Have Logs -- Now What?

[LarryG]

Over the weekend, my neighbor had a big white oak taken down on his property. The tree apparently died or was killed by a lightning strike sometime over the winter and this did not become apparent until it failed to leaf out this spring. Anyway, I'm now the proud owner of three logs roughly eight feet long and 24" in diameter.

Question is, what do I do with 'em? Or maybe a better question is, WHEN do I need to do something with them?

Obviously I need to either find someone with a portable sawmill, or haul them to a sawmill for cutting. But do I need to do this right away, or can I wait a while (read: until more money is available)? If I can wait, what do I need to do in the meantime -- get the logs up off the ground, paint their ends, and/or ...???

[don_hart]

You can wait if you need too. I would paint the ends of the logs to prevent checking and It would be best to get them off the ground. If you can get them under cover that would help as well. If you have a chainsaw you can get ba chainsaw mill and do the cutting yourself. After you have them milled ot do it yourself you will of course need to stack and sticker them and let them dry. Once again if you can do this out of the weather they will dry faster. I put this stuff in the attic of the shop so the wood is out of the waether and the heat up there helps the drying.

[dedaddy]

I did this two years ago to a 30" diameter red oak in my yard. I was lucky enough to find a sawyer that would come to my place and saw the logs up for $40/hr. For $180 I got over 800 b.f. of good red oak lumber. It took me an entire day to paint the ends, stack and sticker it. It took a year to dry.

[silverfox]

The above advice is good. I prefer to get them cut into boards as quickly as I can and the place where I go also has kiln drying services and planing. I just go the whole 9 yards and then I don't have to wait a year or more or go through the hassle. I end up with the sizes I want and can use the stuff right away. If you don't want to do that...the above advice will work fine.
Mike

[don_hart]

Well I didn't know if you were up for kiln drying or not but since the subject has been broached I would like to mention you can build your own kiln either a solar kiln or a dehumidifer kiln. There are alot of plans out there for these as well as a hybrid solar/dehumifier kiln.

[rbfunk]

Larry,
If you do nothing else right away, get the bark off them! Otherwise you will have insect infestation.
What I have been doing, and I know it's not the best thing, is to debark, then split the logs into pieces small enough to fit my bandsaw. I quarter saw some and rift saw the rest. Right now everything is air drying in the garage, err shop.
I dont have anything 8' long so this might not work for you.
Good Luck with it.
Bob

[John Hunter]

You can find some good info here http://www.woodweb.com/knowledge_bas...to_lumber.html

[monte]

Get it off from the ground as soon as you can and then look for a local sawyer with a portable sawmill. Around here they charge from $35 to $45 per hour.

[Woodnut]

quote:Originally posted by don_hart

Well I didn't know if you were up for kiln drying or not but since the subject has been broached I would like to mention you can build your own kiln either a solar kiln or a dehumidifer kiln. There are alot of plans out there for these as well as a hybrid solar/dehumifier kiln.

You can see some here.