Cut down two huge Maples. Taking it to the mill on Thursday. I also have a 24" x 12' piece of dead-straight Walnut, and a 36" x 24' log of Ash that might go as well.
Cut it all to 1" and sell it?
Cut it all to 1/2" and dry it, then plane it to 3/8" and put new floors in the house?
2" live edges and make one of those coffee tables that someone in NYC would buy for $5000?
And, for reference, that last picture shows you what is left AFTER I have already cut and split at least 4 full cords.
Were those Union Maples?
If you slab it down to 1/2 inch it will more than likely warp quite a bit during the drying process. If you want to sell it I would think going 8/4 thick would be the way to go. You can also use a product on the end of the logs prior to slabbing to help prevent checking as it dries.
AngryCorvair said:Were those Union Maples?
No, Confederate.
I'm kidding.
My best guess was Sugar Maple, but honestly I didn't go deep on it. It looked like a Sugar maple and they're super common around here.
In reply to Curtis73 :
So the Maples formed a Union
And demanded equal rights
etc
minivan_racer said:If you slab it down to 1/2 inch it will more than likely warp quite a bit during the drying process. If you want to sell it I would think going 8/4 thick would be the way to go. You can also use a product on the end of the logs prior to slabbing to help prevent checking as it dries.
Dad usually uses latex paint with his Oak. Seems to work for him. You think that would work here?
Do you think 1" would be ok? Most of what my cousin does with it is furniture; desks, sidetables, etc. I could imagine 1" and some 2" would be sufficient for anything I would build; cabinets, doors.
Which gives me another idea. My interior doors are all hollow slabs; mostly because they're shorter than standard 80" doors. Looks like the previous owner replaced them all with the slabs and just cut the bottoms to fit. I could use the lumber to build some nice new interior doors.
I have to say, taking $5K off somebody from NYC for an "artisanal," "bespoke" coffee table sounds like something a person ought to do if he can.
Maybe $6k if I add "vintage" to the description.
If you don't build a guitar I won't be upset, just disappointed.
Dammit, now I'm off to search how to be a Luthier
Acoustic would be difficult if you’ve never done it before, but you could likely find someone to help out. Would still want a spruce or cedar top. Although I’ve never even seen a maple top, so maybe try it? Electric would be incredibly heavy. Fiddles and mandolins are often made of maple. Can always offer it to luthiers, but frankly I would just go with the coffee table or other furniture. Or a canoe paddle.
In reply to Curtis73 :
Please rethink your idea.
First the work involved is massive. Eyeballing what you have there is about 4-500 board feet of wood once you get rid of the firewood. I kid you not having done it. Just moving a trees worth of wood is a monumental job. Hours of hard physical labor and that's if you have the required forklifts. Etc. You have to mill it right away. It's got to be stacked and stickered while it's freezing. Once it thaws it has to be under tarps with heavy weights on top, in part to hold the tarps on but also to keep the wood straight. Drying wood loves to warp, bend, curve, and twist. you need good natural ventilation. If on the ground you need something to keep it off the dirt or you will quickly ruin all your work. Gravel works. As does asphalt. But it's got to be flat! Anything less than flat that's the shape the boards will eventually assume.
In order to dry properly so it doesn't spalt ( that's streaks of mold going through the wood that look very colorful but is one step away from rotten) Stickering is thin even sticks set every 8-10 inches apart to let air go through the wood pile. We are talking hundreds of sticks made from already dried wood. No you cannot use green wood it will transfer mold.
Most sawmills won't cut yard trees because of embedded metal will damage or destroy their blades. If they do you are responsible for anything the blades hit. If your mill has a circular blade and the teeth are replaceable if you are in luck you might get by for $50 or less when it hits that metal that's assuming he only loses a few teeth and the rest can be resharpened. ( or more if he loses a lot of teeth.You don't want to know what replacing a 50-60 inch blade will cost if the blade is ruined because of embedded porcelean or something. ). A bandsaw mill can actually have the whole blade ruined. Those get very costly too but cheaper than those big circular blades.
Wood has grades. FAS stands for furniture and select. that's high quality wood with very limited knots or other defects. In Maple you want the white early wood on the outside. The darker heart wood isn't considered choice.
Mill run is wood just as it comes off the tree plainsawn not quarter sawn. It's the least expensive wood but you can assume over 15% waste and that's if your sawyer knows his stuff.
AW there is too much to cover here. It takes at least a year to dry wood outside. Don't attempt to do maple outside. Cut the boards 4/4 or 4 quarters. They will finish up 3/4" when dried and surfaced. Flooring is 3/4 inch thick. Furniture is made with 3/4. Etc.
when all finished you will likely have too much wood and yet not enough. Sounds crazy but I started out with over 55,000 bd ft of wood. I ruined over 1000 bd feet and sold 1200 bd ft for 10 cents a bd ft plus gave away at least a few thousand. I still have about 10,000 bd ft left with a lot of it having planned use.
but I've scrapped probably 5,000 bd ft because it was too long or insect damaged. Cut offs and bad warped twisted or curved.
