Sawing Live Edge Siding tutorial and fairy tale

[WV Sawmiller]

   We'll start this as a Fairy Tale. Once upon a time Jill, the worlds best customer called Jack to come do a mobile sawing job for her. When Jack got there she had all the logs perfectly staged, centers aligned and on a couple of small sacrificial runner logs on a well drained, level gravel lot with easy circular drive through access. Since it's a fairy tale let's add that it was under the spreading branches of a large magnolia tree for shade from late morning through mid afternoon. The prevailing breezes were light and blowing against Jack's back the whole time he sawed. Jill had a skid steer with forks and grapple to move logs and slabs as needed and she had dunnage and a trailer ready to back into the unloading station at the end of the mill to receive the finished boards.

 As soon as Jack pulled up and set his mill up centered 2' in front of the stack of logs Jill advised him what she needed from her logs. (Like the MagicMan says you have to know where you are going before you start sawing.) She wanted to build a number of small buildings for bus stops, toolsheds and deer blinds (Turns out Jill is an avid deer hunter and gourmet wild game chef). She handed Jack the following cut list:

Live Edge siding with approximately 10" open face (Maximum available)

Side Lumber she needed and could use:

2X4 and 2X6 framing 4' or longer
1X4 for trim and roof strips (6' or longer)
6" & 8" edged siding for B&B
2" X 3/8" battens/lath strips - anything 16" or longer can be used for crates and other projects

 All logs have been power washed, checked with a metal detector and this is an hourly rate job.

 Jack and Jill discuss the options and determine all siding will be cut to 5/8" thick and the 4/4 boards and framing will be cut to a true 1" and 2" thickness. Jack explains and Jill understands this will all be rough finish lumber and she has an open, well ventilated pole barn with a level concrete floor with plenty of 6" dunnage and 1" stickers to space them at 18" centers under the lumber until it is finished air drying. She will place her framing on top of the siding and has sandbags and cinderblocks to put on top to help hold the stacks down during drying.


 Jack loaded a 9' log about 16-18 inches SED on the mill. (Okay - maybe that doesn't look like a fairy tail log but lets pretend it is, okay?). First he located the heart check and positioned it vertically with the straightest side down. Because the goal is LE lap siding he did not center the pith of the log.
Jack made his first cut to open up a face (Face #1 for future use) that will trim out to over 4" about 3/4 the length of the log. He next cut a 1" thick flitch then a 2" thick flitch and threw them on the loading arms for edging later. This opened a face about 1/3 the thickness of the log. He rotated the log 90 degrees and put the square face against the side supports and securely clamped tightly about 1/3 of the height of the log


 In this position it is okay to level the pith of the log. The next step is to open a 4"+ face the length of the log then cut a 1" then a 2" flitch and toss on the loading arms. This is face #2. This leaves an open face of about 6-7 inches. Jack now sets his SimpleSet on 3/4" and starts cutting producing 5/8" boards/siding already edged on one side and tosses them on the loading arms for final edging. After 3-4 passes Jack now has a one square side face about 9-10 inches wide so he keeps cutting finished LE siding and Jill stacks them on the trailer as soon as he cuts them. This continues until Jack is slightly below the center and getting close to the clamp and side supports.


 Jack  unclamps the log, lays it down on the sawed face #1 and lowers the clamp then slides it under the center of the cant, lifts the cant a few inches and using the clamp as a pivot point spins the cant 180 degrees to reverse the direction of the ends. He leaves the side supports up a few inches to make sure it doesn't fall off on the operator side. Once spun around Jack lowers the cant and lays face #2 down on the rails with the same edge #1 clamped as before.


