# How to season green logs?



## KE6WNH (Nov 16, 2008)

Today (my first day on this board), I found a 2' log of Chinese elm (Ulmus parvifolia), about 5" wide, hidden in a corner of my garage. It must have been sitting there for at least 2 years, it had only a couple of cracks in it near the pith, so I figured I'd saw it right up, just to find out how it works.

Man, Chinese elm is one tough wood! It made the table saw smoke like crazy, and this was with a carbide tipped blade! Finally, though, I managed to get 4 pieces out of one half of the log. FYI about the closest wood I can think of is hickory, but a little closer grained, harder, and denser, with some interlocking in the grain and a tendency to warp. It would make mighty fine tool handles, if I knew how to make it dimensionally stable.

I don't know how American and other elms work up in comparison to Chinese; but we have hundreds of Chinese elms which the city planted along a lot of the streets in Culver City. I'd be grateful for any info on seasoning these logs, the next time the city trims the trees.


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## dirtclod (May 7, 2008)

I searched all the databases I could find for the charistics of Chinese elm wood and found nothing. Seems it was overlooked. 

If it is like the other elms it will have interlocking grain. The elms I've dealt with were so interlocked that they came out looking a bit like rags after being torn open by a hydraulic splitter. This means that it will be hard to dry - it will want to twist, bow, cup, etc.

By your description, it sounds like it's a close to rock elm in charactistics. Maybe it ought to be treated and used accordingly.

It's usually a good idea to go ahead and saw logs into lumber and let it dry in board form. There can be many problems with trying to dry in log form: heart split, large end checks, insect infestations, fungal degrade, to mention a few. It's nearly impossible to get the center of a large log dry. It can take many years, and in the meantime, there's moisture gradients between the outer dryer sap wood and the wetter pith. It's also makes the wood harder and harder to saw. The wood gets harder and due to moisture gradients may end up hard at the edges and softer in the middle. This can cause the blade to wander due to that "path of least resistance" thing. Your blade may not have been appropriate for the task. Or maybe it wasn't as sharp as you thought. Have you tried to saw pieces this large before? What size saw do you have? The dryness of the log would have made it harder to saw.

Unless others can help you then you're on your own. I would suggest cutting green and oversized, proper stickering stacking during the drying, and add all the weight on top that you can muster. But whatever works for you is the right way to do it. You'll need to keep us up on any other attemps at this. Pictures are allways welcome.


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## KE6WNH (Nov 16, 2008)

Well, my 1st attempt was with a 93" band saw... you're right, the blade did wander, giving a warped cut which caused so much trouble for the table saw. I suppose if I get any more green logs in the future, it would be a good idea to quarter-saw them with a chain saw first, if only to make it easier on the other equipment.

I have a 300-lb log in my back yard from a pepper tree (Schinus molle) from back in April when I trimmed it... I should try slicing up this log with the chain saw, though pepper tree wood is said to be somewhat brittle.


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## dirtclod (May 7, 2008)

Another invasive species. Makes me think there's a huge untapped market for invasive species removal and sales. They ought to put a bounty on them and turn their hunters into local heros with names like Chainsaw Bob, The Omaha Ax, Lay 'em Low Slim, etc. 

It's a relative of the Brazillian Pepper - another very invasive species. As bad as it is there were a number of landscape sites advocating its planting and extolling its virtues. All the while they didn't mention the invasive part or that some states and countries are having severe problems with it. Ignorance, greed, vanity, what? Is there something uncool about native species? Rant, rant, rant...

Don't just quarter it - go ahead and make it into boards. I've seen log quarters bow toward the bark something fierce if left to dry. 

I did find very little info on the use of the wood: http://bodd.cf.ac.uk/BotDermFolder/ANAC-4.html You might want to wear a mask when cutting and sanding this stuff. I didn't find any pictures of the wood or other uses. But I did find a picture of Pepperwood: http://www.hobbithouseinc.com/personal/woodpics/pepperwood.htm


Pictures are welcome.


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## KE6WNH (Nov 16, 2008)

dirtclod said:


> Another invasive species. Makes me think there's a huge untapped market for invasive species removal and sales. They ought to put a bounty on them and turn their hunters into local heros with names like Chainsaw Bob, The Omaha Ax, Lay 'em Low Slim, etc.


Well... red alder is a weed tree, but one local hardwood lumber supply stocks it regularly. However, I think the reason why tree removal crews don't typically sell their culled logs is because the workers are somewhat robotic and their bosses are only concerned with clearing the trees.



dirtclod said:


> It's a relative of the Brazillian Pepper - another very invasive species. You might want to wear a mask when cutting and sanding this stuff.


Understandable... we have both in this neighborhood, Schinus molle and S. terebinthefolius (= Brazilian pepper). You know those trendy pink peppercorns which were all the rage with the BMW 3-series crowd a few years ago? Well, they come from Brazilian pepper trees no different than the ones growing in the local park... but it's not such a hot idea to eat too many, because they're loaded with turpentines which can do unlovely things to the small intestine in large doses. When I walk my dog past the Brazilian pepper trees in the park, I can smell the turpentine exuding from the peppercorn clusters. I agree with you about proper protection... might be a good idea for me to wear gloves too when handling the freshly cut wood.

Back to weed trees... down the back of my yard are a couple of Portugal laurels, Prunus lusitanica. These produce excellent reddish wood resembling cherry but a little harder, but I absolutely hate these trees because they're termite magnets, and the fruits aren't edible.


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## Handyman (Jan 2, 2008)

I dont know much about how to season logs, but I can tell you what you season Gumbo with.


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## Kirk Allen (Nov 7, 2006)

Cut the Chineese Elm oversize as soon as you can after felling. Stack with stickers to air dry with either LOTS of weight on top or ratchet straps to keep tension on the stack while drying. They key to getting dry stable lumber from this stuff is holding it down as much as possible, such as mentioned.

I have cut a bunch of it and its no problem green. I cut oversize because no matter how much weight you put on it, it will still move on you and you will have a fair amount of waist from cleaning up the baords you want to work with. Its nothing like American Elm. I have tons of that on hand and it has all dried perfectly with no weight but a contributing factor might be that most of them were dead standing for years, which tends to allow some stress to disapate.


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