Sawing LE siding and wide Book-matched lumber

[WV Sawmiller]

  I have mentioned and probably described this before but I think this is too important a technique to let pass. I think all band sawyers need to be very familiar with this process because you never know when you may need it.


Above is a live edge, lap siding bus stop I built. I square one side of the siding for more uniform placement and leave the front LE.

   If you or your customer want to build a wide, LE table or counter or such and your mill will not cut wide enough you can cut bookmatched pieces and join them in the center. Using this process you can easily cut something like 20" wide boards, join them at the back and have a 40" wide LE table or counter. The process can also be used to cut LE shelves or mantles where the back is square to fit against a wall with the front LE.

  Using this technique requires a hydraulic clamp as a pivot but you might be able to adapt a floor or hydraulic jack to do the same thing.

Step 1. Place the log to be sawed on the mill. If it is a hardwood with a primary check in the pith position the log so the check is as nearly vertical as possible. This is normal procedure for most of us sawing boards to place the check in one finished board as much as possible.

Step 2. Saw the slab and maybe a flitch or two off the top to get a square edge. The wider the face the more finished board you will get but the narrower they will be.

Step 3. Rotate the log 90* with the squared off top against the side supports. (This will have the heart check, if present, parallel to the bed rails.)

Step 4. Commence sawing in whatever thickness desired. Once you reach your first cut at the back/against the side supports, all boards will have a square back and a LE front.

Step 5. When you reach the side supports or clamp, stop sawing and rotate the cant 90* upward. This will position what was the back of the cant on the bottom on the bed rails and the wide sawed face will be against the side supports.

Step 6. Lower the moveable clamp and slide it back under the cant and as close to the center as you can get it and raise it just enough so the cant is slightly above the bed rails. It doesn't matter it if is a little off center as long as you can push down enough to raise the heavy end.

Step 7. Lower the side support all the way.

Step 8. Spin the log 180* completely around thereby reversing the ends of the cant on the mill using the clamp as a pivot point.

Step 9. Lower the clamp so the cant is back on the bed rails.

Step 10. Push the cant forward so the previous face is down on the bed rails and the back is again facing the side supports.

Step 11.  Tighten the clamp to hold the cant against the side support/dogs.

Step 12. Resume sawing to the rails. You will again be sawing with a flat back and a LE front.

   I have used this process to saw LE siding as shown above, sawed 23" wide 8/4 book matched pieces to become a 40"+ table and one lady helping her dad stack lumber wanted some live edge 4/4 shelves. I used a scrappy 10-11 inch 12' long poplar and opened about a 6" face and got her 6 4/4 LE shelf boards 6-8 inches wide which made her (and me) very happy.

  The creative part is using the clamp as your pivot to spin the log/cant 180 degrees. Try it. It can be very handy.

[Nebraska]

Oh to have hydraulics.  

[WV Sawmiller]

Nebraska,

  It is like everything else about sawing, you can do it without hydraulics but it is a lot more work on a manual mill. :(

  The principle and process is the same no matter how you get it done.

[SawyerTed]

Using the toeboards to get rid of taper so the siding is nearly the same width over the length of the log is a step I take.  It makes hanging the siding much easier.  Sawing out the taper produces some short flitches to be edged to width which customers don't seem to mind.  

My process is a little different than WV's.

I start the same way by taking a slab and a flitch or two off the first face.
Rotate the log 90° adjust the toeboards to eliminate taper and saw a slab and a flitch or two.
Rotate 90° so the first cut face is down and the second face is on the stops, LOWER toeboards.
Take a slab and a flitch or two then saw siding to the bed.

I don't spin the log 180°.  Clamping against the bark side is sometimes an issue but by leaving a stack of siding on the cant as I saw, the cant stays in place.

[WV Sawmiller]

Ted,

  Thanks for posting your technique. Good point about leveling the taper.

  I would be concerned about the clamping against the curved front especially when cutting thin cuts. I have cut down to 3/4" siding but that last cut on my 5/8" high dog is a real pucker factor. The technique I use provides very solid clamping at all times and allows you to cut the maximum width your mill will handle.

   Also I can see where using your technique you would want to start with any heart check parallel to the bed rails to minimize damage as you are sawing the 3rd face and I am sawing the 2nd face.

[hacknchop]

12 step programs are harder to follow but usually provide good results your both right as long as you manage to produce quality material with your mill. I don't have any trouble sawing same as Ted with my mill and my sawmill is manual but I can flip them.

[Larry]

No need to spin the log 180 degrees.  On the second face position the log stops so you can saw about half way down the log or even a little more.  If you don't saw close to half way down the bark edge can slide over the stop nubs.  Flip the log to the third face and the bark side will be inclined to easily catch on the log stop nubs.

I saw this way all the time and hardly ever have a problem.  If sawing slabs I sometimes number the flitches along with a log number.  I use a paint pen.  This way book matches are possible even if the flitches get mixed up during loading or drying.

 

[John S]

A YouTube video would be much easier for me to follow, a picture (video) is worth a thousand words.

[Tom the Sawyer]

Although not directly focused on this topic, many of the points were illustrated in a video I did about 5 years ago.
Milling Black Walnut for Figure TTS - YouTube 

[SawyerTed]

Tom, that does illustrate it very well.

[WV Sawmiller]

Tom,

   Thanks for the nice video. A job well done.

   I can see where sawing the 3rd face works for many of you and if you prefer that keep doing so.

