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Opportunity

11K views 90 replies 32 participants last post by  MsDebbieP 
#1 ·
Opportunity

Last month my brother had local Mennonites build a porch around his house and they used what I think is called rough-hewn pine. It is so beautiful.

My brother built a couple bird houses out of some leftover wood and Rick fell in love with the look and had my brother go to the workers' sawmill and buy us some boards for the as-of-yet unknown projects ($8 Canadian/board).

Today we actually used the wood to make a garbage bin for our back door. It's rough-just the way I like it. I will probably take some pictures of it next week.

Anyway, that was the "pre-story". Today we get a call from my brother saying that he was at the sawmill again and they had a 13' maple log for sale for $300 Canadian. Most of it is about 30 inches wide. My brother wants to split it with us, so we'd have 6.5' length for $150 Canadian.

That's a lot of table tops, I'm thinking. Is it a good deal? I have no idea. I can only assume that it is-but more than the wood it is a nice connection with my brother. Although he only lives about 15 minutes away, we really don't see each other very often. But this woodworking has brought us together. I've been at his house more times in the past month than I have in the past 5 years!

Gotta love woodworking and all the opportunities that it brings.
 
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#2 ·
Debbie Go for it. Here is a calculator of wood volume from a log. You will have the sawdust factor so you might not get that amount of wood.

Sometimes these calculators are used to calculate firewood, where you are keeping all of the wood and don't have the waste of sawblades.

But you will get 13' wood not 6.5. You will just get half of the boards.

It needs to dry for 1 year for each inch of wood. You will also want to paint the ends of the boards with latex paint to keet the splitting to a minimum. You want to fill all of the pores on the ends of the wood. Not the surface, just the end grain.

If you want table tops you might want to request 2 1/2" thick wood, this would be coffee table size. Or one of them and the rest 4 quarter or 5 quarter.

4 quarter is 1" thick but when it dries it might be under 1". It is usually used for 3/4" finished wood. 5 quarter is 1 1/4" thick and will usually give you 1" thick finished wood after it drys and is planed smooth.

When you stack the wood put stickers every 18" or so and put weight on top of the pile to keep twisting to a minimum.

If you are stacking it outside try to keep rain water from soaking into the pile. but you want air movement so don't cover it all up with plastic. A piece of tin, plywood etc.
 
#4 ·
Debbie: I have some wood stored in the barn now. Holly and Popular and I have it stckered with a fan blowing on it. So it's inside and has air movement. I have kept the fan running for at least 30 days. Somewhere I read that they say to let the wood rest for 8 hrs (no fan) per day so that the moisture will move from inside the boards to the outside. I've not noticed any problems with the fan being contuinous except for a couple of boards that were on the top without weight on top of them. (A shelf right above). Some small amount of cupping and a little twist. But that was on a 10" board. The 4" and 6" boards were fine.

I resawed a couple into 1/2" and then planed to 3/8" for small drawer sides. and I have had a little wood movement since planing so They might not yet be ready for fulltime use. But I've only dried them for 45 days not a full year.
 
#6 ·
If you are using the boards in furniture it will be a requirement that it be stable to its environment. Or, parts that were assembled will become loose. If you are using the board as a plaque where you might try woodburning then it's not a requirement.

As to you having the patience, ???!!!
 
#7 ·
I'd be all over a piece of maple like that… as far as being able to wait for it… I guess you could use that time to plan out your project(s)
 
#9 ·
Debbie: A year will go fast, as you are picking up the skills to tackle many different projects.

You can see if they have any dryer wood. I mean sawmills always have old scrap boards laying around. Some of them would be good pieces to start cutting your teeth (Router Bits) on.

Meanwhile the maple will be drying.

Buy it with or without your brother. It's a good buy. brobably less than a $1.00 per Bdf. maybe $.60 depending on how much wood the log is cut up into.
 
#10 ·
all their wood that they have for sale is freshly cut. My guess is that they save the rest for their own purposes.

We can stack the wood in our shed .. and wait… and plan… and wait.
It's pretty exciting.
Of course I know that I would make something out of it right away - something simple just so I can say "ah - this is the opportunity that is drying"
 
#11 ·
Debbie: They might have a slab pile, if they don't burn them. You might find some of Frank's rustic pieces there.
 
#12 ·
that is true - i forgot about the art!!!

