Make beam from fallen red pine?

[TK_Michigan]

Hi there. We have a red pine (~40' tall) that fell about 9 months ago. Rather than cut it up for campfire wood I was thinking of somehow using the wood as a beam in a building project. Doesn't necessarily have to be a structural beam - thinking of using it in more as a faux decorative beam in a cathedral ceiling in a screened in porch we are building. I'm looking to get ~20-25' beam.

Yesterday I trimmed off the branches with my chainsaw and made a fresh cut on the bottom end of the trunk. Also propped it up off the ground.

- Anyone out there have experience trying to dry pine for the purpose I described above? Is this even worth the effort?
- There are a number of portable sawmill services in our area. I haven't looked into pricing but wondering if people have advice on trying to cut myself vs. having a service do the milling on site for me?

 

[TheJollyLogger]

If you look lower on the home page there's a milling forum.

 

[IyaMan]

Removing all bark will help the most with drying. If the beam is to be in the rafters, above eye level, then on what would be the top (non-visible) side you my want to consider slicing a single cut groove down the whole length of the beam that is as deep as the center. This will both help with drying and reduce overall cracks. This groove can be cut with a chainsaw or even circular saw (if it isn't too wide).

Red pine is quite durable and bug/rot resistant if kept dry. The horizontal rafters in my home are all red pine, the longest ones being about 40', about 14" to 16" diameter . They are about 150 years old, but other homes near me have red pine beams of about 300+ years.

Nice natural curves for beam use, but otherwise full of thick sap. Not so good to burn. Gummy in the saw blade too.

 

[ArtB]

Not pine, but used a lot of 16 to 24" dia DFir in my house, 20 ft long-.

The cut in the top to control cracks is good suggestion, but you still will get cracks, at leat in fir in my case..

Our DFir beams were only air dried for a year, and occasionally for up to 3 years later we would hear and occasional 'snap' as the beams dried further. Suspect pine drying time even longer if as large?

I do not know what building codes you have where you are, but if the IRC you will need to coordinate with your building department (if you need a permit to build) as that POS IRC want all structural wood stamped with a grading inspector stamp, a real pain.

 

[Marine5068]

Not pine, but used a lot of 16 to 24" dia DFir in my house, 20 ft long-.

The cut in the top to control cracks is good suggestion, but you still will get cracks, at leat in fir in my case..

Our DFir beams were only air dried for a year, and occasionally for up to 3 years later we would hear and occasional 'snap' as the beams dried further. Suspect pine drying time even longer if as large?

I do not know what building codes you have where you are, but if the IRC you will need to coordinate with your building department (if you need a permit to build) as that POS IRC want all structural wood stamped with a grading inspector stamp, a real pain.

Yes it is a real pain but there is a reason for it to be inspected by an actual engineer. They are the ones who have the educational background to understand the physics behind the building code so they have to be involved in making safe structures.

 

[Marine5068]

Hi there. We have a red pine (~40' tall) that fell about 9 months ago. Rather than cut it up for campfire wood I was thinking of somehow using the wood as a beam in a building project. Doesn't necessarily have to be a structural beam - thinking of using it in more as a faux decorative beam in a cathedral ceiling in a screened in porch we are building. I'm looking to get ~20-25' beam.

Yesterday I trimmed off the branches with my chainsaw and made a fresh cut on the bottom end of the trunk. Also propped it up off the ground.

- Anyone out there have experience trying to dry pine for the purpose I described above? Is this even worth the effort?
- There are a number of portable sawmill services in our area. I haven't looked into pricing but wondering if people have advice on trying to cut myself vs. having a service do the milling on site for me?

The strength of a beam comes from it's depth, so a clear span of 25' with no live loads (floors or persons on the floor above) will be substantial and must be looked at in the span tables for your area which will include snow loads, wind loads and dead loads (the weight of the building materials themselves). What's the diameter of the Red Pine's smallest cross section? It should match up or be greater than the suggested span table for that span.
Look into the building code for your area. I would suggest using roof trusses to equal the loads out to the eave walls.
you could use scissor trusses and then just attach that beam inside and to the underside of the trusses to make it look like an interior beam too.