Whatcha Sawin' 2024 ??

[Magicman]

Tulip has to be one of my most favorite species to saw.  While I was typing that I was thinking; well what is my most favorite??  I certainly saw more SYP than anything so it's my "money" species and I love to saw Cypress.  I saw a lot of ERC, but it would never be a favorite.  The Oaks are OK and QS is nice but they are what they are.  Walnut & Cherry are specialty trees but not enough nor often enough.  I dislike sawing troublesome species such as Sycamore, Elm, Sweetgum, Hackberry, etc. that may not produce for the customer.

I have gone through them all and I'm back to.....Tulip. 

[TimW]

Dug up another White Oak tree that died from the heat last summer.  I thought it would be enough to finish decking the trailer deck, but it had some major rot and I need to dig up another one for 4 more deck boards.
 

[TimW]

A repeat customer wanted a 8 foot long mantel with massive 12 x12 live edge dimensions.  I took off a lot of one inch boards and edged 5 of them to 20 inches.
I didn't take a photo of the mantel, so I will get that tomorrow, as someone (Howard) might holler it didn't happen.
 

[TimW]

My first whole house customer wants to had a huge awning to his shop, so I cut 20 foot full size 2x10s today.
 

[Magicman]

Looking good Tim. 

If the White Oak is not heartwood, yes it will rot.

[WV Sawmiller]

Tim,

  Are the darker boards on your trailer just older cuts?

  Did your customer have you square up the back side of the mantel to fit against the wall? Did I real this right he wanted a 12" thick mantel??? I like a 3 to 4 inch thick mantel and try to make them at least 12" wide free of bark. If they turn the live edge sloping up the get a wider face on top. If they turn it down they get to see more of the live edge but have a narrower face on top. I cut most of my mantels 8' to 10' long even though often they only need about 6'. I tell them the extra is available for making corbels.

    One tip I learned washing watching Poston one day was to give them a thin trim cut off the mantle log to let them use to test various stains and finishes. I thought it was a good idea (even though he was from SC ).

Lynn,

  I did not see hickory or pecan listed in your wood favorites so I assume they are an "etc".

    I agree on the tulip poplar and I bet over half of what I was is tulip. I do drool when I see those nice straight STYP though.

[TimW]

Howard,
  All the 4 foot boards are new from two different trees, cut months apart.  Likewise, 4 of the 20 foot darker boards are new and 4 of the 20 foot darker boards are needing to be replaced.

This is the tree for the replacing the rest of the boards.  It died in last year's heat.  It had a severe lean directly into huge Water Oak.  I tried to dig it (and push it) so it would fall 90 degrees to the lean.  It worked, but only changing the direction of lean only 45 degrees.

Right into another huge Water Oak and the top forks straddled the Water Oak.  You can see how far up the trunk it was wedged from the missing bark.

From a 15x15 foot hole dug around the tree, I had to dig behind the root ball and pull it down out of the other tree.  I ended up with about a 30 x 15 foot hole after dragging the whole tree out of the standing tree.  I backfilled the hole as I dug out more room to drag it.

So Y'all up in the hills are not the only forks having problems fetchin trees off of your place.

 

[TimW]

The customer wanted a 12x12 mantel with live edge.  It finished up 11.5 with the live edge.  That is a neat idea providing wood sample to try different stains!

[TimW]

Looking good Tim. 

If the White Oak is not heartwood, yes it will rot.

It was odd as it was heartwood and near a knot with lots of soft wood tissue.  Some kind of fungus?
On one board at the side edge of the trailer, I took a draw knife and removed the soft tissue and used the board.  Functional, but kinda ugly.  Wouldn't have done that to a customer's board.

[Magicman]

Yup, stuff still happens which is why there are no hard fast rules.  I have some sapwood on my trailer that got a good dose of whatever oil was in the "discard" bucket.  Oil softens wood but it also may keep the moisture out and prolong trailer decking's life.  The heartwood really will not soak up the oil for the same reason that it sheds water.  

[WV Sawmiller]

Tim,

  What kind of wood did you use for the 12X12 mantel? I'm thinking if it is oak its gonna be real heavy!

