Ask WWGOA » Cutting and Drying Logs into Boards


Cutting and Drying Logs into Boards

Posted: January 6, 2010

"I have some red-oak, hickory, cherry, red elm, and spalted maple that I want to cut into boards. I have a band saw mill. Should I cut the boards into 5/4, 11/8, or 1" material?


I also want some 4" mantel material. Should I let it air dry or have it kiln dried? Should I quarter-saw all the material?"

 

Submitted by: harmann family

 

WWGOA Editor Response:
There are many "it depends" you'll need to think about before cutting your logs.  Regarding thickness, what material do you use the most?  If you primarily use 3/4" material, saw your planks to 4/4.  It's nice to have some 8/4 on hand, as well (it can be milled to 1-1/2" to 1-7/8") for leg material for furniture projects. If you'd like bowl blanks from any of your logs, cut them even thicker, 12/4 or 16/4.

 

It's great to have some quarter sawn, but it's also a lot more labor intensive to cut. If your logs are small, it may not be worth quarter sawing them, as the resulting boards will be very narrow. I usually cut a mix of quarter and plain sawn, using the larger logs for quarter sawn. Remember that even from your plain sawn logs the planks near the center of the log are similar to quarter sawn, so you can isolate those boards and put them into your quarter sawn pile.

 

Air drying is certainly the low tech approach to drying wood. It'll take about one year per inch of material thickness to completely air dry the material, getting it down to about 12% - 14% moisture content. You'll need a spot to store it where air can move over it, but it doesn't get direct sun. So, there's little or no cost involved, but you'll have a long wait for your material and a moisture content that isn't that low.

 

Kiln drying can be completed in 3-6 weeks, depending on the species, and will take your material down to a more stable 6-8% moisture content. The lower the initial moisture content, the more stable your material will be.

 

For more on kiln drying have a look at our video showing a solar kiln.


For more on air drying have a look at this video Air Drying Fresh Cut Lumber 

 

Thank you for your question.


George Vondriska

Managing Editor

 

Got a woodworking question you need answered? Email us at editor@wwgoa.com or post your question on the Forums board for help from fellow WWGOA members.

 

 

Related Videos




Article Rating:

8 (1 Votes)


Related Articles

More From George Vondriska

5 Comments

  1. Aphcxapd (6 months ago)

    I'll text you later Prelolita Toplist =-]]

  2. Icfipsvm (5 months ago)

    History xhamster 70837

  3. Qzzhtcmz (5 months ago)

    The National Gallery Off Lolita >:]

  4. Mfyxwule (5 months ago)

    About a year Pthc Pedo =-PPP 3d Pthc 760 Pthc Loli =-D Pthc Preteen 911 Pthc xxxx 365 Top 100 Pedo Pthc Model cegktc Pthc Lolitas 95121 Pthc Nude cmmlgg Pthc Sex 009841 Hussyfan Pthc nhbtuw

  5. Ukmammoi (4 months ago)

    On another call Buy Zolpidem >:PPP

Post a Comment

If you are already a member, Log in to comment more easily.

Your Name:
Email: (will not be shown)
Comment: (HTML tags will be removed)
Are You Human?

Select the name of each object you see below:

  • 1
  • 2
  • 3
  • 1
  • 2
  • 3

This little quiz helps us reduce the amount of SPAM robots that fill our databases with junk.


Level Best- VerticalDarex - Vertical