Largest saw log ever?

[rmihalek]

Does anyone know if there's a world record for the largest piece of sawn lumber? I recall reading that masts for tall sailing ships used to be made from single logs and were sometimes 30" or more at the base and 100 feet tall. I was wondering if there was ever a piece of wood that was like 24" x 24" and 100 feet long or something like that.

[Buzz-sawyer]

welcome !!!
I saw a piece at the founder of this forums house..........it was bout 48'' wide I think the saw was bout 10' tall
Your best ones though would be western cut giant red wood they use giant bandmills.................could make boards 8feet wide by 20' long or longer..... ;)

[raycon]

Theres a couple of factories in Meriden,CT that have timbers over 16x24 - length. There huge 300,000 sqft buildings.

[beenthere]

Check out the USS Constitution museum in Boston (you may be close) for starters. They have some information on masts, planking, and keel's from oak (white and live). If I recall correctly, the white oak keel was larger than your dimensions, but not sure what the max length was. There were scarf joints pinned with copper rods in the wh oak keel, and the frames were 12 x 12 live oak sandwiched between 6" wh oak planking.

[Engineer]

I seem to recall photos taken at the (now defunct) Long-Bell mill in Washington (or was it Oregon) that showed two women standing in front of a pile of timbers that were marked 24x24, 30x30, and other similarly huge sizes.  I don't know how long they were, but I'd imagine there were some monsters.  The Long Bell complex was huge, and was the source for many western timber frame homes when it was dismantled.

I had roof rafters cut for my new house on a Woodmizer Lt40, my mill isn't long enough to cut 22' rafters, and the operator turned one log into a 28x28 x 22' long piece.  Not really huge, but big enough.

[Frank_Pender]

I believe that the mill called, Hull Oaks in Monroe, Oregon has and still can cut timbers to those specs.  They are about the last steam driven full time mill still in the part of the country.  I do beleiver their length capacity was around 120'. ???

[ElectricAl]

We bought a trailer load of 24"x24"x42' SYP beams from a salvage company.

Paid 20 cents per foot delivered  ;D

Plenty of clear lumber for us to "Salvage" ;)

[Hammy]

Hey Guys,

This certainly wouldn't be the biggest saw log ever but here is something of interest for ya'll. Just this year NZ's only commercial scow needed a new ship mast. Two suitable Douglas Firs were felled & were going to be used as the masts. These masts needed to be 10" x 10" & 43' long & 12" x 12" & 47' long. Since the length needed was so long to mill we got offered the job!!

The key was with our track set up. Since our tracks stay in place & the bed & carriage move through the log we can easily add extensions to unlimited lengths. We simply extended the tracks to the desired length & began cutting. Great for picking up jobs like these!

The mast was squared by us then taken to a boat builder who reduced it to an octagon, then took those corners off giving it 16 sides & gradually makes round again.

Here's some pics.

[Tom]

Hey!  That's interesting.

"NZ's only commercial scow .............."

I'll bet Peterson doesn't "pickup"  too many jobs like that. You need for them to get a second boat.   :D :D

The US Navy had the same problem.  I think Wood Mizer got that cntract and sold them an LT30.   They were working on the USS Constitution and needed to cut over 100 feet for a mast.  I used to have the article handy. :P

Isn't it great to be a part of history like that? 8)

[IndyIan]

I've read somewhere that the british navy used to reserve the largest White Pine trees for masts in north america.  The small size was 2' square at the top and 3' square at the bottom  and 100' long.  Large was 3' square at the top, 4' square at the bottom and 120' long!  Imagine moving one of those with horses or oxen...

Ian

[Buzz-sawyer]

I believe they were white oak..............And ole king George got us colonists fightin mad by claimin our trees!!! 8)

[Jeff]

Nope Buzz, white Pine.

[Ron Wenrich]

White pine over 24" was considered "King's timber".  Most of it had a makr blazed on it.

Anyone that had 24" white pine in their homes were accused of stealing the king's timber.  That is why you will find plenty of 23" wide planking in colonial homes as a protest to the king.

[samdland]

I would imagine the record would be held by the giant sequoias. I once saw a log in the Sequoia national park that was cut by the army in the 1800's that had been hollowed out and used for a stable. A gift shop can now be found in the log.

http://images.google.com/images?q=SEQUOIA&hl=en&lr=&ie=UTF-8&sa=N&tab=wi