Small lumber gloat

[Wild Turkey]

Couple of weeks ago a road widening project near my house was cutting down some trees.  The gave me a Shagbark Hickory if I could get it out of the way.

Hopped on my just-purchased Kubota with front-loader and pallet forks and moved the four 8' logs from near the roadway to a cleared area behind my house.

Loaded three of the better logs on my 16' trailer -- the three of them filled the trailer.

Took them to the Amish bandsaw mill and today I picked up the lumber.  Loading it was a real workout -- most of the boards were over 12" wide, and some over 18".

Sawyer charged me $205 for sawing.  Would have been cheaper but he found two nails 
 so I had to buy some saw blades


But still came out at under 30 cents/board ft.

I'll stack it and get some pix tomorrow.

Only real bummer is that local guy who had a kiln passed away a couple of weeks ago and family hasn't decided if they will continue the kiln operation, so for now it will go in old horse shelter and air dry for a while.

Gotta go cut some stickers

[goaliedad]

Having logs milled always reminded me of Christmas- I never knew what I would get until the package was opened. Sounds like you were a good boy this year

[jteneyck]

My only experience milling and using shagbark hickory was fraught with frustration and disappointment.  I wish you better luck.    

John

[EdL]

My only experience milling and using shagbark hickory was fraught with frustration and disappointment.  I wish you better luck.    

John

It's tough stuff to work with...drum sanded panels for a friend, he did his mom's kitchen in it. Even sandpaper doesn't last long.
IMHO, the result was worth the effort, stunning when finished.

Hard to find good Hickory here, it's like they are hollow when they sprout.

Ed

[Stwood_]

I hope you painted the end of the logs, before milling.
It's tough to end coat all those boards, one end at a time.

Buying blades. Must have been a bandmill.

Back in the day when I had a mill, I charged $20.00 each for a band blade.

[ianab]

Been scoring some wood here too. 

Clearing some old trees from a fence line for a friend. Dropped a small White Cedar today. not huge but get some small but nice straight logs from it. A couple of random cypress trees too, Arizona and Nootka I think. Again not huge, but big enough to saw a few boards out of. 

   

Weather turns to mud tomorrow, (tail end of winter here), but might be able to saw them up over the weekend with a bit of luck.

[Duane N]

Congratulations on the score of Hickory.  One of my favorite hardwoods to work with.

After having a Willow Oak milled up last winter I look at trees a lot differently now.  There's a lot of construction going on around here and it's probably a good thing I don't have a way to get the trees cut down back to my home.  My neighbors appreciate it also.

[fredhargis]

Hickory is also one of my favorite woods, although I don't find it easy to work. You did good, and I want to echo that thought above about sealing the ends; you'll keep a lot more usable wood that way. Congrats...

[FS7]

Remember climb cutting only when routing. Long grain, anyway. End grain can be routed normally.

I think hickory splinters could easily be used as shivs.

[Scoony]

Only real bummer is that local guy who had a kiln passed away a couple of weeks ago and family hasn't decided if they will continue the kiln operation, so for now it will go in old horse shelter and air dry for a while.

Are you talking about Jim down off Valley Creek?   Sad to hear that. Got a lot of lumber from him over the years.