My first time processing lumber

[kristosig]

I started a thread here a while ago asking for advice on drying lumber. This is my first time felling trees, milling, drying etc. This thread documents my progress, mistakes and hopefully some successes as well.

[kristosig]

A few weeks ago, I visited a landowner "nearby" (about two hours away), picked out and bought six trees, still standing. Three ashes and three cherry trees. Marked them with green plastic.



 

 

 

 

[kristosig]

This morning, I started building a rack on which to stack the lumber.



 

Unfortunately, the rain was really pouring down, and my neighbours were still asleep, so not really a good time to start sawing.

Obviously, I need a bandsaw to dimension the lumber when it's finished. In case the customer wants different dimensions. So I bought a bandsaw. As good a time as any to unpack it.



 

[low_48]

You bought ash? I thought those were all give away these days as folks have to take them down anyway.

[kristosig]

The day I assigned for making everything ready did not go as planned. I have a half-completed lumberrack. I found out the hard way that it is really hard to saw straight with a bandsaw. Thus, I have no stickers.

I did get the chainsaw and timberjig, safety equipment etc from the post office. Haven't had time to open the boxes yet. Spent three hours getting the van I rented to transport the lumber.

Tomorrow is tree-felling and milling day. We'll see how that goes.

Now, sleep.

[kristosig]

 

 So, breakfast and off we go to the forest...

[YellowHammer]

Which one is you?

[Old Greenhorn]

I'll bet he is the photographer.

And SO, the adventure begins! Let's see how the plans hold up. Good luck, have fun, and be safe!

[customsawyer]

Y'all going to have to eat more than I see on those plates if you're going to be working with wood.

[GAB]

I would caution those fellows against sitting on those chairs if they get softwood resins on their clothes.
They just might get an earful from the lady of the house.
GAB

[kristosig]

Yes, I took the pictures, so I'm not on them. We had breakfast before going to the woods, so no risk for damage, GAB.

Off we went. When we got there, the landowners asked us to start with the cherry trees, as they had horses around where the ashes were. So, change of plans, cherry instead of ash.

We started by putting everything together. Chainsaw, winch, etc. Unboxing various things.



 

I felled the first tree. Of course, I should have backed away, but otherwise, we took all safety precautions, including fixing a winch to the tree.

Video: Dropbox - video-1601840828.mp4 - Simplify your life

Now, the actual sawing to planks turned out to be rather complicated. Assembling the timberjig took a lot of time and in the end we realised there were some parts missing. More specifically one of the holders and the piece that fixes the timberjig to the horizontal ruler-type thing. So sawing was difficult and inaccurate.

Videos of me milling:
Dropbox - video-1601840818.mp4 - Simplify your life
Dropbox - video-1601840788.mp4 - Simplify your life

In the end we just milled one small log, more as a proof of concept. It didn't turn out terribly well, but looks okay in a picture.


 

In the end, we just loaded up the logs and I took them home.



 

When I got home, I figured I could just load the planks and logs onto my half-finished lumberrack and beef it up later.

Obviously, it just fell apart.



 

So, as a whole, a learning experience. No one got hurt. We grilled hot-dogs and hamburgers in the woods. A bunch of office workers got to do something new.

I am going to let those four planks stay outside for 4-5 days. No rain in the forecast. After that, I will put them in my attic and just keep them there. Make something out of them eventually, as the first planks I ever milled.

Everything is end-sealed with anchorseal. The logs will simply have to wait there until I get things sorted with the timberjig and everything. Then I will build a better lumber rack, make stickers and then mill and stack.

The kiln should come in a few weeks. Maybe I will just mill the logs then and stack them directly into the kiln.

Stay tuned for more updates! I also have five more trees to fell and mill!

[Old Greenhorn]

Well, it looks like you had some fun, and as you say, nobody got hurt. Everything takes time to learn the fine points. One comment on your felling 'technique', cutting and standing directly behind the tree as it is falling puts you directly in the line of fire if that tree splits and it will happen before you realize what is going on. Better to be on the side when you do your back cut. I also noticed that you held onto the saw because it was pinched. Try to program your brain that the equipment can be replaced, but you can't. Trying to save a tool has cost many person a serious injury.
 If you haven't seen it, this video might be helpful for a start.
How to Fell a Tree with a Chainsaw - YouTube

 This video has a better explanation of the mechanics which are critical to make good choices. There are many ways to drop a tree, these are just a few.
How To Make Tree Felling Notches And Hinges With A Chainsaw | Husqvarna - YouTube
Good luck, keep at it.

