Sawing Tammarack

[tiogajoe]

I've been sawing some Tamarack logs for building my saw shed.  I'm amazed at the amount of sap that comes out of the log?  It gums up the blade pretty fast and they seem to dull fairly quick.  Is this normal? I'm using a Kasco 4 degree blades on an Ez Jr. I've been cleaning the blade with mineral spirits between cuts.  I cut several 14" wide boards last evening along with some battens. Seems I should get more than one log out of a blade? I did read that Tamarack has a lot of silica in it?

[Stephen1]

It is the only wood, besides some old southern yellow pine reclaimed beams that I had use diesel while I was sawing to keep the blades clean. 14" is wide board to have a dirty blade, keep it clean while your sawing, not just between cuts. The pitch build up will give you wavey cuts, making you think the blade is dull. You 'might' get a few more cuts with the blade clean.  

[millwright]

Tough cutting stuff, because of all the sap. I use a diesel fuel dropper when sawing.  Hint: it cuts way better in the winter when it is frozen

[Chuck White]

I have cut quite a lot of Tamarack, I've only ever used WM 10°Double-Hard blades and plenty of lube/cleaner.

My lube/cleaner is 5 gal water, 1 cup of dish soap, 1/2 cup of Pinesol!

[Crossroads]

I have a couple tamarack logs sitting in front of the mill right now. The last ones I milled were fresh off the stump and had sap oozing out. These 2 logs have been down for a few months and I'm hoping they won't be so bad. 

[randy d]

I have cut a lot of Tamarack  and like Chuck White has said 10 degree WoodMizer blade  a good dose of dish soap and pine sol does the job for me

[Satamax]

Well, i cut larch, pretty much the same stuff.

What works well, diesel as lube. Or diesel/washing up liquid/water. And every three or four logs, cutting a few ash planks does the job too.

I forgot, you have nowhere near enough of an angle. 


12° to 18° is recommended for larch over here. 

[tiogajoe]

Here's a picture of the saw shed I've been working on.

 

[John Bartley]

I have cut a bit of Tamarack up here as we have lots of it and it makes great woodworking material.  When dry it's heavy, hard like Ash and even has a grain similar to Ash.

I prefer to cut the trees in winter when they're frozen hard, then let them sit until summer to mill.  That way they have much, much less sap in them. I've had zero troubles by doing that.  Any that I've cut the tree in spring or summer have been a lot messier to mill.

[barbender]

I like tamarack, it's a very underutilized wood. It has some quirks- you have to weed out logs that have stress. One easy one is large flares on butt logs. Those tend to warp about the same amount as the sweep of the flare when you saw through them. The lumber also shouldn't be dried as other softwoods can be, it tends to crack if you do. Also, it can give some wicked slivers!

[Bruno of NH]

Should it be dried slow?
Or build with it green like we do with eastern hemlock in New England. 
Our hemlock will give you a good sliver.
It gets me and they get infected. 
The reason I ask this is 
I'm going to log some and try to mill it.

[barbender]

Bruno, you could certainly build green with it. Some say it gets hard to drive a nail into after it dries.

[SwampDonkey]

It's all too twisty around here. I cut some fresh for firewood and the Collins just bounced off. :D Once I made headway with some saw cuts on the ends it was still fighting me. Then the classic spiral of the grain along the splits showed up. :D I planted this stuff for firewood, better than willows and alders. ;)

[Chuck White]

Going back somewhere around 15 years, I redecked my 6x12 utility trailer with Tamarack, it's still "good", but showing signs of deterioration!  I brushed it down a couple of times with used motor oil!

Need to redeck it within the next 2 years!

[barbender]

Like SD says, it can have some severely twisted grain. Those ones work good in the outdoor boiler😊

[John Bartley]

I don't think I've ever seen a tamarack with twisted grain .... Elm? yup, tamarack .. nope.  Doesn't mean it doesn't happen elsewhere.

Hard?  Oh yeah.  If you're going to build with it .... do it green....as in - right off the mill.

Dried?  Machines like ash, looks like Ash, will ebonise with rusty water like Oak.

cheers

[SwampDonkey]

Come on down to NB and I'll show ya all kinds of spiral grained tamarack. :D

[curved-wood]

Come on down to NB and I'll show ya all kinds of spiral grained tamarack. :D

Well well I think I am going to your place and check !!! I expect to travel in NB in July in my camping van. I am a very serious with wood,  so I might stay a couple of day  :D :D

[barbender]

I have had tamarack on the mill where the grain was twisted so badly you  couldn't saw a 2x4 because the log would lift off of the bed as you were sawing through it😳 That stuff came from a stand that grew very slowly. Logs that came from better sites where the trees grew faster and had wide growth rings seem to provide better lumber, in my experience.

[Satamax]

Like SD says, it can have some severely twisted grain. Those ones work good in the outdoor boiler😊

So far, i'm lucky, i only had one twisty log. In two years. Tho, i've seen a fair bit of twisted ones. 
Over here, they say, if it's twisting to the right, you can cut it. If it's to the left, just good for firewood. 
After, it's remote in the alps. Not hard science. 

[SwampDonkey]

So far, i'm lucky, i only had one twisty log. In two years. Tho, i've seen a fair bit of twisted ones.

Your sawing European larch, not eastern North American larch. ;) And east is east of the Rockies, about 9/10 of Canada. :D

[SwampDonkey]

Read this short brochure from the Forest Products Lab. There is a one liner in there that simply states "spiral grain is common". If you blink and lack coffee you can miss it. :D

USDA doc on Tamarack


This seemed to be a favorite tree of Dr. Powel, a UNB dendro professor. Forestry Canada has had many provenance trials with tamarack and other larches here in the Maritimes. I measured a lot of tamarack trees when working one summer with Dr. Dale Simpson and Dr. Yill Sung Park, forest geneticists and members of the Tree Improvement Council at Forestry Canada. Mainly worked in PEI and NS.

[tiogajoe]

Thanks for all the comments.  The logs I've used so far have produced very nice wood.  I spoke with Rich from cutter's edge about ordering some more blades....I mentioned the pitch build up on the blades.  He suggested spraying the bottom of the blade with diesel between cuts.  Got myself a small spray bottle and sprayed the bottom of the blade.  It made a big difference in pitch build up. 8) I'm still going to wait till winter to saw the rest like others have said.