Any Slabbing Tips Before I Keep Going??

[RayRayYJ]

Hi all,

New to milling and woodworking in general, but I had a lot of big timber come down in a wind storm and it seemed awful to let it go to firewood. I'm using an Alaskan Mill with a 60" Cannon bar, Woodland Pro ripping chain all on a Stihl 076.

So far I've slabbed out some nice Red Cedar in 12' length, 3.5" thick and ranging from 36-44" wide, as well as some Doug Fir that is 11' long, 3.5" thick, 36-51" wide. I have a section of Doug Fir that is 52" wide tapered down to 46" in a 22' length...so I want to make sure I'm not missing something before I go to cut that one.

Slabs are stickered, stacked and air drying under cover with ends sealed with latex paint (2 coats). Once they are moved to their final place I'm banding around the whole pile. I've attempted to find kilns that will work with me as I'd like to do something with the slabs sooner than later...but no luck so far.

I'm milling off heart center.

So I guess my question is this - Any advice/corrections/tips for what I've done so far? Any tips on drying or kiln possibilities in British Columbia?

Here are some shots:

Cedar -

Fir -

Cedar -

Thanks in advance for any help/tips/etc.

[Chuck White]

Welcome to the Forestry Forum, RayRayY!

[RayRayYJ]

Thanks Chuck, much appreciated!

[Brad_bb]

I'm not sure what "off heart center means"? 

Try to adjust the center of the heart to be the same height from your reference guide.  Some logs you can't get perfect if the tree is crooked and the heart wanders, but do the best you can to get the best slabs.  My tip is that you don't want any of the pith in a slab.  I often try to stay at least and inch off of the center of the heart on each side.  So basically that means you have a 2 inch slab with the heart in the center that is junk.  You can take that slab and cut the heart out and end up with two narrower boards.  A slab with the pith will typically check badly.  cutting off the outside boards will usually save them.  Leave them in the heart slab while drying and the checks can propagate into them.

Now if your trying to get a beam, you want to center the heart in the beam.  A beam with boxed heart will end up better since it's symmetric.

Also, leave enough thickness that you can go back and plane or sand after drying to get the piece flat and straight.

Also, Always seal the end grain with Anchorseal.

Also, keep a wisk broom on hand to sweep the dust off the slabs.  Wet dust can help mold to grow in certain conditions and cause staining. 

Also, Stack and sticker your slabs with a lot of weight on them if you can. 

Lastly, keep them out of the sun.  Don't even let them sit in the sun for a few hours.  Get them in the shade in a ventilated place.

[Seavee]

Welcome to the forum

[Magicman]

Welcome to the Forestry Forum, RayRayYJ.   8)

[Upper]

Welcome Ray Ray if I may...You know an Olie Olson, up your way?........Upper

[Dave H.]

wow! nice slabs! how do you like running the" old iron"(stihl 76)

[sandsawmill14]

welcome to the ff   8) nice looking wood

[Seaman]

Welcome RayRay, use Anchor Seal instead of paint. Latex paint breaths, which is what you do not want .

[RayRayYJ]

Thanks everyone!

Appreciate all the info Brad. By 'off heart center' I mean I'm drawing a line on each end of the tree at heart center and setting up my first cut to run off those lines equally on both ends. So far I've included the heart in a few slabs, I'll take your advice and cut out the 2" slab of heart and get the sides off. I've got the Will Malloff book and just going off of what he says.

Seaman - thanks for the heads up, I'll see if I can grab a bucket of anchorseal around here. I was ordering a ton from the US but the dollar is such junk right now I don't dare import anything!!

Dave H - I love my 076...especially since it was free! Friend of a friend had it sitting in his garage for 15 years and had no use for it, so I rebuilt the carb, added new fuel lines and filter, new air filter and she runs great. I think the 60" bar is about as much as I can run, but so far no problems pulling all 172 drive links. I'll let you know how it runs when I do the big 52" wide fir. Think my only complaint so far is having to gas up mid slab and the tank cap pointing in the wrong direction...will have to fab something up as I'm doing that big fir in 22' lengths, will take a couple tanks a slab.

Upper - nope, don't know an Olie Olson, he in Chilliwack?

Thanks again all.

Ray