[kristosig]

Well, it looks like you had some fun, and as you say, nobody got hurt. Everything takes time to learn the fine points. One comment on your felling 'technique', cutting and standing directly behind the tree as it is falling puts you directly in the line of fire if that tree splits and it will happen before you realize what is going on. Better to be on the side when you do your back cut. I also noticed that you held onto the saw because it was pinched. Try to program your brain that the equipment can be replaced, but you can't. Trying to save a tool has cost many person a serious injury.

That's exactly what happened. With the saw pinched, I was unsure what to do for a little moment and just stayed there. You are of course exactly right that I should have gotten away from there as soon as I sensed the tree was falling.
Thanks for the tip on coming from the side, I will do that from now on. Will check the videos out, thanks.

I believe it also was for the best that we started with the cherry trees. They are smaller than the ashes, both in diameter and height, and thus better for training. We felled two cherry trees and it went much faster and better with number two.

I originally bought three ashes and three cherry trees. Yesterday, I bought one more cherry tree. So, five more trees to be felled and milled.

Now that we have gone through all the motions of felling and milling a tree, I think we will work more effectively from now on.

I am considering doing the remaining work in stages:

Stage 1: Fell all five remaining trees. Saw off all branches etc and cut to length. Seal the end-grain with Anchorseal. Leave them where they are.
Stage 2: Gather all the logs and put them all in one place where the landowner has agreed to let me stack logs/lumber and mill it.
Stage 3: Setup a comfortable workplace where the logs are. Mount the milling equipment on a stand, build some kind of track or stand so the logs can be easily rolled into position and locked there for milling.
Stage 4: Make enough stickers for all the lumber. Make platforms for stacks, probably from pallets.
Stage 5: Mill the logs into planks. Stack them on the platforms.
Stage 6: Hire a truck with a crane to transport all the lumber home.
Each stage can take several days and that's OK. The stacks can sit and air dry, first on-site and after that at my house, and I will kiln-dry load after load until I'm done.

I will probably not be using the lumberjig anymore; frankly I am considering returning it. Of course, the fact that there were parts missing influence my impression of it. But I just didn't like it. Fastening the guiderails to every log, moving it, etc was a hassle. It wasn't that easy to push the chainsaw through the log when milling either. Probably much easier though if one doesn't have to also hold it stable and straight by hand.

I am considering upgrading to this one:
https://www.logosol.com/store/f2-chain-sawmill-4-m-with-ms661-basic-crank-feeding.html

I could build a rack with a ramp or something to "feed" logs into it. Nothing would have to be fastened to the logs. The crank feeding would make pushing the chainsaw easier. The chainsaw in this package is 7,1 horsepower, the one I have now is 4,4 hp I think. So a little more power, which would be nice.

[Old Greenhorn]

Just take your time and be careful. Make sure you understand the forces that each tree and log holds when you cut. I don't want to hear that you wound up like my neighbor. Yesterday he decided to cut some dead standing trees for firewood. He did 2 smaller ones first and they pretty much went where he wanted. He didn't really understand how the hinge works to control the direction of the tree and he didn't ask for help or teaching. One his third tree, this happened:



 

Then he accepted my help to get the tree out and the shed covered until he can repair it. I am just very thankful he did not get hurt. Even small trees are dangerous, such as this one, it was about 50CM DBH (20"). It did a fair amount of damage even though only the top hit the shed.
 Be careful.

[kristosig]

Just take your time and be careful. Make sure you understand the forces that each tree and log holds when you cut. I don't want to hear that you wound up like my neighbor. Yesterday he decided to cut some dead standing trees for firewood. He did 2 smaller ones first and they pretty much went where he wanted. He didn't really understand how the hinge works to control the direction of the tree and he didn't ask for help or teaching. One his third tree, this happened:



 

Then he accepted my help to get the tree out and the shed covered until he can repair it. I am just very thankful he did not get hurt. Even small trees are dangerous, such as this one, it was about 50CM DBH (20"). It did a fair amount of damage even though only the top hit the shed.
Be careful.

Wow. That's some expensive firewood.
We will take every precaution. One of the trees I bought is within reach of a house. I told the landowner from the start that I will not fell that tree. A condition when buying it was that they would get someone else to fell it. I will gladly take care of it after it is on the ground.
But, as you say, property damage is not the worst thing that can happen. A shed or a house can be repaired. A fractured skull is not as easy.
Here's another video of me felling that same tree, taken from an another angle and more thoroughly showing the whole process.
Dropbox - video-1601895772.mp4 - Simplify your life
When looking at this, I see that I should not have been on my knees, I should have been on my feet, ready to get away if needed. Should have been on the side, not directly behind the tree. Should have left the moment the tree started to fall.

