When is a log too small

[campy]

I have a couple of tree guys or arborists that bring me lots of wood.
Most of what they bring me is not worth putting on the mill.

If I have a 10 inch diameter log that is 10 feet long should I make it into firewood or boards?
I spent yesterday dealing with all of the ugly logs and making them into firewood.

I could not help wondering whether I was being wasteful?

Also, what is the fastest/easiest way to chop up all those slabs.
I have a huge pile of slabs !

What I do is walk around the pile and cut off logs, load them on a trailer and dump them on a pile in the back corner of my lot for use as firewood.

Maybe there is a faster way?  I am not looking forward to making logs out of this huge pile.

Also, I take the 4 to 6 inch logs with good bark and make them into shiitaki mushroom logs.
I just started this but it is a good and almost free source of food.   One drills holes in the logs and puts special dowels into them, covering with wax after.  In about a year there is suppose to be crops of shiitaki mushrooms lasting several years.

Thanks for any ideas you may have ...

[Tom Sawyer]

Depends a bit on the species.  Walnut or cherry I would definitely a saw a 10" log into boards.  Pine, only if it was straight and clear.

Tom

[brdmkr]

Campy,

I face the same issue.  I will saw the smaller logs if they are straight and look like they will make decent lumber.  I have a swing mill, so I fully understand how aggravatin' those small logs can be.  I just don't like to think of them going to waste.  Unfortunately, I do not have a good fix for the slab issue.  I cut a lot of SYP so there is  not much demand for the slabs as firewood.  I burn them, but I hate to see all of those BTUs being wasted like that.  Someday, I hope to have an outdoor wood stove, I would burn pine in that.

Funny about the mushrooms, I just inserted 300 plugs myself (about 2 months ago).  Maybe we can share fungi stories this summer :D  I am hoping that the shitakes do well.  Problem is, I like mushrooms, but that is going to make a heap of mushrooms

[tcsmpsi]

Ultimately, a log is too small when it won't cinch up in the clamps well.

Some of the small, crooked ones, I split with the mill to put on the slab stack to render into firewood.  I stack my slabs in a rack and cut them into firewood. 

As brdmkr mentioned, if it is a good, straight log, to me, it's worth the building material it will produce.  And the slab firewood.

Ike has left me many such dilemmas.   :D

[ErikC]

  I saw with a swingmill so the small logs are a little less appealing. But I can think of one job I did where they were all 10' logs with 8-12" tops. Ponderosa and sugar pine.  Hundreds and hundreds of them. In the end it was a lot of pretty nice lumber. My small log methods became pretty effecient during that time as well. If your machine can do it, why not?
As long as the firewood gets burned, it is not waste. You may be able to cut and sell firewood out of some of those logs and make more than you would sawing. If so, why not?

[Tom]

If I'm asked by the fellow bringing me the logs, I tell him that the smaller they are the straighter they need to be.  A straight line from one end to the other needs to remain inside of the log.  That is only one board.
I also say that 9" on the small end is the smallest optimum log I would prefer.  By the time you take the outside boards off of a straight 9" dia. log, you are lucky to get 6" wide boards.   Nine inches is the widened hand span, tip of thumb to tip of little finger, of most men and easy to measure.   

Ticsmumpsi makes a good observation that size of the log be determined by the ability to clamp it on the mill.

[metalspinner]

Would a 6" square cant or timber bring more $$ than six 6" boards, half of which are pith boards?

I am collecting logs to build a drying shed and am in need of 6" square timbers.  That sounds like a good way to use borderline useful logs.

[MrMoo]

All the 4x4 posts in the loft of my barn came from 7" or so Hemlock logs. With the small logs I was able box the heart and get a good post.

[woodrat]

I'll cut down to whatever I can hold in the clamp, if it is straight enough, or interesting enough wood.

I've grown shiitake mushrooms in small alder logs, 3-7 inches or so. It works, but it took a few tries to work the bugs out of the system.

[WDH]

A log is too small for me when I am sawing it and my back is breaking, sweat is pouring off me, and I ask myself, "Why are you busting your DanG to saw this??????? ??? ???.

