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Milling Question - Cants or Lumber?

Started by Andy White, June 16, 2013, 01:44:25 PM

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Andy White

I am almost finished with my new drying shed, and have been dealing with bugs in my logs, and blue stain lumber. If I had some very fresh pine logs, and sawed them into large cants 12x12 or 16x16 would they able to dry better than stickered lumber? I would resaw them later to finished lumber size. I know it is better to cut and saw in the cooler months, but I can't turn down free logs! If this plan is workable, it would free up more time for me due to I will be soon building cabinets for a neighbor. Also, I have a hard time keeping timbers because everyone wants them for gates, or fence posts, or barn beams, and a hundred other things. They seem to sell fast around here.              Andy
Learning by day, aching by night, but loving every minute of it!! Running HM126 Woodland Mill, Stihl MS290, Homemade Log Arch, JD 5103/FEL and complete woodshop of American Delta tools.

beenthere

The large cants would likely behave little different than the logs.
And the large cants will just surface dry and get large checks.

Best to cut them into lumber and get the lumber stickered for air drying.

But if you have a market for timbers, then you can go that route.  Dilema it is.  :)
south central Wisconsin
It may be that my sole purpose in life is simply to serve as a warning to others

Magicman

Always remove any bark from stickers and the stickered lumber.
Knothole Sawmill, LLC     '98 Wood-Mizer LT40SuperHydraulic   WM Million BF Club Member   WM Pro Sawyer Network

It's Weird being the Same Age as Old People

Never allow your "need" to make money to exceed your "desire" to provide quality service.....The Magicman

drobertson

My best guess would be if they are out of the sun and rain, go ahead and square them up, just figure on loosing around an inch, maybe a little more when you get back to resawing them,   david
only have a few chain saws I'm not suppose to use, but will at times, one dog Dolly, pretty good dog, just not sure what for yet,  working on getting the gardening back in order, and kinda thinking on maybe a small bbq bizz,  thinking about it,

ladylake

 
How would sawing them to 1-1/2 or 2" wide as possible then cutting to width later work.    Steve
Timberking B20  18000  hours +  Case75xt grapple + forks+8" snow bucket + dirt bucket   770 Oliver   Lots(too many) of chainsaws, Like the Echo saws and the Stihl and Husky     W5  Case loader   1  trailers  Wright sharpener     Suffolk  setter Volvo MCT125c skid loader

Andy White

ladylake
I may saw them to 2" and stack and sticker and maybe spray them to help keep staining down if possible.       Andy
Learning by day, aching by night, but loving every minute of it!! Running HM126 Woodland Mill, Stihl MS290, Homemade Log Arch, JD 5103/FEL and complete woodshop of American Delta tools.

drobertson

Andy, I tried to resaw some for a fellow not too long ago. He wanted 3/8 for some project he was on, anyway, not a real good way to go unless a resaw is available, but on the mill is a chore,  I managed on the resaw, but we had to take them down to just over 6" wide, just a thought,  david
only have a few chain saws I'm not suppose to use, but will at times, one dog Dolly, pretty good dog, just not sure what for yet,  working on getting the gardening back in order, and kinda thinking on maybe a small bbq bizz,  thinking about it,

Andy White

drobertson
I can see where that would be a real pain. I hate to think about rehandling any materials much less large cants! I will probably just cut to size,spray,and sticker,stack and hope for the best.               Andy
Learning by day, aching by night, but loving every minute of it!! Running HM126 Woodland Mill, Stihl MS290, Homemade Log Arch, JD 5103/FEL and complete woodshop of American Delta tools.

Bibbyman

I like the saw as wide as practical and sticker plan.   We had some cottonwood logs that wouldn't keep long so we sawed into 2" by wide and put on sticks.   A couple of years later a neighbor built an addition onto his house.  We supplied most of the framing lumber from this stock. Resawn to usable widths,  they were alredy dry and preshrunk and looked like they would stay straight.

The only cants we stockpile are 8' 6x8s. We have several customers that order 6x8s and only use them for crane mating or bridging up heavy equipment so appearance does not mean much.   Another customer orders a lot of 8' 3x4s for shipping blocking. The 6x8s can be rolled across the mill and split two ways.

Otherwise, I wouldn't saw cants.
Wood-Mizer LT40HDE25 Super 25hp 3ph with Command Control and Accuset.
Sawing since '94

Sixacresand

I think I rather go ahead and mill them into boards and be done with them.  I hate the idea of handling them again.
"Sometimes you can make more hay with less equipment if you just use your head."  Tom, Forestry Forum.  Tenth year with a LT40 Woodmizer,

Brucer

If you are going to cant them, saw out the pith. In other words, cut FOHC cants. Sticker the cants and store them out of the sun and wind. End seal the cants as well. Those  steps will minimize checking. If you leave the pith in the cants, checking is inevitable.

Having said that ... My first big job was canting some large Ponderosa Pine for a customer. Everything was FOHC and stacked and stored properly. Two years later there was very little checking. I was asked to resaw two of the 20" x 12" cants into 4 pieces measuring 5" x 18". We also cut 12" off each end.I took the opportunity to stick the moisture meter into the surface as I cut broke them down.