[Don P]

OGH, was this "that neighbor"?
Looks like he'll need to hang the window planter back up.

[Old Greenhorn]

No, I wish it was. This was the nice young couple behind me that I made the bar for last year as their wedding gift. I will help him as I can to get it repaired. We are traveling next weekend when he plans on starting, so that should give him time to figure out what he doesn't know, then ask for help or tools. ;D They are good folks, Hate to see this for them.

[Don P]

Bummer. You made the comment that only the top hit the shed, hmm, really the whole tree hit it. I only strike a nail with the top of the hammer but it is really the whole thing driving the nail. I'm kind of surprised it stopped short of the floor, a well built shed.

kristosig, I hung around and tried to save a saw when a tree was barberchairing. I did save the saw but instantly 20' in the air with a broken rib and running chainsaw I decided I didn't really want it all that bad. Run Forrest Run  :D

[Old Greenhorn]

Bummer. You made the comment that only the top hit the shed, hmm, really the whole tree hit it. I only strike a nail with the top of the hammer but it is really the whole thing driving the nail. I'm kind of surprised it stopped short of the floor, a well built shed.

Not to hijack Kristosigs thread, but I have done a few of these damage assessments when with the Fire dept. for structural stability and shoring requirements before entry. What I believe happened here was the top hit the roof and a few lesser branches absorbed some energy as they broke (exploded), then the stouter upper leads broke the first 3 roof trusses and just about the time it was running out of trusses, the main stem hit the header on the side wall (doubled 2x4's) and shattered that absorbing pretty much most of the energy left and sharing the load between the siding and the 4th truss, which cracked but did not break. The plywood roofing absorbs an amazing amount of energy as it spreads the load out and I could see, based on the size of the plywood sections laying on the floor that they got hit hard.
 It was interesting to evaluate and figure out the chain of events. I understand there is video of this, (It was his first big tree, so his wife recorded it. I bet they won't forget this for a while. :D) but I have not seen it, but I would be interested to see how close my assessment is. The property owner is keeping a good sense of humor about the whole thing since he did it all by himself. I mentioned that if he were thinking about making a bigger shed, now might be a good time. ;D
 But this is a reminder of why we say it is 'hard to learn how to fell a tree on the internet'. I am just glad he is whole.

[GAB]

OGH, was this "that neighbor"?
Looks like he'll need to hang the window planter back up.

I think that can wait until after he frames and installs the roof window.
GAB

[Old Greenhorn]

I think that can wait until after he frames and installs the roof window.

Yeah, the flowers were already dead anyway. We have time on that.  ;D

[thecfarm]

Note the safety gear he is wearing. Yes it costs, but so does a hospital emergency room visit. 45° escape route is right on. I spend time clearing that escape route too. I don't want to fall as I am walking away from the tree. That bore cut should be higher than the hinge cut too.

[Old Greenhorn]

I put my bore cut at the same level as the face cut. It leaves a cleaner stump. As far as the mechanics go, it really doesn't matter as long as you keep a good clean hinge. Some say making the back cut higher encourages chairing, but I have not seen this.

[Old Greenhorn]

@kristosig how are you coming along with your project? We haven't heard in a while. Are you holding to your timeline?

[kristosig]

So, next step!

I was away for a few weeks, got som good patience training...

As soon as I got home, I started preparing for receiving the logs.



 

 

Since those pictures were taken, I have added cross supports to the two remaining places that lacked those. As you can see, the studs protrude a little bit up from the sides. My thought there was that they could decrease risk for the logs rolling when they are not supposed to. But it turned out that it was quite difficult to roll logs over them and it put load on them that might break them and thereby threaten the stability of the whole thing. So I'm going to cut of the protruding parts and instead drill 12 mm (ca 1/2 inch) wide holes every 600 mm (2 feet). I've bought a 2 metre (6 feet) rebar, 12 mm in diametre, which I will cut to 4-6 parts. Those, I will stick in the holes in the side where it suits me to put a removable stopper.

The sawmill will be at the and of the rack, I will simply roll the logs off the rack, on the sawmill. A Logosol F2, which arrived last week.

I've also started building a drying chamber. It'll be 4 metre long (12 feet), 1,2 metre deep (4 feet) and 1 metre high (3 feet). The WDU (Logosol Wood Drying Unit) has arrived, so that'll go in the chamber as soon as it's built. Just a 45x95 mm (2x4 in) frame with styrofoam (XPS, not EPS) as insulation and exterior - walls, floor, roof and door.

[kristosig]

Today, we headed for the woods again. Only had two friends with me this time, and one of them had to leave at lunchtime. 

