will just crack somewhere else until the stress is relieved from the shrinkage. Good luck.

 

[Dave Boyt]

Nice find! Amazing, some of the "firewood" you can find on CraigsList. Those slabs will make a nice counter top. That piece with the fork in it looks real interesting! Good luck with the cookies.

 

[BigOakAdot]

Nice find! Amazing, some of the "firewood" you can find on CraigsList. Those slabs will make a nice counter top. That piece with the fork in it looks real interesting! Good luck with the cookies.

Thanks Dave!! Your wisdom has been paying off for sure. Have you ever used PEG to dry cookies or any other methods for drying them?

 

[BigOakAdot]

Hey guys,

Finally got after some of the trunk pieces from that cherry. Here are a few pics of the couple of cuts I did. I only made it through 3 cuts before running out of light, and dulling my chain. I'm going to go to Home Depot tonight and try and build myself
Some type of aux oiler.

I'm in need of some advice, this slab that I cut had some cracking at the opposite end of the butt of the tree. The log was probably 9'6" or so with 3'6" or so with minor cracks.

Should I be cutting off the cracked sections before I paint the ends,
Sticker and stack it? If I leave the cracks in it, am I encouraging the wood to split the full length of the slab?

I noticed a couple of pieces in my pile already look to be cracked the full length of the slab practically. Is that common and is it easy to still make nice natural edge'd furniture with this lumber?

Thanks in advance for any responses.

 

[SDB777]

Those trunks that are leaning have a great deal of stress already in them, and by milling them, you are removing material that has been holding everything together. Cherry cookies = crack. I don't think I've even had one that didn't......good luck.

Get those slabs 'strapped', sealed and stickered.....




Scott (some fine looking wood) B

 

[betterbuilt]

I'd follow SDB777 Advice. If you were to cut them you'd have to figure out how to sticker them. I tend to let the wood do what it's going to do and deal with it when I'm ready to build something with it.

Beautiful cherry. I love the mineral streaks.

 

[CR888]

Freshly milled wood is a pleasure to look at. Thanks

 

[JohnWayne]

Based on the width of those slabs, the stress stored in that bend and it being cherry, they're going to crack no matter what. If you cut it down to no cracks then paint, you will just have cracks later when that end drys. You can't stop it from drying, only slow it down. As the end grain area dries (they gain and release moisture the most readily) they shrink while the rest of the slab does so at a slower rate, eventually the stress incurred by the different rates of contraction gets a release along a grain line. So get a couple of coats of paint on the ends to slow it down as much as possible and see what happens.

Very nice slabs! And update us on how much the slabs warp as they dry. I mostly interested because I may have a chance to mill up a huge (for cherry) leaner growing out of a spring and am wondering how much trouble the brittle nature of cherry combined with excessive stress is going to give and if it's worth the effort.

 

[BigOakAdot]

Yeah already got a decent amount stacked and stickered. The bigger slabs seem to look pretty stable with minimal cracking, while the 3 other smaller pieces already have substantial cracking (pretty sure there was cracks in the log in the beginning).



Here's a pic of it stacked and stickered from after the first time I milled some of this wood. Will post some pics after I have it all stacked up. Headed there tomorrow to finish the trunk.

Thanks for all the info guys!

 

[mobile_bob]

i am new to this game, and i too have had hell with cracking from the wood drying too quickly or so i am told... so i started doing this with the last big silver maple.

i cut to minimum of 5/4's and stack without stickers for a couple weeks. then several times a day i would take my garden hose and set the nozzle to force/blast (technical term) and force water as best i can into the end of each board in the stack... did this for a couple weeks, also wet the whole stack with a mist several times a day. many days in the mid 90's but out of direct sunlight for the majority of the day.

after two weeks i restacked in my 15ft truck box, using 3/4" stickers...

been a couple months now and there is no sign of cracking save for some very small
ones that go in maybe a half inch or so.

now i have no empirical evidence that this would work for harder woods, perhaps a pressure washer to force water into the end of the boards might help?

anyone else done this sort of thing? if so what was your experience?

btw. i wish there was some cherry around here!

bob g

 

[BobL]

. . . . now i have no empirical evidence that this would work for harder woods, perhaps a pressure washer to force water into the end of the boards might help?

