iDRY Vacuum Kilns

Sponsors:

cutting clapboard siding

Started by breese, September 18, 2006, 07:13:12 AM

Previous topic - Next topic

0 Members and 1 Guest are viewing this topic.

breese

Does anyone have any experience sawing clapboard siding?  I'm building a house in upstate NY and am trying to use as much local wood from my land as possible. 
Got quarter sawn red oak for floor drying in the barn, maple for cabinets and trim.  I need to figure out siding options.
Anyway, I have access to white pine, hemlock, and a good stand of larch.  Need advice on sawing out clapboards.  Kiln dry or air? 
Thanks for any help.

PawNature

I am sure there are people with much more experience than I have at this. But I cut this siding on My Norwood, 6.5 wide boards. .75 tapered to .25. All I did was saw out a cant 6.5 wide and put a shim underneath one side, take a board and remove the shim. This is pine siding. In my opinion it looks the best. A lot of people put preservatives and stains on it. This has been up for about 2 years with no coatings. I have had a lot of request for sawing this siding. But I have only taken up a couple of offers for friends due to the fact that I just don't have time to do it.






GOVERMENT HAS WAY TO MUCH CONTROL OVER OUR LIVES!!!!

Raphael

  I've been milling mixed pine for my siding (predominately EWP).  I decided to go thin and square with mine (½"x8") to keep the profile close to the wall, allow lots of overlap and good ventilation behind it.  I'm milling with a chainsaw so kerf loss is significant and staying with the ½ inch decreases the number of cants I need, I may be in for a board splitting nightmare when it comes time to install it.  If I'd picked up the large bandsaw earlier in the process I'd probably be milling cants and resawing tapers on the bandsaw.

  Hemlock might be your best choise in terms of the longevity of the lumber, but I agree that pine has a little nicer look to it...  More contrast between the knots and clear wood.  I haven't worked with Larch but I don't know of any reason why it wouldn't be suitable.

  Air dried outside in a shed is fine for siding, after all that's where it's going to live, But if you intend to paint it then getting it into a kiln hot enough to set the sap would be a good idea.
... he was middle aged,
and the truth hit him like a man with no parachute.
--Godley & Creme

Stihl 066, MS 362 C-M & 24+ feet of Logosol M7 mill

Furby

If you are going to be making a lot of tapered siding, you may wanna consider buying or making a siding attachment for your mill.
The cant will remain locked in place and all you need to do is rock it back and forth sorta.

Another option is to set your mill up to resaw on a taper from standard boards.
Arky gave a good demo in at least one thread around here.

4x4American

Got an order for clapboard siding in.  Have any of you just put shims down under the cant and sawed it out that way?  If it's supposed to be 1/2" on one side and 3/4" on the other, how would you go about doing that?
Boy, back in my day..

isawlogs

Trile and error....  Depending on the width, I would use a 1/4" shim and drop 3/4" take a cut, take the shims out and drop another 3/4" and see what you have, and adjust to what you need.
A man does not always grow wise as he grows old , but he always grows old as he grows wise .

   Marcel

4x4American

Thanks Marcel...7" wide is what he wants. 
Boy, back in my day..

Jim_Rogers

Cut the end of the cant square to the timber, both left and right and up and down.
Draw lines on end to show the shape of the clapboard.
Till cant until line is level with saw blade. Measure till from bottom of cant to bed rail.
Make shim this distance.
Put in shim(s) as needed to clamp on angle, and cut to see if it is right.
Take out shim(s) and drop down the butt thickness and cut again.
Over and over and you should be able to make as much as you can out of a tall cant.

This is what I did and it worked for me.

Jim Rogers
Whatever you do, have fun doing it!
Woodmizer 1994 LT30HDG24 with 6' Bed Extension

Brucer

I made a few pieces of bevel siding for a contractor customer who was trying to match existing siding. There was exactly 1/2" of taper so I squared up a cant of the proper width and used a couple of pieces of 1/2" keystock to tilt the cant.

As described: shim, saw, remove shim, lower head, saw, and repeat. Do a couple of trial cuts measure to figure out how far to drop the sawhead each time.

Keystock is a greatly overlooked material. I buy it in 1 foot lengths in various sizes: 1/8", 3/16", 1/4", 5/16", 3/8", 1/2". It's always very accurate and is easy to saw, drill, tap, and harden.
Bruce    LT40HDG28 bandsaw
"Complex problems have simple, easy to understand wrong answers."

Quebecnewf

I did my workshop in clapboard siding I cut with my bandmill. I had to use balsam fir. Only thing avaiable in our area. I picked out nice clear logs , mostly butt junks. Sawed them in 7" cants then sawed of 1/2" boards. No taper. I think taper is better but too time consuming with out a jig.

