Advice on Hemlock

[WV Sawmiller]

I have a customer who wants me to cut a hemlock tree he has had down a little over a year at his house. I advised my concern about the age but he says he has kept it off the ground and it is solid. He says he studied forestry at a local university where my son also went so hopefully he is correct that it is still solid. (I told him its his lumber and I'll cut it no matter how good a quality a log it is if he wants it). Diameter is between 12"-24" (Yeah - I'd have expected a better estimate too) and has been/will be bucked to 10 & 12 foot logs. He understands and agrees with my minimum fees for mobile sawing. He wants it cut into 1X boards.

I have not cut hemlock yet. Are there any gottchas I need to be watching for? Recommended band (I have 4's, 7's & 10's). 

I have some small diameter spruce logs to cut here at my house. Is it similar? If so I'll cut them up before I go for practice.

Any experience based advise will be very welcome. Thx.

[Bruno of NH]

I cut some year old hemlock last summer it cut good with 8 degree bands.
They where solid got them from the big hardwood mill next to my house .
Jim/Bruno

[coppolajc10]

I've milled hemlock been sitting over 1 year with 10°, no issues. Knots do get harder like any other.  one log had a huge ant colony and went mostly to waste, but that log appeared to be standing dead.  I don't think hemlock is susceptible to bugs like other species.  Easier to mill than spruce imho.  Have fun and good luck.

[GDinMaine]

I enjoy sawing hemlock. Seven or 10 blades will do fine.  Slow down in the knots, but otherwise no problems. Saws kind of like pine. Well, actually there is only one problem, that it is really heavy.

[thecfarm]

That hemlock should be fine,especially he kept if off the ground. I only cut hemlock green,just about cut it down and 20 minutes later it's on the mill. I only use 10° blades and have not really had any problems with it.

[red]

How common is ring shake?

[thecfarm]

Depends. I cut out a horse run in for the wife. Hardly had any. Than I went back to the same area about 5-6 years later to make a Women Cave and found it in almost every tree.     Gave up in that area and went up into the woods and did not find any.

[red]

Sometimes your the Windshield
Sometimes your the BUG

[rooster 58]

I've sawn quite a bit of hemlock that's been dead for awhile.  As said previously,  slow down through the knots. I used 7 degree blades. The bark is a little hard on a blade I'd it's thick. And use soap and pinesol too ;)

[woodmills1]

Hemlock is way eiser to make nice than spruce.

[petefrom bearswamp]

What everybody else has posted.
10 degree here shake is always a concern, knots are very hard and it will last at least 2 yrs in the log.

[Chuck White]

Hemlock is a little tougher and heavier than Pine, but it's a lot easier than Spruce.

I've sawn 1000's of bf of Hemlock with no issues.

I use Wood-Mizer Double-Hard 10° blades set at .030!

[WV Sawmiller]

Thanks for all the responses. From what I'm hearing hemlock should not be a terrifying experience. Keep up the good work and everybody stay safe out there.

[hacknchop]

Nobody seemed to mention the fact that hemlock is prone to timber bind aswell as compression wood so I will.Timberbind will be found in crooked logs and require you to keep tract of your cant as you want the lumber to be like a leaf spring and not be sawing unusable twisted sheathing.

[Chuck White]

Nobody seemed to mention the fact that hemlock is prone to timber bind aswell as compression wood so I will.Timberbind will be found in crooked logs and require you to keep tract of your cant as you want the lumber to be like a leaf spring and not be sawing unusable twisted sheathing.

Don't know as I've ever had that issue, good to know it can happen though.

[petefrom bearswamp]

I agree Chuck.
Hacknchop, of course ALL Hemlock south of the Canadian border is ramrod straight, we do not allow sweep or crook here in the U.S.

[terrifictimbersllc]

Hemlock is one of the nicest and easiest woods to saw. 

[hacknchop]

Here in northern Ontario  hemlock is one of the oldest slow growing tree it is rarely over 30"dia though I have sawn up to 48" dia but it averages about16"-20" dia considered and graded as northern specie the same as red pine and white pine which has a shorter span value than spf.Not anywhere near the same as western hemlock though I have never been out west I have cut and graded lots of the eastern variety. Sorry if this caused any confusion, my bad. ;D

[Kbeitz]

Hello everyone...
This is my second post and I need a lot of learning.
The post about Hemlock cought my eye because I'm just now building a bandsaw mill
and i own about 20 acres of dieing Hemlock that cought the blight (Adelges tsugae ).
I would like to save as much wood as I can.
I see everybody is talking about blade degree ???
I bought my first blade off E-bay so I had something to set the wheel size to.
I did not and do not know anything about degrees... I went back and looked and the
paper work that came with my blade and it say nothing about degrees.
What it states is " 143" X 1-1/4" X .035 X 1.3 TPI "
So where do I find this info ?
Sorry to ask dumb questions but this is all new to me...

[coppolajc10]

Degree refers to hook angle of the tooth.  If the face of the tooth were perpendicular to the body of the band, you'd have no hook angle.  Every degree you add towards going parallel with the body is adding 1 degree of hook.  For example, if the angle between face and the body is 80°, then you have 10° hook. Someone else could probably explain better  :D The dimensions you gave correspond to band length, band width, band thickness, and spacing between each tooth, respectively.

[Kbeitz]

So buying a blade the does not post the angle must be standard... Hopping I bought something I can use.....
So what would be a standard angle ? What degree ?
Thanks for the info...

[coppolajc10]

10° seems most standard with 7/8 TS, but many swear by 7° or 4°, just depends on what works best for you, your mill, and your logs.

[thecfarm]

I have cut alot of hemlock with 10°. I don't know what I am doing,so maybe that's why it works for me.   ;D