The Forestry Forum
General Forestry => Forestry and Logging => Topic started by: FayettesFinest on November 18, 2014, 01:40:35 AM
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As some of you know, I'm new to this site and I'm a complete rookie at all this stuff. Started selling firewood and had a guy contact us for some logs to use in the construction of his house. He wants them for banisters and trim work. He needs (3) 8 footers, (1) 16 footer and 3 smaller logs. My question is, what kind should I go for? I'm not necessarily a "woodsman" and I'm terrible at identifying trees. I don't work with wood, either, so I don't know what would look nice in a home. I'm in the woods of SW Pennsylvania, if that gives anyone an idea of what kind of trees I should go for. I was thinking cherry, they don't look bad, easy to find standing straight and are pretty abundant around here. I'm hoping that you more knowledgable guys can help me out here. Thanks for bailing the rookie out once again!
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Got any sort of cedar locally? Because it's fast drying and more stable than most hardwoods it's usually a good choice for "log furniture" sort of applications. Hardwood like cherry will take years to dry in log form and will be moving and splitting the whole time. You can usually strip off the bark and be left with a cool natural looking log.
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Doesn't the buyer know what kind of trees he wants?
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You should be able to find:
Cherry nice if you get straight grain.
Yellow poplar, also called Tulip poplar, light color , easy to work
takes stain and paint.
Red oak is easy to find. Harder to work with.
White oak harder to get. Best for wear, hard to work.
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walnut is about the easiest working and stable