Some Beech!

[ncsawyer]

A guy called today that has 8 or so beech logs.  He is a builder and cut the trees off the lot where he is building a house for a lady.  She wants to use the beech to make counter tops for her new house.

I have never sawn beech but from reading on here, it sounds like it can be difficult to keep straight during drying and that the pith is no good.  I know on some of the logs I am going to saw that the pith is rotted out.



 



 

The customer wants 5/4" thick boards and wants to end up with 4 inch wide boards to make the counter top out of.  I think it would be better to cut wider boards (8 to 10 inches) at the mill.  Then they can be ripped down to 3 or 4 inches after they are dried. This will allow for movement during the drying process and still allow the customer to rip them down to what they want.  Does this sound right?

Also the timeline for the completed countertops is less than 12 months. Is that enough time to safely dry 5/4 beech?

[thecfarm]

Beech with no bumps???       But I see the middle still looks like mine.  :(

[jtflynn]

Beech is prone to checking and cup during drying.....but does dry fast.....so timeline looks good but just make sure you plan on  20% loss due to drying defect...

[69bronco]

Less than 12months from tree to counter- air drying? How much less than 12 months? Pushing it a little, just mho.. Paint the ends, use (dry)stickers and run a fan.

[GAB]

My experience with beech is that there appears to be two types.  The type that splits easily and the type that is difficult to split as it appears to be quilted.  If you have the first type it should be easy to saw with few if any problems.  If you have the second type, like I do, I wish you the best of luck as the only thing I have been able to use mine for was stickers.
Gerald

[ncsawyer]

I have air dried cherry for over 2 years and my father-in-law used it to make some cabinet doors and it still warped.  Around here it is difficult to get hardwoods dry enough to use in furniture by just air drying. 

Kiln drying is always a possibility.  I have zero experience kiln drying.  I would guess the lumber would need to be air dried to remove most of the moisture and then finish it off in a kiln.

[scsmith42]

Why don't you quartersaw it?  That should eliminate the twisting problem.\

If you do quarter it plan on milling it green at 1-7/16" in order to have a 5/4 board out of the kiln.

[mart]

If you're planning on driving up to Alaska anytime soon you could throw a few of those in 8 foot sections in the back of the truck for me.  ;D

[bkaimwood]

My experience with beech has been this...same as what you heard about tension, so far one of the worst I've sawn...so watch that and adjust while sawing...the other thing I noted was pitch buildup on the blades, was pretty surprised by how much...takes a bit more to keep the blade clean. As far as drying...quite a bit of movement... More cup than I expected, some excessive cracking in a few boards, not many. Dries FAST!!! I air tried mine...not intentionally. I stickered it on top of a stack of oak with the intention of throwing it in the kiln next, before the oak...checked it last week, its crazy dry. Planes out nice, pretty wood. One poster mentioned quartersawing it for stated reasons...all true, and a good idea due to that and that they don't have to be wide boards...only negative to that is it will make dealing with stress trickier...I myself would not saw wide boards to rip them in half later...it will only make them dry slower and reopen the door for tension issues later...theoretically, if its dried right, this won't be an issue... If only we lived in a perfect world!!! :)

[petefrom bearswamp]

I built 2 cabinets for model airplanes and an 8' table for my hunting camp.
Air dried then in my small DH kiln for the cabinets, just air dried for the table
Cabinets are fine the table top did cup some, but I just screwed it down.
I still have about 3- 400 bf in my shop.

[123maxbars]

Would really like to get some Beech up my way.

[Ocklawahaboy]

We are having some beach weather down here . 

[ncsawyer]

We are having some beach weather down here . 

Yeah it was 66 here today, but still had to work in the mud. It hasn't rain since Monday, but it rains every week and when it rains we always get at least 2 inches.  Its the wettest year I've ever seen around here.  Some weeks we get 5 or 6 inches. 

[WV Sawmiller]

   I have never sawed beech yet. I love the trees as a wildlife tree - good mast producer loved by all the animals, good den trees as they tend to develop large cavities. I cut some for firewood last year and it was the hardest, densest wood I ever dealt with. Hit it with a splitting maul and your maul just bounced right back. Had to use a very sharp steel splitting wedge to even hammer it in to get it started.

