Marlen at WOOD
on:
Quartersaw
Hi Everybody,
Hope you are all well, and enjoying your winter.
I was working in the dry kiln late last fall when a logger friend of mine stopped by. He was logging out a campground when he backed up into a maple tree with his skidder which caused the bark to come off the tree.
He wanted me to come out on a field trip out into the woods and take a gander at it. Here is what I saw. I know what you are thinking, " that looks pretty nasty". The dirt wasn't what was bothering me though. What was bothering me is that many, to most, of the time a log exhibits stong curl on the outside of the tree, but fades out as the tree is sawn into a cant. So the figure you see on the outside of the log is not always what you see on the inside of the log. Here is what I saw in the woods.
So far so good on this log but let's digress from the subject at hand for a minute. Figured logs are ALWAYS more figured toward the sap (bark) side of the tree as I mentioned above. There is a good trick for you guys that work with figured lumber, and aren't quite sure which side is your best face. Look at your board from the end. The surface that has the convexed grain lines pointing towards it will be your more figured face. The concaved grain lines are pointing to the trees heart, or the less figured face since figure usually fades toward the inside of the tree.
Here is what the convexed grain lined face looks like:
Now let's look at the "concaved" grain line surface. AKA the back side of the billet:
You will notice ( aside from the misspelling of concaved) that the curl on this side of the billet is less pronounced than the front. This is taken from exactly the other side of the billet as the "front" picture. So what you see on the outside of the log is not always what you see on the inside.
Now back to the problem at hand. Is this log worth the $180.00 the logger was asking for it? I could buy it, cut it, and have 180 bd ft of plain maple. How do you know if it's curly all the way through? Actually it's not to hard to find out. Pull out the Husqvarna and cut off a slab! You guys get to work with detail sanders and precision inlays etc. My end is chainsaws and sawmill blades that could cut your car into two. This is what happens when you do not have woodworking talent, but like to work with wood. You work on the heavy end of the business. Back to the slab. You have to cut it thin. Why, you ask? Because you have to be able to break it. Not cut it, break it. Cutting it will leave it too rough to see the figure. A nice clean break won't.
That's what I am looking for. 
The log he had for me was 20' long. This slab is taken all the way at the skinny end. If it's curly this far up the tree then the butt end of the log will even be better! Look closely, it's curly almost to the heartwood.
Next blog we will see what it looks like as we cut it, and what it looks like kiln dried and milled out to where you guys can actually use it for something beautiful! We still aren't out of the woods yet on this log, so to speak. It can be riddled with ambrosia beetle streaks, bark inclusions, wind shake, or numerous other defects. The fun never ends. Heck, just read my two previous blogs on the giant ash burl.
Thanks for reading.
Kevin Koski
Dry Kiln
Owner and Operator
Hi Everyone
Hope everyone is doing okay, and all you east coast guys are all dug out.
I bet you are all doing better than my Amish friend here. I went over his house last week, and he had a glove on one hand, and a big mitten on the other. He's the guy with the sawmill that cut up that burl for us. I asked him "What's up with the big mitten?" His reply was that he was just cold, and couldn't find his other glove. After working with him for a while, I noticed he wasn't using that mittened hand too much. This time I asked him "Alright, what's going on with that hand?". He just laughed and pulled off the mitten. He had two big bandages on two of his fingers. He pulled those off, and showed me what was left of those two fingers. Here he was jointing a small piece of wood when it broke. His fingers went through the jointer instead of the wood removing two of them to the first knuckle. The doctor folded the skin over the stumps and stitched them up. Looked like slabs of lunchmeat. Don't think I will be eating any bologna sandwiches anythime soon. I asked him if he planned on running his hand through the planer too! He didn't find that comment as funny as I did. I guess we all have had our woodworking injuries. I had my finger smashed between the sawmill frame and a 800lb cherry log. I pulled off my blood filled glove, and my finger was flat for a second then it swelled up like a sausage! I definitely broke it. I thought I was going to have to go to the doctor for that one. I also had my hand caught in a belt sander once, and it sanded off a couple of my fingernails That hurt a little too. Still tough to tell that story. It was the pain that kept on giving for two months.
Anyway, things are picking up a little here on the sawmilling end of the business. There are still some mills that I work with that haven't cut any logs for over 7 months though. Some are also out of business for good, but most are back at it, albeit at a slower pace.
