Thread: Is this log worth sawing?

Logs standing or laying down are near worthless for milling, as 95% of the value of sawn timber is in the transport, actual milling process, handling, storage and drying of the timber. I have milled a couple of hundred logs and never paid for one.

Fair call. Looks like firewood it is. Either way I can't lose.

Ive milled a lot of GB over the years. Good durable timber. Can be a bit springy when sawing but your 50mm pipe will help with that. I'd be docking some suitable milling lengths out of it first and then fire wood the rest. Don't go less than 55mm thick as thin boards are better resawn later after drying. Rift and quarter sawn is better than backsawn for stability but I have seen plenty of back sawn material that has behaved well. Again, your pipe will help here. A couple of grand a cube has got to be better than fire wood money?

Originally Posted by rustynail

Ive milled a lot of GB over the years. Good durable timber. Can be a bit springy when sawing but your 50mm pipe will help with that. I'd be docking some suitable milling lengths out of it first and then fire wood the rest. Don't go less than 55mm thick as thin boards are better resawn later after drying. Rift and quarter sawn is better than backsawn for stability but I have seen plenty of back sawn material that has behaved well. Again, your pipe will help here. A couple of grand a cube has got to be better than fire wood money?

Thanks for that Rusty. I'm not in a position to mill it myself, but as it will take a couple of months (or more) for the paddock to dry out I have time to think of it. I cut it at 6.0m as I understood that is the preferred length if kiln drying is required - though boards of that length would be damn heavy. What lengths do you suggest I cut it?

Boxed In

Do you have a use for it other than firewood? For example it could yield building timber such as 75 x 45 for stud walls or larger dimensions for rafters at say 100 x 38 or 125 x 38. Grey Box is strong (rated at SD2) and will stretch useful spans.

Agreed it is an excellent firewood, but I would only be using the rubbish parts (smaller branches, the heart and outer trimmings for the fire. you should be able to find somebody to mill it on your property, if you decide to go down that track. The larger, commercial millers are not really interested in single logs.

Regards
Paul

Ps: It is a demanding timber to mill and work being so dense. The professional firewood getters will most times give it a miss because it is too hard on their equipment.

Originally Posted by Boxed In

Thanks for that Rusty. I'm not in a position to mill it myself, but as it will take a couple of months (or more) for the paddock to dry out I have time to think of it. I cut it at 6.0m as I understood that is the preferred length if kiln drying is required - though boards of that length would be damn heavy. What lengths do you suggest I cut it?

Yes, 6.0m is good for the kiln but makes hard work for a one man miller. I like to cut against order. This way I can select a suitable length of log and buck it to suit, meaning I am not having to man handle lengths greater than the customer requires, nor am I generating unnecessary waste.
Cutting on spec is a different matter, now you have to anticipate the probable uses of the timber and the sizes those uses may require. One option to give flexability is to cut multiple width material that can be resawn to narrower when required ie 8x2 resawn to 4x2, 12x2 resawn to 6x2 or 4x2. And, of course, even smaller sizes can come from these larger sections ie furniture timber.
What we do have to remember is weight. GB is heavy stuff and long lengths and big sections without suitable handling equipment makes for a hard days work. Equipment doesnt have to be expensive. It is amazing what you can move with a couple of lengths of 1" pipe as rollers.
What would I do with your 6.0m length? 2.4 and 3.6 are good sellers in hardwood and single man movable up to 300mm wide.

Thanks for all the replies guys. I'm still leaning towards the firewood side as I'm in my late 60's now and putting timber away for years is a bit like cellaring wine for a long time - I might be dead when it is right to go. Also we depend on wood to heat all of our house so it is important for us to have several years supply in front of us in case of ill health with the chainsaw operator.
On a different subject; I've been teaching myself to sharpen square ground chisel chain over the last couple of years and wondered if would be of any use for me to do a thread aimed at the novice with simple stuff like where I got the files, good You Tubes to watch and vice/lighting setup? I'm aware that there are many here that know far more than I do, but I haven't noticed a thread covering this.

Im in my seventies. Still milling and would rather mill than cut and split fire wood any day. I get your point about long term storage of timber at our age. So I dont. Yes, I have a good supply of valuable furniture timbers but the general purpose stuff in both pines and eucalypts are sold off the saw. No dressing, no drying. Often the purchaser will pull up next to the mill and tail out straight onto their vehicle . You can imagine how much extra handling that saves me and I am happy to discount accordingly. Grey box is good stuff and worth the effort. And lets face it, if the worst comes to the worst and you still have some that hasn't sold, you can dock it up as quick as you like and bung it in the fire, without showing it the splitter. And box is a bitch to split.

Originally Posted by rustynail

And box is a bitch to split.

RN

Absolutely. You have to follow the growth rings around the edge. A block splitter hitting the middle will bounce into orbit.

Regards
Paul

Originally Posted by Bushmiller

RN

Absolutely. You have to follow the growth rings around the edge. A block splitter hitting the middle will bounce into orbit.

Regards
Paul

Agreed. I have a good splitter so no problemSuperaxe WS150 | Whitlands Engineering

Originally Posted by Boxed In

Agreed. I have a good splitter so no problemSuperaxe WS150 | Whitlands Engineering

Ok. So that one is not going to bounce!



Regards
Paul

Originally Posted by Boxed In

Agreed. I have a good splitter so no problemSuperaxe WS150 | Whitlands Engineering

That's cheating

If you cannot mill it yourself, it all comes down to the transport issue as mentioned by BobL.

How can you transport that log to a mill?

Would anyone move a portable mill to saw one log?

I think logistics says it is firewood.

Agreed Graham, but it will be a while before I can get the tractor into the paddock so the log stays there. It is like when all you have is a hammer, everything looks like a nail. Others have mills so milling is a good option. I have a decent splitter so firewood is the best option for me, unless someone desperately wants a log of that calibre.