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Hickory Timbers?

Started by Don P, May 15, 2017, 08:08:46 PM

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Don P

I'm working on a 2 crib log barn restoration that has grown considerably in scope. We've been slabbing 2 faces on logs and leaving the top and bottom live edged. We are making them 9" thick which is the average thickness of the hewn originals. The bottom 4 courses are white oak, all being replaced. From there up for the next 12 courses we have been sawing poplar logs but I'm hitting the woods pretty hard and I'm seeing lots of nice shagbark and mockernut trees in the right size range. I know this is not traditional but I think that was because of the difficulty in working in hickory. This is all being done with power tools so that is not an issue. I don't believe the durability is any different than poplar, heaven knows poplar in a slab sided timber is going to open a good check. I think the powderpost beetles will be less interested in the hickory. We'll be heading back in to the "store" tomorrow. Has anyone used hickory timbers or have comments?

WDH

I believe that the PPB's actually prefer the ring porous hardwoods like hickory.  I know that they love pecan. 
Woodmizer LT40HDD35, John Deere 2155, Kubota M5-111, Kubota L2501, Nyle L53 Dehumidification Kiln, and a passion for all things with leafs, twigs, and bark.  hamsleyhardwood.com

Don P

Hmm, makes sense, there's one to factor in when we talk about it in the morning. We are borating but I'm not sure I want to put in a preferred species, I sort of feel like we're bringing in fresh food to an existing ongoing feast already.

ellmoe

   In Fla, hickory is a PPB magnet. I wouldn't try it here.
Thirty plus years in the sawmill/millwork business. A sore back and arthritic fingers to prove it!

nativewolf

I have some poplar in Northern VA.  You could cut several good beams but not til after june 17.  Not sure where you are located?
Liking Walnut

Don P

We're down in southwestern VA, I actually have about 2,000 acres to wander on so I'm certainly not depleting them that hard. Using the hickory was feeling like a win/win by using a lower value species and leaving more poplar but we nixed it this morning, I'll just go deeper into the mountains looking.
The timberframers did ask for a couple of 60' 10x12 plates if we can find them. We're doing a bunch of 30' stock but that will be interesting... to move as well!


WDH

Don't run over the chainsaw like I did   :-\.
Woodmizer LT40HDD35, John Deere 2155, Kubota M5-111, Kubota L2501, Nyle L53 Dehumidification Kiln, and a passion for all things with leafs, twigs, and bark.  hamsleyhardwood.com

nativewolf

Quote from: Don P on May 16, 2017, 10:45:51 PM
We're down in southwestern VA, I actually have about 2,000 acres to wander on so I'm certainly not depleting them that hard. Using the hickory was feeling like a win/win by using a lower value species and leaving more poplar but we nixed it this morning, I'll just go deeper into the mountains looking.
The timberframers did ask for a couple of 60' 10x12 plates if we can find them. We're doing a bunch of 30' stock but that will be interesting... to move as well!



2000 acres is about my goal, SW is pretty.  My folks retired to Emory.   Can't believe you have issues finding good poplar, I think I'd enjoy that forest.  Most of the places I look at these days have too much Poplar and not enough mast species. 

Hickory makes great flooring, guess you can save it for that.
Liking Walnut

nativewolf

Liking Walnut

nativewolf

Don- just seeing the 60' on there.  How will you mill it?  If you find that I'd like to see the picture.

Liking Walnut

Wudman

I'd stay away from the hickory unless you are treating it in some manner.  I had hickory cabinets in my last home.  The powder post beetles worked it over pretty good before we found them.  Hickory is not very rot resistant if it get wet repeatedly.

Wudman
"You may tear down statues and burn buildings but you can't kill the spirit of patriots and when they've had enough this madness will end."
Charlie Daniels
July 4, 2020 (2 days before his death)

Don P

Quote from: WDH on May 17, 2017, 07:11:20 AM
Don't run over the chainsaw like I did   :-\.

It can really ruin your day, or so I've heard  :'(

We'll mill it with the Alaskan mill the same way we are doing the 30' ones. We nail a string from end to end centered, on the side of the log. I have a 16' section of extension ladder.  We start at the butt end and using 2 pieces of plumbers strapping and some metal roof screws we set a level on the ladder and screw it to the log measuring the distance from the top edge of the ladder to the string (this is not the csm setting simply the reference height for the ladder) We shim and screw the ladder down near the ends and at the middle level and the same height above the string. I then measure down from the ladder top edge to the desired cut line and set the mill up to that distance. Since the mill gauges are set up for the throat opening and I'm shooting for the bottom of the bar I deduct 3/8" on the mill guage for this opening cut. We go down to the end of the ladder, unscrew, slide the ladder down and repeat. You could go for as long as you want. The second cut for the opposite face is set up like normal. There is also a torpedo level taped to one of the bars on the mill and we watch it while cutting. Hopefully that made some sense  :).

We are borating but decided not to use the hickory.

Don P

This is a shot after the first cut on a 30' log. We first centered a string along the side as a reference line then shimmed and leveled a ladder a uniform distance above the string. When we reached the end of the ladder we moved it down and repeated, shimming and leveling the ladder the same distance above the string. You could go pretty much any distance you want that way. These logs are 9" thick so after we finish the first cut we set the chainsaw mill to 9" and ride on the flattened surface, this pic is just prior to that cut.

