Whatcha Sawin' 2021 ??

[burdman_22]

I cut some maple cookies the other day. I was excited for about 10 seconds and then highly disappointed. When fresh cut they we very pretty, but within seconds they started to turn slightly green and then within 4 minutes they were almost black in areas. I sanded one a little yesterday just to try to figure out what was going on. My thought was that some mineral in the ground had been being sucked up by the tree and then once cut it was exposed to air and quickly began to oxidize. Any thoughts on what caused this? And anything I can do or should I just let them dry as is? Would anchorseal cause any damage to them ya think? I normally anchorseal my cookies.

Below is a picture within seconds of cutting.





This picture is after several minutes of being exposed to the air.
 



This picture was taken the day I cut the cookies, about an hour after I finished. (I got 12 of these total).
 



This is pre-sanding a day or two after cutting.
 



And this is after sanding.
 



Some dark blue staining, almost like metal stains, but no evidence of metal anywhere in this tree. So again, maybe "mineral metal" in the soil?
 

 

More of the staining, these seem to be where the majority of the big green/black stains originated.




 

 

[WV Sawmiller]

Wow! A couple more jobs like this and I can go ahead and retire too. A guy drove about 90 miles each way to bring two 42" cherry logs. Half an hour on the mill, 6" X1" wide boards with  the side flitches edged from 6-12 inches wide. I forgot to take pictures of the logs, just the finished lumber. About 70 bf or so I estimate.


 As far as I know this was my first Irish customer. Real nice guy and he seemed to really enjoy watching and photographing the process. I showed him around and he bought a bench and 3 birdhouses so turned out to be more profitable than I expected. We talked a bit and I showed him a snatch block and showed him how to use one with a cable or rope to move logs in the woods with an ATV or to load them on his trailer. He talked like his next stop would be at a Rural King to buy one. I am sure he will be back.

[Poquo]

Burdman , Those cookies will be beautiful and unique when finished . The greenish staining is from Ambrosia beetles , the blue stain looks like metal is somewhere in the log . Did you run a metal detector over it?

[burdman_22]

@Poquo I dont have a metal detector. I cut 12 cookies from this stump though and didnt hit any metal at all, so maybe I just got lucky? How should I dry these? Do you think its ok to rough sand them then just anchorseal and sticker them?

[firefighter ontheside]

Several years ago I talked to the owner of a tree/landscape company near my firehouse.  I happened to be by his lot and mentioned to him that I'm always looking for logs to saw.  He said he would let me know when he had something I might want.  Of course I never heard from him til a few days ago.  One of my trucks was over on his street for a call and he flagged them down and asked about the guy that wanted logs.  I got the message and went over to see him.  He had 2 walnut logs for me.  Looks like they've been there a while.  I guess he saved them for me and then never was able to get ahold of me.  One log looks really nice.  The other is smaller and more limby, but I will take any walnut for free.  Plus they will load on my trailer with a skid steer.  


 

[Larry]

Been sawing cedar for the past week and caught my help laying down on the job.....again!  I pay way above minimum bones.  You would think he would at least act busy.

[Southside]

Magicman - was that a Moccasin or just a plain old "water snake"? 

[olcowhand]

Been sawing cedar for the past week and caught my help laying down on the job.....again!  I pay way above minimum bones.  You would think he would at least act busy.

Larry,
"Let a sleeping Dog...."; He looks dog tired!
Steve

[Southside]

Larry - have you seen how much money these "Influences" make for just having their photo taken with a product?  He might be onto something for you.   :D

[Magicman]

Magicman - was that a Moccasin or just a plain old "water snake"?

Just a water snake that didn't want to leave the logs.  We also flushed out a few mice which was probably why it was there.
The customer is falling trees and skidding logs today and we will start back Tuesday.  He called me earlier to verify the log lengths.

[Bruno of NH]

More spalted maple.
Its selling as fast as its sawn.
I have a bunch more logs.

 

[Deese]

I turned around from the blade sharpener the other night and nearly bumped into a rat snake aka chicken snake crawling on one of my sawhorses. I let it be. The lights attract insects, which attract frogs from the pond just outside the barn. Copperheads, Cottonmouths and ratsnakes are everywhere here. And frogs. Lots of frogs. 

 

 

[terrifictimbersllc]

Now that's wavy lumber for sure!

[KenMac]

How long is he? Looks like 5' maybe? Very pretty but still kinda creeps me out.

[WDH]

He is all wrinkled up because you aggravated him.  They also put off a foul odor when hassled. 

[Resonator]

Lifted up a piece of tin in my yard today and a 3' garter snake came side winding out.  
I think I prefer logging in winter, then I only has to watch out for the snow snakes. ;D

[Darrel]

There's no snake like a snow snake!

  smiley_biggrin01

[WV Sawmiller]

 

 

   Well I had a great visit by another FF member today. WV Woodbuthcher brought me these 3 WO logs to cut in 3.5" squares and 1.5" X 3.5" framing with a few 1X6 boards on the side. They will be use as bases for deer stands/blinds. That's a great option to cut as you just cut a 3.5" cant then flip and square it and anything that won't square becomes a 1.5" board. we easily and quickly filled his cut list with plenty of extra. Not huge logs. These 3 10' logs returned 321 bf of lumber in 1.5 hours on the mill. Its great to have a customer who knows what he wants and enjoys watching the process and is a good mill hand to boot. I got side tracked by another customer coming up and did not get a finished lumber picture.

 I had met the WV Woodbutcher at our flea market a couple of years ago but this is the first time I have been able to saw for him and show off the mill but I hope it won't be the last.

EDIT:

  Oh yeah, I forgot to add, while I was packing up and covering the mill for the night the neighbors came down to check me out.


This young doe came down about 40 yards away from me and equal distance to a slab pile I was burning. Neither seemed to bother her in the least and she just fed and meandered on her merry way. I am sure she has a fawn or two close by.

[Southside]

@Deese What you call a rat snake is not the same thing as they are here. 

[WDH]

I don't recall him calling you a rat snake, but hey, if the shoe fits, wear it  :D.

[DPatton]

He is all wrinkled up because you aggravated him.  They also put off a foul odor when hassled.

WDH, 
I put out a foul odor when I'm surprised by one! 

[Patrick NC]

Cut 415bf of cedar this afternoon. Made a bunch of 4x4s from some small stuff that I had piled up. 

I can do about 8 per hour sawing 6" logs into 4x4s. At $21 each that's well worth the effort. 

[Deese]

@Southside most folks around here call them chicken snakes. 

[TimW]

@Southside most folks around here call them chicken snakes.

Chicken snake here too.  But sometimes, when I catch them in the pen with the ducklings, they are Duck Snakes.
hugs,  Brandi

[samandothers]

He is all wrinkled up because you aggravated him.  They also put off a foul odor when hassled.

WDH,
I put out a foul odor when I'm surprised by one!

That's funny!