The original surface measured 12% MC. One inch below the surface it was up to 16% MC. Two inches below the surface it was +25% MC. So ... very little drying beyond the first inch.
Bruce    LT40HDG28 bandsaw
"Complex problems have simple, easy to understand wrong answers."

slider

Unless you have a resaw set up i would not think it's worth the trouble.My experience with storing them is having to square them back up before cutting into boards.They are going to move around some while drying.
al glenn

drobertson

Andy, I did not say what I meant after rereading my post, resawing a cant is no big deal, just figure on a lil waste, on the mill this is easy, resawing 2" boards that have dried on the other hand make a lot of waste on the mill, this is where a resaw comes in handy,  not too long ago I resawed some 6x6's for a customer, posts that I cut a year earlier, they turned out fine with just a lil trim waste, I would say the bigger the cant the better for resawing,  this said, sawing it out at the time is always a lil better,  david
only have a few chain saws I'm not suppose to use, but will at times, one dog Dolly, pretty good dog, just not sure what for yet,  working on getting the gardening back in order, and kinda thinking on maybe a small bbq bizz,  thinking about it,

Andy White

David

After I get thru cutting my rafters and purlins for the drying shed, I will saw up the remainder of my pine into cants and dry them and see how it goes.My time is becoming more of an issue now that my neighbor is ready for his cabinets, so cutting cants will be the quickest for me now. I am officially retireing on July 20, and it seems that I am working more now than ever. How does anyone get bored being retired????                                     Andy
Learning by day, aching by night, but loving every minute of it!! Running HM126 Woodland Mill, Stihl MS290, Homemade Log Arch, JD 5103/FEL and complete woodshop of American Delta tools.

drobertson

Andy congrats on the retirement!  It seems like there is always something to do,  I wanted to mention, remind you the comment magic said on peeling any bark that might be left on the cants,  take care,  david
only have a few chain saws I'm not suppose to use, but will at times, one dog Dolly, pretty good dog, just not sure what for yet,  working on getting the gardening back in order, and kinda thinking on maybe a small bbq bizz,  thinking about it,

Andy White

David

I try always to remove any bark on any of my lumber, even a waney edge. I hate bugs!!!!          Andy
Learning by day, aching by night, but loving every minute of it!! Running HM126 Woodland Mill, Stihl MS290, Homemade Log Arch, JD 5103/FEL and complete woodshop of American Delta tools.

WDH

Cants have a lot of drying issues because the shell dries much faster than the core.  This causes checks, splits and cracks, especially in pine, and it is terrible in oak.  Resawing cants that have had some time since sawing results in a good bit of waste and lumber with cracks and splits.  Thick lumber is very hard to dry without defects. 
Woodmizer LT40HDD35, John Deere 2155, Kubota M5-111, Kubota L2501, Nyle L53 Dehumidification Kiln, and a passion for all things with leafs, twigs, and bark.  hamsleyhardwood.com

ohsoloco

Why not just leave them as logs  ???  Think of what you'll slab off of them to square them into cants, and then what will come off to clean them up when you want to saw them.  I've let pine logs sit for a year of more, and usually the only thing lost is sapwood (you'd end up taking that off and more if you went the cant route). 

drobertson

This is not a bad idea, I have cut two year old blow downs with very minimal bluing, but bugs can be a problem, pine bore beetles do allot of damage in short order,  david
only have a few chain saws I'm not suppose to use, but will at times, one dog Dolly, pretty good dog, just not sure what for yet,  working on getting the gardening back in order, and kinda thinking on maybe a small bbq bizz,  thinking about it,

mad murdock

Sounds like you need a log storage pond.
Turbosawmill M6 (now M8) Warrior Ultra liteweight, Granberg Alaskan III, lots of saws-gas powered and human powered :D

customsawyer

I have tried this and was disappointed to say the least. Now I just leave them in the log till I need them.
Two LT70s, Nyle L200 kiln, 4 head Pinheiro planer, 30" double surface Cantek planer, Lucas dedicated slabber, Slabmizer, and enough rolling stock and chainsaws to keep it all running.
www.thecustomsawyer.com

Andy White

OK Fellas

I will use these logs for an experiment in real time. I will leave the logs on the deck till I can saw them, and see how much "bug" damage they have. I have a cant on the mill now that will be the control. When I do get to saw the logs, I will" clean up " the cant and see what difference in yeild I can get. Pictures and comments to follow...                     Andy
Learning by day, aching by night, but loving every minute of it!! Running HM126 Woodland Mill, Stihl MS290, Homemade Log Arch, JD 5103/FEL and complete woodshop of American Delta tools.

WDH

Yes, be sure to keep the logs off the ground. 
Woodmizer LT40HDD35, John Deere 2155, Kubota M5-111, Kubota L2501, Nyle L53 Dehumidification Kiln, and a passion for all things with leafs, twigs, and bark.  hamsleyhardwood.com

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