Extra wide boards-- yellow poplar and others

[Okrafarmer]

We are cleaning up a fair-to-midling Tuliptree (yeller poplar) that came down in a wind storm. I bucked it today and we plan to winch the logs out of the man's yard tomorrow. The butt log has some rot, but is about 30" on the top end.

 

 

I haven't scaled it out, but there should be over 1,000 bf in this tree. A good 76ft of logs, I think. The bottom four logs are over 24" including a 16 footer, a 12 footer, an 8 foot, and the butt log is 10' but has some rot and won't yield a true scaleout.

Anyway-- I have tried a search on the forum for "wide boards" but those two words occur in so many posts... well, you can probably imagine.

I am planning to mill up some of those logs and make some of it into really wide boards, like 16-24". That is, if you think that's a good idea-- I have sold some wide boards hot off the mill before, but this is the first time I will actually kiln dry some. Can anybody tell me, are there any problems associated with milling or drying extra wide yellow poplar, and for that matter, other common species? They will be professionally stickered and kiln dried. (not by me). I was thinking 4/4, but maybe other thicknesses would be better?   

[Okrafarmer]

BTW, that is a Husqvarna 266 with 28" bar sitting on top of the second log, which is 8' long.

[Migal]

I heard im going to need practice logs anyway of shipping em to tx? great find.

[Okrafarmer]

I heard im going to need practice logs anyway of shipping em to tx? great find.

Anything's available for a price, Migal! 

[customsawyer]

The biggest problem with the wide boards is that they will want to cup. Just make sure that they are on the bottom of the stack with plenty of weight on them.

[Ron Wenrich]

Any plans on how you or your potential customers are going to plane a wide board?  What is the end market? 

Cup is one problem you have with wide boards, the other is that they tend to split.  It depends on how much stress is in the log.

[scsmith42]

+1 for Ron and Jake's comments.

It is wise to mill wide boards thicker than normal in order to provide ample room for post-drying flattening.  For a 20" board, I'll add 50% over and above normal if it is flat or rift sawn, 25%" if it is quartersawn. 

Said differently, I'll mill a 20" wide FS board at 1-1/2" if I want to yield 4/4 from it, 1-1/4 for QS.

[FeltzE]

No point in sawing more than 2 inches wider than your planer capability.

I''ve had good luck with wide poplar, but go ahead and split any of the boards within about3 inches of the pith as they may just split on their own if you don't relieve the stress before they dry

eric

[terrifictimbersllc]

YP is one of the easiest woods to saw wide & flat. It also works and finishes well.  Wide has customer appeal whether it makes sense or not. One can always rip, work and re-join a wide board to take out the cup without sacrificing a lot of thickness.

[WDH]

I would think thicker like Scott said, and on the really wide stuff, leave the live edge on.  If you or a customer wants to take it off later, it is easy to do.  However, the thicker plank and the live edge will conjure up all kinds of neat uses in peoples heads when they see them.  Also, leaving the live edge on will allow to get the absolute maximum width of the center boards in the log.  I have found that the thicker and wider live edge stuff sells.

You can cut the wide stuff from the center third of the log leaving the live edge on, then take the two other thirds, the top and the bottom, turn them 90 degrees, and get almost all rift and quarter sawn material.  With logs this big, you will still get some nice wide quarter sawn boards out of the top and bottom thirds.

If you leave the bark on the live edge pieces instead of peeling it off, you can spray the boards with a borate solution to keep any bugs at bay. 

[Qweaver]

I first started sawing to build a cabin.  I had no idea what I was doing.  I made a lot of 16" to 20" wide poplar sawn 1.125" thick that I used for decking and sheathing.  Many/most of the wide boards cupped so badly that I had to saw them in half in place and they were still a problem.  Now, I rarely saw poplar more than 8" to 10" wide.  You may be able to saw wide quarter sawn that will stay pretty straight as long as you stay a couple inches away from the pith.  I usually just cut through the pith and then split the board when I resaw.

[WDH]

I also leave the pith in the wide center boards.  The pith section holds the two halves together to facilitate straight drying of the board.  Then, you can cut it out when you use the board.

[Okrafarmer]

My planing contractor has a 30" planer.

I will go through the stack and have the widest ones put on the bottom. They are likely to air dry, stickered, for a month or two before going in the kiln. This professional kiln dries yp on a daily basis, as well as other species, so I will check with them before milling to see what they say, too.

It would be easy enough to resaw out the pith. I was thinking about doing that anyway. But I could leave it if you think it's better. Should we stack any pith boards with rings smile-side up, or frown-side up?

And about that borate solution, where do you get it, and what is it called if you go looking for it?

This is my 1,000th post! 

[Tree Feller]

I use Timbor  http://www.domyownpestcontrol.com/timbor-p-144.html

I would stack the flat sawn boards bark side down. I would also rip the pith out of the center milled boards. That will render two quartersawn boards as well as getting rid of the unstable pith.

[rwthom279]

A fella I know does cabinets, and he was giving me some pointers when I first bought my mill.  He advised to leave poplar 2x as thick as the unfinished boards needed to be, dry, and then resaw/plane.  He told some horror stories, and then found this to be the best way to reduce cupping, twist, etc. and gain the most finished lumber.  Made sense to me, but I don't build cabinets either. 

[Dodgy Loner]

No point in sawing more than 2 inches wider than your planer capability.

That's why I have a planer with unlimited planing capacity. Best of all, it was given to me for free by a fellow who didn't use it any more

 

[terrifictimbersllc]

That's why I have a planer with unlimited planing capacity.
 (Image hidden from quote, click to view.)

[Magicman]

I wuz lookin for da cord where ya plug dat sucker in.      

[terrifictimbersllc]

It's here: http://www.amazon.com/503-Porter-Cable-Heavy-Duty-Sander-Dust/dp/B0049YW1V4
Would you look at that price!  Glad I got mine 20 years ago.

[Okrafarmer]

We winched the logs out today.

 

 

I was so busy I forgot to take any pix of the process.

The smallest diameter log on there came from a different tree. There were several logs from the big one that did not go on this load, including the 8-footer the chainsaw was on in the original picture. That one we took with miscellaneous pallet logs and smaller saw logs to sell at the big production mill nearby.

You can see the base of the butt log. There is some rot, but lots of useable wood. Over 1200 bf on that load.