 With face #1 against the side supports and the cant laying on face #2 Jack has a good square surface for clamping so he consults his cheat sheet for a starting point. Since this is a fairy tale Jill reminds him to lower his back toe roller and stops him from cutting wedges. Jack cuts a 1" flitch then a 2" flitch then several 5/8" flitches till he gets a face approximately 9-10 inches then Jill starts saving the LE siding produced. Jack cuts all the way down to exactly 1" from the rails ending with a 1" dog board. Jack then starts edging the 1" flitches into 1X6 and 1x4s, then edges the 5/8" pieces into 6" & 8" widths for B&B siding. Next he edges the 2" flitches starting on a mark to leave 2X4's. After the first cut Jack makes 1/2" drops on his SimpleSet producing 2" wide X 3/8" lath strips for battens and craft projects such as crates. These will go to Jill RAS and will be cut to lengths removing any waste from 16" to 8' based on the flare.

 Jill does a great job off bearing and keeping the area clean, feeds Jack a quick tasty lunch of homemade soup, fried grits and ice tea then they resume and finish with about an hour of daylight left for Jack to load up and head home. Jill is very happy with the finished products so she promptly pays and tips Jack for such a good days work.

 A couple of days later Jill sends Jack a couple of photos of her first bus stop and deer blind.


 One of her live edge buildings.


 With a front view


 And one with the 8" boards and 2" battens produced from her logs.

  Finally Jill tells Jack she has referred him to a couple of her swim club friends who will be calling him to come saw for them as soon as the weather is warm enough for them to work and offbear in shorts and bikinis.

[doc henderson]

nice looking.  maybe an 8 x 12 option for garden shed or mother in law apartment.   :D .  thanks for details on your sawing plan.  

[WV Sawmiller]

@doc henderson ,

  Doc, something that big would have to be stick built on site as it would be too heavy to transport and for one person to easily erect alone. As shown it is a 4' square building with a 6' square roof. Can be pre-fabbed as 6 pieces one person can assemble on site - base, back, front, L&R walls and roof. The B&B version is a much tighter fit than the lap siding. Squared lap siding would be a tighter fit than LE siding. It is good to have on site to show perspective customers.

[doc henderson]

Note the smiley, I was wanting to add on to the deer blind, outhouse, bus stop with garden shed, and MIL house.  Not sure my wife would like her garden tools out there with her mother!  again just kidden.     looks great and inspirational.  I like the live edge siding look.  would fit in with a wooded background.  I helped build houses in the 70s, and before a full prefab house, they had the flat bed that backed up to your foundation/basement with floor in place.  as you unloaded pre framed walls with sheathing you walked them onto the floor and set them in place,  in 2 to 3 days you had all the walls up and a roof sheathed in.  bigger could be done.  

[WV Sawmiller]

Doc,

   With a flat bed trailer and a helper or two you could easily build prefabbed buildings and erect them quickly on a previously prepared foundation. You might end up with an occasional extra stud used to keep the weight of the panels down. You could keep it even lighter if you just pre-fabbed the framing then put the siding on. In fact you could make the framing and let the customer put his own siding on if he she was so inclined. If you were mass producing them you could precut all the pieces and set up jigs and and use proper power nailers and such to really make the job go faster. That is probably already being done just like buying pre-fabbed rafters.

[GAB]

@doc henderson :
Am I the only one who thinks you just might be cruising for a bruising!
GAB

[doc henderson]

yes I think it is a cool idea and yes I like to kid and occasionally poke the bear.  or bear-ess which ever the case may be.  My wife is used to it, and even occasionally thinks it is cute.  although I may tend to overestimate her appreciation of my sense of humor.  She is on the ladies forum and does not tend to read my posts here..... does she? .... :D.  

[WV Sawmiller]

Doc,

I think a lot of the residents around the pearly gates are talking about the last such joke they made to or about their wives. :D

On the 8X12 building that is actually bigger than my last residence I spent in Bagram, Afhganistan for the last 15 months or so I was there. My room was one half of a 20' shipping container and I was in tall cotton. I had a private room on the bottom of 3 rows of similar digs so I was well out of sight from direct fire and any incoming indirect fire had to get through them to get to me. Mostly it was the fact I had my own private "room". The next level of housing down from me was a B Hut made of plywood and was 16' X 32' and you had 9 other roommates. The next level was various size tents where you had a cubicle made by arranging/alternating the double bunks and wall lockers and you would have from 40 to several hundred roommates. So basically what I am saying is everything is relative.

