O.K. Lets Talk Bark.....

[Percy]

Not the doggie kind either, Im talkin tree bark. Whats the worst kind you have to deal with?? For me its WRC(Western Red Cedar). Its actually pretty cool stuff if you like basket weaving...OR...wrappin WM debarker motorshafts till the thing is smokin. How about getting caught up in the feed works, oh yeah, that one will make a righteous man use words not fit for human coniption. Its also great for concealin fist sized rocks, course that only happens when ya got a new blade on. If you cut a WRC log that was felled in the fall or winter and it aint too old, yer ok...but.....fresh felled springtime wood is comming offa the tree fairly easily. The worst is the stuff thats been dead for a year or so, the stuff leaps offa the log and gets under the cant so as to screw up your last board oooorrrrrr, mess up a high dollar beam cause I was too lazy to check for BARK under the cant. The chain turner on the LT70 can remove-yalate the stuff in sheets makin for production slowdowns yadda yadda. On the upside, a nice WRC log is about the most beauitifull wood I ever seen come offa my mill....but that DANG bark, I think I should send some to *insert undesirable person of your choice here* ;D ;D ;D
I feel better now :D :D

[Bibbyman]

We don't have western red cedar but the bark on eastern red cedar will also tangle up in a debarker - so we don't use it.  On the other hand,  cedar don't tend to pick up dirt and rocks like other woods so it's no big problem.  But the bark of ERC also clogs up the dust chute.  About every other log takes a second to pull the bird's nest out of the chute.

Bark that realy gives us problems comes from the walnut logs.  It's deep and soft and picks up a lot of rocks, dirt and grit.  Then about 6 months out of the year it tends to "slip".  Our log yard is paved in walnut bark.  We always have a collection of big chunks on our log deck and under the mill.  We often have to pull off a chunk that has started to come loose and gets wound around the log getting in the way of turning it or gets between the cant and bed rails.

[Jeff]

Basswood.  If you have a rotary debarker, and cut basswood, eventually you will have a fire.  The bark comes off like binder twine and wraps up on the cutter head. Only takes a few moments for friction to ignite it.  We NEVER cut basswood in the last 2 or 3 hours of the day due to this.

Aspen during slippin season is not any fun as well. It'll shoot right out of its bark and leave a culvert. It comes off in big slabs on the debarker, plugging up the machine and the conveyors. Its just a plain mess.

[Tom]

  Red Cypress Bark is a pain in the neck.   It is loose and stringy and coversup knots, limbs, obstacles, hides rocks, tangles in the mill and is frustrating enough to make a Primitive Baptist preacher sing gangster rap.   I have lost several blades due to losing track of the dogs under the bark.  A sharp hatchet is handy to try to keep it cut back.

[Minnesota_boy]

Percy,
You just save yourself the headache and send the red cedar to me.  I'll find some way to deal with it.  ;D 8) 8)

The past two days I've been sawing aspen.  Not your ordinary fresh cut stuff, no sirree.  Not even last spring's cutting.  This stuff has been in a pile for 3 years!  It has a little end checking, like toadstools growing out 2" and almost that much on the sides.  I'll have a picture for you one of these days.

I'm cutting 3 sides to make logs for a cabin.  Should only take about 4 more good days.  Customer claimed there were 26 cords in the pile.

The bark slips on this stuff too.  The outside boards sometimes fall apart, but the center of the logs seem solid enough.  I think he will like the job I'm doing.  Takes a lot of sawing to dull the blade and even dull it cuts straight.  It just tears the fibers a bit when it gets dull.

[Ianab]

Seems to be cedars are the favourite.  :D

Normally the swingblade chews thru bark and dirt with no problem but I've found Port Orford Cedar to be the toughest  :. On a decent sized log (30") it's at least 2" thick and similar to a pot scourer to cut thru  >:( . Thick pine or cypress bark is no worries, but that stringy stuff even slows down a swinger.

Ian

[Ron Wenrich]

Hickory.  Not sure if its mockernut or pignut, but that stuff comes off in strips and wraps around the debarker head.  Debarker operator sometimes doesn't get too much off, since it takes longer to peel.  So, he passes the dirt on.  If a log is "debarked" and you can see the bark pattern, there's still dirt there.

The worst thing for trapped dirt is rotten knots and splits.  Loggers will trap dirt and rocks in those things and then you find little surprises every once in awhile.  Pays to have good loggers.

[Don P]

Basswood.  If you have a rotary debarker, and cut basswood, eventually you will have a fire.  The bark comes off like binder twine and wraps up on the cutter head. Only takes a few moments for friction to ignite it.  We NEVER cut basswood in the last 2 or 3 hours of the day due to this.

My wife got home from her master gardner class last nite and had an interesting story. Basswood was known in earlier times as Bastwood. Bast fiber is that inner bark layer of some plants that can be used to make rope, rough fabric and twine.

[Frank_Pender]

For me it is Western Red Cedar and Sequoia and Cottonwood.  I like to chip the scraps and those three get burned in the Taylor or in the burn pile.