But we were much better prepared. The winch worked much better. I had arranged for a farmer nearby to bring his tractor and help us. We just felled the trees, cut them to 3.5 metre (11.5 feet) logs, cut away some limbs/branches. He did the rest. Gathered the logs, stacked them at one location. He even cut the tree crowns and larger branches down with his own chainsaw and gathered all that for disposal.

There's sunlight from 7:30 - 16:30 now. We were a bit delayed, and this place is one and a half hour away, well, we were there 9:30 and we left at about 15:00. During this time, we felled five trees.

Here's a picture that shows the first two or three trees stacked. Before we took the really big ones. What you see here is about one third of the logs we ended up with. I estimate the size of the biggest one to 80 cm (31 inches) in diameter.



 

[firefighter ontheside]

Are you in Sweden as your profile says or in America?  I can't find any reference to Cherry trees in Sweden.

[kristosig]

Are you in Sweden as your profile says or in America?  I can't find any reference to Cherry trees in Sweden.

I live in Sweden. We have cherry trees in the southern part of the country.
https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Prunus_avium

[Ianab]

Prunus avium is what the Americans know as "Wild Cherry", and originally comes from Europe. It's a different species from the Black cherry, but the wood properties are pretty similar. 

[kristosig]

Just got the logs delivered to my home.



 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

[Old Greenhorn]

Glad to see you are still at it. You've got a lot of milling to do now!

[kristosig]

A little child labour...applying Anchorseal.



 

 

 

[kristosig]

Still preparing, haven't milled anything yet.

The drying chamber / kiln is almost ready. Just need to put in an outflow vent and a little rack for the planks.



 

 



 

 

 

Also added a water cooling system (ie leaky hose and duct tape) to the sawmill.



 
 

 
 

[Old Greenhorn]

You ARE making progress! Wonder how it is fitting with your original expectations (you may recall, I thought your plan was pretty aggressive) but you are really moving along!
 I don't understand the water cooling thing. I do not CSM but we have a lot of folks here who do and I have never heard of this coming up before, mostly the issue is getting enough oil on the chain in those long cuts. How did you come to this idea?

[kristosig]

You ARE making progress! Wonder how it is fitting with your original expectations (you may recall, I thought your plan was pretty aggressive) but you are really moving along!

Thanks! It's starting to feel quite real now. My plan was and is pretty aggressive. I want to have all those trees felled, milled, dried to 6-8% and sold before early spring.

The trees are now in my garden, cut to 3.5 metre (11.5 feet) logs.

The sawmill will be ready this evening.

The kiln is almost ready. I have even sealed all joints with silicon sealant. The kiln will be able to take about 1/5 of my lumber-to-be per drying cycle. Each drying cycle will be about 25 days.

I've already sold two planks, the buyer is not in a hurry to get them. I've told him they'll be ready around Christmas.

I'm setting up an online store, which  will be a "base" in my sales, but I also have social media channels I will use. Also have two local small businesses that want to come take a look when I have some product to show them. Small scale furniture makers. Custom jobs.

I have contracts in place for payment processing and shipping. I can already accept payments with card, 14 day invoice, and payments in installments up to one year (via a financial company that does the credit checks in realtime, approves/denies, and pays me within two weeks whichever option the customer chooses). The payment system is already active in my online store.

My todo list:

1. Sawmill
a) Finish putting together a dust extractor to handle the saw dust.

2. Kiln
a) Sealing strip around the door opening.
b) Install the outflow vent. Just sawing out a hole and placing the aluminium vent in it.
c) Drain in the floor, as I will often be putting in water for the first stage of the drying process and then draining the rest out. Nothing fancy. Just a hole in the floor, garden hose cut to be level with the floor, and silicon sealant to seal the hole around the hose. I have a tap to put on the other end of the hose to open/close it.
d) A lumber rack.
e) Stickers. I have some air dry spruce boards, approximately 25x155 mm (1x6 inches). My sawmill's debut will be sawing those into 25x18 mm (1x3/4 inch) stickers, which will be placed with 300 mm (one foot) intervals.

3. Storage for dried lumber.
I know how I will do it and I have most of the material. It will be exactly like the kiln, just double height and shelves instead of a rack on the floor. Dehumidifier instead of wood drying unit.

4. Sales
I will notify the two interested businesses when I have something to show them. I still need more text and pictures for the online store, and some legal disclaimers etc. I have the social media channels and will post pictures etc when I have something to show.

Items one and two will be ready this week, and then I will start milling, fill the kiln, and start drying.