   My first paying job (my father had worked me/us all since we were 5-6 years old even if just to fetch and carry but not a paying position) was at a Boise Cascade plywood plant north of Pensacola. We had a big kiln and we dried a lot of beech core. Not sure if we cut it on site or received pallets of cut sheets to dry. I don't know where it came from as while it was present it the area it was not in harvestable quantities.

   I'd bet you have to use a real sharp 4 degree blade on it. Good luck.

[sandsawmill14]

our beech saws as easy as gum ??? dries as others have said alot of cup and twist in the wider stuff but i love sawing it since it saws so easy and we sell everything green fresh off the saw

[thecfarm]

WV Sawmiller,I have split that stuff 40 inches long for firewood. Than I loaded it onto a trailer.We had some big beech. Easier to split,get it down to a size that could be easily loaded onto a trailer.The trick is to tap the wedge real easy until it starts to go into the wood than you can start to hit it. I would have all 4 wedges into a 40 inch stick and have to hit one out so I could use it.  ;D I think we did that 2 years. Than I somehow convinced my Father to haul it out in whatever length with the tractor. I cut it 40 inches long at the landing and piled it up there. The big stuff was on the bottom. I was having it trucked to my house and I would do the sawing there. Than I could work on it at home when ever I felt like it. Just did not do the lawn much good.

[WV Sawmiller]

cfarrm.

    Thx. Yes, I had to tap the wedges slowly to start them but even then if not deep enough when struck with the maul the wedge would still often bounce out. My beech split quickly once I did get the wedge in the wood. I did not have to drive it into the wood very far at all before it split because it was so tight grained. I don't ever remember having to use but one wedge at a time in what I split.

Sandy14,

   Now I'm really interested in cutting some beech - but not enough to cut one of my standing trees though. Since I have also not cut gum yet I don't know how to compare but since you say it is soft I look forward to that too. We have a little blackgum up here and no sweetgum to speak of. Only blackgum I ever cut were small ones for firewood. I know it is cross grained so I thought it was hard to cut. Interesting to learn not so.

[PaAnkerbalken]

Was going to mill some once for a timber frame but I knew how much of beech it would have been.  :D

I read somewhere that they used beech a lot for wooden gears for machinery in mills and the like. As well as old wooden woodworking planes. I guess like gab mentioned if it was the quilted type and grain was interlocked it would wear very well for time. But it does have some crazy movement when drying.

[petefrom bearswamp]

Many of the old post and beam barns in central NY had hand hewn Beech beams as did one of the houses I owned..
They would have lots of PPB holes in them.

[derhntr]

A tip for splitting with wedges, put a little dirt under the wedge the friction from the sand/dirt will hold the wedge when splitting tough stuff. My grand dad and dad taught  me this years ago when we spit all the fire wood by hand. 

[beenthere]

derhntr
That tip with the bit of dirt works well when splitting with wedges. And it takes very little sprinkle of dirt for it to hold the wedge.

[ahlkey]

I have been harvesting Beech from our Old Homestead for many years.  We have so many Beech trees that the farm was originally called Beechborg.  For the most part Beech is the best firewood around but for the past 5 years or so I have sawed the Veneer Logs for lumber.  It saws well and dries ok.  I air dry it first in my open lumber shed which has the Black Dri-shade sides all around.  I use a lot of top weight. I finish it off in the dry kiln.  Overall it can be problematic but getting the  best grade quality logs seems to help.  It does take a lot of trial and error to get it right though.  I only started making lumber as I just couldn't cut the logs up for firewood or use it for pallet stock.  Below is a small load of logs I cut this past week.  The average sizes range from between 18-22 inches.


 


 

[Magicman]

Thems purdy.   

[ncsawyer]

Those are nice!  Clear, straight, and no rot.

[thecfarm]

Wow!!!! Mine would look like that after I cut off a 30 foot butt log.   :   That stuff looks good. Here in my area mine looks all attacked with warts.
What are you pulling that nice forwarder trailer with? Hint hint,picture too.  ;)