Author Topic: Log on fire after 1st board (Read 3110 times)

T Welsh · « **on:** November 15, 2011, 09:01:57 pm »

OK Guys, Got your attention now

Anybody know what type of wood this is. I never encountered one that was big enough to saw,till we did a storm damage clean up for a canoe company and this guy had to be winched from the river. good guessing! Tim

GAmillworker · « **Reply #1 on:** November 15, 2011, 09:06:07 pm »

WOW

Havent seen anything like that.

Looking foward to someone telling us what it is.

Thanks for sharing.

chevytaHOE5674 · « **Reply #2 on:** November 15, 2011, 09:09:52 pm »

Nice looking board.

I spy a Case IH tractor there... What model is it? Looks just like my dads 695 only smaller.

Magicman · « **Reply #3 on:** November 15, 2011, 09:10:02 pm »

Box Elder.

metalspinner · « **Reply #4 on:** November 15, 2011, 09:11:52 pm »

Magic beat me to it!

I'm always on the lookout for box elder. The same beetle that turns soft maple green (Ambrosia) turns box red. You will notice a little pin hole in the center of each of the red streaks.

WDH · « **Reply #5 on:** November 15, 2011, 09:20:31 pm »

Good old Acer negundo!

Magicman · « **Reply #6 on:** November 15, 2011, 09:25:08 pm »

Kinda like this, if you want fire.

ARKANSAWYER · « **Reply #7 on:** November 15, 2011, 09:28:49 pm »

OOOHHH! nice box elder.
Magic them is some nice boards.

Banjo picker · « **Reply #8 on:** November 15, 2011, 09:36:31 pm »

I know where there is a couple of those on the state ROW...they better not start leaning towards the road...Tim

5quarter · « **Reply #9 on:** November 15, 2011, 09:50:05 pm »

All box elder has that red in it. The larger the tree, generally, the more red. too bad most of it fades with time and exposure. last couple years Ive been cutting and burning as much as I can, but it grows fast! I've read somewhere that you can tap boxelder for syrup-making, though I recall that it should never be mixed with other maples, as the taste is distinctive.

paul case · « **Reply #10 on:** November 15, 2011, 10:10:56 pm »

WOW

PC

Bandmill Bandit · « **Reply #11 on:** November 15, 2011, 10:24:57 pm »

Can you ship me a load of them. I have a Canadian buyer for fireplace mantals that would die to have those in their inventory.

mrcaptainbob · « **Reply #12 on:** November 15, 2011, 11:25:46 pm »

Does immediately sealing the surfaces hold those colors? Or do they fade regardless?

thechknhwk · « **Reply #13 on:** November 16, 2011, 12:08:08 am »

Quote from: mrcaptainbob on November 15, 2011, 11:25:46 pm

Does immediately sealing the surfaces hold those colors? Or do they fade regardless?

On sawmill creek they recommend sealing it with some sort of UV protectant or it is susceptible to fade. I cannot recall what it is off the top of my head.

5quarter · « **Reply #14 on:** November 16, 2011, 12:45:51 am »

Finishes will slow the fading, but won't stop it. The trick is to dry it fast and in the dark. after about 3 months, 4/4 lumber will be at about 12% mc. There will be some boards where the red has faded to light orange. pull those and plane them both sides and you'll see some of the red come back. Spray them with a coat of clear sealer and leave them in the shop and forget about them for 6-8 months. after that you can use them. you guys can pm me for some other tricks I use to keep the color.

Tim...great looking log, btw.

thechknhwk · « **Reply #15 on:** November 16, 2011, 01:45:30 am »

The ones I have in my garage have faded to pink, but I splashed some water on them to show my cousin and it came right back to as bright as it was the day I sawed it. I assumed it would do the same when applying a clear coat like polyurethane?

Kansas · « **Reply #16 on:** November 16, 2011, 03:47:43 am »

The ceiling in my house is box elder. It was sprayed with a couple of coats of sealer. After two years, the red is starting to dissapear.

T Welsh · « **Reply #17 on:** November 16, 2011, 04:14:35 am »

chevytaHOE5674,Its a Case 385 4wd /2250 loader. That didnt take long. MM hit it right on the nose. It was a poor quality log and you guys are right it started to fade almost right away. has shake in it and I dont think I will keep it the owner of the canoe co saw the end grain while we where winching it from the launch area and made a comment about sawing it up. so I got around to playing with stuff(did it right after 1/4 sawn sycamore)I also put a small walnut on the mill for a gun club and hit 2 nails after 2 cuts. I stopped playing around and called it a day and yes it was a new blade

Tim

SwampDonkey · « **Reply #18 on:** November 16, 2011, 04:45:54 am »

Water based varathane with UV protectant will hold the color from the point that it gets finished. It's a very hard finish to. But the air and light will change it some before the finish is applied.

metalspinner · « **Reply #19 on:** November 16, 2011, 07:31:12 am »

Part of the fun is the contrast between the white and red. Using a water borne finish or lacquer will keep the white from becomng yellow, at least initially.

