Whatcha Sawin' ???

[Busysawyer]

Tree hack, I cut all shapes and sizes. I just generally post the bigger ones when I get them on my mill. The novelty of sawing logs at or near the mills capacity wore of quickly. I end up spending too much time fiddling with log position. The other downside is handling the weight of the wide boards coming off the mill and feeding them to the edger. I quartersawed that log into 8/4 and the wider boards were pretty hard to handle. Ended up with a nice pile of quartersaw boards though. 

 

 

[Magicman]

Yes Sir-reeee, you surely did.  8)

[Crossroads]

 ERT nice indeed

[Treehack]

Had a 30" elm log to mill.  Only 7' but it is a heavy sucker.  When I was in Georgia a wise man told me that elm should be quarter sawn due to the spiral grain.  I decided this was as good a reason as any to give the Yellowhammer patented RRQS method a try to see how difficult it is for those of us who are hydraulicly challenged.  



 
Big fella locked and loaded.



 
Log had a bit of a flare so I broke out my non-hydraulic redneck toeboard to level for the first cut.



 
First face open, let the fun begin.



 
First challenge, notice the size of the log in relation to the height of the log stops.  Couldn't turn this bad boy with cant hook because the up and over force caused the log stops to dig into the log enough to make it impossible.  Broke out my home made claw(not pretty, but works good) and hooked it up to the mill's winch and was able to spin it with no issues.



 
Second face opened and I was able to get some nice flat sawn boards while opening this face.  We'll see how they dry, but very nice grain pattern.



 

 

 
More rolling and gun barreling.  I was targeting a couple 2" book matched live edge slabs from the center that will become a table top for my oldest daughter so had to leave a face uncut.



 
Split the log in the prescribed location above pith to start retrieving the slabs.  Next challenge, no loading arms.  We don't need no stinkin' loading arms, just push that top over the edge to the ground.  Put up a couple of ramps just to make less of a thump and to make sure it didn't hit and come back at the mill.  This log has been down a couple of years, notice the pretty deep checking.



 
Got my book matched live edge slabs and an extra just for good measure.  I'll have to do some repair work on the checking after these get dry to make the table top.  You don't get any ray fleck from elm, but the quarter sawing leaves some very nice straight tight graining.



 
Now that I got my slabs, time to start the rolling and quarter sawing.



 
Without having to chase fleck, I didn't have to roll as many times as I had originally anticipated.  I just watched the grain and if it looked like it was starting to spread out I figured that was when I should roll a little.  Seemed to work pretty well.  Got some nice quarter sawn boards some of which were over 10" after edging.



 
Top piece back on mill ready for some more rolling and quarter sawing.  Was certainly easier to push the top piece off than it was to get it back up the loading ramps since it no longer rolled properly :D



 
Here is a pic showing the difference between the quarter sawn(left) and flat sawn(right) grains.  Final tally was 250 bf.  Thanks to WDH for the advice to quarter saw.  Thanks to Yellowhammer for inventing this technique, you da man.  All in all, RRQS technique was a good piece of work on a manual mill, but worth it.  Would be quite a bit easier if you have some support equipment to help with initial rolling of the full log when gun barreling and loading the top half back onto the mill.  I will definitely use this again for those logs that dictate it.  

[Magicman]

Nice sawing and a good learning experience.  

The flat sawn pictures fooled me.  I would have said Sassafras or Ash.  ???

[WDH]

Sap sassafras :D.

Great job with the RRQSing.

[DPatton]

Treehack,

That elm had more shake than a chiuahuah full of peach pits!

[SawyerTed]

The elm is pretty wood.  I understand the reason for quarter sawing but the flat sawn is more impressive to me.

This is not a criticism but a question for my own understanding.  Is the checking in Treehack's elm, ring/wind shake or is it checking?  Or is it impossible to differentiate unless you cut the log and observe from the initial harvest of the log?

From my understanding of shake, it is a splitting that follows a growth ring in the tree. The shake is a defect in the log.   Checking, as I understand it, is splitting as a result of drying which can occur either in a log or in lumber.

[paul case]

I think his log has shake as it follows the rings. WDH said that shake is generally a sick tree, bacterial infection or something like that. Not caused by wind. If I remember right. 

End checking usually is a crack that goes from the pith toward the outside of the log and it may split it in many directions. I have seen a lot of post oak that checks in 3 or 4 almost equal pieces.  Shake logs make marginal lumber at best or fall apart lumber at worst. I usually discount logs with shake pretty heavy when scaling and buying them. Ties must not have shake.

