elm log milling

[snowshoveler]

I get a good deal on cheep logs from a local tree service company.
mostly red and white pine with the oacasional red oak.
he is getting a very large american elm to remove.
told me its over 5 feet diameter at chest height.
has always been good to me so i trust him.
if it really this size and a good log or 2.
what do they saw into.
will it make a timber or boards.
i could use some large framing timbers.

thanks chris

[Chuck White]

It should make some "very" strong timbers.

Most likely you wouldn't be able to drive a nail into it, once it has dried!

[snowshoveler]

i guess i will tell him i will take it then.
has 1 for sure and possibly 2 additional smaller ones that should be taken down as well.
they are in a very tight spot and once the branches are all removed they plan on using a huge crane to pick this one
up and put it in the street or in my case an awaiting log truck.
last load of pine i got from this guy had 1  18 footer that was 36 inches on the top.
thats a good sized stick around here and it takes a good truck to lift it on.


thanks chris

[WDH]

Elm has spiral grain, so don't be surprised if some of the timbers twist.

[bandmiller2]

Elm is very tough wood good for truck and trailer beds and side racks.Good beams and timbers too just nail when green or drill.Frank C.

[snowshoveler]

should make good timbers for the circle sawmill that I have not bought yet

thanks chris

[bandmiller2]

Chris, elm would surely be good for a dead deck and building,might be a little twisty for the circular mill bed and carriage.The old woodies used hard southern pine.I recut douglas fir for my mill that was used for high voltage transmission lines some were 40' long they replaced the cross arms,also got alot of spiffy hardware. Frank C.

[woodsy]

Sounds like a nice tree.  I'm envious.  The last Elm (American) we had was 46 feet long and clear and just over 24 inches at the top.  Spiral grain? Not an ounce of it in this tree.  The grain was nice and straight.  I had it kiln dried fairly soon after it was sawn because it's always been a hit or a miss for me when air drying it and besides, I was a little nervous about keeping the degrade to a minimum with the 18+ inch wide boards that were 23 feet long.  I didn't lose any to degrade so I was pleased with the KD decision.  I still have some stacked in the barn that have remained true.  Elm is a beautiful species and can have some very pleasing grain.

[barbender]

Old timers say elm was the cat's meow for trailer decking, a well driller friend sought it out for planks to drive his rigs across on wet jobsites.  It's real tough I guess. My only experience with it is TRYING to split some dead standing 30" diameter blocks. Most of our elm got wiped out about 30 years ago.

[Ironwood]

Red elm is hard as nails and has irradecence like maple, american should ne greenish and be softer an not as hard. I recently had both here and HUGE difference.  Ironwood

[bandmiller2]

Chris, I hope you have a mill and support equip. to handle a 5' dia. log,I avoid those biguns unless I'am cutting them up to burn. Frank C.

[snowshoveler]

Got to see a few pics of the giant elm.
Yes its up to giant now.
Lived in this area most of my life and never knew we had trees this big.
Elm has about a 2o foot log in it easy enough.
2 companys have now bid on the job and i am in good with both of them.
The trunk of the tree will require a large crane in order to remove it without causing a lot of damage to historic buildings.
2000 dollars for the crane to show up.
Must be an expensive job.
Best part is nobody wants the trunk/stem of it. just to big to handle i guess.
Not even shure how to have it brought home.
Pretty sure the crane can put it on a log truck but the grapples used on a good sized tamdem log truck here cant even think of getting a hold of a 4 foot diameter stick let alone a 5 1/2 foot one.
Pretty sure the truck driver isnt going to want it rolled off either.
Could present a problem.
I have a small dozer T5 international and a skid loader but they are just toys for this job.
Would be a great job for a swinger mill i think.
Any one in Nova Scotia have one ?
thanks for listening (reading)
Chris

[carykong]

Elm is very hard to split. It was used for hubs on wooden wagon wheels. Its kinda rare in Virginia due to Dutch Elm Disease. Traditional wheel wright might pay good dollars for some blocks.

[Carpenter]

You could possibly rip it in half or even quarter it with a big chainsaw to make it a manageable size.  It would be a lot of work, but a 5' diameter elm is going to be a lot of work anyway.  Getting a swing mill on sight sounds like a good option.

[Okrafarmer]

You could possibly rip it in half or even quarter it with a big chainsaw to make it a manageable size.  It would be a lot of work, but a 5' diameter elm is going to be a lot of work anyway.  Getting a swing mill on sight sounds like a good option.

I agree on the swing mill, but also if you need to get it off the truck you should put the big end on the back of the truck, and MAYBE you can put a cable around it attached to something solid  ??? and then the truck can drive out from under it. I would love to be in the neighborhood to hear the THUD that would occur. . . . . . . . .

[paul case]

i have done that with some 4' oak logs. they do go thud! i spent 3 hours loading 2 biguns a few years ago and was made to feel small when i took them to a local pallet mill and they unloaded them and 4 or 5 smaller logs in 2 grabs. musta took all of 30 seconds!  pc

[snowshoveler]

I have a 394 Husky that i run on my on my Jonsered sawmill.
works awesome on that and have even turned the carrige inside out and done a nice job on 3 foot oak and pine.
however the elm would be a new expierence for me.
if nothing else it would give the locals something to talk about.
The swinger mill would be the best but a far as i know there are none in Nova Scotia.
and i cant imagine anyone bringing one in for 1 tree even if it is big

[Okrafarmer]

Maybe somebody has one in NB?

[Randy88]

Elm is nice stuff for certain jobs, I like the red elm for lumber the best, I use it for decking on my lowboys and trailers, it'll last forever almost, hard as glass and you need to predrill holes for nails, we've used a lot over the years for lumber, planks mostly and sheating boards and yes it twists and curles, cups and bows and about anything else imaginable.  If your gonna split it for firewood good luck, its so stringy its almost impossible to split but it burns great, we used to quarter the logs on the sawmill and then block them up for firewood,  my grandpa had a tree over 7 or 8 feet in diameter years ago and was over 250 years old by counting the rings.   Most of them are dead now from dutch elm disease and they only make it to about 12 inches in diameter before dying but there are a few large ones left yet, a beautiful tree in its day though, now there more of a weed due to the fact they all stand there dead.   As a kid growning up we had elms in the yard around the buildings that were over a 100 years old and were taken out because of disease, its a shame I grew up playing around those trees and they were great for shade as well.    We never quarter sawed for lumber though, my grandpa said it would twist more if quarter sawn and he didn't like anything quarter sawn for some reason so I never really saw anything that was quarter sawn until after he died and I went to some sawmill demonstrations but by then nobody sawed elms anymore.