Tension in Euc. logs.

**Bob Whitworth** · 29th June 2015, 11:49 AM

A few months ago, I was given two Spotted Gum trees. A few days after cutting them down, I cut up a couple of logs and the boards came out extremely bent. I let the logs lie for about 6 weeks and then cut up a couple more logs and the boards came out reasonably straight. Some species of trees saw up much better than others. Hoop Pine, Red Cedar and Euc torelliana seem to be good while Flooded Gum is the worst I know while Gympie Messmate, the species I deal with most from my plantations is intermediate. My question is, does letting the logs lie for a little while reduce the spring as I have experienced? In other words, if I want some straight boards from my GM plantations, am I better off cutting the trees and letting the logs lie for 1,2 3 months, or even longer before sawing?
I have noticed on the Lucas mill promotion videos where they seem to be cutting Euc. logs that the boards all come out straight. The logs seem to be a little old because the ends of the logs have some checking. Another important factor is probably the age of the the tree. I suspect that older trees have logs that are more stable and cut straight while younger fast growing trees are much worse. My GM plantations are up to almost 40 years old which for trees is not really that old while the youngest that we have sawn is about 15 years old and surprisingly, these few younger trees have sawn acceptably. Cutting longer boards is always more difficult as well.

**BobL** · 29th June 2015, 12:16 PM

Somewhere I read that spotted gum is best cut when the bark turns red and starts to all off and that's what I have tended to do and it seems to work out.

**MAPLEMAN** · 29th June 2015, 01:29 PM

The perils of milling immature trees!
This is the reason i normally only mill the BIG ones.
Little spring and boards that come off the saw straight.
Let 'em grow for another 40 years Bob...MM

**BobL** · 29th June 2015, 03:54 PM

Originally Posted by MAPLEMAN

The perils of milling immature trees!
This is the reason i normally only mill the BIG ones.

Size is not always a guarantee. I cut one up that was about 40" in diameter but it was still springy as.

It came from a suburban block that must have been sitting on top of a leaking retc pipe

**MAPLEMAN** · 29th June 2015, 04:04 PM

Originally Posted by BobL

Size is not always a guarantee.

Didn't say it was!
But you know what Bob...i have milled hundreds upon hundreds of logs and have nearly always found that the bigger and more mature ones mill a lot more honestly...MM

**BobL** · 29th June 2015, 04:20 PM

Originally Posted by MAPLEMAN

Didn't say it was!
But you know what Bob...i have milled hundreds upon hundreds of logs and have nearly always found that the bigger and more mature ones mill a lot more honestly...MM

I agree.

**rustynail** · 29th June 2015, 06:42 PM

Spring in Eucs is common. Some species more so than others. Age is a big factor.
Young spotties are notorious.

**Bob Whitworth** · 29th June 2015, 08:35 PM

Thanks to everyone who has made a comment. Yes, I have been told that older and larger trees are much more stable than the smaller and younger ones. I suppose it has something to do with minimizing juvenile wood. The problem is though that I have these plantations that have faulty trees and also need to be thinned to let the others get bigger. I have already waited 40 years but the next 40 years wait might be a bit harder. No one though has commented on whether letting the logs lie for a little while might be of some benefit.

**BobL** · 29th June 2015, 09:03 PM

Originally Posted by Bob Whitworth

Thanks to everyone who has made a comment. Yes, I have been told that older and larger trees are much more stable than the smaller and younger ones. I suppose it has something to do with minimizing juvenile wood. The problem is though that I have these plantations that have faulty trees and also need to be thinned to let the others get bigger. I have already waited 40 years but the next 40 years wait might be a bit harder. No one though has commented on whether letting the logs lie for a little while might be of some benefit.

Yes definitely wait for the bark to fall off. But for any longer than that why don't you do an experiment and report back to us in a few years time?

**Sigidi** · 30th June 2015, 06:14 AM

Bob, I've found these generalisations...larger diameter saws straighter, longer lengths pull more, more sapwood (ie. spotty) bends more board selection and position makes a lot of difference. I haven't found a generalization with age of logs being down.

One thing no one has pointed out, probably as they haven't been to your place, but logs growing on hills/mountain sides, behave badly compared to logs growing on flat, slightly undulating country.

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