WWA Info Exchange

The lumber is all unloaded. 4000 lbs. in two days by hand with Mrs. Zulu's help.
All of it is under roof.
All of it is in the way.
Some is in the outdoor kitchen, some in the shed, some under the bass boat and some stacked in the walkway of the carport rendering it impassable.
It will affect the way we live for years.

We spent $280 and drove 250 miles total.
I’ll be 70 years old when some of this stuff dries.

If it sounds like I’m complaining, I am.
This was too much!
It has taken a physical toll on both of us.

We are whipped pups!

I’m happy with the cuts that Lucas Cedar did.
The ends are painted.
There are stickers between each board.

Everything is already starting to split.

Love Zulu

_________________
Zulu's website
http://www.jmelledge.com

IIRC, isn't the rule of thumb 1" per year meaning a 2" thick board dries in 2 years.

_________________
Ken #2
--
“Hard work never killed anybody, but why take a chance?” ― Edgar Bergen

I think you are right.
So a 5" board takes 5 years?
I will be turning 70 in 5 years.

I build my big concrete cannon carriages out of 4" thick fir. That stuff is straight from the saw mill and certainly is wet and dripping sap.
I use it anyway. It does develop some very small fractures but never any big splits or warping.

I wonder if the 4" oak would react the same way as the 4" fir.
I might have to try one.

This is a fir carriage. It weighs about 150 lbs.
Zulu

_________________
Zulu's website
http://www.jmelledge.com

Might be a way to get some use out of this lumber, but it might increase the shipping cost as the oak is likely heavier than the fir. Your clients are willing to pay for your cannons and pay to have them shipped, so a little extra shipping shouldn't be too hard for them to swallow. They can't exactly buy cannons like yours at Walmart.

_________________
John

Here is the latest in the horrible rail road tie saga.

Today I took a section of 5" X 9" timber and cut it up.
It certainly is not oak.
The sawdust is white and really wet.

I wondered why most of the timbers we received back from the saw mill were turning black.
I'm not sure but I think most of the wood I have is Poplar.
There are maybe three out of twenty timbers that did not turn black.
They could be oak but I'm not sure. Maybe Hickory?

I believe I have gone through all this expense and labor to have a bunch of wood I won't use.
Poplar? Really? I consider it a trash wood but would be willing to hear other opinions.

At this point, it might be hard to even give away.
I'm freaking out!!!!

I'm afraid to tell my customer that gave it to me. I'm afraid he would fire someone and send me 20 more timbers. There is no way I'm going through this again. I would refuse the delivery.

Zulu

_________________
Zulu's website
http://www.jmelledge.com

for furniture makers, poplar is a great secondary wood. I have a bunch for exactly that purpose. Too bad I don't live closer. I'd buy it from you.

_________________
Ken #2
--
“Hard work never killed anybody, but why take a chance?” ― Edgar Bergen

I've got plenty of rough sawn oak that has weathered in the woodpile to the shade of your wood, and that's in my very dry climate (but exposed to occasional rain). So the blackening doesn't rule out oak. On the other hand, the figure on the board you doesn't look like oak to me (nor does it look like poplar, either). You didn't say where the wood came from. If it's from the PacNW, it could be myrtlewood from the appearance of the one figured boad (TMS would have something to say about this).

That's what people throw out all the time, but it's a really rough rule of thumb. The moisture content of the sawn log, the specie of wood, and the relative humidity where you're drying the tree all play very large roles. The starting moisture content will depend on what time of year the tree was cut and whether there's been a drought or surplus of rain. Lighter weight woods like pines will dry faster than than oak or walnut. And of course, whatever you have will try faster in New Mexico than in Mississippi. Add all these factors together and the difference can be 2 or 3X.

Hey Zulu,

Sorry to hear of your troubles. In my experience the best way to deal with green wood is to put it as far out of your mind as possible. If you should stumble upon it years later and decide to make something from it, it might be usable then. Short of kiln drying, there's nothing you can really do to shorten the process, and fretting about it will only make you miserable.

