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Some years ago, my brother purchased over 30 acres of virgin forest property in Western Pennsylvania. Recently he came across some cherry, walnut, maple and oak logs for next to nothing and had them cut into 2.5" boards and is storing them stickered in a large, protected out building.

He is now considering harvesting the timber on his property and adding to his stash. I was wondering what the experienced wood harvesters might be able to advise him as to what he should do with this wood. He is prepared to let the wood dry for 2 years so he has time to make up his mind on future plans.

I'll be interested in your opinions and advice.

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JJ
Napa, CA
http://www.DonohueGuitars.com

if he is willing to let the wood dry for 2 years then he is limited to 2" boards as it takes wood a year per inch of wood to dry (in the u.k. it does anyway) so thats 4 years for a 4 inch board two years for a 2" board.
either that or kiln dry.

it also depends on how big his logs are if they are not to big then he should cut them into lumber on his own land and then air dry.

Joel.

The range in diameters of the various species that we scoped out are as follows:

...Walnut = 18-32"
...Cherry = 18-24"
...Maple = 24-30"
...Oak = 24-34"
...Ash = 24-30"
...Poplar = 24-30"
...Sycamore = 24-30"

He plans to fell some of these trees in the near future and cut into 2.5" boards of 6-8ft lengths, but some could be considerably longer. Right now he plans to air dry the wood on his own property in a large covered out building. The end grain of course will be coated.

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JJ
Napa, CA
http://www.DonohueGuitars.com

Sounds like Crazy Ritz time to me bro......

I'd say he made a great investment...

Have him leave some of the cherry thicker so you have a supply of neck blanks...

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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."

Hopefully he gets an experienced sawyer who understands how to get as much quartered stock as possible. I would also get a mix of 1 and 2 inch stock, maybe some 3 inch in the walnut and cherry for necks.

Other than that all I have to say is WOOHOO ....

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Tony Karol
www.karol-guitars.com
"let my passion .. fulfill yours"

Here are some pics of what we're looking at.

This is a wide shot of part of the property



Here's a typical Walnut tree...about 32" diameter



Here's what is cut so far. On top is Maple. Below is Cherry and Oak.

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JJ
Napa, CA
http://www.DonohueGuitars.com

Lookin good! Be sure you get pieces wide enough to bookmatch backs from. I usually have my wood milled to between 1 1/2" and 2" to air dry it, and I leave it for 4-5 years before I even consider using it.

If you don't have experience felling trees, be careful! Trees can surprise you with where they fall if you don't pay attention. Also, watch for dead limbs up above, the loggers call 'em widow-makers for a reason.

You can try to select trees for potential figure before you cut them down, but its tough. A good trick is to examine the bark. Sometimes, wavy bark translates into wavy figure, but not always.

Another thing to consider when selecting trees is the future health of your woodlot. When cutting trees on my families 100 acre lot, I like to select trees that are crowding other trees, dying at the tops, or that I'd like to clear out to make way for younger trees. It's good to keep in mind what your forest's gonna look like 50 years down the road.

Good point Brady. We plan to take no more than 10 trees within the next year. The thinning approach is definitely the way we will perform the harvesting. The sawyer currently used for slicing the wood in the pics above uses a 52" circular saw blade. One question I had was whether this is the best method for cutting up the larger logs such as the Walnut shown. I was thinking that a horizontal bandsaw would be the way to go and will be looking for a sawyer who uses such equipment. Any opinions?

Obviously, guitar building is only a small, but very important use for this wood and it makes sense to achieve maximum yield to satisfy furniture builders as well. I'm interested in any opinions on options in this area as well.

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JJ
Napa, CA
http://www.DonohueGuitars.com

JJ, I could probably hook you up with a good sawyer in your area. Before my back gave out on me, I owned 3 portable sawmills (3 different kinds) and sawed close to a million board feet of lumber. Right now there are about 80 logs in my back lot that I just cant get to and I have now sold my last mill. I have no clue what I am going to do with them as there is no longer anybody in my area that saws logs. If ou can find someone to saw the logs for you, you can figure the costs to be somewhere between $.25 to $.50 per boardfoot as their price for sawing. You can also figure that on average about 20% of what you get will become waste at some point due to warping, twisting, splitting, knots, etc.

The figure of one inch per year is a good one in most cases, assuming that the wood is stored in a dry, protected area. There are a LOT of issues that you have to deal with when drying wood, mostly warping and twisting and each species will have it's own problems with this. Loads of weight on top of a properly stacked and stickered lumber will help with this.

Not all bandmills are going to be able to saw logs over about 28" in diameter. Your best bet for those kind of logs are going to be a commercial mill or someone with a large circle mill (like the one that has already sawn for you).

PM me if you are interested and I'll show you where to find a sawyer in your area.

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Reguards,

Ken H

Good info and thanks for posting Ken. Right now, my bro has a sawyer 5 minutes from the property and he has done a good job on the initial wood score. It might be a possibility that Brian (my bro) purchases his own portable saw mill and does the ripping on site. If this happens, I'll be sure to get your opinion on which ones should be considered.

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JJ
Napa, CA
http://www.DonohueGuitars.com

Oh, now you've done it JJ. Wait till Billy T gets a picture of you hugging that tree!

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"After forty-nine years of violin building, I have decided that the search for a varnish is similar to the fox hunt. The fun is in the hunt."
Jack Batts Maker and Repairer of Fine Violins