Question ? sawing multiple posts from log .

[WV_hillbilly]

  I may be needing to saw out a sawshed soon. I was wondering if it is possible to cut multiple 8x8 post from a single log and still endup with something reasonably straight  . I got   4   30"- 34" x 12' red oak logs for the hauling them away .  I'm sure there was an old post about this but I can't find it  or it might have been about railroad ties .  

Thanks Hillbilly

[spencerhenry]

i mill multiple pieces all the time. but all i mill is dry logs. if they are wet, mill them and inch big each dimension, let them dry (warp) and then resaw them

[Fla._Deadheader]

  Check in the Timber Framing section. I think Jim Rogers did a thread on multiple posts from a log.

  We do it all the time. Course, we use OLD logs that don't have much stress.

[EZ]

Might want to save them bigger free logs and wait for some smaller ones to make post. I get more free small logs than the bigger ones.
EZ

[WV_hillbilly]

  I would be cutting logs that have been down a while.   2 of them have been down for 2 years  and the other 2 for over a year .  The sapwood still seems okay when I took a chainsaw to it . Even if I had to scrap the sapwood I think there is still alot of usable wood in them 4 sticks . I ' ll check out the other thread  in the timber framing section .

[DR Buck]

WV Hillbilly,

8x8's are awful big.  You must be building a HUMONGOUS saw shed.   When I "remodeled" my barn last month to convert it into a mill shed I cut 6x6's from ceder for my posts.  That way I don't need to worry about the ground contact of the posts.   I used hickory 2x10's for the beam support where my 18ft opening in the wall went to bring in the logs.

[WV_hillbilly]

  DR Buck

   I suppose 8x8 are a little big but I tend to overbuild things . Come to think of it the last pole barn I looked at used 6x6 treated  for the posts and it was 40'x60'.

 EZ I don't know about waiting  cause I got the itch . Something must have happened up at Craig's a few weeks ago . I can't explain it .

[Minnesota_boy]

Go measure the posts in that pole shed.  Around here they are only 5 X 6.  It doesn't seem to matter the size the shed they are building, the posts are 5 X 6.

[chet]

Hillbilly,
 Are you planning on sinking that red oak in the ground? Or are you using them as columns over concrete. The saw shed I just built I used 4x6's made by sandwiching  2x6's, treated underground and nontreated for the above ground portion.

Side note:  ;)
 I cut out a timber frame sauna for some folks this fall, we cut the posts 8x8. The sauna was to be 10x12. They wanted to make sure it was strong enough, seeing as how the wood wasn't coming from a lumber yard.  :D  :D  :D

[Fla._Deadheader]

 : : :D :D :D :D :D

[Stump Jumper]

WV Hillbilly
         I built my 32'x 48'x10' tall pollbarn with 4x6 red oak posts 14 & 16 footers tarred them up good & put them in the ground. I do recommend over sizing the post & resizing after drying a bit. good luck

[chet]

stump_jumper,
How long have them posts been in the ground, and what type of soil are they in? Have you dug down and checked how they are doing?

[WV_hillbilly]

  Chet    I plan on putting them on concrete  .  I think I'm going to have to look into this a little more before I cut anything . I  think i'm still going to use the red oak as the price is right I just might not have to cut them as heavy as I was thinking . I bet thet is real impressive sauna house with those 8x8's  framing .

 So if I cut the posts 4x6 do I still have to box the heart or can I cut multples out of one log  like the 3,6,9,12 , middle diagram in the timber frame section .
 .

[chet]

WV_hillbilly,
You might want to consider the built up posts. They can be assembled from any length material to any length post you want. And in most cases they will be allot stronger. You also don't have to worry about bowing and twisting, like the solid timbers.

[Stump Jumper]

Chet

I set the posts in 95 didn't get the roof completed until 96 the post are in sand last year I dug down near a corner post to bury my electricity it was about 2 1/2 ft deep and that post was doing fine.

WV Hillbilly

Go ahead and cut multiples cut them oversize up to about 1 1/2 inches I did this method with all of my post and some of them 16 feet long bowed as much as 3 inches.  But I still made use of them post by bolting 2 together and pulling the warp out of it and using them as corner post and doorway post.

[WV_hillbilly]

  Chet    How did you make up your posts  ? Did you us lag bolts or just nail the pith out of em ?

[chet]

Ceramic screws above ground, and stainless screws below ground.

[DanG]

Here's what I'd be doing. What I'd be doing is sawing that Red Oak up for inventory, then find me some 8 1/2 to 9" pine to saw 4x6's for the shed posts. That's what I'd be doing.

[WH_Conley]

I have done it both ways and a boxed heart seems to always do better, second choice would be to laminate 2x. I always had more bend and twist out of multiples, you can work with it but I prefer the easy way out. Just my 2 pennies.

[WV_hillbilly]

  DanG I was figurin that with the logs being cut so long ago that the  color might be off or stained .  around here we don't have that many pines anyway . Up where Mtn Jack lives they have a fair amount of spruce though . He's about an Hour north of me .

 How's about using Tulip Poplar ? I have quite a few of them on my property . Some of them pretty large  , in the 30 " range . The only problem with them is that I would have to cut them down were as the oaks will bhe here next week .with as warm as the weather is getting I might not be able to cut them down for a couple of weeks .

[Norm]

The metal sheds around here are built with 2X6's. They stagger stack em three thick with treated in the ground like Chet has done. To put them together they nail the pith out of em using stainless nails in the treated part. Around here they use SYP in the metal sheds that are company built. If I remember right OWW used tuilip poplar in his shed. Might ask him how it worked out.

[woodmills1]

I lived in Summers County W Va. for a year back in the middle 70's and if the Tulip Poplar (real poplar) you have is anything like what I saw and cut you should make grade lumber from them.  It is the best for trim and cabinet work that will be painted when finished, nice stuff.  As for the oak cut it and use it for floors, trim, or cabinets that will be stained or clear finished.

No for the posts.  Can you find any locust?  It was very abundant where I lived, and I think it is the best as you can put it right into the ground or have ground/concrete contact and weather exposure and your grand kids will still enjoy it.  I wish we had more of it up here in NH.  Don't worry about green posts as they shrink very little in length.

[WV_hillbilly]

  Woodmills most of the locust around here is only straight enough  to make fence post length logs . I 'll look a litttle harder but I don't think Ihave enough to do anything with . And yes I have the real poplar . I took one down ealier this year and got 3 - 12 '  and 1 - 8'  log out of it .

[Mtnjack]

Hillbilly you know your wood is here spruce cherry or what ever, along with the mill. You know your welcome to use it whenever. See you soon as were putting the last of the new roof on the shed thur.  Mtn Jack

[Brad_S.]

Hillbilly,

I often cut multiple posts from a single log. You can usually bet that they will seperate as you make the splitting cut, so I usually cut about about 2 inches or more oversize, then true up each piece after it has done all its moving. For example, you originally mentioned 8x8. I would therefor square the cant to 18x18, then cut that to give me 4) 9x9's, then put each of those back on and square to 8x8, sawing the bow out of them. The tricky part is whether 1" extra is enough. Sometimes the log doesn't move and you end up triming for nothing, other times it bows severly and you didn't leave enough to true up again. Sometimes you can predict how tensioned the log is by what the jacket boards do while you're squaring the cant. In my experience, once you release the tension and square up again, the cant/beam will usually stay pretty true.
My 2 cents worth.