[Cedarman]

When the value received from sawing the log is less than the cost of sawing the log including wages for me.  To me size isn't the most relavant factor.  A big log with lots of rot can be a real loser.   A 6" x 8' cedar that costs $4.40 and yields a 4x4x8 worth $10.00 plus about a buck for the mulch that comes from the slab. It just runs down the belt into the hog and blown into the truck.  No labor for mulch.  So that is $6.60   Doing it manually takes about 4 minutes, on the scrag less than a minute.

It is return on time and equipment invested that determines how small a log you can saw if making money is the criteria.

[bull]

all depends on your equipment and your market, I will take anything down to 4 inch tip straight and 8 inch tip with any sweep... when I am in need of logs.... all small logs are three sided and sent thru the resaw..

[okie]

If they're straight I saw them. I have a swing blade mill and on a 10" log I try for a good 6x6 and burn the rest. It is just a pain for me tobreak the log into lumber as it is so light. I have gotten alot of 6x6 and 4x4 posts this way.

[Old Iron nut]

The way to saw slabwood is with a tractor mounted buzz saw. It sure beats the hell out of chainsaws.

[redprospector]

On Pine my cut off is 10", anything smaller and the profit goes down.
I don't consider burning small wood a waste, it's a utilization.
I hate dealing with slab's, so I'm watching close how others are doing it too.

Andy

[WH_Conley]

Cedarman nailed it, cost vs return, to me that is 10 inches. No mulch, hardwood. 10" log is a 6x8 tie with wane or 2 cants. 9" IF I have an order for 6x6's, if not, firewood. With our markets here the lumber is not worth sawing.

[dad2nine]

I'm the odd guy out, hardwood nothing less than 12" inside the bark.

[backwoods sawyer]

If it clamps up and will make a board, it is big enough for me.
As far as slab wood goes, making a tight stack on a wood platform to begin with, makes cutting down thru the stack with a long bar the most efficient method for me.

[LeeB]

When there is no profit, good use or value in it. I have sawn 2 1/2" top cedar poles in half because the customer wanted to use them on a gate that way. At $40/hr it was a good deal for me and they were happy with it.

[bandmiller2]

Campy,if its your hobby you cut what you want,if your livelyhood, you cut what feeds the bulldog.For slabs I built a long sawhorse,located on the offbearers side of the mill.Slabs and edgings get laid in that when full chainsaw to whatever legnth you burn.Frank C.

[Meadows Miller]

Gday

On the table top mill ill go down to 6" dia and 8' min and with the lucas 12" x 8' min so both machines work in well together  ;) ;D ;D 8) 8)

Im gonna solve my Trash problem by just letting the pile get to around the 600 to 1000 ton mark then im hireing in a large Contractor with a trough feed grinder and excavator grinding it and selling it in bulk loads to Bark King a larger wholesaler the down side is the grinder costs $800 bucks an hour    good news is itll grind about 100 to 140 ton an hour about 200+ yards ph  8) so it will only be one or two days a year that we have to do cleanup  ;) ;D ;D

Or Ill just do it the old fashoned way Puppa and the old man use to 50' wide 20'+ high and 150 200 foot long and just light er up each winter and have a bit of a pissup with the mates each sat night for over a month  ;) :D :D :D ;D the EPA would love that one

Chris

[snowman]

I did verticle siding on my barn and sawmill building with small doug fir. 1x4 and even some 1x3. Well worth the effort i think.

[ljmathias]

I'm about to cut siding for the house I'm building for my MOL so I've been searching like crazy.  The idea of using smaller logs sounds great- when you say vertical siding, are you talking about board and batton? If so, I assume the 1X3s are the battons, no?  Oh, by the way, we really like pictures...

Lj

[backwoods sawyer]

 


When is to small? when it is to small to clamp up.

[Banjo picker]

A log is too small if you have more than one inch clearance on each side between it and the roller guide.   :D

Always wanting them to be and inch or two bigger.  Kinda like the weather, always wish the rain would hold off one more day.   ;D  Tim