Drying fir

[james]

I will b cutting logs for a cabin milled 3 sides forth left round 6" by 8" how long to airdry vs building a cover with forced air/heat  ???

[Frank_Pender]

James, I have some friends (neighbors) that fell in the Spring and drawknifed them to remove the bark, let them set through June, July and some of August and began building their house.   What they did was allow for the settling and drying of the logs for almost two years, before they cut the windows and the front door.  They had great success with the whole process.  One note of suggestion that they did was allow for a spring loaded latched 12" square door at both ends of the peak of the house.  The house was a simple a frame design with a lofted set of rooms at one end.With the traps at the peak they could allow for  good air flow as was as extra heat release if the house became tooo warm in any one season.  I also sawed all of the sheeting for the floor, roof and cupboards for the house out of Douglas Fir.  He air dried all of the lumber in his horse barn loft  down to 10 percent.

   Some other friends have been pealing and prefitting a log home for two years.   This next Spring will be the beginning of actual final construction at the house site.  Their logs range in diamenters of 16 to 18 inches.  For these folks I have sawed all of the Western Big Leaf  Maple for their flooring.  It has been air drying for about 14 months at this point. It has not been plained of t & g'd.

   I know this is not very specific, but it is the best I can do.