Sawyer

djg

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I've been cutting firewood lately at a tree guy's log yard and I ran across some nice 18-20" x 8' Cherry logs.
Well that game me the milling itch again. So I'm looking for a Sawyer that I can take the logs to in Illinois near St. Louis. I thought CL had one near Highland, IL and I thought there was someone in Edwardsville, IL.

Anyone know of someone in my area?

Thanks
 

djg

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Well that was a bust! The guy in Highland IL only comes to the customer's site to saw. I was trying to avoid the travel fee. I only have tow to four 16"-18" dia x 6' logs to have sawn. Not a lot of yield to offset all the fees.

So I'm asking again, does anyone know of a small mill sawyer in my area?

Thanks
 

Nature Man

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You might consider chain sawing the log lengthwise, then using your bandsaw to make planks out of the two halves. I've done this a few times. Certainly not as accurate as a pro, and ended up with more waste, but at least I have planks now! Chuck
 

djg

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Yes, Chuck, that's my last resort in lieu of cutting them up for firewood. My guess is there is some very good lumber, just not a lot, in the two logs I have on my trailer right now.
 

djg

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I did finally get together with the sawyer and he agreed to saw at his place since the volume was so low. Really nice guy. I ended up with over 100BF of Cherry.
Most (75%) was clear 10-12" boards. I just wish the logs had been longer.

IMG_9047.JPG
 

djg

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I need some advice. The two 8/4 boards were cut out of the center and have the center heart crack (proper term?) in them (see photo). I want to eventually cut 2"x2" table legs from at least the outside edge of the boards. I was going to dry first as a slab and once dry, cut the leg blanks. I thought this way, they may stay flatter than if cut the leg blanks first and then dried. But now I'm thinking the heart crack may migrate to the outside upon drying making the lumber useless.

The question is, would you cut the 2"x2" (leave full length of board) first before stickering or just leave the board whole and dry as is? Or maybe it doesn't matter?
 

woodtickgreg

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I'd leave it whole and then cut around the defects after it dries. It will pull apart as it dries because of the pith. It's always a gamble with the pith as far as what it will do.
 
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