    I remember one time I had a Black Cherry log with a lot of sweep and I cut at least 2 3" thick mantels out of it. I centered the curve down on my mill and used my rollers to level it up on both ends and sawed the back square to fit against the wall then I flipped it 90 degrees, put the square edge against the side supports and sawed parallel to the curve (Like big boomerangs). The mantels started at about 7-8 inches on each end and widened to 12" in the middle with the front live edge of course. I had a thin trim cut and one of my customers commented that it looked like an old cross-cut saw that went from narrow to wide on each end. I had a customer come by who had 2 fireplaces in his new home and he jumped on those curved mantels and bought both of them from me. It was a real different and real pretty way to use that piece of wood.

[beenthere]

WV
Why were you washing Poston? 

 One tip I learned washing Poston one day was to give them a thin trim

[WV Sawmiller]

BT,

   I guess I was working down wind of him.  Dang that spell check/auto-correct.

[Magicman]

Lynn,

  I did not see hickory or pecan listed in your wood favorites so I assume they are an "etc".

Yes, a very distant etc. 

[TimW]

WV
Why were you washing Poston? 

One tip I learned washing Poston one day was to give them a thin trim

I was gonna reply to this but forgot when I finished laughing.

[TimW]

Tim,

  What kind of wood did you use for the 12X12 mantel? I'm thinking if it is oak its gonna be real heavy!

    I remember one time I had a Black Cherry log with a lot of sweep and I cut at least 2 3" thick mantels out of it. I centered the curve down on my mill and used my rollers to level it up on both ends and sawed the back square to fit against the wall then I flipped it 90 degrees, put the square edge against the side supports and sawed parallel to the curve (Like big boomerangs). The mantels started at about 7-8 inches on each end and widened to 12" in the middle with the front live edge of course. I had a thin trim cut and one of my customers commented that it looked like an old cross-cut saw that went from narrow to wide on each end. I had a customer come by who had 2 fireplaces in his new home and he jumped on those curved mantels and bought both of them from me. It was a real different and real pretty way to use that piece of wood.

How about a photo of those curved mantels?
I will give you a hint.  It is on the left in the photo...........

[WV Sawmiller]

   I'm guessing pine from what I see.

   I could not find a picture of the curved mantels. I probably never took one of them. They are easy to make if you come across the right piece of wood.

[WV Sawmiller]

Tim,

    (Only for you) I walked out to the barn and pulled a similar cherry mantel out of stock to the 2 I talked about earlier. This one is 4" thick instead of 3" and is still rough (no sanding or finish). It is about 14-15 inches wide at the center and 10" or so at each end. This one has some character (Splitting) but will make someone a beautiful mantel with very little work. It probably weighs around 200 lbs or so.

   The back has been sawed square to fit against the wall. It looks to be about 10' long but I did not measure it. I really need to do a better job of marketing these I need to run a special ad or Craigslist and start taking a sample with me to my flea market shows to let people know they are available.

[TimW]

Pine....hit a pig win a prize.  You win!  The mantel is huge. 

I took some photos outside with my phone, but I don't know how to resize them.  I will have to take more with my Kodak camera.
 
 

[TimW]

Lynn,
      I cut the White Oak open and got 6 more boards for the trailer deck.  Here is the majority of the defects in the heart.  It is intermittent where ERC has a chimney of defects or decay.

I cut all the sapwood into firewood for my daughter.  Forklift pallet with sideboards for a truck ride.  This makes two pallets ready to go for a ride.
 

[Magicman]

Depending upon the use, defects such as that are not a problem with trailer decking, or for me, bridge decking. 

[WV Sawmiller]

  I would not want Holy WO on my trailer but agree it might work fine for bridge timbers if it is thick enough.

    After we had been here a few years my bridge wore out and I bought 27 2"X8"X12' WO boards from a local mill. My wife drover her Ford half toon P/U over to get them. When she got in the truck she told the folks there "My truck drives funny now." They looked and said "Yeah, that happens when the front wheels are off the ground." They unloaded half and she made 2 slow trips down the mountain with them.

[TimW]

Depending upon the use, defects such as that are not a problem with trailer decking, or for me, bridge decking. 

Oh I am using these boards on the trailer.

[TimW]

I would not want Holy WO on my trailer but agree it might work fine for bridge timbers if it is thick enough.

    After we had been here a few years my bridge wore out and I bought 27 2"X8"X12' WO boards from a local mill. My wife drover her Ford half toon P/U over to get them. When she got in the truck she told the folks there "My truck drives funny now." They looked and said "Yeah, that happens when the front wheels are off the ground." They unloaded half and she made 2 slow trips down the mountain with them.

It won't matter on my trailer as it is always full and no one can see the holiness. 

[doc henderson]

Amen!