Axe Handle Hound · « **Reply #20 on:** November 16, 2011, 09:34:54 am »

Quote from: 5quarter on November 15, 2011, 09:50:05 pm

All box elder has that red in it. The larger the tree, generally, the more red. too bad most of it fades with time and exposure. last couple years Ive been cutting and burning as much as I can, but it grows fast! I've read somewhere that you can tap boxelder for syrup-making, though I recall that it should never be mixed with other maples, as the taste is distinctive.

Around here they consider box elder to be no better than a dandelion. Most farmers cut them down and leave them in the fencerow to rot.

I tap 20-25 large box elders in my backyard every spring. The early syrup is extremely good and tastes like a cross between butterscotch and honey. The later syrup is more like molasses in color and taste. I often mix in sap from some other maples I have as well and the end result is just as good.

SwampDonkey · « **Reply #21 on:** November 16, 2011, 10:54:27 am »

Very few would consider it here as well. It's non native here in NB, but it's invasive along the river valley and in unkept back yards.

Banjo picker · « **Reply #22 on:** November 16, 2011, 05:28:10 pm »

Quote from: Axe Handle Hound on November 16, 2011, 09:34:54 am

[Around here they consider box elder to be no better than a dandelion. Most farmers cut them down and leave them in the fencerow to rot.

Not highly thought of here either...have been told that a box elder would put a good fire out... Don't need to make fire wood...need to make boards evidently...Tim

davey duck · « **Reply #23 on:** November 16, 2011, 07:20:23 pm »

Nice Box Elder boards,here in New York they do not seem to get that big.

jueston · « **Reply #24 on:** November 16, 2011, 07:37:52 pm »

its considered invasive here, i did a little brush clearing and firewood chopping for a small land owner and he told me he wanted all the box elder cut down and left with the brush... he didn't seem to think it was good for burning either.... i don't know anything about that, i've never tried to burn it...

thechknhwk · « **Reply #25 on:** November 16, 2011, 08:06:20 pm »

It burns fine. Just doesn't last long - about like burning poplar or cottonwood.

stormyweatherman · « **Reply #26 on:** November 16, 2011, 08:15:11 pm »

man that is some of the most beautiful wood i've ever seen

if i had money i'd pay a craftsman to work stuff like that into furniture indefinitely. can't get enough of that. the beauty of Creation is locked up in these logs.... honestly

. its sad that we sell our wood overseas and so many of us struggle to make a living. where is 'fair trade' in the lumber business?

T Welsh · « **Reply #27 on:** November 17, 2011, 06:01:32 am »

stormyweatherman , It doesnt stay that way very long,3 days after cutting I looked at the boards and 70 to 80 % of color is gone. I cut it up in 8/4 pieces and will band them together and give them to the canoe company owner to do what he pleases with. I cut the log at a whim to see what the wood was like inside and weather it would hold its color,I already knew it was similar to willow, Tim

iffy · « **Reply #28 on:** November 17, 2011, 11:10:54 am »

Magic, I see a devil with a bear above him in those boards.

5quarter · « **Reply #29 on:** November 17, 2011, 09:44:29 pm »

Thats it...I'm going to tap my trees next spring. That sounds way too good!

Bandmill Bandit · « **Reply #30 on:** December 25, 2011, 01:57:35 pm »

I found some local Birch that comes close to your fiery wood and my local buyer is drooling all ready and all he has seen is pictures.

I think it is river Birch but not 100% sure. Can any one confirm species for me?

SwampDonkey · « **Reply #31 on:** December 25, 2011, 02:23:47 pm »

Water birch (Betula occidentallis) and an exceptional one, most are small.

River birch doesn't grow out there.

customdave · « **Reply #32 on:** December 25, 2011, 05:42:34 pm »

How do you know its not our native white birch Swamp donkey? Me want to learn something here

, because I sure ain't no expert.
Bandit where did you get that log, in the bush, behind someones house

, out in a field?...

