Drying - Felling - How long can you wait?

[alabama]

I'll be felling some trees here in the next week. Once the trees have fallen I plan to cut in 12 foot lengths. I also planned to stack these logs off ground for a month or two. Would this be alright before milling? These are pine trees here in north Alabama.

I friend of mine owns a logging outfit and he told me considering it was pine it would be alright and that the sap wouldn't be high at this time due to the weather conditions?

More or less I just want to make sure if I cut down the trees can the logs sit for a month or two before milling? Would this also apply to oak, and cedar trees?

[Ianab]

Season and species make a BIG difference.

If the weather is warm bugs and stain can get into pine in weeks. In winter it can last until the weather warms up. It's not so much to do with what the sap is doing, more to do with the weather, When trees are dormant, it's cold, so the bugs and fungus are dormant too.

Oak should last longer, and cedar can still be good after years, although the sapwood might rot off.

[YellowHammer]

It will depend on how much degrade you can tolerate and the temperature.  Higher temps increase bugs and drying degrade such as end and side cracking.  In cooler weather, logs can sit for quite some time, in the hotter weather, not so long. 
Pine will blue stain and get buggy, oak will end crack, bark will slip, sapwood will discolor, cherry will open up, etc. 

Use end sealant on the hardwoods, don't bother on pine.

You will start seeing the signs of degrade, and know when the window is closing and its time to mill them up.

[WDH]

cherry will open up

Lord, that is a fact.  A very vexing wood to saw and dry.  Pretty, but persnickety.  If you look at it sideways, it will crack.  It stores poorly in log form with deep internal cracks and checks.  Saw and sticker it very soon after felling. 

Most woods do best if sawn immediately after felling. 

[Magicman]

I saw many Mbf of SYP each year that has been felled for several months.  Stored off of the ground is very important.  A couple of months is OK, but much more than that you will begin to hear the "crunchy's" working.

[kelLOGg]

A much respected (now deceased) sawyer in my area said: "Wood is never as good as the day it falls"

[D6c]

Don't know anything about sawing Pine but sometimes you can't do it right....this oak cracked within minutes of when it was sawed....both ends.
It was 1/2 of a twin oak that had fallen sometime last summer and I didn't find it until this winter.  Must have a lot of tension in the log.  Not sure what to do with it other than saw along the crack.



 

[Darrel]

D6c, that log looks like a candidate for YellowHammer's Reverse Roll Quarter Sawing method. It's already split in half!

https://forestryforum.com/board/index.php/topic,93851.0.html

[D6c]

I was kind off thinking the same thing.....Do a little experimenting with his technique.

[Magicman]

Pith check is a common occurrence with many species.  The most common that I see & saw is Cherry, Poplar, Cypress, & Oak.  It is imperative that the correct face is opened or every board will split.   :-\

[SlowJoeCrow]

MM, could you elaborate?   How would you saw that oak with the split above?  Thanks in advance!

[YellowHammer]

I was kind off thinking the same thing.....Do a little experimenting with his technique.

You'll like it.  Crack that sucker in half and make some ray fleck happen.   8)
Sometimes you can pop them with wedges and a set of forks and some chainsaw work.  Slam some wedges in the crack, bigger and bigger, then the loader into the split, lift and shake and pop! Two halves. 

[Darrel]

That's probably a way more sane way to split a log. . . . .
. . . but I just gotta try the black powder just one time  :D 8) :D 8)  :D

8)

[Magicman]

MM, could you elaborate?   How would you saw that oak with the split above?  Thanks in advance!

There a couple of illustrations in this thread showing setup and sawing a couple of Cherry logs.  Also scroll down to Reply #11:  LINK

[SlowJoeCrow]

Thank you Sir!