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I finally got around to having a friend come over and saw up some of the logs I had been saving for guitar and furniture use. Yesterday and today, we sawed about 3000 board feet of lumber....most of it specifically for guitar building. It will be quite a while before I can use any of this wood because it will be stacked and stickered for drying.

Just thought I would post a few pictures of the progress and some of the wood I got out of the logs..

first, a picture of some wild black cherry with some pretty curly and figured grain. This is all quarter sawn and 16 feet long. The picture you see is of 2 cants that are 9" wide being sawn at once. notice the figure on the one on the top



next is a picture of us sawing a cedar log. this log was 21 feet long and over 19 inches wide on the small end of the log. Most of it was completely clear of any knots or defects. It was also quarter sawn. I am going to try my luck at using some of this for guitar tops and maybe even backs and sides of a guitar. It is so resonant that one end of the log would be "singing" while the blade was cutting through the other end.



some of the boards being cut from the quartered cant. WOW what beautiful wood!



we sawed a lot of logs, and I am pretty sure this picture is one of a spaulted hickory log.



I have loads of pictures of the saw day, but thats all for now. In a year or so, I'll start using some of this wood. Maybe sooner if I can get some kiln time to quick dry the wood after it air drys for a couple of months.

Hope you enjoyed the pics!

_________________
Reguards,

Ken H

Hey Ken

I'm not a tone wood guy, so I certainly can't say whether or not it's good to use this for guitars, but I'm so impressed that you're able to take a log and do this with it. Thanks for showing us.

Yeah I really appreciate this too Ken my friend. BTW I have caught all episodes of he new Discovery Channel series Ax Men now and it is a GREAT show!!!!!

It is funny that you mention the Ax-men show. I know those guys from another sawmill forum that I belong to and they have been giving us the REAL stories about the episodes that were shown on TV each week. As usual, the television editors seem to create hype and drama alot of the time, but there is no doubt that these guys live in a dangerous world.

I havent seen Eastern red Cedar used for instruments, but I do know that it is highly resonant and is used for turkey calls. I think it is unusual because logs that are clear of defects and quarter sawn are rare. Also, logs as big as this one was was also rare. I'm anxious to try it out!

The cherry was just out of this world. I couldnt believe it when I saw the curl (or figuring) start to show up and was really excited when I realized that this was all good vertical grained wood too. It should make some excellent guitar back and sides when it gets dry.

I have been told that hickory makes an excellent guitar too. When we cut into this one, I wasnt expecting to find it to be spaulted, but it looks like I caught it at just the right time and the black lines of spault are excellent. In time this should also make some excellent guitar sets.

I have a truck load of oak that was sawn, but nothing that knocked me out for guitar use. Some of the red oak was spaulted also and is really pretty stuff.

_________________
Reguards,

Ken H

So THAT'S what you were up to today. Man I wish I could've come out and watched or helped. I have an absolutely malicious brand of sinus infection right now so I would have been useless anyway. I was wondering how that cherry log was going to turn out.

GOODONYA!!!!

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There is no difference between the man that thinks he can....and the man that thinks he cannot.

Looks like you were working hard Ken, and found some real treasures That cherry looks nifty. You should slice up a few sets of the Cedar and give it the flex and tap test. Good wood is good wood, and you know what your looking for.

I get a kick out of that Ax Guys show. It is cool when you watch a show that was filmed in your state. You are always watching for landmarks and things you recognise . Sometimes they talk about storms and crazy weather, and I think where was I when that was happening .

Rich

Thou shalt not covet...Thou shalt not covet...Thou shalt not covet.

Beautiful stuff Ken!

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Billy Dean Thomas
Covina, CA

"Multi famam, conscientiam, pauci verentur."
(Many fear their reputation, few their conscience)

Thanks for posting photos of this. I really enjoy seeing the process of turning logs into tonewood. I came across a nice chunk of cedar that I would love to bring home and use somehow before someone makes a campfire out of it. Of course that means I really need that rikon 14" deluxe bandsaw...and a chainsaw.
Warren

Ken great pic's. I really enjoying seeing the process. I would cut some of that into sets after sealing the ends.
Sticker and dry slowly. They will be much better than kiln dried IMHO.

