How long until dry enough to work..?

[aaronc]

Long time lurker here....in my readings I have found that pear wood is one of the preferred species to work with. Even the Bradford Pear that so many hate...I'm not a huge fan either but happen to have several in my yard that break regularly in wind and cold weather. A storm earlier this year brought down an entire tree. I still have access to it and the stump is actually still in my yard....If it's under my carport in the dry or in my basement how long before it's workable? Thanks - Aaron

 

 

[Jaager]

I have a bit of it.  Some is on the floor of my garage - dry and waiting to be processed into billets.  It is excellent for our use.  I love it.  Not near as much as Apple, but it is wonder stuff.  Differences from Pyrus communis is that it is more brown than pink and it has a waxed sheen to it.  There is some difference in the color of Spring and Summer wood and each can be fairly wide - the tree is fairly fast growing.

 

I used an electric chain saw (el cheepo HF) to bisect the largest - to speed seasoning and remove the pith. There was significant loss to kerf and a freehand chainsaw rip cut is dangerous.  An Alaska mill is both safer and produces more precise planks.  A log is difficult to place so that it does not move and the end of the bar does not have the teeth digging up soil.  The electric has lower power so the kickback force is easier to resist.  Beyond a certain thickness, a completely round log can be a real challenge to resaw on a bandsaw.  About the best that a tablesaw can do is 2" and a rolling log is a nightmare to rip cut.

 

I used left over enamel paint to make thick coats on the cut ends - too much checking if you do not seal the ends.  It dries faster if it is debarked and it removes carpenter ants and wood boring larvae eggs.  Seasoning is usually one year per inch of thickness.

For a lot of tree species, the branches are at ~ 90 degrees.  This offers the possibility of getting compass timber.  Unfortunately - Bradford Pear branches - splits into two equal forks mostly at a sharp "Y" .  This does not make for much useful compass timber.  For the tree itself, it means that the tree tends split like pealing a banana when exposed to high winds and the tree is old enough that there is a significant diameter ( weight).

Edited November 1, 2023 by Jaager

[aaronc]

9 hours ago, Jaager said:

I have a bit of it.  Some is on the floor of my garage - dry and waiting to be processed into billets.  It is excellent for our use.  I love it.  Not near as much as Apple, but it is wonder stuff.  Differences from Pyrus communis is that it is more brown than pink and it has a waxed sheen to it.  There is some difference in the color of Spring and Summer wood and each can be fairly wide - the tree is fairly fast growing.

 

I used an electric chain saw (el cheepo HF) to bisect the largest - to speed seasoning and remove the pith. There was significant loss to kerf and a freehand chainsaw rip cut is dangerous.  An Alaska mill is both safer and produces more precise planks.  A log is difficult to place so that it does not move and the end of the bar does not have the teeth digging up soil.  The electric has lower power so the kickback force is easier to resist.  Beyond a certain thickness, a completely round log can be a real challenge to resaw on a bandsaw.  About the best that a tablesaw can do is 2" and a rolling log is a nightmare to rip cut.

 

I used left over enamel paint to make thick coats on the cut ends - too much checking if you do not seal the ends.  It dries faster if it is debarked and it removes carpenter ants and wood boring larvae eggs.  Seasoning is usually one year per inch of thickness.

For a lot of tree species, the branches are at ~ 90 degrees.  This offers the possibility of getting compass timber.  Unfortunately - Bradford Pear branches - splits into two equal forks mostly at a sharp "Y" .  This does not make for much useful compass timber.  For the tree itself, it means that the tree tends split like pealing a banana when exposed to high winds and the tree is old enough that there is a significant diameter ( weight).

 

 

 

Thanks for the info, it won't be the most efficienct process but I'll go ahead and cut some pieces up with my chainsaw and get it drying. 

[aaronc]

After further reading I guess I'll also save some of my maple.  It isn't large logs but I'll see what I can get off of it. 

 

 

 

[Bob Cleek]

14 hours ago, Jaager said:

I used an electric chain saw (el cheepo HF) to bisect the largest - to speed seasoning and remove the pith. There was significant loss to kerf and a freehand chainsaw rip cut is dangerous.  An Alaska mill is both safer and produces more precise planks.  A log is difficult to place so that it does not move and the end of the bar does not have the teeth digging up soil.  The electric has lower power so the kickback force is easier to resist.  Beyond a certain thickness, a completely round log can be a real challenge to resaw on a bandsaw.  About the best that a tablesaw can do is 2" and a rolling log is a nightmare to rip cut.

Have you ever tried running a circular saw down the length of a log to cut as deep a kerf as possible and then splitting the log with wedges and a maul? I've found success with the method. The flat side of a split can then be run through a jointer (or planed) and that will produce a flat surface to start milling billets on a bandsaw. It also has the advantage of yielding a flat side that runs parallel to the grain without runout.

