First post here, very impressed with the information found here

[Brad_bb]

If you are a newbie to timberframing, and really need to build over the winter and spring, you need to get up to speed quick.  In that case I'd recommend that you partner with a timberframer to help you design, cut your project, while teaching you at the same time.  Another option would be to hold a workshop at your place with a good framer who has held workshops before.  You will learn in the workshop, while working on your project, and having other students there to offset the cost of the event.

[jimdad07]

One way to deal with those big logs is make a ground (or bolt on) track for your mill head to ride on.

That's not a bad idea.  After doing some more reading I can now see the difference between QSing and free of heartwood.  I think I can get all of the heart wood out of the posts after inspecting my logs and still have plenty of material to work with.  I dropped the second monster tree today and it was rotten through the main trunk, wasn't happy about it but I have another source for the same type of wood a few towns away.  A friend of mine wants to drop a bunch of younger ones that are about 12" diameter, those will be easier to work with.

[jimdad07]

If you are a newbie to timberframing, and really need to build over the winter and spring, you need to get up to speed quick.  In that case I'd recommend that you partner with a timberframer to help you design, cut your project, while teaching you at the same time.  Another option would be to hold a workshop at your place with a good framer who has held workshops before.  You will learn in the workshop, while working on your project, and having other students there to offset the cost of the event.

I am taking some advice that I got on a chainsaw forum I belong to and going to talk to some Amish guys that live near me.  They are pretty friendly for the most part and they might give me some advice.  I will be milling all through the winter and probably won't actually get to build until spring.  I have a CAD program that I can draw anything I need to with and will be posting any drafts I make up to maybe get some advice on them as I go.  I want this to be right as it can be to the best of my abilities. 

[jimdad07]

I found the TFG website and downloaded the Historic American timber Joinery articles, they are amazing.  Thanks to the gentleman who posted the information for finding this in a different thread, excellent reading, I can't put it down.  This style of building is a very good way to connect with history.  Very happy to be taking up this new project.  Thanks for all the good newbie suggestions guys.

[Thehardway]

Jimdad,

I am assuming here when you say "poplar" you are refering to "Tulip Poplar" or "Yellow Poplar" and not "Popple" which is a regional term for Aspen.  Aspen should not be used for framing. Yellow Poplar is a strong and light wood and frames well if you can get it to dry correctly and stay straight. That said it is very prone to wide, deep checks.  If you are doing boxed heart framing this is not that much of a concern as the check never passes through the heart but with the way you are sawing, the check could split the timber clean in half. Twisting is also an issue. Try to verify that there is no spiral in the bark of the trees you select.  I once cut some braces out of poplar that were not boxed heat and after they dried, you could split them in half by hand.  Just a few wood fibers were holding them together. 

Poplar is noted for making good siding.  With logs that size you might want to cut the outside off for siding until you reach the size timber you desire wich would be boxed heart center and good for timber framing.

[jimdad07]

Jimdad,

I am assuming here when you say "poplar" you are refering to "Tulip Poplar" or "Yellow Poplar" and not "Popple" which is a regional term for Aspen.  Aspen should not be used for framing. Yellow Poplar is a strong and light wood and frames well if you can get it to dry correctly and stay straight. That said it is very prone to wide, deep checks.  If you are doing boxed heart framing this is not that much of a concern as the check never passes through the heart but with the way you are sawing, the check could split the timber clean in half. Twisting is also an issue. Try to verify that there is no spiral in the bark of the trees you select.  I once cut some braces out of poplar that were not boxed heat and after they dried, you could split them in half by hand.  Just a few wood fibers were holding them together. 

Poplar is noted for making good siding.  With logs that size you might want to cut the outside off for siding until you reach the size timber you desire wich would be boxed heart center and good for timber framing.

It is actually cottonwood, which up here we call poplar, we don't get aspen that big up here, they normally die off well before the bark gets rough.  The trunk grains are fairly strait in these trees, the crotches were quite high on these trees.  A big problem with what I am doing is the desire to have a new shop built in this style vs. money and availability of materials.  I am hoping to get a hold of some nice strait red oaks that there is an abundance of up here but with so many burning firewood these days, myself included, it is hard to come by before someone else comes in and cuts it up.  I would like to get a few of these at least for some of the main framing.  If I can't then I have to use what I have and what I can afford which isn't a lot right now with mouths to feed.  I hope I don't sound like a goober here with what I am trying to do but as said, I have to work with what I have as best as I can.