My opinion. 

PC

[Treehack]

Glad to be learning about this.  This log was a storm tree on our family property.  It fell across one of our trails through the timber, so we initially cut out the 12' section from middle to clear the trail.  That section did not appear to have the cracking.  I milled that section for 8x8 posts and some side lumber about a year ago.  This log was the butt end and I just got back to it now, so it sat where it fell for over a year.  The end closest to the camera was the base, so looks like the cracking may have been in just the lower part of the tree.  Is that consistent with shake?  I will be the one making the table from part of this lumber, so I should be able to work around or repair the cracking.  I'm heading up to our place again next weekend, so I will see if any of the other timbers have any cracking.

[paul case]

In my area, Sycamore and Elm seem to be prone to shake, but I have seen it in oaks and hickory too. When you see that ''broken'' annual ring on both ends of the log much of the lumber in it will fall apart when sawn. Also the butt logs seem to be more prone to have shake.  Many times if there is one tree in the woods that has it many more around it will also have it. The longer a log sits around after it is cut the more pronounced shake will be. 

PC

[YellowHammer]

Very well done on the sawing!  I'm glad to see your success.

I get a lot of shaky sycamore and cherry.  One thing about the YHRRQS is that if not hunting for fleck, is can be done with fewer rotations and will put the shake perpendicular to the boards as opposed to embedded in normal flatsawing.  So if I have a big cherry with shake, I will QS it, with the intention of ripping the crack of the wide, shaky boards into narrower stock later, after its dried.  Its a useful way to save logs that are otherwise problematic.

[SawyerTed]

Thanks for helping me with my understanding of shake.  I've been on a self directed study of shake, checks and splits in logs and lumber since posing my question regarding the shake in Treehack's elm log.

Paul Case mentioned this previously.  Wind shake (which I called it) implies wind damage which is inaccurate as shake is most often caused by a bacterial infection in the tree that weakens the wood.  Wind may worsen the subsequent separation between the growth rings as does drying. Most of my reading on this is from articles written in part or totally by Dr. Gene Wengert.

[Lawg Dawg]

Some pine boards and 8x8x12' cedar posts



 

[Magicman]

That is a nice/neat whack.

Rain has postponed my sawing.  Maybe we can get it done toward the end of the week because next week is already booked.

[Stephen1]

 

 I am working in my yard for a bit sawing my own pine and red oak. I a going to start a link on it. I am just practising on the posting of pictures and I finally figured out a way with the Iphone and Mac. 


 

 

 

[Magicman]

Looking good right here.  You have a nice whack of logs to saw. 8)

[Busysawyer]

Today was gather free log day. Picked up a monster elm that's too big for me to saw. Not really sure why I wanted it but I saw the pics and free add and had to have it. Also picked up a couple a walnut freebies from someone else. That elm was the first log my bobcat wouldn't lift for me. It's a brute of a log. 

 

 

 

 

 

 

[dustintheblood]

See you tried to ship it by FedEx, but I'm thinking they sayd nope

[Magicman]

That doty Elm butt tells the story of why it had to come down.  :-\

[DPatton]

Cut up a nice little tree service maple log last night just for fun. It was a silver maple and I find the odor from sawing maple is quite different, I'm not sure how to describe it. Anyway below is a sample of some of the 10/4 slabs it produced. FYI Cwimer973 I didn't center the pith ;D ;D ;D.



W

It turned out some pretty slabs that I will find a use for someday. I really like the bookmatched pair of slabs below.





The chainsaw cuts at the crotch portion has got me wondering what's the best way to buck a log with a crotch for optimum use? Seems like keeping the legs of the "Y" longer and cut more square with the main log would produce more options then the short angled cuts that were on this log.

[Darrel]

Busysawyer, quarter that log with that big chain saw and do the YHRRQS thing or if you don't want to QS it at least it will be small enough for your mill. 

[mike_belben]

The sugars decomposing in soft maple smells like cider going hard to me.

[loganworks2]

DPatton those bookmatch slabs look fantastic. Cut yourself a matching slab of cherry and scribe to infill the center area and you will have one extreamly beautiful table top when finished. 

[SawyerTed]

Sawing barn framing - 2x6s are in the cut list.  And I quote my customer, "2x6s and some boards".  

He's going to move the 2x6s and "boards" this evening after work.  That's why they are dead stacked 

He might have let his logs lay past their prime.