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-   -   Building a small cabin with green lumber (fresh cut) (https://www.calguns.net/calgunforum/showthread.php?t=792396)

problemchild 07-13-2013 11:49 AM

Building a small cabin with green lumber (fresh cut)
 
What are the pros/cons of building with fresh cut "green lumber?

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-6vfq0etuFA

geeknow 07-13-2013 12:06 PM

Primarily, keeping it stable. Green lumber wants to warp, twist, and bow. Not good, if you're building. Add to that, the kiln drying process also kills bugs (powder post beetles, to name a nasty one), and I don't know why one would build anything from green lumber...unless it was absolutely necessary.

j411701 07-13-2013 12:19 PM

Built a place out of ruff cut lumber. As geeknow said it needs to be good and dry. For framing around doors and windows finished lumber is best to use.

El Toro 07-13-2013 12:34 PM

I guess it may depend on how green youre talking. Fresh cut live trees are probably the worst for construction. Also, there could be issues of fungus and development of molds indoors. If it's a temporary shelter who cares? If its meant to be a long-term homestead it may be bad.

problemchild 07-13-2013 12:42 PM

So why would anyone buy a sawmill for their trees to cut lumber? Not many people have a kiln for 20' pieces of lumber I would guess.

speedrrracer 07-13-2013 3:07 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by problemchild (Post 11808718)
So why would anyone buy a sawmill for their trees to cut lumber? Not many people have a kiln for 20' pieces of lumber I would guess.

Not my area but I can imagine a sawmill would still be a valid purchase for those who dry lumber using time in the absence of a kiln. Might take years for all I know, but I believe (not sure) the result is effective.

In the link you posted previously...the wranglerstar guy...IIRC he mentioned something along those lines, but I could be mistaken

toyotaguy 07-13-2013 3:10 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by problemchild (Post 11808718)
So why would anyone buy a sawmill for their trees to cut lumber? Not many people have a kiln for 20' pieces of lumber I would guess.

You dont need a kiln. We have milled a lot of our own lumber and after its cut it gets stacked and stickered to allow airflow and then covered on top (avoid direct sunlight), and left to dry for awhile. While we have never been on a real time table to use the wood, my guess is that soft woods dry in several weeks to a few months and hard woods a bit longer. (When we season our pine firewood it days out very quickly, just a few weeks and lots of the moisture is gone.)

toyotaguy 07-13-2013 3:15 PM

A quick Google search and I found this PDF that is a good primer on home sawn lumber drying.

https://www.google.com/url?sa=t&sour...48705608,d.aWM

Paltik 07-13-2013 3:26 PM

I think harvesting the logs one year and building the next is fine.

Californio 07-13-2013 3:53 PM

My buddy built a solar kiln, very cheap, just using corrugated fiberglass panels, it worked well for drying long lengths of wood. You just have to deal with a trailer or mobile for few years.

badreligion 07-13-2013 3:53 PM

Cut and stack trees this spring for milling and use next spring. Cutting a lot of wet wood will quickly dull your blades and gum up your machinery.

Shrinkage, twisting and warping all occur during the drying process. Head over to your local home improvement store and check out the warping on wet cut 4x4's and touch the wood a few layers down. Still wet means you have no idea on what the final product will do as it drys. I bet you have seen walls and ceiling in homes that have a few spots that just don't look flat and straight. That's wet wood construction. And that was covered by a layer of sheet rock and plaster mud to hide it.

You don't need to use kiln dried wood but it helps. Your wood just needs to be dry, that's why I said cut this year for next year, same thing for fire wood. Your desire to build a nice log home should be tempered with the thought that it should last you a life time. Do you want to build a nice home that needs occasional maintence or do you want to be sealing every a new crack or seam everyday for the next year.

llamatrnr 07-13-2013 3:57 PM

Shrinkage is a big one, so be prepared for lots of after-construction caluking . . .

geeknow 07-13-2013 4:17 PM

Hardwoods 'dry' at approximately 1" per year in CA. So a 4"thick board will be more or less 'seasoned' in 4 years. How its stacked during this time is critical.You want equal airflow over all surfaces. ideally, you are looking for 6-8% moisture content when done.

