# saving face from my mistakes (rough lumber)



## Brian Baley (Feb 22, 2009)

Hi all,
I am new to arena of handling and treating green/newly sawn timber, lumber and so forth (so I messed up)

But all boards and timbers are not stable and probably need some fixing...
And, I am jut starting to move more towards learning the tools and techniques of hand tools for this purpose.

My question is this;
How to best take timbers and boards that have become cupped and/or twisted during drying to "flat" (or even square-ish)

As an example, last year I had a cherry tree cut down in my front yard. The first 15 feet of the trunk were almost straight and about 16" in dia.

I had never seen one grown (and trimmed / pruned I assume) like that so I had to save it.

I found a guy with an Alaskan mill, and we cut it into timbers - the biggest being roughly 4"x10"

I am sure I brought them inside too quickly (dried to fast?) - anyway they all twisted quite bad (cupping very minimal)

What do you do with these? assuming hand tools...

My first thought is to start with draw knife, then to scrub plane, and just work and work until I get close to flat...

too much work?
other methods ?

It's occured to me the shorter piece I try to flat, the less work etc (I don't need 8' boards, 4' would be fine)

thanks for any suggestions to the newb in this area ?


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## jlhaslip (Jan 16, 2010)

For future reference, the ends of the log should have been sealed and the bark removed so that the drying happens in a more controlled rate instead of suddenly. There are some things which should be done slowly. Drying wood is one of them. Bark removal is suggested because that is where critters live. No bark, and the critters leave. No damage to the log.

As for straightening the pieces, ripping them into narrower boards helps to remove some of the cupping differences, then jointing the faces followed by a planing of the back side to get them to flat and parallel, but first, make sure they are at the correct level of dry out so the deformation stops.
Dryness will be determined by their eventual usage. Furniture dry is around 5%, framing timbers are around 12%. You will need a moisture meter to determine their dryness.


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## woodnthings (Jan 24, 2009)

*Your wood is not dry yet*

At the 1" per year rule, you've got 3 years to go:

>As an example, last year I had a cherry tree cut down in my front yard. The first 15 feet of the trunk were almost straight and about 16" in dia.
I had never seen one grown (and trimmed / pruned I assume) like that so I had to save it. 
I found a guy with an Alaskan mill, and we cut it into timbers - the biggest being roughly *4"x10" *<

So if you intend to use thinner planks, like 1", seal the ends as suggested and rip/resaw the boards now and weight them down flat. Then after a year they will be as dry as the surrounding air if kept inside.  bill
BTW depending on where in the tree the boards are taken from they will cup more. If the end grain is vertical, quatersawn, they will not cup much at all. If taken from the very outside they will cup more.


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## Brian Baley (Feb 22, 2009)

*suggestions*

thank you for the suggestions (instruction) !

Oddly enough, the outside pieces (with the bark) cupped and twisted the LEAST.

It was definitely NOT quartersawn... it was basically slabbed thick lengthwise in two dimensions (if that makes sense)

Does it sound right/best that I cut in half to 4' sections rather than try to deal with/correct all 8' ? (1/2 the twist in my mind ?)


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## jeffreythree (Jan 9, 2008)

I would not start making them straight and flat until you are ready to use them. The smaller the end piece, the easier it will be to make straight and flat. If you are going to use hand tools, you are definitely going to need a jointer plane such as a #6,7, or even 8. I have not been able to sharpen my #8 good enough, but that 7 will definitely give you a workout.


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## slabmaster (Mar 30, 2008)

bbaley said:


> thank you for the suggestions (instruction) !
> 
> Oddly enough, the outside pieces (with the bark) cupped and twisted the LEAST.
> 
> ...


 I have also found that the heartwood acts up the most when drying cherry. It seems to crack the most as well.It must hold more moister than the outside wood before drying. My biggest problem drying cherry is cracking in the middle of the board.


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## Julian the woodnut (Nov 5, 2008)

I recently went to a guys house who milled a few cherry trees then proceeded to stack and sticker it inside his house with fans blowing on it. It dried way to fast and almost every board out of the 1000 bf stack was twisted and checked! You need to let it air dry outside for a few months before bringing it in to dry. You also must stack and sticker the pile with weight on top to keep the stack from moving.


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## slabmaster (Mar 30, 2008)

I air dry all my milled lumber outside, but cherry always gives me the most problem with checking.


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## Brian Baley (Feb 22, 2009)

*my mistakes*

Air Dry outdoors;

Unfortunately I do not have a covered area outside (for next time) that is big enough, I have one for small pieces (I collect random smaller wood to save from becoming firewood or the landfill).

For larger pieces and timber like this - would you recommend just a very loose tarp over it ? 

open on the ends ? 

Something on top of the pile to keep tarp from touching ?

I am in Northwest Oregon - it rains half the year (slightly exaggerated)


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## Brian Baley (Feb 22, 2009)

*checking and splitting*

checking and splitting on the ends seems to be minimal...
I looked at them and apparently by accident we ended up with very large branch knots at the ends of most of them..

Maybe that helped ?
That would be interesting.


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