Dave

SwampDonkey · « **Reply #33 on:** December 25, 2011, 06:11:20 pm »

Dave, I don't see the white birch bark, looks like a darker barked birch. There is a third birch, the Alaskan birch which is more like alders. Even water birch is mostly small limby trees, except for some on better soil that reach 14".

By wood alone, you can't separate the birches.

White birch can certainly have reddish brown wood at times, most often from injury.

clww · « **Reply #34 on:** December 25, 2011, 06:26:44 pm »

FINE looking slabs there!

If you could prevent that fading, what that would look like as some furniture would truly be spectacular.

sparky1 · « **Reply #35 on:** December 25, 2011, 06:32:35 pm »

I didnt realize boxelder was good for anythign either! It is considered crap wood around here. we burn it in our owb if its on our land, but deffinelty wouldnt make a trip to get that for firewood!

Bandmill Bandit · « **Reply #36 on:** December 25, 2011, 09:27:58 pm »

This one came out of 1 of 5 decks of logs out in the west country and there are quite a few more birch in the 5 decks (total of about 60 loads of mixed Aspen, Birch, Spruce and some Pine so far), with a lot more to come down that are 20 inch and better. Some of the birch are as big as 26 to 28 inch at breast height. A lot of nice aspen and spruce too.

This pic shows about a third of the larger of the 5 decks.

Just a guess by a section count on this deck that about 15 % of good birch saw logs over a 12 inch diameter. We picked out 2 from 2 different piles and the color doesn't change much in either of the 2 logs. They would have been about 12 miles apart in the forest stand they were harvested from.

The other thing I have noticed is that the grain in ALL the logs is a very consistant and pretty tight grain regardless of species. Water table is average of about 20 to 30 feet below surface of a sandy black to brown loam that is about 20" deep even in dry years and the area has some of the best water and springs in this part of the country. Flow is consistant year around year in and year out.

shelbycharger400 · « **Reply #37 on:** December 25, 2011, 09:55:33 pm »

i sent T Welsh a pm on this
not sure if anyone posted to you on the boxelder, dont let it sit in the sun, or exposed to uv. surface during drying will fade out, sand the board as normal, color is their and will show up / uv poly it... i have a pic of the coffee table i made for the wife in profile

boxelder is my favorite material, relatively easy to work with, until you put 3 to 4 coats of wood hardner on it then try to sand..

.

Bandmill Bandit · « **Reply #38 on:** December 25, 2011, 10:02:29 pm »

it in the riding arena you can see behind the mill out of the sun ands stickered with 1 inch stickers> we took a walk in the forest around the yard and picked out 9 birch trees that are at least 20 inch at breast height that are with in a 200 yard radius of the mill and that is just a very small sample of some 12000 acres of timber to cruise of which we have done about 400 so far. 400 in harvest this winter.

Bandmill Bandit · « **Reply #39 on:** December 25, 2011, 10:07:17 pm »

Quote from: customdave on December 25, 2011, 05:42:34 pm

How do you know its not our native white birch Swamp donkey? Me want to learn something here , because I sure ain't no expert.
Bandit where did you get that log, in the bush, behind someones house , out in a field?...

Dave

That is the exact question I got from both of my hard wood buyers, Dave. I ain't telling. What I will tell is that am pretty confident that most of the birch that I will cut out of this area will look very similar. The ends of the birch logs all have a similar coloring and intensity.

Also I am 99% sure it isnt white birch. I have cut a fair bit of white birch and the logs are not the same. The saw logs vary from as short as about 5 to 6 feet where the larger branches bush out of a fairly substantial trunk. The older and larger trunks have a 12 to 16 foot trunk to the point where the branches bush out. That slab in the picture above is the second log of 2 x 10' logs and I bucked it just above the branch out point on the log to get the Y in the slab. I have one branch piece that is about 8 feet long a 10" down to 8" log off the same tree. It is not straight and I have to find a project for it before I am going to cut it.

Coon · « **Reply #40 on:** December 26, 2011, 01:21:59 am »

Bandmill Bandit, looks like you guys finally got some more snow.... I could fart and blow DanG near all the snow out of my yard.

We have a bit more snow up at the farm 75 miles away but still nothing of any significance.

I have a couple of nice size birch about the size of that log or bigger on the farm too and they will most likely have the brownish center just like that one as that is the norm for anything that big. Seems that we get it in any birch about 10 inch diameter and bigger. It ranges in color from a very light color to dark chocolate brown. The darker the color the more likely it will be that the dark wood will separate from the lighter as it dries. We have lost alot of lumber to this over the years and normally most guys around here take the side lumber and throw the rest into firewood.

