Thread: Sawing veneer from green logs?

Any photos ?

hmmm...I will look. I have had a few PC crashes lately, so as I say....I understand the request.

Obviously can show the wood, but I have to search for the tree.....sounds like an aphorism in the making

Originally Posted by REALOldNick

Sort of a sawmill: 21" BS with a 1TPI Bi-Metal blade.

I want to cut some lumber and veneer from a felled tree. Question(s):
- do I cut veneer green and store, or cut lumber then resaw veneer when dry?
- If I do cut veneer green, how best to store it to maximise drying and stop splitting/warping.

I would be cutting stock at minimum 2" thickness then cutting veneers once dry. Will you be drying natural or kiln? If you are drying natural you will have 2 years plus drying time especially if the wood is very dense. In that time you might change your mind and use the timber for another project so that leaves you that option.

You need to take in consideration the way you cut the log up and re-saw the veneers on the Bandsaw to give you the feature you want.

....Mark

Yeah that makes a ,lot of sense. I have only done one log so far, to see what it was like, so I will take what you say. IN fact the larger the chunks the better I guess, for later choices.

I am air drying, but there is no hurry. This wood is just an opportunity to start from scratch and see what happens.

Just OOI, when wood is air dried, I imagine that the outer layers are dry faster then the inner layers, but I guess the water has to pass out through the outer layers to get....we....out. So the gradient may be much more gradual than it might first seem (???) I ask because I was wondering if I could start sort of "browsing " the wood even though the inner layers will still be moist

I have been trying to look for visual clues to see how to cut the wood. My limited knowledge says that quarter sawn is more stable that straight through sawing, but with smaller planks. Any other tricks?

I am actually looking at this wood to be used as endgrain display, as in most cases the rings are more interesting than the grain, which because the tree is so dense is and with no figuring (very little twist and no branches except right at the tips) can be a pleasant colour but a bit bland.

BTW (1) I have bought a 1" 1TPI Woodmaster blade bi-metal. If the BS can handle it, FWIW I recommend it It cuts this super hard wood even at 12" thick evenly and easily. It is just a bit scary to look at. First BS blade I have really felt nervous about. But using it is smooth as butter.

BTW your sig is sick, but ROFLMAO

Originally Posted by REALOldNick

Yeah that makes a ,lot of sense. I have only done one log so far, to see what it was like, so I will take what you say. IN fact the larger the chunks the better I guess, for later choices.

I am air drying, but there is no hurry. This wood is just an opportunity to start from scratch and see what happens.

Just OOI, when wood is air dried, I imagine that the outer layers are dry faster then the inner layers, but I guess the water has to pass out through the outer layers to get....we....out. So the gradient may be much more gradual than it might first seem (???) I ask because I was wondering if I could start sort of "browsing " the wood even though the inner layers will still be moist

I have been trying to look for visual clues to see how to cut the wood. My limited knowledge says that quarter sawn is more stable that straight through sawing, but with smaller planks. Any other tricks?

I am actually looking at this wood to be used as endgrain display, as in most cases the rings are more interesting than the grain, which because the tree is so dense is and with no figuring (very little twist and no branches except right at the tips) can be a pleasant colour but a bit bland.

BTW (1) I have bought a 1" 1TPI Woodmaster blade bi-metal. If the BS can handle it, FWIW I recommend it It cuts this super hard wood even at 12" thick evenly and easily. It is just a bit scary to look at. First BS blade I have really felt nervous about. But using it is smooth as butter.

BTW your sig is sick, but ROFLMAO

First off I would try to identify the timber as that may have a factor in which way you cut the timber. Cut a few green slices quartersawn and backsawn. Look at the feature of the timber to see what you prefer in looks. Experiment by drying some small thin veneers in the microwave (lots of info on the web for methods) and see how they turn out.
I personally prefer the looks of backsawn veneer as most oz timbers that I work with look a bit plain quartersawn but just my opinion.

To a small degree timber dries faster on the outside but in most cases you will find it will only be within a few %. Again there is a lot of info on the web about working out moisture content using a microwave.

...Mark

Originally Posted by REALOldNick

BTW your sig is sick, but ROFLMAO

It's a true Story.

Originally Posted by West OZ Mark

It's a true Story.

Gulp...well true or not (and it's most likely true of many incidents. I had a mate who fell asleep at the wheel and nearly killed two passengers)) it's still a very funny line.

Thanks for all the info. They estimated that there was about 10-12 tonne of wood in this tree. So I have a bit of room to experiment, even keeping the slow combuster going......it's OK! I have piled it to dry fro the next few years. I know my firewood!

I will try to ID the tree. As asked I will see if I have photos and I will sand, polish and post some wood here here to see if anyone knows. I do know that even the best of experts can have trouble ID'ing eucalypts.

Microwave huh? OK. I'll give anything a go once....

Then up in the hills a I have a pile of jarrah and marri logs of varying sizes. I do not know how much, but it's in the tonnes. Unfortunately I was in a bad head space when I felled and cut this stuff, and there is a lot of 18" firewood lengths there. I should have bought /built a bandsaw mill or a chainsaw mill. I had the skills to build one, just not the oomph at that time. Sorry for me and my embarrassments to everyone. I guess my only excuse is that the logs are not all that big, and I thought not good for milling. But of course boutique milling can get usable lumber from a lot worse log than a working mill.

yadayadayada.....

I would give cutting veneers green a go especially if using the 1" TPI woodmasterB blade, I use this same blade as well, if it's hard now it will only get harder as it drys, the downside of cutting it green is movement as it drys and the difficultes in cutting green as opposed to cutting dry, the build up on the blade will cause grief and give a rougher finish to the veneer so needs to be dealt with to stop the build up.

Heres a few pics of some veneers I cut green, some crows ash crotch
Attachment 214829Attachment 214830

I also cut some straight grained stuff that I simply hung up on a line, (like drying clothes) only took a few weeks and dried nice and straight.


Pete

hmmm...OK. So that is how you stickered and stacked. Is that stuff sawn through (backsawn....??). If so I guess that because it's veneer and you can control warpage.

Yep. I have seen that after a couple of cuts the kerf is a lot messier. So .. brush? meths? cross-cut some dead stock to clean? ( that worked form me, but loses wood

Lottsa time. No money., Hey I am an "artist"

Originally Posted by REALOldNick

hmmm...OK. So that is how you stickered and stacked. Is that stuff sawn through (backsawn....??). If so I guess that because it's veneer and you can control warpage.

Yep. I have seen that after a couple of cuts the kerf is a lot messier. So .. brush? meths? cross-cut some dead stock to clean? ( that worked form me, but loses wood

Lottsa time. No money., Hey I am an "artist"

Hi Nick,
The best of the crotch figure occours towards the center of the branches, so it might start out as backsawn moving thru to quartersawn then back to backsawn, depends on just how thick the chunk is really.

I madeup a couple of rubber flaps that rub on the blade (and some brushes) which so far keeps the build up down, I was using a bit of inch by inch stick to rub on the blade (hand held) to get the build up every few cuts, the rubber flaps was more consistent.


Pete

pics please! most veneer that is rotary cut is cut green on what is like a lathe with a cutter that scithes off a thin sheet as the log rotates thus it is I guess truly backsawn but when cutting with a bandsaw it is basically through and through sawn. even though the timber may be hard some times it saws easier drier as it swells less and thus binds less and you get less shrinkage and distortion while drying. hope I have helped. Travis

if cutting green try some bees wax on the blade