I have my next three week stint abroad weeks 49-51, leaving on the 29th of November. I want to have my first batch in the kiln by then, the first four day "steaming phase" finished, and airflow through the outflow vent stabilised.

I can work on my online store while I am away.

I may be able to start the storage chamber before leaving, but that only needs to be done before emptying the kiln and putting in the second batch.

All in all, I'd say I am sticking to my timeline, but it's still aggressive and I need to keep at it.

[kristosig]

I don't understand the water cooling thing. I do not CSM but we have a lot of folks here who do and I have never heard of this coming up before, mostly the issue is getting enough oil on the chain in those long cuts. How did you come to this idea?

The basic premise is that the bar and chain become very hot, which accelerates wear and tear on both. Also makes the chains dull sooner, the sawing becomes slower and the surface of the milled lumber a little more course.
Having water spraying continuously from multiple holes on the hose above the bar will help with this.
The other end of the hose attaches to my garden hose, which is connected to a tap on the outside wall of my house.

[kantuckid]

You bought ash? I thought those were all give away these days as folks have to take them down anyway.

Does the Emerald Ash Borer thing go on in Sweden?

[Old Greenhorn]

Does the Emerald Ash Borer thing go on in Sweden?

No, the closest infestation is in Moscow, Russia.

[kristosig]

 

 

 

 The sawmill is now assembled and ready. I am not going to use it until I've assembled the dust collector, though.

With a little luck, I can start milling in 1-2 days.

[Nebraska]

I didn't have my cheater  glasses on when I read this the first time, and in his drying shed/chamber I thought I saw a chicken sitting in there in the shed..... It's a miter saw I think, but my first thought was "wow sawdust and chickens he's got it really bad"..... ;)

Good progress there Kristosig.

[Old Greenhorn]

Some folks see chickens wherever they look. :D

[YellowHammer]

Excellent progress.  You are doing great.

When I was doing my stint at chainsaw milling, I taped a garden hose to my blade.  It made quite a mess but worked.

I notice the children around the logs painting them.  It's good to have them participate but working around stacked logs is very dangerous for both children and adults.  Kids want to play in or around them and adults like to lean or walk on them but there is a reason they are called "deadstacked" and "deadfalls."  Even a seemingly solid pile of logs can shift without notice or even avalanche.  I've seen it many times.  If you haven't done it, it's a good time to teach them how to stay out of the "bite". 

[kristosig]

I notice the children around the logs painting them.  It's good to have them participate but working around stacked logs is very dangerous for both children and adults.  Kids want to play in or around them and adults like to lean or walk on them but there is a reason they are called "deadstacked" and "deadfalls."  Even a seemingly solid pile of logs can shift without notice or even avalanche.  I've seen it many times.  If you haven't done it, it's a good time to teach them how to stay out of the "bite".

Glad to see I am not alone in thinking this. Got the "yes dad, we know we are not allowed to play near the logs", complete with the rolling eyes, from my six year old daughter yesterday, indicating that I was beating a thoroughly dead horse there. But this is something I am a bit nervous about.

Thanks for the encouragement; nice to know the garden hose is a tested method that has worked before.

[Old Greenhorn]

Yellowhammer makes a serious point. You cannot let children be in the area if they don't respect the danger. I grew up around such stuff and now my grandchildren are too. Just as with firearms this is something you cannot let go of until they demonstrate that they understand the danger. It is one of the very few things I will YELL at my grandsons about if they 'forget'. You have to push it as far as necessary until they get it. If you have to, take surveyors paint or tape and lay a line down on the ground showing the safety zone and be very strict about it. I see you have little ones and I know how they can be, you will have to be consistent until they get it. Adults can be a tad harder to train than the younger ones, but you can be more firm with them. ;D
 Also, a tip for you, I see your pile has a few wonky logs in it and the stack 'could be better'.  (I know the driver was in a hurry.) Take your cant hook and straighten those out, even flatten the pile to make it more stable. I also shove small cutoff's between some logs and drive them in a bit to prevent roll downs, or at least slow them down, like wheel chocks. My pile is on the side of my driveway and a modest stack like yours, and the kids are playing in the area often, so I take no chance. As I pull logs to the mill, I roll others down to maintain a stable stack. While you are rolling logs, get the kids to watch and see how much force is involved when they tumble. The is a safety issue that cannot be ignored and your children need to understand you are firm on it, not because you don't want them to have fun, but because you love them and want to keep them around a little longer. Starting out and building good safety habits goes a long way toward making their and your life easier as other things come along. My Grandson's took a while to learn that when I said "stand here so you can watch, but don't leave this spot" it was not debatable and if they moved, we were done for a while until they learned. Don't let those cute kids blow you off, you will not be doing them a favor. We read too many horrible tragedy's about farm and logging accidents. They are quick, severe, and irreversible. You and your family are just starting out, so start out on the right foot, please.