    I do not do video and taking pictures often interferes with my sawing so don't expect any soon. Sorry if the 12 steps scares you off. I could have said saw off the top, clamp against it and saw to the stops, lift and spin the cant and reclamp and saw to the rails but I wanted to be crystal clear with the reasons as well as the technique. I can attest it works well sawing max widths and when sawing the minimum thickness siding your mill will accommodate. Its an option if you ever need or want it. 'Nuff said.

[John S]

Nice video, thanks!

[Tom the Sawyer]

I look at everything on here as more information that I can consider, adopt (if appropriate for my circumstances), or ignore.  To not do so would be wasting one of the big benefits of the Forum.

I, too, get many requests for live-edge and book-matched milling.  Having a mill with a relatively limited cut width (24") means I have to be aware of methods that will produce useable, wider width, panels. Plus, I just really like the symmetry of book-matched sets.

When the goal is book-matched planks, (usually requested as live-edge as well), I generally start by placing the best live edge face against the stops.  If the log has the potential to display desirable figure (usually a crotch), that may influence my initial placement on the mill.  

I have found that I get the best crotch figure if both 'arms' are of similar size (which I have no control over), but I always try to get the 3 primary hearts in the same plane.  The main benefit of that is that I have the best chance of containing the pith in a single plank (depending on thickness, sweep, etc.).  That means a bit of extra time to level the pith and adjust the rotation of the log.

Once the log is positioned for those factors, I will take an opening slab off the top, my primary intent being that I want to have a solid wood surface for the full length of the log.  On my mill, if I move the stops at all, the log will likely move or rotate a bit because the bearing surface on the mill is only bark, which is unstable and will compress with vibration.

I then rotate the log 90° CCW so that the cut surface is square to the stops.  The next slab I remove will be from the surface that will be the "back" or the book-matching edge.  This also places the 'live edge' on the bed of the mill.  Unless the client wants it otherwise, I would not use toe boards at this point, intending that the milled planks would be a consistent width for their full length.  Depending on the size of the log, I may take additional cuts after the opening slab.  My primary concern is that the height of the final cut must be less than the maximum cut width of my mill.  The further down you go, the more flat book-match edges you will create, but the plank width will be narrower.

I then rotate the log 90° CCW and my first cut is now on the bed of the mill which gives me a solid bearing surface with the pith parallel to the bed.  I locate the pith and measure to put the pith in the middle of a plank.  I normally do it in my head but in the video I use a plastic template for clarity.  I will mark the potential cut locations for the desired plank thicknesses.  Centering the pith in a plank will likely mean there will be an odd thickness on the bottom.  I hate to waste wood so, if there is not a full thickness to where I would take my final opening slab (not unusual when milling 8/4, 9/4, 10/4, etc.) I may squeeze out a 4/4 or 5/4 flitch (plus it is easier on whoever is pulling the slabs).

With a solid bearing surface, I can lower my stops enough to still get a good clamp grip and I'll saw down as low as I can.  To drop my stops completely out of the way (and use the 5/8" high stubs for clamping) I usually have to flip the cant 180° and use the head of the clamp top to spin it end for end, which gives me a sharp square corner to catch the stubs. I then verify my starting height for the desired plank thickness, and saw on down.

I often will chalk one end of the log with an inverted V (paint sticks work well too) and I encourage clients to mark their book matches: A, B, C, etc., so they can put them back together in a year or two when they are dry. 

Note:  Not all crotches are at the end of the log.  When I get logs where a large limb has been removed from the side I will position the log so that the limb stub is on the side opposite the stops.  The means that the face with the limb stub will be the back edge of the book matched planks (2nd opening face).  Doing so, means the symmetrical pattern would be in the center of the match, not at the edges.  

These are the steps I follow for my old B-20 with simple setworks.  If your mill has wider cut widths, lasers, pattern modes, etc., your steps would likely be different.  Consider, adopt, or ignore as you see fit.      

[SawyerTed]

Dealing with the taper with live edge siding and with book matched pieces is more important to me than the particular sawing steps.  I do understand Howard's reasoning behind the 180° spin because it undoubtedly eliminates most of the  clamping issues and he begins sawing siding on the 2nd face rather than the 3rd.  Production wise it would be interesting to see which method is faster.  

Hanging siding that's 10" on one end and 6" on the other is okay if you can hang the next piece opposite (6" on the first end and 10").  It doesn't always work out that way.  Otherwise if the variation is minimal end to end, the siding can go up much quicker and still have a somewhat more refined rustic look.  

I had a customer convince me not to cut the taper on some live edge siding.  His carpenters allowed me to get ahead and they began hanging the siding as I cut it.  They commenced to snapping chalk lines and ripping the taper off the siding.  I switched to cutting the taper off and they appreciated it enough to help put the tapered siding back on the mill to fix.

Of course the siding widths will vary as you saw down through the cant.  But having each piece without the taper is easier to deal with even if the widths vary from piece to piece.  Usually siding customers want some 1x lumber for framing around windows and doors, corner boards etc so it is relatively easy to take those cuts off the outside of the cant before proceeding with cutting siding.

When I've had customers wanting book matched slabs, convincing them to allow me to eliminate the taper takes some doing. Typically, book matched slabs get used for tables of various sorts, countertops and the like.  So arriving at a more uniform width over the length of the matched pieces is beneficial.  Fortunately, the taper in the book matched pieces can be fixed after they are cut easier than fixing the taper in siding after it is cut.