Live Edge Siding

[brendonv]

I want to have some Hemlock milled with live edge for siding for my garage.

Is there an ideal time to saw in order to not have the bark fall off so quick?

[Jeff]

 The area holding the bark would be so small that inevitably it would fall off somewhere. No way you could do a whole building like that and keep the bark on.

[Chuck White]

I did some "slabs" for bar room furniture last August.

It was 4 inches thick and the pith is in the middle and today, the bark is still on!

I guess there are no guarantees though, but I think that when there isn't much water in the tree would be the best time to cut it!

I told this customer that if it starts to loosen up, he might have to put some small brads in to help hold the bark!

[red oaks lumber]

jeff is right about the bark. the only slim chance would be cut the tree down in the morning get it sawn up and in a kiln that afternoon with a kioln temp of 160 deg. even then its only a 50/50 shot. hand peel the bark and go with the live edge look

[sgschwend]

My 2 cents,
With the bark on you have a good chance of having insect living in the siding.  Not the type of live edge you may be looking for. 

[brendonv]

Thanks for the replies.

Hand peel, that sounds dreadful.

I took some Fir's down for a guy I sub for, he got them milled for his tree house with live edge.  That was a year ago, and the bark is still on with no signs of falling off.  He said he sprayed with Thompson water seal three times out of a back pack sprayer.

What to do, what to do.   

[beenthere]

brendonv
Give it a shot, and see how it turns out. Then let us know if it works.
Likely best time is when the tree is not actively growing under the bark.

But I'm thinking the advice given above is the best in advance.
Maybe the bark falling off after the siding is up will be no real problem for you.

[brendonv]

Both sides of the tree were in decline, combination of Hemlock Wooley Adelgid, root damage, and horse chewing.  So it surely wasn't a vigorous grower.

Your right though, don't know until I try.  I can say now I wouldn't mind if the bark falls off, but when it happens it might be a different story. 

[Dodgy Loner]

I'm with the others. It should be easy to pull the bark off the boards as they come off the mill this time of year. Bark is a bug magnet.

[thecfarm]

Going to have to be careful getting the logs out of the woods too. Even grabbing them with a grapple will loosen the bark or dropping them against another log when piling them.Dragging the logs on the ground will really take the bark off.This time of year the bark will fall off real easy. I would wait another month,maybe late summer be even better.