I guess I could add MIL time out room to my title and advertise them as Bus stop, Deer Blind, Tool Shed, Outhouse (Composting or pit type), and MIL Time Out Room.

 One point I want to emphasize on the sawing logs into LE siding was the note about not trying to level the pith on your first cut. You want to maximize the width of the siding and if there is much taper and you raise the narrow end you will probably end up with one end of your siding significantly wider than the other. And when you install you don't want to just flip flop from wide to narrow siding pieces when you install it or the slope of siding will not match. Ideally you want the slope pointing down so it will shed water better and is easier to see.

[doc henderson]

Doc,

I think a lot of the residents around the pearly gates are talking about the last such joke they made to or about their wives. :D

"all around" so i assume some got in and some did not?   :( :( :( :D :D :D,and the wife sent them there!
i like living on the edge.  It is a really neat design and as mentioned very adaptable.  sounds like we need to engineer a simple wooden latch that can lock from the inside or outside.

[WV Sawmiller]

   What's to lock? I have not built a door for one yet. :D I don't know I would ever put a door on a bus stop or woodshed but would need one on a toilet and probably a deer blind unless somebody just wanted a curtain of camo netting. I don't know if your MIL will need a door or not. ;)

   I have thought about the doors and latches though. On my shooting houses I just have a 1X board 3-4 inches wide and about 8-10 inches long nailed into the door frame vertical with a single nail in the center so when you rotate it 90 degrees it shuts the door. On the side that opens way from the frame I built a notch/pocket for the latch to slip into by nailing a 1X4 about 6" long with another shorter piece as a spacer so when you rotate the latch down it slips into the notch and holds the door closed. On the other side I just nail a similar latch to the door, pull it shut and rotate the latch down against the door frame and it keeps it closed. When in the vertical position the latch is open, when parallel to the ground it is shut.

   I thought about making a sliding bolt out of a narrow piece of wood that fits in a hole in the door frame that can be operated from either side. I could also use simple screen door hooks and eyes or a nail and hasp if I ever needed to lock one such as a toolshed or possibly a deer blind. Any of these are simple to install and use. I guess my next step will be to build a door and put on my prototype.

[dustintheblood]

Too good to be true.  

Can't be real.

Fake news.

Flying pigs.

Next part of this tall tale is that Jill paid her bill in full and on time.


:D :D :D :D :D

[WV Sawmiller]

Jill is very happy with the finished products so she promptly pays and tips Jack for such a good days work.

@dustintheblood,

Dusty,

 Already covered. I said from the start it was a fairy tale but no reason to twist the knife like that. :(

   It does cover how to make live edge siding.

[Brad_bb]

I was waiting for the punch line.  It is just a fairy tale.  I only saw for myself and even I'm not nearly that good a customer.

[samandothers]

Thought Jil might call about 2 different sidings on the building ... obviously it was what the customer wanted. It shows her diverse taste and helps her show the swim club friends what can be done.

[WV Sawmiller]

@samandothers ,

  Re-read the story. :D Jill built the bus stops and sent pictures to Jack and they are 2 different buildings in our fable.

  Actually the whole building is LE lap siding. The B&B is actually another complete Left wall I made and it is leaning up against the bus stop on that side. I seriously considered making a mixed wall building as my prototype demo but decided to make one I could sell if a customer wanted it immediately. I can loosen a couple dozen or so screws and break the building down to its 6 components, load, deliver, and re-erect on the customer site (or I could lower the ramp on my 5X8  trailer and we can slide the whole thing on, drive slowly to the site and slide it off intact).

  When I get an order or in the mood I will build the R wall, front, back, floor/base & top. Right now I just have an extra L wall in stock to show customers. It does a pretty good job of that and driving by you are not likely to notice it is not attached. ;D One neat feature is I can now show people the B&B and LE options side by side in case they want to place an order for some lumber for their own project. I think it will also help me sell more 2"X 3/8" battens.

