summer milling pics

Rugged made
Shop deals on ebay
Wesspur
Advertise with us
Arborist Forum

Help Support Arborist Forum:

This site may earn a commission from merchant affiliate links, including eBay, Amazon, and others.
Heres the resthttp://www.arboristsite.com/attachment.php?attachmentid=80862&stc=1&d=1225206716http://www.arboristsite.com/attachment.php?attachmentid=80863&stc=1&d=1225206716http://www.arboristsite.com/attachment.php?attachmentid=80861&stc=1&d=1225206716http://www.arboristsite.com/attachment.php?attachmentid=80860&stc=1&d=1225206716 Softwood milled pretty quick took some time online to identify by the fruit on the tree and the bark!! Nice weather then now its cold!!
 
I have never milled a basswood tree but have used bunches of it over the years in the cabinet shop. If you were trying to sell a chainsaw mill to somebody and they wanted to try it out that would be the tree to show them how easy it is :) I wish we had them around here, I like working with it.
 
Yeah its pretty soft I know lots of carvers like it I still have a log that I may make more like a large cant or beam or into carveable hunks. I gotta call the property owner (my wifes cousin) and see if he minds if I finish cutting down the trunk looked pretty rotty though thats why it cracked off 14 Ft up!! I am pretty sure it is basswood I looked at pics till me eyes were red and the fruit is what seemed to really give it away and the softness one thing I noticed too when it was green it seemed to have a very particular smell kinda minty or mild camphor like scent. I am open if someone thinks it could be something else by all means chime in!! The boards have been stacked in the garage for about three months now and they haven't split except maybe in the darker heartwood which I ecpected since it was full of holes from carpenter ants that particular board split the second I took the mill off. The sapwood is very clear some defects but nice looking. Any uses for it other than carving?? thanks for looking i'm starting to get a little better with the pic thing but it took me awhile. Have a good one irishcountry
 
Last edited:
BobL Yeah unfortunately we had freezing rain today heating season is here!! It is nice and green in the summer though the pics reminded me how nice it is here in the summer but its gone oh well it look good in all white too which won't be too far away. And for the record all of us on this side of the pond would love to get ahold of some of the stuff you have posted beautiful real hardwood!! Thanks irishcountry
 
Looks like some nice boards there! That might not be basswood as i milled some last year and they didn't smell good,if fact they stunk bad.I didn't get that darker heartwood you got in yours.Mine was light colored all through it.You might have something else,mabey cottonwood.They look like nice wide boards though.Basswood makes nice guitar bodies and turning stock for bowls.They use it for hollowing out shovel stock as well. Hope this helps,Mark
 
Yeah cottonwood was one that I remember looked similar I definately need to get a book so I know what I actually have but like you said the heartwood kinda threw me maybe it is cottonwood!! It definately had a distinct scent sorta minty it is also very light especially now not sure the weight of dry basswood?? Well worst comes to worst I'll have some nice clear 2x4's! didn't move much drying seems as straight as the day I cut it. Thanks for the input and replys slabmaster -I purposly cut some ash about 2" thick thinking if I ever build another solidbody it might come in handy I know they made some strats and PRS'S with swamp ash I would imagine is got a nice percussive tone!!
 
Last edited:
Now that you mention it I have never seen any basswood with the dark streaks. I have used probably 5 thousand board feet and have never seen any color variation.
Looking at a book roy underhill wrote, he says; basswood AKA linden is the wood used for cigar store indians and hewn bowls . The inner bark can be used to make coarse rope and even cloth. The flowers also make an excellent tea.
We used a lot of it for cabinets, painted and stained. basswood when stained sometimes gives a flip-flop effect, when you move from side to side the dark pieces will flip to light.
I had a bass guitar one time that was basswood and it was very lightweight.
 
irishcountry said:
Yeah cottonwood was one that I remember looked similar I definately need to get a book so I know what I actually have but like you said the heartwood kinda threw me maybe it is cottonwood!! It definately had a distinct scent sorta minty it is also very light especially now not sure the weight of dry basswood?? Well worst comes to worst I'll have some nice clear 2x4's! didn't move much drying seems as straight as the day I cut it. Thanks for the input and replys slabmaster -I purposly cut some ash about 2" thick thinking if I ever build another solidbody it might come in handy I know they made some strats and PRS'S with swamp ash I would imagine is got a nice percussive tone!!
Click to expand...

Ash is one of the best tone woods you can get! I've made some nice sounding native american flutes out of it As well as guitars and it ROCKS!
 
Hey slabmaster if I was going to make a solid body with no cap on top (like flame maple ect.) how hard would it be to just use a slab that was flatsawn carve it to depth around the edges with a router then finish the curves with a scraper I used this on the electric I built before and it worked out good but that had a maple top is ash pretty easy to work with when its flatsawn? The maple cap was a bookmatched top by Luthiers Merchintile (sp?) so it would be different grain than flatsawn would that make it easier or harder to work with I remember getting some grain "fuzz" with the maple and that was hard to get to go away without wetting it then rescraping or sanding carefully to get rid of lines then finishing. Thanks for the info!! Irishcountry
 
Last edited:
Ash is different than maple.You won't get the fuzz on ash.It might be harder to scrape though.I use a jig on a router to carve the top.Then sand the inner curve with a hand held drum sander then hand sand the whole top.I'm going to make a carving jig to copy a top like a cnc machine does but haven't gotton around to it yet.That prs top is a hard one to do by hand and ash is one of the hardest woods to sand.Quarter sawn would be easier to work because flatsawn ash is very grainy and hard to get flat.Hope i answered your question. Mark
 
Last edited:
Thats what I was wondering thanks for the info! I have a prs singlecut and looking at it I bet it would me hard to do I think a les paul would be a better starting place for me plus that my favorite guitar!! My son is playing now I thought about doing a secret garage project for him work on it when I get time and surprise him with it for a holiday or graduation (thats a ways down the road though) ! I would imagine it would take some careful prep for finish too since it seems a bit like oaks grain might need some kind of filler and sanding! Thanks for the info appreciate it. keep up the good work irishcountry
 

Similar threads

bplust
Milling deep beams
2
Replies
31
Views
3K
Mike Van
Mike Van
J
Still looking for Info for a 1998 Z3300 / UT-10809
Replies
2
Views
1K
JP56
J
HumBurner
Sold 181/281 Parts Saws and various NEW parts
2 3
Replies
44
Views
5K
davidwyby
davidwyby
O
Stihl 041AV farmboss quickstop, worth the effort?
2
Replies
23
Views
3K
Bob Hedgecutter
Bob Hedgecutter
K
Not your typical ching-chang-whala-whala-bing-bang!
Replies
5
Views
2K
Wow
Wow

Latest posts

Back
Top