As far as what wood you have, hickory, pecan, and oak are all ring porous woods and poplar is a diffuse porous wood. That first distinction will go a long way towards determining what you have. There are several other key indicators that will help after that. Did you get any bark?

As far as using green wood, Christopher Schwarz has some interesting observations regarding large, wet slabs for workbench tops, tops that may take as many as 12 years to dry. His point is, that the approach to equilibrium is by diminishing returns, and if you occasionally redress the the top of the bench, it is doesn't really matter if it's not there yet.

Good luck,
Tom

_________________
"There is no path to peace, peace is the path."
Mohandas K. Ghandi

The timbers were shipped to me from a rail road tie manufacturer in Ohio. I don't know where the wood came from.

Here are some pictures of the wood after I ran it through my planer..

The top board is what I am thinking is poplar. The sawdust is really white and odorless.
Note the grayish stains on the right side. It looks like mildew and is inside the board.

The bottom board is much harder wood. It really stinks! A really bad smell.
I don't think it is oak.








This is a fresh cut on a 5" X 9" timber.
There were the same mildew looking stains on the inside of the board. This was about 5" in from the end of the board.



The smelly wood did not turn black.
Only the stuff I'm calling poplar turned black.

It appears I received 16 ties that turned black and 4 that did not.

Any Ideas?
Zulu

_________________
Zulu's website
http://www.jmelledge.com

Hey Zulu,

I'm thinking the top one might be poplar, as you said. To me, the bottom one looks like it might be beech. The fact that it's hard also supports that idea. Beech is a preferred species for plane bodies.

Cheers,
Tom

_________________
"There is no path to peace, peace is the path."
Mohandas K. Ghandi

American Beech is allegedly odor free

http://www.wood-database.com/american-beech/

_________________
Ken #2
--
“Hard work never killed anybody, but why take a chance?” ― Edgar Bergen

This stuff really stinks! Enough to make you make a face,

Smells like dog poo.
Zulu

_________________
Zulu's website
http://www.jmelledge.com

Hmmm ... maybe you could make pre-scented dog houses?

_________________
Ken #2
--
“Hard work never killed anybody, but why take a chance?” ― Edgar Bergen

The grain pattern sycamore

_________________
"It is not a mistake it is a learning experience"
Monte

Hey Monte,

I thought of sycamore too, but it's not suppose to stink either. The quarter sawn grain pattern of sycamore and beech are very similar so from that alone, it could be either. It's the smell that stymies me.

Cheers,
Tom

_________________
"There is no path to peace, peace is the path."
Mohandas K. Ghandi

Here is the latest in the free wood saga.
There are two types of wood.
The stuff I have been calling poplar and the smelly hardwood.
It appears that out of 20 railroad ties, 12 were the poplar stuff and 8 were the smelly hardwood.

Here is a picture of a poplar board 7 days fresh from the sawmill.
It's not a great picture but you can see the mildew that is growing on the board.




All of the poplar boards have mildew.
None of the smelly hardwood has any.

I sold all the poplar to a guy down the street for $200.
He knows what he bought and we just loaded half of it in his truck
He will get about 2400 lbs. of the stuff.

I kept all the smelly hardwood.
There are enough 4" timbers (six) to build two of my concrete barrel carriages.
There will also be six 2" X 9" boards for me and about fifteen 1 1/8" boards.
I will also have one 5" X 9" piece for a mantle.

I can handle that amount of wood.
He is happy and I am happy. There is no better deal than that.
Of coarse I had to handle the wood yet another time.

When I get around to building the big carriages I will post pictures. I will not wait for the wood to dry.
If it splits, I don't care.
I will put them on my front porch and guard the neighbors from another Yankee invasion.

Zulu

_________________
Zulu's website
http://www.jmelledge.com