When Rick and I put up the shelf to hold the wood, we sorted the "dumpster bin" as well, getting rid of some little stuff that (at this point in time) we won't be using. BUT … many pieces came back out of the burn barrel and put into the save pile.
One piece had split in a beautiful 1/4 circle with a tiny little branch coming out of it. I said, "look at what you almost threw out"-Rick's eyes opened wide and the next piece he picked up was the matching inverted 1/4 circle. It quickly went into the save pile.
I have no idea what they are/will be but they shouted "save me; save me; save me"
 
#14 ·
they won't cut it. My brother thinks that if we take our chainsaws to it that we'll at least be able to transport it!

I was wondering what a sawmill might charge to cut it into slabs for us.
 
#15 ·
Debbie: I guess I assumed from your original post that the sawmill was going to cut up the log for the $300. price. The price is still good though for the wood.
 
#17 ·
I would think that sawmill owners would be in the business of making big sticks into smaller sticks (Obi's term I believe).
 
#19 ·
The wood sound good, but the restored relationship with your brother sounds even better, Debbie. Woodworking is like that. Even people that know very little about woodworking are drawn to the idea of making something useful from something natural. Nice story, Debbie, and even if your Maple log doesn't turn into a DeCou masterpiece, it was the cause of a good thing.
 
#21 ·
When Opportunity Knocks... continued

Well, tonight was the night that we were going with my brother to check out that big ol' maple log for $500.

After about a 15 minute drive we reached the Mennonite community and turned down a gravel road (which of course in this weather is now a mud road). The scenery was beautiful. I live in the country but our farm country isn't like that beautiful area (only about 1/2 hour from where I live).
There was a beautiful little "valley" wrapping itself around a winding creek (The Little Otter, I do believe) and it was dotted with willows, and some horses here and there. We passed by a few children who were making their way home from perhaps school.

Finally we made it to the sawmill and yes it was a sawmill-there were 3 long rows of logs: big beautiful logs. They had a big crane to move the logs around and inside the long shed was their saw. Outside there were also some piles of 4×4's. And then, there on the one pile was the big, big log. Yup, that was big!! And beautiful.

"Levi" came out and talked to my brother for a moment and then my brother told him that we would let him get back to his work. My brother then laughed "giddilly" (I know that is a lumberjock word, I've seen it before). "Ah… sorry," he said, "I guess I'm not much of a woodman. I was sure it was maple".

Back in the truck and back home we went, re-acknowledging the beautiful landscape on our way. Back at his home, my sister-in-law asked, "so what kind of wood was it?" My brother replied: "Well, my hands are still sticking together after touching it-- pine. it was "just" pine. That's why it was such a good deal."

Further discussion came to the agreement that Levi himself had told my brother that he had a log of maple.
But alas it was not to be.

But Rick did see a beautiful creek for flyfishing so it was not a total loss!!
 
#28 ·
Reclaimed Wood

on Saturday, (following our LumberJocks' picnic the week before), we had a bonfire breakfast at our house and my Aunt and Uncle brought us a gift-

an old church pew that they had in a lumber pile. They figure that the wood is well over 100 years old. We have the bench part, and the back is still buried in their wood pile, waiting to be dug out.

I have no idea what the wood is but it is nice and thick and really long (aren't I good with measurements??). My favourite part of the wood is that it is "finished" on the one side and still rough cut on the bottom. I just find that fascinating and perhaps I will be using this in future projects.

What will this board become? I have no idea but it should be a piece of honour.
 
#47 ·
Wood

Today I saw an offer in Freecycle for some wood and put my name in for it - and "won".
What we got was a truck load of hardwood (perhaps ash). The pieces are about 2" x 3" and each 8 feet long. There's probably about 50 boards.

Thanks to "Mary" for the free wood.
And now, I need to build something with it.
I'd like to make something nice but simple and sell it for the STC children event, passing on the free gift to others.

Any ideas? (knowing my limited skills).
 
#65 ·
Road Trip #2

My sister-in-law and I went on our second road trip today and we headed back to an antique shop that we visited on the last trip.

This time I found a plane that I guess makes the tongue of tongue/groove. It took me a while to figure it out but I'm sure that's what it is. Correct me if I'm wrong. (If that is what it is, it would make a nice counterpart to my router plane, I think.)

Anyway, it was old, the blade looked a little rough but what do I know. Cost $20.
It's still sitting on the shelf.
 
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