It would still be a really good time to stock up on lumber right now as prices are still about half what they were at the peak. If you are lucky enough to have a sawmill close by go order yourself some "green" lumber, and dry it in your solar kiln. I have the plans for you on previous blogs. FAS red oak is still around .85 cents a board foot. FAS is one of the highest grades. Cherry was still around $1.50 for the same FAS grade. I was paying $1.70 for oak a couple years ago, and cherry was at $2.50!
Here are some curly cherry billets that an Amish mill found here a while back. These were rough cut by the sawmill to a little over 2" thick (8/4). When the mills cut 8/4 they usually are expected to cut the lumber to 2 3/16" thick. Most of these billets finished off anywhere from 1 3/8" thick up to 2" thick. I like the deep red color that Pennsylvanian cherry is noted for. I definitely didn't get these for anywhere close to $1.56 a board foot though!
Here are some of the pictures from the finished off pieces:
Here's a different one
Here's another
And one more:
We have a really hard time locating any curly cherry let alone 8/4 curly cherry, especially now with the sawmills running as slow as they are. Sure are a lot more beautiful than that ugly burl we cut up last month, and a lot nicer looking than my friends hand!
Thank you for reading, and hope everyone out there has a Merry Christmas!
Kevin Koski
Curly Maple Wood
Dry Kiln owner/operator
How about this for a burl? It was growing 25' off of the ground on a 6" diameter ash tree. The burl is about 24" long and 22" across, and weighs about 150lbs. Appears to be solid, but who knows? Maybe when we cut it this week it will look like it was touched by God, or maybe it will look like snot. Check back. If all goes well my Amish friend will cut it for me on his bandmill this week, and we will post some picts of any/all blocks we get out of it.
We will also be cutting some curly maple logs this week as well. I hope to get a blog on that too. This blog we will look at how we can SOMETIMES identify figure not only in a log, but in a standing tree as well.
Thanks for reading
Kevin Koski
Dry kiln operator
Owner Operator
Posted 10/9/2009 4:31 PM CDT
It pays to pay attention at the sawmill. Good thing my Amish friend does just that for me. He runs the edger at the mill and sees the lumber the second it comes off the saw. Here he had the sawyer quartersaw a sycamore log. This log was so large that it wouldn't fit on the sawmill, so it was bigger than 4 feet in diameter. He thought it was looking good, and the sheer size of the log, made him think he could get a quality 12/4 slab out of it. He also got a 16/4 out of it as well.
Before it was milled though, one of the poor guys at the mill had to cut it apart with the chainsaw, lengthwise, from opposing sides. It was a cool 85 degrees that day too, and he was cutting it under full sun. He also hit a metal hog fence that the tree had grown around. He sharpened up the saw, moved up the log a couple feet, and hit it again! Sailors could have come and seen him that day to learn some new swear words. I wish I would of got some pictures, so you guys could have seen that tortuous event, and the size of the log.
After the milling they send the lumber to me. The torture isn't over yet. I have to load them in the kiln, by hand. Sycamore is an extremely wet wood when fresh cut. I am told that it will actually sink. These billets went 6lbs a board foot, so they were weighing in at 150-220lbs each. Next time we won't cut 12/4, and 16/4.Can't wait for my son to put on some bulk, so he can help me out.
After trying out some of the new swear words I learned at the mill, I finally wrestled them into the kiln, where they were slowly dried for three months. The 12/4 was then resawn into this set. It is a collective 23+" wide by 8 feet long. I think it turned out pretty nice. Sometimes we resaw them, and they are full of defects on the insides, and all that work goes for nothing. Sometimes they blow apart in the kiln, and get converted into BTU's. This one, all the defects were on the outside for a change, and it stayed in tact.
The black lines are spalting. The fish scale patterning is only achieved if the sycamore is quartersawn correctly. Sycamore is a drab, uninteresting wood otherwise.
The black lines are spalting. The fish scale patterning is only achieved if the sycamore is quartersawn correctly. Sycamore is a drab, uninteresting wood otherwise.
Thank you for reading!
Kevin Koski
Dry Kiln
Owner and OperatorCurlyMapleWood.com
www.curlymaplewood.com
The link to my homepage.
All questions will be answered!
All questions will be answered!
Posted 10/9/2009 2:40 PM CDT
I will be writing a new solar kiln blog here in the next few days. I will answer all questions from everyone in the future blogs!
Thanks everyone
Kevin
