Timberking 1220 Sawmill #2: Black Walnut log, sawn into 4/4 lumber with a live edge.

That is a beaut. How long before you can work it?
I am going to search for some live edge wood for some frames and for a mirror soon.

Thanks for the advice about outdoor photos and gimp.

-- I came, I was conquered, I was born again. ἵνα ὦσιν ἓν

All three logs are cut, stacked and stickered. Today I’ll seal the ends of the boards so the wood doesn’t split any more as it dries. Usually I put my fresh lumber in a covered area with good air flow. (my shop is in an old 2 story farm house and the porch is covered on 3 sides). After about a year, I move it to my attic and keep it stacked and stickered there till it dries. It takes 30 days in the Summer and 90 days in the Winter to finish drying. I can dry a little over 1000 bft without too much weight. After it’s dry I move it to a room I use for wood storage and put more green wood in the heat. An old farmhouse that’s not insulated is a great solar kiln. The attic heats up in the day and cools off at night, plus the heat pump pulls out moisture all the time. I need more capacity now, so I’ll be building my own solar kiln in the next few weeks. Since I only have a few hundred bft of walnut ready to build into gunstocks, I have to move most of this walnut to the attic today. It should be ready sometime in May or June. To determine the moisture content, I take some sacrificial boards and cut a small section of wood at least a foot away from the end of the board, weigh it, dry it till it’s bone dry in the oven, weigh it again and calculate the amount of moisture in the sample.

Right now it’s all hand labor! I can’t wait till I make enough money to buy a bobcat or backhoe to move lumber around without doing it a board at a time. A lumber shed to air dry 1000 bft stacks of lumber and a 2000 bft solar kiln are also in my Spring building plan. Here’s a photo of a red oak log that’s down on my property and ready to saw. It’s 35” in diameter and 30’ long. The butt log, cut to 16’ length will weigh more than 3500 lbs. The chainsaw on the end of the log has a 20” bar to give perspective to the photo.

-- Hal, Tennessee http://www.first285.com

WOW!!!!! That is some beautiful wood

-- Gary, Little River,SC I've Learned that the Lord didn't do it all in one day and neither can I

Man, that walnut is to kill for. Nice work…....

-- mike...............

Beautiful wood! Glad to see you’re putting that 1220 to good use!

-- Dan Siggers, Alabama, http://www.siggerstraditionsllc.com

Nice. After all these years I still get excited like a little kid when I open up a walnut. There one of my favorites.

-- Ron, Twain Harte, Ca. Portable on site Sawmill Service http://westcoastlands.net/Sawmill.html http://westcoastlands.net/SawBucks2/phpBB3 http://www.portablesawmill.info

Hal,

That’s some beautiful lumber! But I’ll try to just keep quoting 1 Timothy 6:6 and my paraphrase of Exodus 20:17—“You shall not covet your neighbor’s wood.”

L/W

-- Jesus is the ONLY reason for ANY season.

That is a beautiful log Hal, and I am happy for you. I know the feelings you express about cutting into a log. You are so young and just starting. What a great time I see for your future.

-- Roy Montana

I am jealous great looking log.

-- Mike

Your a lucky man to have such beautiful wood! and to be able to cut it up the way you want it. Awesome! I’m alittle jealous:)

Nate

-- "With a little bit of faith, and some imagination, you can build anything!" Nate

Beautiful bit of timber there! We planted 2 Black Walnuts last weekend here. Remember the old saying, ‘We dont inherit what we have from your parents we borrow it from our children’.

-- Its better to have it and not need it than to need it and not have it.