Don P

downloaded a few pics of making a 34' 10x12 beam
First we ran a string centered down the side of the log and set up a scaffold plank on the log, moving it down the length once. This set up the first CSM slab and then we did a second pass 12" below


Then we snapped a reference line down the side and set the supports up square to the first cut to hold the walkboard. The supports could be shorter



This is what it looked like at the end of that cut, It came out good and square




Thr 4th cut released a good heavy timber 10x12 X 34'.

It's still in the woods, too wet to move right now. We sawed poplar lumber under my sawshed yesterday and cleared the deck. Heading out to our pile this morning to see if we can grab another trailerload and buy some drying time on the ground.


WDH

Hopefully it stays straight and square.  My hickory likes to walk. 
Woodmizer LT40HDD35, John Deere 2155, Kubota M5-111, Kubota L2501, Nyle L53 Dehumidification Kiln, and a passion for all things with leafs, twigs, and bark.  hamsleyhardwood.com

1938farmall

I moved a 53' ridge log for my shed by picking up one end of the log & rolling a small utility trailer under, then strapped the tongue to the log & picked up the other end with the 3pt.  just need room to make wide turns.
aka oldnorskie

samandothers

Thanks for pic of your beam creation.

Al_Smith

I don't know what it is a hickory but green it certainly draws the carpenter ants .Something is killing off the hickory around here .Not exactly sure what it is .

Don P

Whoops sorry for the confusion, I just kept talking about making the beams on this thread. We did nix the hickory, this one was a scarlet oak. No particular reason other than it was big enough, stronger than spec and got debarked during logging. The framers wanted poplar and we dropped one today that stands a good chance of making a 60'er which would work as a one piece top plate across the entire 2 crib barn, we'll know more as we work it up. Between the log cribs and side sheds there are 5 roof beams that length total although the bearing points/ potential splice points vary

We have talked about putting one end of this beam in the back of a truck and I'll pick up the other end with the loader and taking it out that way. We also have about 200' of cable on the winch on the loader and it is about that far out to the pasture in one direction so I could drag it out that way, but it'll get dirty if I do that.

Going back to hickory, the woods here are full of it and red maple and as I look at the next forest coming up that looks like what it'll be. I'm also in a conversation with some folks about affordable, nice, accessible small housing for older folks. I'm not opposed to exploring the use of those species in a frame.

Don P

We've gotten the 60' poplar sawn on 3 sides and out to the road today. Al will bring the skytrack over there in the morning and well pick it up, turn it 90 and set it centered on my trailer. I think it is strong enough at this size to make the trip like that. If it were weaker for that long length we had thought of bowstringing it or building a truss with this piece as the bottom chord.

This is a pic of the second scaffold move on the third side, that is a 24' scaffold plank so it took 3 moves to go the distance. That is poplar bark on the bottom foreground. We harvested three ~5x9' pieces from the lower end.

each piece is worth... $300


samandothers

The bark is worth that?

I am surprise the wood did not move with you.  Is that because of the scaffolding?

Magicman

That will be a beauty.  Heck, it already is.   8)
Knothole Sawmill, LLC     '98 Wood-Mizer LT40SuperHydraulic   WM Million BF Club Member   WM Pro Sawyer Network

It's Weird being the Same Age as Old People

Never allow your "need" to make money to exceed your "desire" to provide quality service.....The Magicman

nativewolf

Is that bark for siding?  Seems that the bark is a nice bit of gravy. 
Liking Walnut

Don P

It is something else, never tried anything like this before. "sure why not" gets me into more trouble  :D

We were just playing since the bark was slipping and it is easier to saw nekkid. The retail is $6-10 per sq ft with big sheets bringing the premium, I think at that size it is interior wall covering and the 18-24" long pieces are for siding. I don't know the wholesale buyers but I do see the occasional truck or trailer leaving here loaded. I think heading down to the Boone area.

The scaffold is just resting up there so provides no support. The learning curve has definitely been there on this. Across an old entrenched roadbed is not the best bearing for this thing. When we made the first cut we did put a couple of jacks under it. The second cut rides parallel to the first surface so those two were good cuts. While it was laying down with the flattened faces up and down I snapped a line for that third cut. We then rolled it upright and I set up the scaffold off of that line bearing on the 3 braces, the two "nice" ones and the far cobbled together in the woods one. I neglected to put the jack back under it for that cut and should have. The cuts wandered across the lines even in the 24' span about 3/8". Tolerable but could be better, supporting the long log better would have eliminated that.

As we drug it out of the woods across small pieces of logs it deflected maybe 3-4" at times but never seemed to be anywhere near in trouble. Just so nobody thinks this is adequate for a 60' clear span, in the final installation each end will be resting on a 20' log wall and there is an 18' drive through bay between the log cribs, so the beam is actually sized for that 18' clear span. The butt end is select structural, in the midspan area it is #1 and a the top end it drops to a #2. The single piece helps tie the building together. The landowner thinks he found us another tree, we'll try to check it out tomorrow. It looks like rain is moving back into the forcast so we'll try to get this one over to the jobsite in the morning and then either go for the next one or saw at my mill depending on the weather the rest of the week. I am going to tour part of a huge old estate on Wed. It was built in the '30's as the chestnuts were dying and is predominantly chestnut and its' bark, native stone, etc. Should be fun  8).

Magicman

It's fun on this end watching the progress.   ;)
Knothole Sawmill, LLC     '98 Wood-Mizer LT40SuperHydraulic   WM Million BF Club Member   WM Pro Sawyer Network

It's Weird being the Same Age as Old People

Never allow your "need" to make money to exceed your "desire" to provide quality service.....The Magicman

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