SwampDonkey · « **Reply #41 on:** December 26, 2011, 04:11:38 am »

We get white birch here up into the high 30" range. A lot of the big old ones died or where cut. That big old birch I photographed back 6 years ago must be getting close to the low 20's now. It's a dominant overstory tree on a maple ridge. But it's a 75 foot tree to.

customdave · « **Reply #42 on:** December 26, 2011, 08:13:10 am »

Bandmill Bandet, the reason I was so curious is I just aquired 30 or 40 birch logs from Alder Flats country & they look the same as yours, bigger dia with fairly large dark centers & bark is farily white, 18" to 12" dia. I won't be sawing them for a while as they are real green yet, looks like it will be interesting opening them up. Going to turn them into wall board & some flooring...

Dave

pyrocasto · « **Reply #43 on:** December 29, 2011, 05:50:31 pm »

Reminds me of some maple I cut. Beautiful wood you got there!

WDH · « **Reply #44 on:** December 30, 2011, 12:08:33 am »

Ambrosia, Ambrosia!

5quarter · « **Reply #45 on:** December 30, 2011, 12:34:08 am »

Pyrocasto...hows your mill holding up? any current pics of your setup? good looking lumber, btw...

Bandmill Bandit · « **Reply #46 on:** December 31, 2011, 03:02:23 pm »

those are some good looking pieces to pyrocasto.

Here area couple more I cut from a different log on wednesday.

T Welsh · « **Reply #47 on:** December 31, 2011, 05:12:49 pm »

Bandmill Bandit, Looks like pin cherry? Tim

SwampDonkey · « **Reply #48 on:** December 31, 2011, 07:16:04 pm »

That's got to be a white birch, it's too big for those prairie birches mentioned earlier. The bark looses it's curl down low on the trunk when white birch gets big.

Birch is poor man's cherry.

I've got pin cherry here and there is a lot of yellow, pink and dark rings in it. Plus the bark is a real dark red, it's almost black. Pin cherry does get some small saw log sizes.

Bandmill Bandit · « **Reply #49 on:** January 01, 2012, 10:03:53 pm »

I will take some pics of a log before I cut it and get them posted. I really am not sure what it is but I know that there is fair bit of very nice 20 to 24 inch trees on this property. We measured one the other day that is just a over 30" ABH. The land owner says that is one of the bigger ones but also said he knows of a few that are at least that size and bigger. lots in the 20 inch range.

SwampDonkey · « **Reply #50 on:** January 02, 2012, 03:36:43 am »

White birch, you only have so many species of birch, most are shrubs (with the occasional small log), white birch is a saw log tree.

As I said earlier in another thread (maybe here to) white birch can have darker heartwood than the ordinary white wood.

Here is a 18" birch, notice the tight bark.

But up top in the limbs it's shedding bark. A big strip there on the far left.

We are beech, you will be assimilated.

Bandmill Bandit · « **Reply #51 on:** January 02, 2012, 12:33:51 pm »

Yup SwampDonkey

That pic is about as close you can get to what is on this property except the bark is a bit more of a white color and the branches tend to be a bit more prolific and bushy. The tallest to the branch point that I have seen would be around 20 +/- a couple of feet for any thing that is 18" + BHD. The ones I have see so far are nice and straight too.

I will get some standing tree pics up as soon as I take them.

Bandmill Bandit · « **Reply #52 on:** February 03, 2012, 09:23:24 pm »

current job site set up where I cut the birch in the pics above.

Roll way is about a 1/3 left of what I put on after lunch(18 or 19 logs) . I took the picture about 430PM.
Hitachi 200 with grapple sitting just out of pic for handling all utility/fire wood etc and loading roll way.

Also had a forester that worked for Weyerhaeuser as timber cruiser as a helper today. I learned alot about local trees. He is getting me a copy of the the current guide in use in the Alberta foresty industry.

jueston · « **Reply #53 on:** February 03, 2012, 10:57:02 pm »

Quote from: SwampDonkey on January 02, 2012, 03:36:43 am

We are beech, you will be assimilated.

i'm not sure how many people here on the forum are nerdy enough to understand why thats funny....

5quarter · « **Reply #54 on:** February 03, 2012, 11:08:02 pm »

I for one have no idea what that is in reference to...

Picard out.

SwampDonkey · « **Reply #55 on:** February 04, 2012, 04:49:37 am »

samandothers · « **Reply #56 on:** February 04, 2012, 11:02:55 am »

Resistance is FUTILE!

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Author Topic: Log on fire after 1st board (Read 3110 times)