I then air dried these boards for a year. Gave them a coat of white latex stain both sides. Installed than on the building. A piece of tar paper behind every butt joint. I did not have many as I had mostly 12' material. A second coat of stain after they were installed and done. I am very pleased on how they look and seem to be holding up very well in what is sometimes a very harsh Enviroment







Quebecnewf

47sawdust

Mornin' Newf,
Not many people go to the trouble of putting a piece of felt behind each clapboard joint.Very good practice,the old timers are nodding their head in approval.
To say your climate is sometimes harsh is more than a mild understatement.As usual,very nice work on your part.Your place should be a test lab for exterior coatings.
Mick
1997 WM Lt30 1999 WM twin blade edger Kubota L3750 Tajfun winchGood Health Work is my hobby.

rl

    I agree with Raphael   saw  1/2 inch by any width   1 inch 2 inch overlap  much easier and works just fine.   air space in back is a plus.  tapered siding has air space also.  just smaller .just make sure your trim is thick enough to cover ends by 1/8 to 1/4 inch   rl
rl

peterpaul

I always put a piece of tar paper behind the butt joints as well as back prime all surfaces including the ends.  By back priming, the clapboards will have less tendency to cup and hold paint or stain much better by retarding moisture absorbtion from the back side.  Also, when installing cedar siding, I wash all boards with a bleach solution to kill mold spores so that it does not turn black. This I learned from 2 high end painting contractors.  I have some photos somewhere of a house and a quest house I built that were painted 15 and 5 years ago respectivley and each looks the same.

Below is vertical cedar siding.  As the siding is flat against the wall, I installed typar rain slicker so the siding could breath.  http://www.typar.com/products/typar-plus-home-slicker/  not cheap but worth it.


Woodmizer LT15, Kubota 4330 GST, Wallenstein FX 85, Timberwolf TW6, homemade firewood conveyor

Peter Drouin

4x4 go to WM by you and get a clapboard attachment for your mill. Or come and buy mine. :D :D
A&P saw Mill LLC.
45' of Wood Mizer, cutting since 1987.
License NH softwood grader.

4x4American

The guy with the 06 40 super at the excavation companys yard has the attachment, said I can use it whenever I want since I sharpened blades for him but I hate to borrow something unless I really have to! 
Boy, back in my day..

barbender

Do a search for the "Arky Resaw". That's the method I have used and I found it to be way more gooder than the WM bevel siding attachment.
Too many irons in the fire

4x4American

I pulled it up, but don't quite understand how it works..chain the head to the bed, clamp a 2x10x12 to the bed and a 1x4 with a slot for the blade to go through and then push boards through without cutting your fingers?   ???   I'm sure it works but don't quite get it!
Boy, back in my day..

PC-Urban-Sawyer

4x4,

I think it works best with two people, one feeding and one pulling the cut pieces through and stacking them.

Herb

Brucer

As one board is nearly finished, use the next board to push it through. Use a piece of 1x to push the final board through. It definitely helps to have someone removing and stacking the cut pieces.

Bruce    LT40HDG28 bandsaw
"Complex problems have simple, easy to understand wrong answers."

steve marek

I have wm sideing attachment works great I cut a can't 8 inch and rotate level it is a lot easy then useing shims and is more accurate and faster you can also use for wood shlngles
WM LT40HD logrite ach 718 woodmaster timber framing tools 3000 ford tractor 359 395 husky chainsaw woodmizer e50 single blade edger woodmizer 260 moulder 2538 mahindra tractor kd 250 kiln

Klicker

I did one job  making 9 inch siding for a customer  using wedges it worked. I was not happy with it he was. He was trying to match the siding on an old house he was putting new windows in. I bought the  WM resaw attachment  it is worth it if you are making siding. I don't use it as much as I would like. But when I do  I like it a lot. Rod
2006 LT 40 HD

4x4American

Klicker,

That is an awesome town name, Tatamagouche, how do you pernounce it?

Tat-uh-muh-gooch?
Boy, back in my day..

barbender

4x4, yes, you chain the head to the axle or something. Take the jig, put it on the bed and shim it to get the bevel you like. Clamp it in place with the log clamp. Once you do test cuts to get things right, feed through with wild abandon, a partner is helpful but you can do it yourself too. I should have said at the beginning, you pre-saw your boards to 1" or whatever you want to split. One of the benefits of this method is you can saw, stack and sticker your lumber and let it dry before you resaw it. I've used the Arky jig, and the WM attachment, and I'll take the Arky every time. YMMV ;)
Too many irons in the fire

Klicker

4x4 Ta ta mau gche is about as close as I can get.
Barbender I have not seen or used a Akry only saw a photo of one.
2006 LT 40 HD

Lawg Dawg

 

 



 

I've made and installed bunches of it.  SYP works pretty good.  This was an old sharecropper home I restored.
2018  LT 40 Wide 999cc, 2019 t595 Bobcat track loader,
John Deere 4000, 2016 F150, Husky 268, 394xp, Shindiawa 591, 2 Railroad jacks, and a comealong. Woodmaster Planer, and a Skilsaw, bunch of Phillips head screwdrivers, and a pair of pliers!

100,000 bf club member
Pro Sawyer Network

Thank You Sponsors!