 

I second the recommendation of an Alaskan mill. The do very good work for the use intended, although a suitably powered chainsaw is highly advised, as is the use of a proper ripping chain. The Granberg "Alaskan" chainsaw mill was invented by the late Elof Granberg, a friend and sailing buddy of mine. It's a very well-made tool that's stood the test of time and, for what it can accomplish, very reasonably priced. Elof's son now runs the family-owned Grandberg International company.  Interestingly, Elof started Grandberg International to manufacture and market hospital bed equipment such as the metal framing used to mount IV bottles, elevate leg casts and hang "pull up" bars. He was an avid sailor and woodworker and he figured there had to be a "better mouse trap" for sharpening his chainsaw. He came up with a small 12 VDC rotary tool that spun a small carbide grinding drum sized to fit the chain tooth's gullet and could be plugged into a pickup truck cigarette lighter for use in the field. As the saying goes, "The rest was history." The Granberg chain sharpener took off and soon afterwards he invented the Alaskan(tm) Sawmill that really put Granberg into the chainsaw accessory business for good. 

 

Edited November 1, 2023 by Bob Cleek

[aaronc]

That Grandberg guy sounds like an interesting fella....I'm in healthcare and have probably had my hands on a few of his devices. 

 

I did some clean up in the yard today, I have quite a few decent size maple pieces to piddle with. I'll pick up some exterior paint and get it under the carport in the next week or so....as well as some pear. 

[Jaager]

10 hours ago, aaronc said:

I'll also save some of my maple

You do not provide your location here on Terra, but the straight narrow trunk looks like a small Hard Maple I lost to a tornado - one of the bunch that destroyed Xenia, OH.

My local Hardwood supplier has kiln dried Hard Maple.  There is also Soft Maple - which I despise - I prefer Yellow Poplar for stock where a low density hardwood does the job.   Seasoning and processing logs into usable lumber is a lot of work, ages expensive tools, and takes up time and space.  I see it as prudent to only expend that effort on wood species that are either unavailable any other way, or very expensive.  And expensive is a toss up.  Hard Maple and Black Cherry are both available here in the eastern US and are less than $10 /BF.  I have and use a lot of both,  but processing either from a log would cost me way more than $10 - all factors included.

5 hours ago, Bob Cleek said:

Have you ever tried running a circular saw down the length of a log to cut as deep a kerf as possible and then splitting the log with wedges and a maul?

No,  but my present situation - age, hernia, physical location (as far from rural as it gets in Virginia and actually on The Bay) places me out of the running any more.  The Bradford Pear was street trash on Pretty Lake Blvd. after the last hurricane.  I had to tie a rope around the big log and drag it up the street to my condo behind my "Z".  It was both too heavy to lift and I am lucky that the Z has enough room for food resupply.  No way that log would fit.

I tried to buy an Alaskan Mill or something like it - from Silvo Hardware.   I waited and waited, then one day I got a letter stating than I was a party in a bankruptcy proceeding.  

I have a 16" Shindaiwa  buried in the back of a closet - everything rubber is probably oxidized to brittle by now - and back when I was getting all this, there was a type of chain available that was pretty aggressive - if I had gotten the mill, I probably would have bought it - but then it must have set some regulator hair on fire, because it disappeared from the market.

Edited November 1, 2023 by Jaager

[aaronc]

4 minutes ago, Jaager said:

You do not provide your location here on Terra, but the straight narrow trunk looks like a small Hard Maple I lost to a tornado - one of the bunch that destroyed Xenia, OH.

My local Hardwood supplier has kiln dried Hard Maple.  There is also Soft Maple - which I despise - I prefer Yellow Poplar for stock where a low density hardwood does the job.   Seasoning and processing logs into usable lumber is a lot of work, ages expensive tools, and takes up time and space.  I see it as prudent to only expend that effort on wood species that are either unavailable any other way, or very expensive.  And expensive is a toss up.  Hard Maple and Black Cherry are both available here in the eastern US and are less than $10 /BF.  I have and use a lot of both,  but processing either from a log would cost me way more than $10 - all factors included.

No,  but my present situation - age, hernia, physical location (as far from rural as it gets in Virginia and actually on The Bay) places me out of the running any more.  The Bradford Pear was street trash on Pretty Lake Blvd. after the last hurricane.  I had to tie a rope around the big log and drag it up the street to my condo behind my "Z".  It was both too heavy to lift and I am lucky that the Z has enough room for food resupply.  No way that log would fit.

I tried to buy an Alaskan Mill or something like it - from Silvo Hardware.   I waited and waited, then one day I got a letter stating than I was a party in a bankruptcy proceeding.  

I have a 16" Shindaiwa  buried in the back of a closet - everything rubber is probably oxidized to brittle by now - and back when I was getting all this, there was a type of chain available that was pretty aggressive - if I had gotten the mill, I probably would have bought it - but then it must have set some regulator hair on fire, because it disappeared from the market.

