This has probably been asked before, but let's lighten the mood and dream a little bit here.
Let's suppose that all the pressure is off, your mill is working really well, and you have the chance, just for fun, to mill a log. It is a nice straight 24" diameter log of a suitable length, and you can mill it up any which way you like. Of all the species that grow within ten miles of your house, what would be your favorite one to mill? And then, you can put your second and third favorites, too.
Note: If there aren't many trees within ten miles of your house, you can extend it out to 50 miles.
Me:
1. Holly
2. Walnut
3. Ambrosia Red Maple
1. black cherry
2. walnut
3. red cedar
black cherry and red cedar are also in my top 10! 8)
I'd love to saw the following if they were 24".
Black Locust
Yellow Birch
Red Cedar
Black walnut (The King of wood)
Black Cherry (The Queen of wood)
Maple (Hard or soft)
1. POPLAR
2. RED CEDAR
3. SYCAMORE
1) white ash
2) basswood
3) white oak
4) white pine
Quote from: POSTONLT40HD on February 04, 2012, 10:13:52 PM
1. POPLAR
2. RED CEDAR
3. SYCAMORE
Do you quartersaw your sycamore, David, or just go right through it? I agree it is a beautiful wood. I know where there is a nice 4' diameter log at our log yard we go to that they haven't been able to sell for a little while.
Quote from: Chuck White on February 04, 2012, 09:53:52 PM
I'd love to saw the following if they were 24".
Black Locust
Yellow Birch
Red Cedar
I must say I'm surprised somebody likes to mill black locust. It is a very useful wood, though. I have a couple logs I'm not going to use.
1. Cypress
2 Black Cherry
3. Southern Red Cedar
1 ERC
2 Southern red oak
3 Sycamore
1. SYP has to be first because that is where my $$$ are made.
2. Black Walnut simply because it is Black Walnut and it makes folks happy.
3. I probably should list Eastern Red Cedar because I saw so much, but sawing it is only a job to me.
24" dbh right? You said I could dream a bit...
1) Apple
2) Peach
3) Honeylocust
Three of my favorite cabinet woods.
Quote from: 5quarter on February 04, 2012, 11:45:02 PM
24" dbh right? You said I could dream a bit...
1) Apple
2) Peach
3) Honeylocust
Three of my favorite cabinet woods.
I've never done peach, but I could get some from the orchards near here. Do you have any pictures? Does it resemble cherry at all? They are related.
1. Apple
2. Blue stain pine.
3. Walnut.
Hey, you're just up the road from me. 8)
1. Honeylocust
2. Cherry
3. Quilted/birdseye Hard Maple
Australia ;D
#1 Red Ironbark #2 Red Gum #3 Stringy Bark ;):)
America :) :) ;D ;D 8) 8)
#1 Southern Yellow Pine #2 Any Oak #3 Cypress Pine ;) ;D ;D 8)
Meadows, I actually helped to saw up some wood in Victoria-- it was mainly sheoke, I think, though maybe some other things too. It was firewood, though, not lumber! :D :D :D :D :D
Oh, by the way, I can't help enjoying how the Aussies name their trees after the kind of bark it has! 8) 8) 8)
Sheoaks a bloody nice timber to saw too it makes good furniture timber ;) ;D never cut a hell off alot of it though only afew logs here n there but there are a good number of plantations of it planted atm just gotta wait ;)
Im upto over 150 species off trees now I was keeping a book with how they sawed and how they came out and any adjustments I needed to do to the saw to mill them but that got lost along the way (thrown out) :) :) :o :( :( :( >:(
Yeah its reasonaby easy to identify trees here ;) barstard box is one off the hardest woods to saw i have ever come across its an apt name too Mate ;) :D :D :D :D :D
Coastal Douglas Fir
Western Red Cedar
Pacific Madrone
I love doug fir! WRC though not near as aerobatic as ERC, it's still a cedar and an awesome wood. Madrone-I just want to mill some cause it is such a curious wood.
Do you quartersaw your sycamore, David, or just go right through it?
[/quote] from Okrafarmer
Yes I do quarter saw sycamore. I usually don't even mess with a Sycamore log unless it is at least 28 inches.
That snake skin look after quarter sawing is INCREDIBLE.
1) Yellow poplar
2) Hemlock
3) Walnut
Realy haven't sawn that many different kind of trees but I like the ones that are a bit controversial.
1: Sweet Gum
2: Hackberry
3: Eastern Red Cedar
I like controversial ones too. I have not yet but would like to try Sassafrass, Butternut, Hackberry, Sourwood, Magnolia, Eucalyptus, River Birch, Beech, and Deodar Cedar. All of which grow around here, or nearby. I have tried holly and Chinese Chestnut, and would like to do more of both, with better logs than I've had so far.