Curtis73 said:AngryCorvair said:Were those Union Maples?
No, Confederate.
I'm kidding.
My best guess was Sugar Maple, but honestly I didn't go deep on it. It looked like a Sugar maple and they're super common around here.
Sugar maple is considered soft maple. ( I don't know why it feels pretty hard to me). Boxelder is also soft maple but it often has wild coloration going through it.
I'd keep some good bits for making rifle stocks, but then again I'm a fool for projects I'd never get to...
I vote coffee table as well. I made one years ago in a night carpenters class at the local tech school out of oak and it sold for way more than I thought it should. Like I could have got a used but running na Miata money.
Make your own bowling alley?
AngryCorvair said:In reply to Curtis73 :
So the Maples formed a Union
And demanded equal rights
etc
And this one looks like it just ran into the downside of being kept equal by hatchet, axe, and saw.
I vote for multiple coffee tables and maybe end tables from the scrap.
Silly idea, but one I would be into .
Mail chunks of it to any GRM member interested and see what they can make out of it. The "Curtis Maple challenge". Have a running thread with all participants progress on their maple projects.
There is a lot of talent on this forum. I'd be interested to see what folks would/could do with it.
Of course the drying process to make the lumber stable and useable could take years.
I'd wait though.
Jumper K Balls (Trent) said:Silly idea, but one I would be into .
Mail chunks of it to any GRM member interested and see what they can make out of it. The "Curtis Maple challenge". Have a running thread with all participants progress on their maple projects.
There is a lot of talent on this forum. I'd be interested to see what folks would/could do with it.
Of course the drying process to make the lumber stable and useable could take years.
I'd wait though.
Curtis Maple Challenge!
Id pay for a chunk + shipping
barefootskater said:Jumper K Balls (Trent) said:Silly idea, but one I would be into .
Mail chunks of it to any GRM member interested and see what they can make out of it. The "Curtis Maple challenge". Have a running thread with all participants progress on their maple projects.
There is a lot of talent on this forum. I'd be interested to see what folks would/could do with it.
Of course the drying process to make the lumber stable and useable could take years.
I'd wait though.
Curtis Maple Challenge!
Id pay for a chunk + shipping
IN for $20.
frenchyd said:In reply to Curtis73 :
Please rethink your idea.
First the work involved is massive. Eyeballing what you have there is about 4-500 board feet of wood once you get rid of the firewood. I kid you not having done it. Just moving a trees worth of wood is a monumental job. Hours of hard physical labor and that's if you have the required forklifts. Etc. You have to mill it right away. It's got to be stacked and stickered while it's freezing. Once it thaws it has to be under tarps with heavy weights on top, in part to hold the tarps on but also to keep the wood straight. Drying wood loves to warp, bend, curve, and twist. you need good natural ventilation. If on the ground you need something to keep it off the dirt or you will quickly ruin all your work. Gravel works. As does asphalt. But it's got to be flat! Anything less than flat that's the shape the boards will eventually assume.
In order to dry properly so it doesn't spalt ( that's streaks of mold going through the wood that look very colorful but is one step away from rotten) Stickering is thin even sticks set every 8-10 inches apart to let air go through the wood pile. We are talking hundreds of sticks made from already dried wood. No you cannot use green wood it will transfer mold.Most sawmills won't cut yard trees because of embedded metal will damage or destroy their blades. If they do you are responsible for anything the blades hit. If your mill has a circular blade and the teeth are replaceable if you are in luck you might get by for $50 or less when it hits that metal that's assuming he only loses a few teeth and the rest can be resharpened. ( or more if he loses a lot of teeth.You don't want to know what replacing a 50-60 inch blade will cost if the blade is ruined because of embedded porcelean or something. ). A bandsaw mill can actually have the whole blade ruined. Those get very costly too but cheaper than those big circular blades.
Wood has grades. FAS stands for furniture and select. that's high quality wood with very limited knots or other defects. In Maple you want the white early wood on the outside. The darker heart wood isn't considered choice.
Mill run is wood just as it comes off the tree plainsawn not quarter sawn. It's the least expensive wood but you can assume over 15% waste and that's if your sawyer knows his stuff.
AW there is too much to cover here. It takes at least a year to dry wood outside. Don't attempt to do maple outside. Cut the boards 4/4 or 4 quarters. They will finish up 3/4" when dried and surfaced. Flooring is 3/4 inch thick. Furniture is made with 3/4. Etc.when all finished you will likely have too much wood and yet not enough. Sounds crazy but I started out with over 55,000 bd ft of wood. I ruined over 1000 bd feet and sold 1200 bd ft for 10 cents a bd ft plus gave away at least a few thousand. I still have about 10,000 bd ft left with a lot of it having planned use.
but I've scrapped probably 5,000 bd ft because it was too long or insect damaged. Cut offs and bad warped twisted or curved.
This is all great info. Thank you.