  I guess my next project will be to build a door. I am mentally batting around the hinge options for that. I don't prefer the door open inward but the LE siding looks like it will interfere with complete opening. I guess I could hinge it at the bottom and let it lay down as a ramp like on a ship or something and have a rope to pull it closed. :D

[doc henderson]

you prob know this, but you could line the door opening with a jam that was proud of the siding and hinge off of that.  that was what we did on our deer blind for the door.  screen door spring and a latch as you described.

[WV Sawmiller]

Doc,

I'll look into that but I think it will not be that hard to do. I may even look into using a J bolt and eyebolt style hinge. That will give me a little more play and help compensate for the excess width of the siding. I have a gate on the porch like that. The current door opening is only 6' X 28" so I don't want to narrow it too much more. The front wall is 48" wide and I put 10" on each side which is pretty stable.

For future consideration if set up as a deer blind the door will have to have a window/shooting port built in to shoot out of.  Windows/Shooting ports are probably going to be my next area to address. I really could leave the door off and hang some military style camo netting in there you could shoot through. That would work but it can be cold and it is nice to totally enclose and heat such a blind in some of our bitter cold spells.

I have a 6'x6' raised deer blind with a 2' door on one side of the front. I used 2 locust poles about 3-4 inches in diameter and 10-12 ft tall for the front ladder. I just built an 18" X 2' box out of treated 2X4's as a landing and lag bolted it to both sides of the ladder and to the bottom of the blind level with the bottom of the door. I left about 30" excess height on the poles above the landing to hold on to when entering/exiting the blind. The bottom of the blind is about 8' tall or more and more than I now want to fall from. I have discovered I don't bounce as high as I used to and it takes longer to recover than in my coon hunting, tree climbing youth.

  BTW - I had not considered a simple screen door spring to hold the door closed. I was thinking of just a hook and eye.

[Nebraska]

 popcorn_smileySo when will we get the next  part with Jill's swim team off bearer' s....

[WV Sawmiller]

@Nebraska ,

   I'm glad you picked up on that as I thought that was a nice touch. :D Its snowing outside right now so it might take a while. It looks like the MajicMan already had one of them for a customer as he shows her toting off a load of sawdust in a "very comfortable" looking outfit.

[SawyerTed]

What @Nebraska said!

Coldest I have ever been was in a deer blind on a mountain just south of the Virginia-WV state line.  I was in a little 4x4 blind with lap siding. The snow blew through the cracks and knot holes and my little heater couldn't keep up.   I believe the high temperature that day was 23°.  The warm times of the day were when I was cussing the man that built that blind and when the eight point buck showed up just before dark!

A door and windows are important but so is a few dollars worth of caulk! 

[WV Sawmiller]

   I have one 6X8 blind with lap siding and another 6X6 with B&B and both are cold but then again I have very big open windows designed to be able to shoot a bow downhill out of. A small port with a sliding glass/plexiglass cover would work fine for gun or crossbow hunting but my compound bow needs a lot more room. B&B make a lot more sense for a deer blind. Come to think about it - closing/sealing those gaps would be awful nice in an outhouse too. :D

   A 4X4 shooting blind should work fine for a single hunter. My 6X6 is a good size for 2 hunters and the 6X8 is way too big.

[jeepcj779]

Using some house wrap prior to B&B or lap siding application might be easier than caulking. A sliding plexiglass window works well to keep the breeze out of a helicopter going 150 mph, so it will probably also work well for a deer blind. My only concern would be spooking the deer when opening.

[Resonator]

When I built my deer blind, I made sliding windows out of clear acrylic and a simple wood frame with a table saw groove for the plastic to slide in. I made a wood handle big enough to push open wearing mittens, and the frame fit loose enough to slide easily and silently. Also one of the perspective customers told me the inside walls should be painted flat black, to hide movement that deer could see.

[Nebraska]

I actually used 3/8 foil faced poly foam insulation on my deer blind in the walls and ceiling it really helps Mr heater out late season. Ok I guess I'll wait til summer for the second chapter. ;)

[doc henderson]

 

 

made a cedar door with some engraving.  my buddy did not want to put the door outside so i made him a sign for his man cave as well out of ERC.



 

inside insulated top to bottom, for sound, as well as heat and cool.