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Beautiful and unusual tone woods at a reasonable price.
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1109 Military Rd.
Kenmore, NY 14217
(716) 874-1498

Ken,

A friend of mine had roughly 1000 bd. ft. of cherry stored in a barn for 5 or 6 years. I built him a cherry staircase inside his new home, it really made a beautiful set of steps. I have been using some of it for binding on four guitars and it really looks nice when quartered, one piece had a lot of figure that I used for peghead overlays and it will knock your eyes out. I've never built a guitar out of cherry but I have used white oak, maple, and black walnut, nothing wrong with appalachian hardwoods for guitars, IMO anyway! I'll bet that cherry will make a really nice sounding guitar. When it cures, I would be interested in buying a billet or two, if possible. I always wondered about red cedar for a top, I have a 8 ft. long 4 inch thick board of it that I was going to use as a fireplace mantle, it is very resonant too, it's alive even when you handle it, kinda like a good piece of spruce. Good job on the wood cutting!!!

Mark L.

Its always exciting when the sawmill arrives and you turn a bunch of logs into lumber. Fun moving the big logs around, too! I had a mill come in and cut a bunch of Elm logs that I had her, but I'd of gladly traded all that Elm for that one Cherry log! That's some nice wood.

I use a lot of Cherry for my paddle making, what I can get rarely looks as nice as that one. I use Cherry for one guitar so far. I really liked it. The sound was very nice, it worked very well, and the colour aged oh so nicely. It will seem a little pale when first finished, but gets a nice rich colour before you know it.

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Expectation is the source of all misery; comparison the thief of joy.
http://redrivercanoe.ca/

awesome pics! I wish I could do that!

Dave

Eastern Red Cedar....is this the aromatic stuff? If so, I'd be interested in buying a b/s set from you when it's ready. It's one of my favorites if that's the case. Imagine a guitar smelling like that......dang!

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"I want to know what kind of pickups Vince Gill uses in his Tele, because if I had those, as good of a player as I am, I'm sure I could make it sound like that.
Only badly."

This is the aromatic stuff... I still smell like cedar and so does my whole farm. Not a bad smell at all. The log had been sitting for quite some time and the guy doing the sawing even made note of how dry it was already. It shouldnt take long to have this down to an acceptable level.
I'll be sure to announce it when the wood is ready. I'll have more of this than I could ever use as well as other woods that I have an abundance of. Some of the wood, like the spaulted hickory, you would be hard pressed to find elsewhere.

By the way, in case some of you dont know, I have been a sawmill owner for a LONG time. I have sawn close to a million board feet of lumber with my mills. I know wood and it's properties. Since my back gave out on me (from hand turning logs and handling wet boards), I havent been able to use the mill. I had a friend come over to saw up the remainder of my logs and hired a teen ager to stack the boards and pull them off of the mill so that I wouldnt have to put any strain on my back and end up in the hospital again. I was there for every cut and was able to maximize the wood suitable for lutherie as it was being cut off of the log. Some of this is going to knock your socks off when it is dry and ready for use. I even sawed up one HUGE live oak log. That is some really unique looking wood and as hard a chineese arithmatic. There is loads more wood that was sawn, but there just isnt enough space or time to post pictures of it all..

_________________
Reguards,

Ken H

Ken:

How difficult is it to qtr. saw with a band saw mill? Over the years I have had walnut, cherry, awesome spalted persimmon, and other local woods. I have offered to pay extra but haven't gotten anyone to do it. I suspect they don't know how or they don't know how to charge for it. How about a quickie tutorial?

Thanks

Danny R. Little (dannyrlittle@hotmail.com)

it is a pain in the butt to quarter saw on a bandmill. If he was still here sawing I would take pictures to show the steps. You waste a lot of wood when you quarter saw a log less than 3 feet in diameter.

There is another approach to doing it that produces wood that is mostly quartered but has some rift sawn wood too. On a couple of the smaller logs, this is the apporach we took.

_________________
Reguards,

Ken H