You could probably stand the cracked boards in water and it won't make any difference. We say that the wood is drying out but that is accompanied by differential dimensional changes in the wood cell structure - it changes more in one direction than the other. Getting the wood to reabsorb water does not necessarily reverse the changes to the same extent in both directions which means the cracks cannot be reversed.

 

[SDB777]

Yeah already got a decent amount stacked and stickered. The bigger slabs seem to look pretty stable with minimal cracking, while the 3 other smaller pieces already have substantial cracking (pretty sure there was cracks in the log in the beginning).

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Here's a pic of it stacked and stickered from after the first time I milled some of this wood. Will post some pics after I have it all stacked up. Headed there tomorrow to finish the trunk.

Thanks for all the info guys!

Those concrete blocks should be directly in contact with the ground....the wood under is going to rot/fail, and then the stack with either become unstable(to be read as 'fall over'), or cause the timber to warp. You look about right in sticker placement, but the stack also needs banding or a LOT MORE weight.


Scott (have fun) B

 

[BigOakAdot]

Yeah I really did a half assed job with the initials blocks. I'm gonna make a more official one on the spring.

I'm planning on building an aux oiler but I have this temporary one for now Got my sis to lend a hand. I drilled a hole into an old bar oil container, puddeyed a 1/4" tube into it and taped the tube to the mill. It really made a huge difference, I was able to Mill 6 board or so without dulling my chain.

 

[JohnWayne]

I'm planning on building an aux oiler but I have this temporary one for now. Got my sis to lend a hand. I drilled a hole into an old bar oil container, puddeyed a 1/4" tube into it and taped the tube to the mill. It really made a huge difference, I was able to Mill 6 board or so without dulling my chain.

I think you should stick with the aux oiler you have, I believe it is the most effective I've seen!

 

[Dave Boyt]

Good advice here on the blocks and dealing with the stress. Cherry is bad about cracking, so you'll have to just use the cracked parts for smaller pieces of projects. I wouldn't cut it or try to work with it until it is dry. Using Anchorseal on the ends right after the log was cut would have helped, and you might want to get some for future use. You'll still have some spectacular lumber-- the hard part is waiting for it to dry.

Your oiler looks like the Statue of Liberty (or is it Statue of Lubricosity?). Sooner or later, her arm will get tired or she'll get bored.

I haven't used PEG myself yet, but have talked to woodworkers who have. Fairly expensive, but would be good for the cookies. Basically, it displaces the water, then cures so the wood never shrinks & cracks. It is food safe (even used as a food additive and in some costhmetics). It does leave a waxy surface that is not friendly to polyurethane finishes. Looking forward to more posts from you. You're off to a great start!

 

[BigOakAdot]

Hey guys,

Sorry to bring up my old thread, but it pertains to these exact slabs I got from this cherry tree. So I recently purchased a new home which is maybe the worst place for someone who enjoys milling wood. There's about 10 feet between me and my neighbors on both sides now.

I was previously renting a property that was set in the woods and had about 3/4 of an acre for me to toy around with my saws. Its been almost exactly one year since I milled up these slabs, and they have been air drying, stacked, stickered, and tarped up until today. I bought an inexpensive moisture meter and the slabs are reading right around 10% to 12%. Not sure if it's very accurate but seems to read a lot of moisture when applied to my skin.
Do you guys think that is suitable enough for projects? I'm basically trying to avoid having to re-stack them at my new place. Not only am I strapped for space, but I'm in need of a desk for my new computer as well . I plan on using 4 steel hairpin legs for my desk and use two other slabs to build a book matched bench. (one slab for seat, other for back rest)

Another thing I was curious about is bugs. I did notice maybe one hole per slab where it seemed that something had burrowed into the wood. Is this something to be concerned about or not so much? Is there anything I can do to treat it at this point, or should I just put a finish on it and hope for the best? I have the wood in my van as we speak. Given that its still really hot in PA, I was thinking maybe I would let them bake in my truck for a day. Maybe kill off some bugs or even dry them a little extra. Is it possible that will warp them if they're already at 10% to 12%?

I have to say they held up pretty well thus far just some cracking but nothing some resin and a few bow ties cant help. Thanks for any help ahead of time!!

-BOA

 

[Timberframed]

I like the idea of the vankiln. 94 here near Jenkintown but air should be moving around in there with a small fan. Don't worry about the bugs adds character.