[Old Greenhorn]

I found one of the threads I was thinking about in reference to this. Reading the linked article drives the point home.
https://forestryforum.com/board/index.php?topic=56157.msg813016#msg813016

[mike_belben]

NEVER fail to scream at a child who is coming up unannounced to a running machine, especially from behind.  Even the screwiest snowflake parent will realize you might be saving their babies life.  I chew out all my kids and their friends for it.  


Teach them to never enter the zone of operation until they have waved to abd made eye contact with the operator(s) so it is known that they are in the workspace.  And never stand in front of or behind a running wheeled or tracked machine while parked.  Old iron has old linkages, they can engage on their own. 

[kristosig]

Thank you all for your concern. I completely agree with all of you. My children do not approach my machines, whether they are running or not. Someone compared them to firearms, and I agree. My guns are in a locked weapon cabinet, unloaded, bolts out where applicable and keys elsewhere. My children do not touch my guns, that's unthinkable to them, I've made sure of that.

I allow them to join me when DIY'ing, but always with a heavy focus on safety. Safe distance when I use any kind of power tool. I take every opportunity to teach them this and I strive to lead by example, taking every precaution myself, use protective equipment etc. They get to use certain things themselves, but have to ask every time. Things like driving nails into scrap pieces of wood, applying glue for me when I assemble etc.

As for the logs, I continuously stress that they are not to be near it without direct supervision, like when we applied the anchorseal. I have seen nothing that would suggest they disobey this rule, but I watch closely and will react strongly to the slightest indication of that.

Some of you have suggested further safety enhancing action, such as evening out the pile and letting them see the forces at play when I roll them. I will go through those suggestions and implement what I can.

[kristosig]

Update.

Kiln is built and is ready to accept green lumber. I may or may not install a sensor for temperature and humidity that is connected to my alarm system. Might be interesting.



 



 

I put together a dust collector "on the run". Some scrap 18 mm (3/4 inch) plywood that was leftover from building a doll house. Spiral pipes. The usual parts. Hastily thrown together.



 

 

Got everything ready for milling. Took some time, had some hiccups.

Here I am fixing some bolt in the mechanism.



 

 


Didn't have time to make stickers, so I just threw in the first layer of planks, just to be able to say to myself that I have officially started loading the kiln.

[kristosig]

Did a little sawing today as well. But not much. Spent most of the day with the wife and kids, as I am going away for three weeks next weekend.

Most of the pictures are of European ash (Fraxinus excelsior) but the last picture is of what I call cherry and most of you know as Wild Cherry (Prunus avium).



 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

[Walnut Beast]

Quite a little operation you got going 👍

[kristosig]

Quite a little operation you got going 👍

You can say that again.

Been a long day...



 

[Old Greenhorn]

I have to say, we have a lot of first timers to milling here and when you first showed up with a very aggressive plan we have heard many times before in slightly different forms, I was dubious. I figured, like most, you would realize you would need a little more time to get your goals reached. 
 I was wrong and I am impressed. You really have pulled this off so far and it is a lesson to me to keep an open mind. 
 Good on ya!

[Andries]

I was going to compliment you on having super diplomatic skills.
Keeping your neighbours happy while running all that equipment would be very difficult!
 . . . and then we see where you hide away from everyone.
.
Jag skulle gratulera dig för att ha superdiplomatiska färdigheter.
Att hålla dina grannar glada när du kör all den utrustningen skulle vara mycket svårt!
...och sedan ser vi var du gömmer dig från alla.

[Old Greenhorn]

.
Jag skulle gratulera dig för att ha superdiplomatiska färdigheter.
Att hålla dina grannar glada när du kör all den utrustningen skulle vara mycket svårt!
...och sedan ser vi var du gömmer dig från alla.

Det er Svenska Andries? Jeg er Nordman.
You are Swedish Andries? I am Norwegian. (or my best attempt at it, it's been a long time and I never was very literate.)

[kristosig]

I have to say, we have a lot of first timers to milling here and when you first showed up with a very aggressive plan we have heard many times before in slightly different forms, I was dubious. I figured, like most, you would realize you would need a little more time to get your goals reached.
I was wrong and I am impressed. You really have pulled this off so far and it is a lesson to me to keep an open mind.
Good on ya!

Thanks. Really appreciate it. This is a huge undertaking for me, I've been quite dubious myself at times.
Finally starting to see the light at the end of the tunnel. I think I'll make a table top out of some of the first batch. A nice keepsake.

