I have to cut down a healthy 40 year old Weeping Willow. I'm pretty attached to the tree and would like to use the wood from the tree for tables, furniture, etc. I located a sawmill near me who said they could cut slab and boards. Their main experience is in cutting lumber is from telephone poles and they don't know if I should dry the wood for a while before cutting. I am totally inexperienced but would like to have the best chance of using the wood. Here are a couple of photos of the tree.
Can you help me with the process? Should I dry the wood? Paint the ends while it dries? Sorry, not sure on the questions to ask.
(https://forestryforum.com/gallery/albums/userpics/53187/Willow_limbs.jpg?easyrotate_cache=1545260523)
(https://forestryforum.com/gallery/albums/userpics/53187/Willow_trunk.jpg?easyrotate_cache=1545260561)
Soon I am going to finish up a willow over 60" wide with a chainsaw mill. These work well for tables once cut and dried, then epoxied. Where are you located?
I'm in West Texas, south of Lubbock
I've never milled willow, but shouldn't be different than anything else. You should not try to dry a log first. It's always better to dry it closer to it's final size. This will reduce checking defects.
Figure out what thicknesses you want for what you will build. Add at least 1/2" so you have material enough to take off to get it flat after it dries. They will move as they dry. They'll shrink, and may warp some. But if you have enough extra material you can then reflatten them as necessary. I'd mill them 4/4, 5/4, and then some thicker slabs if you want table top or bench material. I'm guessing willow will not be too heavy when dry so you can probably go with a thicker top. Thicker slabs will tend to warp a little less. Decide if you want 2" (so mill 2.5 or so). 1.75 (so mill 2.25), or 1.5 (so mill 2.00).
You then need to stack and sticker the wood. For stickers you can go get furring strips from the box store, or if the sawyer you use has stickers you can buy, do that. If you have them just slab the wood with all live edge, then you can restack the slabs in their original order with stickers in between, spaced 12-16 inches apart (preferably 12).
Stack them where they'll get airflow, but put a roof on them to keep rain off the top. A lot of guys use roof tin for this. Stack them off the ground. I like to get them off the ground at least 6", so I'll use 6x6 treated material. You could also use concrete blocks.
I mill the branches too. When milling walnut, I'll mill as small as 5" diameter. When they are that small I'll cut a 2x from the center. I'll box the heart, meaning I'll capture the center of the tree in the piece. For thicker branches like 8", 10", 12" etc, you'll be able to get multiple pieces.
Let them air dry. Your 4/4 and 5/4 might be ready in 8-12 months. You're thicker stuff figure 1 year per inch of thickness. Outside you can get the wood down to 12-15% moisture content. But what you want is about 8% if you want to use it for indoor furniture. You can then take the wood into your house in a climate controlled area for a few months to get more moisture out of it. I have a Wagner moisture meter to check.
One thing to consider, if you edge your boards(cut the live edge off), it may dry with less warpage/bowing etc. Once you're dry enough, you can tackle the job of re-flattening the wood. You can use a jointer, planer, hand tools... there are many techniques, or you can take it to someone to do it for you.
If they told you they weren't sure if you should dry it before you mill it, that tells me they don't have much experience. Maybe look for a different sawyer? You gonna cut the tree down yourself and buck the logs? Are you going to haul it to somebody?
I have never sawn willow but have cut some down and with the volume of water in it I would think for sure you are going to have a lot of shrinkage so as Brad says you want the rough sawn lumber to be over sized for sure.
Logs don't dry well at all, just spent the past two days on a portable job sawing red oak that had been down for three years, the sap wood was all decayed, the bark full of 2" mushrooms, and the heart wood was as wet as if the tree were felled yesterday.
Personally I would seal the log ends to help slow down the lumber moisture loss, just a presumption on my part but given your location and the soft nature of Willow I would fear experiencing checking if it was drying too fast and sealing the ends will help in reducing that.
Welcome to the Forum!!!
How to Stack & Dry Lumber - This "Stickers 101" video is great for portable sawmill owners - YouTube (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6XXE1BcfEpA)
Willow can be pretty wood. It is light in weight and at one time was used to make artificial limbs. It can and often does warp and twist a lot during drying and even afterwards. My experience has been with black willow and it continued to move for years after drying every time the relative humidity would change. If I remember correctly, weeping willow is even worse. The black willow was one of the first logs I milled when I started many years ago. I kept a piece of it around until just recently and may still have it somewhere. It is considerably smaller in dimension now than originally, not only from drying shrinkage but also from truing it up every time it would move again. Started out as a 10/4 x 6" and was down to around 6/4 x 4" last I remember seeing it. I've heard willow called the wood that never dies.