 

 

 

My location is central Kentucky. Not sure how much workable stock I'll end up with but I  thought I'd save some of these pieces and run them through a bandsaw at a later date....for various reasons that may not be a good plan...but I thought I'd try it. These ships really aren't that big so if I get a little pile of good stuff I'll take it. Bradford pear around here is a dime a dozen...After any storm I could get plenty if not in my own yard certainly on my road. I don't mind buying the lumber especially but if I can bring something from tree to project admittedly there is a little satisfaction there for me. I've worked with a lot of maple, specifically curly maple on powder horn plugs and other projects of my own such as euro mounts. It is my #1 favorite wood....I love the stuff. What will this maple be like to work  with....I have no idea. It may not be fit for much...I'm aware maple varies a great deal. Even the curly maple I've cut, carved and sanded on varies in hardness from piece to piece. These 2 maples that I'm getting my pieces from are red maples. They are about 10 year old trees. Here is a pick from last fall...Color difference was just part of the change. The 2nd pic is the one further back. 

 

 

 

 

 

 

[Jaager]

5 minutes ago, aaronc said:

My location is central Kentucky.

Back when I was doing all that, I had 5 acres in Delaney Woods, Jessamine Co.  I worked at Cooper Drive VAMC  (It was 400 beds then). 

Red Maple ain't  Sugar Maple (Hard  -  Rock)  Acer saccharum .  I use Hard Maple exclusively from the Acer family.

Probably not in business anymore, but I bought a supply of Hard Maple and Black Cherry from Homer Gregeory  in Morehead.  I also bought too much Sycamore - back before I learned that Underhill was taking about a European Maple species - not the American Plantus occidentalis junk that I bought.  They were a whole sale country sawmill then.  Rough ricks in the weather - it was all well seasoned - I got 4x4 - today I would get 8x4.

If I were young and where you are, I would make friends with the county extension network and try to find farmers with healthy but past production full size Apple trees.  Work a deal to get some logs . Who knows, maybe you could get some Holly, Dogwood, or Hornbeam that way?  It is a big regret that I did not try that when I could.  Too much grafted to easy pick size now.  For Holly  it is a fight to beat the Blue Mold before it is seasoned.  I now realize that for us, even the worst Blue Mold infected wood is perfectly OK for our use.  It is just as sound.  It is just grey.  That is a more perfect deck color than the commercial snow white Holly.  No species of wood used for decks is white and the grey mimics the effect of sun and seawater.  The white has become ridiculously expensive and the stuff that is perfect of us  is probably being burned. 

 

[aaronc]

4 minutes ago, Jaager said:

Back when I was doing all that, I had 5 acres in Delaney Woods, Jessamine Co.  I worked at Cooper Drive VAMC  (It was 400 beds then). 

Red Maple ain't  Sugar Maple (Hard  -  Rock)  Acer saccharum .  I use Hard Maple exclusively from the Acer family.

Probably not in business anymore, but I bought a supply of Hard Maple and Black Cherry from Homer Gregeory  in Morehead.  I also bought too much Sycamore - back before I learned that Underhill was taking about a European Maple species - not the American Plantus occidentalis junk that I bought.  They were a whole sale country sawmill then.  Rough ricks in the weather - it was all well seasoned - I got 4x4 - today I would get 8x4.

If I were young and where you are, I would make friends with the county extension network and try to find farmers with healthy but past production full size Apple trees.  Work a deal to get some logs . Who knows, maybe you could get some Holly, Dogwood, or Hornbeam that way?  It is a big regret that I did not try that when I could.  Too much grafted to easy pick size now.  For Holly  it is a fight to beat the Blue Mold before it is seasoned.  I now realize that for us, even the worst Blue Mold infected wood is perfectly OK for our use.  It is just as sound.  It is just grey.  That is a more perfect deck color than the commercial snow white Holly.  No species of wood used for decks is white and the grey mimics the effect of sun and seawater.  The white has become ridiculously expensive and the stuff that is perfect of us  is probably being burned. 

 

 

 

I've been in the woods all my life and know lots of farmers....I don't own one but am surrounded by farms here. Wife also has family in the cattle business. That being said I've rarely ran into apple trees and my best bet would be to try the local orchards within driving distance from me. There are several around. Dogwood is relatively common, even off of the interstates if you know what your looking for. Holly...see it every now and then...mostly in peoples yards. Hornbeam I have no idea on...would have to do some homework. The sugar maple is common here and I have one in the yard....it just wasn't the one that blew over. Those reds grew pretty fast so yes I'm assuming they are softer wood. I appreciate the "get list" and your responses. I do find it interesting that apple is a top tier wood for this. I'm not elderly yet...but not youthful either. At the moment I'm holding together well at 48. 

[aaronc]

A quick google,...looks to be running $22 a board ft for 8/4. 

 

Apple Lumber – Hearne Hardwoods

[aaronc]

Or,...54lbs for about 95$. Not sure how much good is in there though.

 

 

54 LBS Apple Wood Chunks & Logs. Fruit Wood for Smoking Cooking BBQ Crafts Etc | eBay

Edited November 2, 2023 by aaronc

[Jaager]

I follow those Apple choices too.   The Hearne is expensive and does not look clear enough to use for framing stock - which is what I would use a large volume for.

Framing uses an unbelievable wood volume - even at 1:60.

 

A yellow variety of Holly is a weed on the family plantation in Caroline county  but not as much as the Sweet Gum.  I do not remember seeing much of it in central Kentucky.

The Apple would probably be easier to find the Eastern mountains.