This process is not set in stone. Its more of an art.

I've spent the last 20 years in the wood business. How wood is dried makes it or breaks it.

geeknow 07-13-2013 4:18 PM

A kiln can speed the process to 45-90 days.

mindwip 07-14-2013 9:12 AM

Theres a reason bowlers don't use green wood, warps, bends, twist, looses balance. As mentioned above weeks to months also depends on your humidity levels.

problemchild 07-14-2013 9:21 AM

K thanks for the input.

One last question. I have seen guys "ring" a tree so it dies in place, standing up. A year or two later they cut it down and have a nice dried log to work with. Opinions?

toby 07-14-2013 9:29 AM

rocket science.

problemchild 07-14-2013 9:42 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by toby (Post 11815087)
rocket science.

threadcrapping, I always get at least one

Carsgunsandchics 07-14-2013 12:25 PM

I've seen 2x4's do a full 180 twist like a pretzel during the housing boom when they were using some of the wettest wood I've ever seen. They were slamming them together so quickly it was the only wood they could get, and would have to put sheetrock on as soon as possible to prevent the twisting. The water would literally drip/squirt out when nailed.

If you do this expect to stack and space the wood for even drying like stated above by others.

KevinB 07-14-2013 3:06 PM

Ringing a tree will kill it and leave it standing. The trouble is falling the tree without having it bust up when it hits the ground. You have to also skin the tree, get the bark off of it before you use it for building.

Getting good strait logs to build with is a chore.

klewan 07-14-2013 7:06 PM

Carpenters that framed my house didn't want kiln dried. Dried lumber would split when they drove nails. I just got the typical lumber you see at every lumber yard, it still has moisture and will shrink. My house has plywood sheathing for shear walls, that held the wood in place until it dried.

mindwip 07-16-2013 7:43 PM

ProblemChild,

You can build a hotbox and seriously increase the drying speed. There is nothing wrong with drying wood this way.

BUT
As Klewan mentioned you must be carefull not to dry the wood out too much. Normally 9-13% moisture is great for bows, they will bend with out breaking but will not take a set. I would assume this is about the same as good house lumber.

solarman 07-16-2013 8:20 PM

Frame your house or building with wet lumber, put up your shear panels paper and siding...roof too. Block all your stud bays, ceiling joist and roof rafters every 4 feet. Then toenail strong backs along the block lines of the wall and ceiling joist. This switches up the grain so that the boards have to fight each other to move or twist. Let the building sit unfinished for one summer than remove the strong backs on the walls, leave the ceiling strong backs on the ceiling....they are on the attic side. Plane the walls and ceiling with an electric plane to 1/8 of an inch using an 8' straight edge to check. Shim any ends of boards which have become too short.
Finish the interior....walk away without looking back. Lumber is never perfect.;)

problemchild 07-18-2013 5:46 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by solarman (Post 11835931)
Frame your house or building with wet lumber, put up your shear panels paper and siding...roof too. Block all your stud bays, ceiling joist and roof rafters every 4 feet. Then toenail strong backs along the block lines of the wall and ceiling joist. This switches up the grain so that the boards have to fight each other to move or twist. Let the building sit unfinished for one summer than remove the strong backs on the walls, leave the ceiling strong backs on the ceiling....they are on the attic side. Plane the walls and ceiling with an electric plane to 1/8 of an inch using an 8' straight edge to check. Shim any ends of boards which have become too short.
Finish the interior....walk away without looking back. Lumber is never perfect.;)