(https://forestryforum.com/gallery/albums/userpics/20011/DSCN0855.JPG?easyrotate_cache=1425516523)
(https://forestryforum.com/gallery/albums/userpics/20011/DSCN0859.JPG?easyrotate_cache=1425516545)
(https://forestryforum.com/gallery/albums/userpics/20011/DSCN0860.JPG?easyrotate_cache=1425516561)
(https://forestryforum.com/gallery/albums/userpics/20011/DSCN1140_28Small29.JPG?easyrotate_cache=1347822991)
(https://forestryforum.com/gallery/albums/userpics/20011/DSCN1143_28Small29.JPG?easyrotate_cache=1347822994)
I have sawn many Mbf of Black Willow, but I would hate to saw what is pictured above. Multi-stem trees are not much different from sawing limbs and limbs ain't logs. Each stem is carrying an unbalanced load so there will be internal stress within each "log". When sawn that stress is released and my mind has visions of potato chips. :-\
I am trying to find someone locally to cut down the try. I probably won't find someone with a lot of experience cutting trees in preparation for a sawmill. I would love to find someone more experienced both in cutting down and sawing the tree. I live in a small town. I located the sawmill from facebook. If anyone has a recommendation or is interested in doing this job. Please let me know. I'd really like it done correctly. I'm pretty attached to this tree. Someone had mentioned using a portable mill? Is that a possibility?
You might give us a rough idea of where here locally is. There may be some members with a mill close to you. I have to echo what Lynn has said though, that tree is not the best tree for milling into lumber. It is not a great species for it and the form will make it even more difficult to get any boards out of it that behave.
I'm located 3 miles south of Seminole, TX. I understand it probably is not the best wood. Its really a sentimental thing. Raised 3 kids under that tree. Grandkids climbed it.
OK, I can see now why you haven't found too many mills in your area and why one you did saws phone poles. Shame you have to cut that one down.
Wood-Mizer Pro Sawyer Network lists a sawyer in Lubbock: Find a Local Sawyer (https://woodmizer.com/us/Services/Find-a-Local-Sawyer)
Thanks! I asked for contact info on the website. I haven't been able to look him up elsewhere on the internet. Hopefully I'll get his information.
By the way, you have all been so helpful. Thank you.
As far as I can find, Kesler Sawing is the only sawyer reasonably close to you. (Within a couple hundred miles.)
You don't have contact information on Kesler Sawing, do you?
No, that would have to come from Wood-Mizer. I Googled and apparently he does not have a website.
again, thanks. I've contacted Wood-Mizer. Hopefully, they'll respond.
Don't forget to check your junk/spam folder just in case the info went there. You can put your location in your profile and it will appear on the left side when you post. It helps others in their response to you like it did here.
Don't be bashful about calling Wood-Mizer too if you have not received a response. One never knows what can happen in the electronic message world and WM is always pleasant to speak with and a great company.
Thanks. Not in junk. I think I updated my profile with location. I guess I'll find out when this posts.
Just a thought - Instead of sawing it into lumber you could make some bowl blanks to turn, or make a carved bowl or two, or make a short live-edge bench. Maybe chainsaw something out of the big crotch. Lot's of ways to make something out of that tree.
Funny some posted about willow moving years after, that must be why its used for divining rods.
Lol...that's because if there's water around it'll find it.
Septic tanks, leaking water lines, wet spots......
Mill it all. Stack and sticker. Put some weight on top and see how it comes out in a year.
Quote from: Brad_bb on December 22, 2018, 12:00:06 AM
Mill it all. Stack and sticker. Put some weight on top and see how it comes out in a year.
Yup, slab it thick in case it moves while drying (likely with a tree like that). Then you can machine off any warp, cup or twist with a router bridge.
I think willow is a bit soft and "stringy", so it's not popular for woodworking. BUT, don't let that stop you. An epoxy finish will penetrate and harden the surface, so you can still make furniture from it, and you can epoxy cracks and checking once the wood is dry and stable.
So yeah, you can certainly make stuff from it, even if it's not an ideal tree.