1. sassafrass 2. magnolia 3. redgum
Black ash, white ash,red pine.
1) Maple
2) Sweet Gum
3) Cypress
1. Tasmanian Blue Gum
2. Stringy Bark
3 Swap Gum
Bout all we got in my neighborhood is longleaf yeller pine. Occasionally we might see some cypress but that is getting pretty scarce around here.
Maybe I need to try some palm trees. 8)
Quote from: POSTONLT40HD on February 05, 2012, 10:15:12 AM
Yes I do quarter saw sycamore. I usually don't even mess with a Sycamore log unless it is at least 28 inches.
That snake skin look after quarter sawing is INCREDIBLE.
Well like I said I know where there's a nice 4-footer waiting for you, about 100 miles away. Too big? Too far, anyway, I guess.
1. ERC, 2. White Oak 3. Anything that has no metal....
I just love to saw all 3 of these.
1) Eastern Red Cedar
2) Aromatic Red Cedar
3) Juniperus Virgianii
Walnut
Walnut
Walnut ;D
Ironwood (doesnt get big enough to mill, Ironwood. that is)
I want to cut what ever big logs Danny finds for me. ;D
My boss man has an ironwood that is about 10". Not very straight, but I could mill a 5-6' piece out of it if I were determined to.
sinker cypress
sinker red sweet gum
blue cotton wood
These paid the bills untill a few years back
We get'um 10-12" max. Not real interesting once milled. I have split some armrests.
Ironwood
Quote from: Okrafarmer on February 05, 2012, 06:11:05 AM
Oh, by the way, I can't help enjoying how the Aussies name their trees after the kind of bark it has!
We have our shagbark hickory
(https://forestryforum.com/gallery/albums/userpics/11157/DSC00883_opt.jpg)
1. Black cherry
2. Black birch (smells minty)
3. White birch
Those shagbarks look flinty. Maybe we can find some REALLY big ones for Customsawyer :D :D :D.
Quote from: cutterboy on February 06, 2012, 08:20:12 PM
Quote from: Okrafarmer on February 05, 2012, 06:11:05 AM
Oh, by the way, I can't help enjoying how the Aussies name their trees after the kind of bark it has!
We have our shagbark hickory
Ok, I guess you got me there! And what would our carpet industry do without it???!! ;)
Quote from: WDH on February 06, 2012, 10:13:21 PM
Maybe we can find some REALLY big ones for Customsawyer :D :D :D.
Danny - I have one for you. Based on an educated guess, it's still 20" at about 65' up and just as straight as it can be. But, you have to come to Virginia to get it. Shot many a squirrels out of it.
Bruce
Bruce, if it did not have all that lead in it from the squirrel shooting, I would load up and come get it today :D.
Now wait just a minute.........are you trying to say I'm a bad shot or something. :( :( :( :D :D :D I usually hit what I'm shooting at. When me and my buddies are squirrel hunting we have standards. A head shot is one point, a body shot is -1 point and one that shot in the eye counts as 2 points. Needless to say, I don't get as many 2 pointers as I did back about 25 years ago. ::) ::) ::) Getting old and fat is a PITA big time.
Bruce
Quote from: Okrafarmer on February 04, 2012, 10:39:23 PM
Quote from: Chuck White on February 04, 2012, 09:53:52 PM
I'd love to saw the following if they were 24".
Black Locust
Yellow Birch
Red Cedar
I must say I'm surprised somebody likes to mill black locust. It is a very useful wood, though. I have a couple logs I'm not going to use.
It's not that I love sawing Black Locust (necessarily), it's just that I've never seen one that's 24 inches in diameter. ;) So, therefore I'd like to saw one. ;D
Red Oak
Hard Maple
White Cedar
Well since I can dream, it would be a spiny all thorn, cats claw acacia, and a desert scrub oak. None get 24" but if they did they'd be stunners.
1) Black Cherry
2) Black Walnut
3) River Birch: This is an oddball choice, I know - I've only sawed one tree because it's so hard to find one of decent quality, but if it's a straight 24-incher, then it will produce some of the prettiest wood you'll ever see.
I would put curly/quilted maple on the list, but it doesn't grow within 10 (or even 500) miles of my house, so it doesn't count :'(
Dodgy, I have actually milled one river birch tree. It is hard to find straight sections sometimes, but it is nice. And there are some decent 24-30" specimens around here.
Chuck White, one of the black locust logs I have here is approaching 24". I don't know what to do with it though. Too tough for the bad mill, and been sitting around for more than a year.
Cypress
Black Cherry
SYP