I have no idea what you just said but what are you doing next summer? Will you be near Idaho?:D

nickel plate 07-18-2013 6:41 AM

GC's been using green "pond dry" lumber for residential/commercial framing forever and will continue to do so if it meets the plan's specs. It's not so much the moisture content in the wood that causes reactionary twisting, warping and splitting, it's the grain structure of the piece itself. Go to a lumber yard and look at the end grains in any dimensional unit of material. You will see wide variations in the growth ring structure from pieces that were cut from the outer area of the tree right down to the heart center cuts "bulls eyes". The most docile pieces are from the outer areas, the most volatile pieces from the center area. Use the center cuts for blocking, bracing, bridging, etc. When selecting beams, be damn sure to spec F.O.H.C. free of heart center.

solarman 07-18-2013 7:07 AM

Excellent post....even though the OP is milling his own lumber he can still use this method of selection. :)

Neuvik 07-18-2013 6:10 PM

Up here in Eureka you can trade in logs for lumber, turn in your cut sheet/build list, and they will give you a estimate of how many logs (and dimensions) they need. Some are rejected (you don't get it back) though. But it has its advantages, and I found was much cheaper than buying from a retailer.

You can use greenwood in building construction, However some of the techniques it requires might be a little daunting without woodworking experience. But if you can make a table scarf join, and squinted shoulders to hold the beam up, you can build a house without nails and even stronger. Greenwood joints use the shrinking of lumber over time to make the structure rock solid. However it is a lot more work. We actually have a restoration society that teaches the techniques and then restores Victorians...but the liberals at the local college are trying to close the program that teaches people the arts (even though his program has paid for itself and is producing the college a profit.) But you might see if your local historical society or restoration groups can steer you in that direction.

Zwingli 08-30-2016 10:23 AM

Yes I know this is necro posting and won't help the OP at all but hey I ran across it by accident and couldn't keep my mouth shut so sue me :)

If anyone is interested and wants to learn an old timey time old skill, framing with fresh cut wood can actually be better than dried lumber. There are buildings in England framed with fresh cut oak that are still standing with the original timber after a thousand years.

What you need to do is have a relatively straight tree and split it along the grain and not saw it. You can do this with something as simple as hammering a machete along the grain or buying a more substantial tool from a specialty shop.

A board split with the grain will not warp as it dries. If you have a good tree to start with and get nice straight boards you can even frame with them just like that. Or you can smooth them out with an adze or smoothing ax if you're staying in the hand tool realm.

There are 100s if not 1000s of wood joints and styles developed for walls and roof designs. The coolest thing about it is that as the wood dries the joints tighten and become incredibly strong. Some of the buildings built this way are massive, carrying incredible weight, and not a piece of metal to be found anywhere, just wood and joinery.

If you search on YouTube the BBC has done some documentaries that explore this topic, or you can search for experimental archaeology, or old building restoration, for a free look at the topic etc. . . .

end necro post. . .

chris 08-30-2016 7:31 PM

holey necro post.

shooter777 08-31-2016 10:53 AM

This is a cool necro post as I am a woodworker and enjoy other's perspectives and advice. Good job Calgunners

Zwingli 08-31-2016 11:41 AM

Cool, 99% of necro posts are annoying but I thought that I might add some info for someone in the future.

For most of my life I thought that 'wet' wood was useless for proper woodworking until doing course work in archaeology. Until using sawn wood common place working with fresh cut wood was what most people did.

A few video examples:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=R4Oy...0UYpjf&index=9

and really really far back

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=S93-z86ydZo


don't get me wrong, when my wife wants something functional we go to the giant chain store and I use all the modern tools and fasteners possible.

these are outdoor and survival skills but also dare I say beautiful skills

luckylogger6 09-01-2016 2:27 PM

Most framing lumber is sold "green". Just nail it together before they dry or they will twist and bow.

edgerly779 09-01-2016 2:31 PM

Shrinkage and warpage can be a problem if you can rack and dry a bit level would be nice.

55BlackShadow 09-01-2016 3:13 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by badreligion (Post 11809783)
Cut and stack trees this spring for milling and use next spring. Cutting a lot of wet wood will quickly dull your blades and gum up your machinery.