[kristosig]

.
Jag skulle gratulera dig för att ha superdiplomatiska färdigheter.
Att hålla dina grannar glada när du kör all den utrustningen skulle vara mycket svårt!
...och sedan ser vi var du gömmer dig från alla.

Det er Svenska Andries? Jeg er Nordman.
You are Swedish Andries? I am Norwegian. (or my best attempt at it, it's been a long time and I never was very literate.)

Ni är tokiga, båda två.
As a matter of fact, I am not Swedish. I live in Sweden, but I am Icelandic. I moved to Sweden in the beginning of 2014 and will be moving back to Iceland next summer. I have actually considered importing green logs from Sweden to Iceland. Gotten a bit hooked on this.

[kristosig]

I did install a climate detector yesterday. Of course, the kiln is off and the door is open, so right now it's just reporting the outside climate. But it'll be fun to follow. I wrote in some reference numbers in fahrenheit to help those of you who are not used to celsius.



 

[kristosig]

 

 The kiln has been running for 24 hours now. The thermostat is set to 55 degrees C (131 F) and the outflow vent is completely closed. Now I am just softening up the lumber.

I have a thermometer/hygrometer in the opposite end of the kiln from the WDU. According to its readings, the temperature is stabilising at about 54 C (129 F) and relative humidity about 75%, which means that the wet bulb temperature is 49 C (120 F).



 



I also started some safety enhancements. Work in progress.

[kristosig]

Unfortunately, it seems that while the temperature is stable, the humidity is sinking. I believe the steam is getting out between door and door opening.

I worry that I have already damaged my lumber. Almost hope the fan is not effective and the lumber has lots of moist air in between planks! But I am hoping that the situation is not as bad as it seems from just temperature and relative humidity, as the pressure inside the chamber is probably increasing as moisture is released from the lumber and turned into steam.

The dry bulb temperature is stable at 129 F but the wet bulb temperature has gone from 120 to 102 F in three days.

What do you think?





I've looked up some things. Seems that I remembered wrong about RH decreasing with increased pressure. It's actually the other way around.

I didn't do an oven-dry weighing of the lumber before starting, which I now regret. Seems there could be a lot of important variables I am missing. How much water the lumber has released being the key thing I am missing. The total absolute water difference in the air in the chamber is probably something like three ounces, totally irrelevant. But if the lumber has released a lot of moisture in the air, that could moisture is gone as well, and that is worrying.

@GeneWengert-WoodDoc is this something you could comment on?

[Old Greenhorn]

I would make a call to the kiln manufacturer. I bet they have a 'guy' that can set you straight quickly. This way be very normal for that setup, or not. ;D

[kristosig]

I would make a call to the kiln manufacturer. I bet they have a 'guy' that can set you straight quickly. This way be very normal for that setup, or not. ;D

Hope so. They make good products, but sometimes I find their knowledge of just kiln drying lacking. Their primary products are saw mills.
I've put in some quick fixes...


 

 
...and I am happy to report that the humidity is rising quickly. On the other hand, this also serves to inform me of how much moisture was leaking out previously.





I will probably let this run completely closed until tomorrow morning to get some steam time in with the lumber. Then open the vent early tomorrow morning before I leave for the airport. I'll have to adjust the vent on the fly, though. Won't have much time for fine tuning. I want to release about 30 m3/hour (about 18 CFM) out through the vent, keeping that stable for about three weeks.

[kristosig]

I've had the vent open for a couple of days now, and the thermostat at 45°C (113°F). Seems stable. Now I'm just waiting.

I'm updating the mill from petrol driven chainsaw to an electric one. Ought to make the neighbours happy, as it is considerably less noisy.



 

[kristosig]

 Opened the kiln now. Pretty happy with the results! About 520 board feet there. Will be milling 800 board  feet in the coming days and starting the kiln again.

I already have orders for about 900 board feet, so almost halfway to my goal of having the lumber sales pay for all my equipment and other costs.

Got a new chainsaw, an electric one, Logosol ES8. Will be using that to mill the rest of the lumber

 


 

[kantuckid]

You are one ambitious feller! :D

[kristosig]

So, I'd like to summarise the drying process a little bit, as this was my first time.

During the first few days, I wanted to maintain a temperature of 55°C (131°F) and as much humidity as possible. I added 2 litres (1/2 gallon) of water before closing the kiln. However, I found that my kiln could not hold the moisture in, and the humidity sunk very fast. As you can see in the attached picture, I put in some extra isolation around the door opening and managed to get the humidity up a little bit. After a few days of this, I turned the heat down to 45°C (113°F), opened the vent to let out (if memory serves) about 40 m3/h (23,5 CFM).



