Before or After drying?

[Haywire Haywood]

Newbie question... Do you guys trim the bark off the edges of the boards before or after you dry them?

Ian

 

[dustytools]

Newbie question... Do you guys trim the bark off the edges of the boards before or after you dry them?

Ian

Ive been stacking my lumber with the bark intact. I did remove some cherry from the stack about 2 months ago and edge it "out of boredom". Ive heard from some of the elder members here that it is good practice to edge it before stickering as the bugs tend to nest in the bark of some woods and will eventually make their way into the good stuff. I have in fact noticed that the bugs seem to love the bark of white oak.

 

[Stihl-in-Ky]

I have a lot of problems with ash,honey locust and oak with bugs if you dont take off the bark first.

 

[Husky137]

Bark off , then stack and sticker to dry.

 

[Haywire Haywood]

Thanks, I did about half of what I milled yesterday before the heat got the best of me. I don't have a table saw or the like, I was just snapping a chalk line and free handing a circular saw down the line.

Ian

 

[oldsaw]

What I use is a 1x4 (could even be a 1x2 furring strip) attached to the edge of a strip of tempered hardboard. I made sure the hardboard was slightly wider than the saw, then ran the saw down the hardboard using the 1x as a guide.

Now I just lay the edge of the hardboard along the line I want to cut, clamp it on, and get a perfectly straight edge every time. Works great on any board of moderate width. Once I've established an edge, I use a rip guide to cut the boards, or do it on the table saw. I almost always use the rip guide any more, cutting boards along any stress lines. I never have time to edge the boards the same day, it's usually a week or so later.

Just did a bit of cherry yesterday. Got a pretty nice little stack of 5/4x6x7 ft boards.

Mark

 

[woodshop]

Ive heard from some of the elder members here that it is good practice to edge it before stickering as the bugs tend to nest in the bark of some woods and will eventually make their way into the good stuff. I have in fact noticed that the bugs seem to love the bark of white oak.

Not sure if I'm an "elder" member yet, but I'm one of those that preached that in posts often. Lots of critters live, nest and lay their eggs in bark and inner bark right under it. I've gotten away with stickering wood not edged, but if you do you are dodging bullets. Eventually you will get bitten. I know it's only feasible to do this on larger logs (say 20-24 inches and up) but if possible slab the log to as close to a square cant as you can first... THEN slice that into boards, which of course will then already be edged and ready to sticker. Squaring up small logs less than 12-14 inch dia like that though, and you often leave too much of the good wood in the slab. Sometimes you can salvage that from the slab, sometimes you can't. As with many things, the law of diminishing returns kicks in. Do I want to spend time futzing around with that slab getting a 1 inch board out of it? The other side of the coin is that if you just slice that smaller log through and through, you then have to take the time to trim the bark off every board. Mess to clean up... pain in the butt.

 

[dustytools]

Actually you are one of the elders that I was referring to in my post. Elder being a good thing of course.

 

[Semi-Hex]

Here I thought you were talking about the elder (tree). I cannot have any bark on any of the wood I mill if I take it from the site. We have Sudden Oak Death (SOD) here in California and you can transport it easily if you leave the bark on. Most trees here are susceptible to this disease, so I would rather be safe.

 

[aquan8tor]

Thanks, I did about half of what I milled yesterday before the heat got the best of me. I don't have a table saw or the like, I was just snapping a chalk line and free handing a circular saw down the line.

Ian

I find that if I wait about a month after I have sawn green flitch slabs, the bark comes off much easier than if I try to get it off when the log is intact.
I do the same thing edging boards freehand with my shop bandsaw and some roller stands. Its just a 14" ridgid, but I swapped the 3/4HP chinese motor for a 1.5HP one and put a riser block and link-belt on. Just edged and resawed a bunch of walnut yesterday.