I have a 36x48 barn with a gravel floor where I dry wood. Right now it has about 2000 bf of white and red oak, about 1000 bf of pretty rare wormy chestnut from the 40s, and other assorted lumber. Stickers I got... probably about 10,000 of them. Thousands of 3/4" plywood strips left over from projects at the theater.
I'm hoping the sawyer knows his stuff. He's retired after 30 years in the biz.
This whole process is mostly because my cousin and I are both carpenters, and five families have already taken all the firewood they can handle. I could process, season, and sell the rest, but I don't want to fill my 0.18 acre property with huge stacks of wood until fall, nor do I really have the time and lumbar fortitude to do all that processing. So... friend of a friend is going to mill it. This is how I start. Your input is fantastic. I'm sure now that I've started down the rabbit hole, we'll be talking a lot in the future.
... and flooring can be any thicknesses. I did a floor with strips of Luan once. Takes stain nicely. Many of the commercial options for things like oak hardwood or bamboo are 3/8"
In reply to AngryCorvair :
Can I get into that please? I'll send you 4 pieces of wood. Maple, Cherry, White oak & Black Walnut, each very well dried. However much your $20 will pay for shipping. ( if you stop by you'll get more than your truck can carry).
Curtis73 said:frenchyd said:In reply to Curtis73 :
Please rethink your idea.
First the work involved is massive. Eyeballing what you have there is about 4-500 board feet of wood once you get rid of the firewood. I kid you not having done it. Just moving a trees worth of wood is a monumental job. Hours of hard physical labor and that's if you have the required forklifts. Etc. You have to mill it right away. It's got to be stacked and stickered while it's freezing. Once it thaws it has to be under tarps with heavy weights on top, in part to hold the tarps on but also to keep the wood straight. Drying wood loves to warp, bend, curve, and twist. you need good natural ventilation. If on the ground you need something to keep it off the dirt or you will quickly ruin all your work. Gravel works. As does asphalt. But it's got to be flat! Anything less than flat that's the shape the boards will eventually assume.
In order to dry properly so it doesn't spalt ( that's streaks of mold going through the wood that look very colorful but is one step away from rotten) Stickering is thin even sticks set every 8-10 inches apart to let air go through the wood pile. We are talking hundreds of sticks made from already dried wood. No you cannot use green wood it will transfer mold.Most sawmills won't cut yard trees because of embedded metal will damage or destroy their blades. If they do you are responsible for anything the blades hit. If your mill has a circular blade and the teeth are replaceable if you are in luck you might get by for $50 or less when it hits that metal that's assuming he only loses a few teeth and the rest can be resharpened. ( or more if he loses a lot of teeth.You don't want to know what replacing a 50-60 inch blade will cost if the blade is ruined because of embedded porcelean or something. ). A bandsaw mill can actually have the whole blade ruined. Those get very costly too but cheaper than those big circular blades.
Wood has grades. FAS stands for furniture and select. that's high quality wood with very limited knots or other defects. In Maple you want the white early wood on the outside. The darker heart wood isn't considered choice.
Mill run is wood just as it comes off the tree plainsawn not quarter sawn. It's the least expensive wood but you can assume over 15% waste and that's if your sawyer knows his stuff.
AW there is too much to cover here. It takes at least a year to dry wood outside. Don't attempt to do maple outside. Cut the boards 4/4 or 4 quarters. They will finish up 3/4" when dried and surfaced. Flooring is 3/4 inch thick. Furniture is made with 3/4. Etc.when all finished you will likely have too much wood and yet not enough. Sounds crazy but I started out with over 55,000 bd ft of wood. I ruined over 1000 bd feet and sold 1200 bd ft for 10 cents a bd ft plus gave away at least a few thousand. I still have about 10,000 bd ft left with a lot of it having planned use.
but I've scrapped probably 5,000 bd ft because it was too long or insect damaged. Cut offs and bad warped twisted or curved.
This is all great info. Thank you.
I have a 36x48 barn with a gravel floor where I dry wood. Right now it has about 2000 bf of white and red oak, about 1000 bf of pretty rare wormy chestnut from the 40s, and other assorted lumber. Stickers I got... probably about 10,000 of them. Thousands of 3/4" plywood strips left over from projects at the theater.
I'm hoping the sawyer knows his stuff. He's retired after 30 years in the biz.
This whole process is mostly because my cousin and I are both carpenters, and five families have already taken all the firewood they can handle. I could process, season, and sell the rest, but I don't want to fill my 0.18 acre property with huge stacks of wood until fall, nor do I really have the time and lumbar fortitude to do all that processing. So... friend of a friend is going to mill it. This is how I start. Your input is fantastic. I'm sure now that I've started down the rabbit hole, we'll be talking a lot in the future.
... and flooring can be any thicknesses. I did a floor with strips of Luan once. Takes stain nicely. Many of the commercial options for things like oak hardwood or bamboo are 3/8"
Sorry to explain something you obviously already know.
Let me know what pieces turned out better than you expected. I once got some fiddle back black walnut and a massive white oak tree that was solid burl. I love watching wood come off the saw seeing what sort of figure/ coloring a piece has.
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