 

Then, I just left it for just over four weeks.



 

In the end, what I wanted to do was to equalise and condition. That didn't really go as planned. I figured I had left it long enough in a warm and dry environment, so it was likely already ready fairly equalised. So I wanted to condition the lumber, that is make the outermost parts a little wetter, while letting the inner parts continue to equalise. So I added more water and turned on the heat. Well. The humidity sunk again, not surprisingly, as even with the same absolute moisture, the RH sinks when the temperature increases. Also, when the temperature got up to 80°C (176°F), the safety switch in my wood drying unit kicked in and turned the whole thing off. When the safety switch is triggered, you can't turn it on again until it is down to 30°C (86°F).

So, I waited for it to cool off before making another attempt, this time continually adding water. This time, I set the thermostat to 70°C (158°F) and maintained that temperature for about 24 hours. I was largely unsuccessful in maintaining the desired humidity level, so in the end I just aborted the attempt and turned the kiln off. It cooled down in a few days (I didn't want that to go too fast).



 

The results were really good. No end checking, no deformations. Pleasantly surprised.



 

[kristosig]

So, a lot has happened with my little project. I´ve upgraded my equipment, gotten an electric saw. I made a little chip collection system for it:


 

Nothing fancy, but when I connect it to a chip collector, it works surprisingly well. Obviously no bag, as that would fill immidiately.



 

What you see hanging off that container is an ATV winch. I use that to pull logs up on the "sawmill" (a Logosol F2, for those who are interested).


 

I have had all sorts of problems. Mostly my own lack of experience. The balk where the saw slides needs to be completely straight and level, and same goes for the saw. Had all sorts of problems with that, which have led to difficulties. But it´s coming along. I have a big order now that I´m trying to fill; about 1000 bdf. Mostly ash, and mostly with straight edges, but some with live edges. A bit of cherry. I´m about four weeks behind schedule, and I didn´t manage to cram as much into my kiln as I had thought, only got about 600 bdf in there.



 

However, I have some over from the first batch, some private stash that I´ve bought previously, and I can buy a few planks if need be to be able to ship the whole order.

I have now started the drying process, turned on the heat about 36 hours ago. The heat is creeping up, have it at 121F right now, and 87,8% RH. I want to go up to 158F at least for a few hours, but we´ll see how that goes. After that, my plan is to reduce the EMC by approximately 2,5% per day.

This batch and the next one will be 2 inch slabs. After that, I will mill all the rest of my lumber to 1" thickness, mostly to be able to dry it faster. As I am moving this spring, I need to dismantle my "operation" soon to tidy up before I sell my house.

[samandothers]

You have been busy!  You are pushing through your issues.  I hope you continued success with your new business.

[Anderson]

I have really enjoyed watching your progress, please keep us updated!   8)

[kristosig]

A quick update. My "little kiln that could" was not quite able to reach my target temperature of 158F. It topped out in 140F and stayed there. I let it sit like that for a few days, vent closed, to soften the wood and get the tension out.

Now I have set the thermostat to 113F and I have opened the vent a little bit.



 
 

You may have noticed the two containers. One of them I use for lumber and machines that make a lot of sawdust.



 

The other one I use for a little makeshift workshop and a more varied storage. Anything that can make a spark is stored there.


 

Both containers are insulated and have electricity. I keep them warm with forced air garage heaters.

[kristosig]

For those of you who are extra interested, I'm posting links to a few videos. A friend came by and recorded a few short videos. The spoken language is Icelandic, but I reckon the videos speak for themselves even if your Icelandic is a bit rusty...

https://www.dropbox.com/s/n3v3z8l436hqo05/video-1611509080.mp4?dl=0
https://www.dropbox.com/s/3boa07ulvlb7a53/video-1611508969.mp4?dl=0
https://www.dropbox.com/s/wl87dhgpp7ygk7i/video-1611508964.mp4?dl=0

[kristosig]

Sent a large-ish delivery to a customer. Huge milestone. A lot of hard work, but very satisfying.



 

 

 Already milled some more and put in the kiln. This will be the second last load and then I'm done processing all the wood from this adventure. Have some plans on how to proceed, but definitely not in my own garden. Never again...



 


 

  

[DirkC]

I did install a climate detector yesterday. Of course, the kiln is off and the door is open, so right now it's just reporting the outside climate. But it'll be fun to follow. I wrote in some reference numbers in fahrenheit to help those of you who are not used to celsius.

Which detector are you using? Most temp/humidity sensors I found do not go up to 80°C.