ERC Question

[homesteader1972]

Hello All,
I have a customer that is wanting to cut some 3.5x5.5 out of some ERC.  The logs are medium sized. My question is will I need to box the heart/pith. Will ERC behave better than oak or pine? He would like to get 3 or 4 from a log, but that would require splitting the pith on some of them.
Thanks much

[bkaimwood]

I personally always box the pith, especially when sawing anything other than boards, just makes straighter, higher quality lumber than any other method... I will be more lax making boards, but not by much...the end result is worth it...2 good pieces of lumber beat 4 useless ones, any day of the week!!

[WDH]

Splitting the pith generally will cause the beams to develop a side bend.  Like a "C".  ERC is more forgiving than most species, but still, not a good practice. 

[POSTON WIDEHEAD]

When a customers wants to get as many.....lets just say 4x4's......out of a log, I always ask them "What are you using this lumber for?
In fact, I always ask customers what will they be doing with their order. This is a good practice, being you may be able to teach them about wood behavior that may occur before they get ready to use it.

In your case, if your customer was gonna take his 3.5 x 5.5 and nail or screw them to a surface where he could nail or screw them every 16 inches, I'd say he would be fine.
However, if the customer was gonna use his 3.5 x 5.5 as post....he would more than likely be getting the "C" figure as WDH explained.

[Cedarman]

Back in the day when we sawed mailbox posts, (3 7/16 x 3 7/16), we would make 3 7/16 x 7" and 7" x 7" , all 8' long, with some 7'.  Then we would saw in 1/2 or 1/4s.  90% of the time there would be very little to no bowing when sawing straight through the pith.  Once in a while, you would get a little bowing.
I personally resawed 10's of thousands  over the 20 years we sawed these things.
Will take a 9" log to get 2 , little over 12" to get 3, over 13" to get 4.
You will find out quick enough how much bowing will occur when you saw a few of them.
ERC does not behave like oak or pine.  Much less moisture, and a lot less shrinkage when they dry.

[mesquite buckeye]

I've only had one cedar tree misbehave on me when cutting without regard to the pith and that one was a pretzel after it dried regardless of position in the log and the curves were in the same part of all the sequential boards. I'm thinking I can make curved back porch swings with it. Wonder what the market is for those boards and how you could predict when they will show up. ;D

[ScottInCabot]

Eastern Red Cedar has always behaved well for me...

But I often have been asked to get 4x6's from 3-5" stubs....  Hard to find logs that grow while waiting to be milled :D


I like that the air-dried stuff I have laying out back doesn't go all 'weird' when I look to use some of it.  Can't say that for the Pine and Oak(s) I have laying around....

{watching this topic}



Scott in Cabot

[Magicman]

I sawed a few hundred ERC logs on the wwsjr project and produced 50 4X4's with a boxed heart.  Some of them made side lumber and some not.  You need to always have a target within the log before you open each face.