First time, cut my own wood, now what???

[Skye]

So, my here’s my first ‘harvested’ wood! Don’t know how much of it will be useable, but I’m going to give it a shot. I want to say it was elm, the tree broke and fell onto my house about 2 years ago. The stump has been standing since. I put a pumpkin on it last year and let it rot there [8D]

I tossed some DNA on it to get it to pop a little. Sure, it’s a lot of pics of average wood, but it’s my first block-o-wood that I took from the ground.

I think I’ll need to quarter the wood in order to get it onto and through a bandsaw. Not sure the best route to cutting the thing up, any suggestions are appreciated. Also, it’s been in the ground for about 2 years. Should I cut up the blanks before I let it dry further?

Here’s the remains of the stump in the ground. It’s got some nice color splotches. That tan area catches my eye. Almost makes me want to dig it up…. Bleh.

Here’s one half. You can see the area I scraped out. It was completely rotten and soaking wet. It was nothing but a bunch of termites holding hands. Looked like clumped sawdust.

Top of the log. I sawed about 6-8 inches off the top to get rid of the black rot.

Another shot of the side. I see some spalt lines, but what’s that cloudy grey towards the outer rings? Mold?

Closeup of the top. Massive rot to the left.

Bottom of one piece. Not the side with the tan splotch.

Same side

 

[kent4Him]

Are you thinking pens or bowls? Looks like you have enough for both.

 

[vick]

it is a little lathe but
http://www.enter.net/~ultradad/logcutting.html
I have only milled a couple logs but this is the proceedure I have used.

 

[JasonF]

Skye,

I think this post has the makings of a great article/instruction to be added to the library. Would love to see the process (especially with pictures) including tips. I thought it seemed pretty basic while thinking about it, then I tried cutting up some found wood and did this alot "[!]". I think adding a Timberwolf blade to my bandsaw will help out.


Edit: Thanks Mike. We posted at the same time.

 

[Dario]

Nice looking wood.

Do review the link that Mike provided to Bill Grumbine's site. It will help you a lot.

Note that the smaller the pieces, the less chance they will crack. Not a guarantee it will not crack though []

That said...get as big piece as possible, you just don't know if you'll need them later. Do apply sealant (anchorseal from UCCoatings is the norm) to the end grain to deter checking and keep it out of direct sunlight.

 

[Skye]

It'll be pen and stopper blanks. I'm not into bowls yet and only on a 6" lathe, so that'll be best for me.

I dont have Grumbine's beard, so I dont know how that'll work out.

I'm thinking cutting pieces that are bigger so I reduce waste with the chainsaw. I can just cut them on a bandsaw. Not sure what way to go yet. I'll try to document how it goes, may not be a good idea for a first timer, lol

 

[alamocdc]

Nice, Skye! I think you'll get some great looking stuff from this.

 

[DocStram]

Hey Skye ... how ya doin? .... you want to start cutting and let the blanks dry or else cut that log in big pieces and Anchorseal it. If you start cutting blanks right away then make 'em a little long and wide to allow for warping. If you don't Anchorseal it soon the log will start to split.

 

[Skye]

Good deal, I'll get it hunked up within a few days, hope to get a lot of it cut to blanks this weekend.

Not doin too shabby, how about your house?

The lil lady says "hi"