Shrinkage, twisting and warping all occur during the drying process. Head over to your local home improvement store and check out the warping on wet cut 4x4's and touch the wood a few layers down. Still wet means you have no idea on what the final product will do as it drys. I bet you have seen walls and ceiling in homes that have a few spots that just don't look flat and straight. That's wet wood construction. And that was covered by a layer of sheet rock and plaster mud to hide it.

You don't need to use kiln dried wood but it helps. Your wood just needs to be dry, that's why I said cut this year for next year, same thing for fire wood. Your desire to build a nice log home should be tempered with the thought that it should last you a life time. Do you want to build a nice home that needs occasional maintence or do you want to be sealing every a new crack or seam everyday for the next year.

Easier on blades/teeth on sawmill when milling green logs. Seasoned logs are much harder to mill, and dulls teeth/blades much quicker. Redwood is an exception because it is a soft wood.

And let me tell you from experience, milling dry logs is no fun from a sawyers viewpoint. Nothing worse than being all sweaty and having dry sawdust sticking to every part of uncovered skin, and breathing the dry sawdust. I'll take a green log any day. In fact I always charged more for milling trees that had been down for a while.

55BlackShadow 09-01-2016 3:33 PM

Go to any jobsite, and you won't find any "dry" framing lumber most likely. It is being used up so fast, it doesn't have time to dry.

I have a Mobile Dimension Portable Sawmill I bought new in 1978. Have milled lots of different types logs into lumber.

When I milled lumber, I always milled stickers (spacers between lumber to dry better) on the first passes out of the sapwood part of each log, or set my blades to leave a 5/16" rip above my top blade for sticker material. When people wanted to use the lumber asap, I put stickers between every layer of lumber. That way the lumber dried quicker and could be used sooner. Sometimes the owners covered the green lumber with black plastic, and even ran fans from one end to dry quicker. Some owners put steel bands around the stacked lumber to hopefully control warping when drying.

I do not recommend letting the logs lay for a year as suggested. Insects could invade the logs, and your sawyer will prefer milling green logs. I always preferred wet sawdust to dry sawdust. Nothing like wet sawdust on a hot day.

71MUSTY 09-01-2016 3:40 PM

I did some remod in the 90's on a house built in the 70's with green wood during a period of shortage due to major building.

When we pulled the drywall some of the studs were so warped they had twisted a full 180 inside the wall.

LRShooter 09-01-2016 5:30 PM

How much do mills like that in the video cost?

55BlackShadow 09-01-2016 8:51 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by LRShooter (Post 18766041)
How much do mills like that in the video cost?

Google "Portable Sawmills for sale" and you should be able to price them. Lots of different mills, and prices vary.

Wood Mizer and Mobile Dimension are probably the best to look for. I prefer the Mobile Dimension myself as it cuts very accurate lumber if run correctly. It will cut 3 sides of the board every pass. I can cut a 4"x12" in one pass. Or with the split edger blade, I can cut 3 boards, 2x4, 2x6, or 4x6, at a time. Whatever combination will equal 12" total vertical cut. I can also cut a 7"x12" beam in one cut.

The Wood Mizer is a bandsaw mill. First you have to either square the log 4 sides by rotating it each cut. Then you are restricted to cutting just slabs each cut. Much harder to cut lumber in my opinion. Some may argue that point.

Personally I like the Mobile Dimension Mill because it will mill a stick of lumber that is accurate all 4 sides in one cut. That's why my choice is the Mobile not the Wood Mizer.

The Mobile uses circular blades with teeth, and the Mizer uses one bandsaw blade. There is more waste with the Mobile because of the kerf waste.

Go to youtube and check them out. They're pretty impressive inventions.

seanbo 09-06-2016 9:41 PM

Fall your trees in the dead of winter. This will make the wood harder due to the sap being at it's coldest point. Kills the wood at the moment of most rigidity.

seanbo 09-06-2016 9:43 PM

Good to see you around here again PC.


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