first lumber off the mill

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Oliver Springs, TN
I didn't get any pics of the process, but here's a few pics of the results. I've had a small walnut, and several short cedar logs for about 1.5 years now. I threw them on the mill to practice and here was the results. I still have a lot to learn about milling.

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I cut a maple log this past weekend that a storm knocked down in a neighbor's yard. He gave it to me to get rid of it. It was that great white color that you would expect from maple.
I have a question about the maple for all you wood gurus. I cut the wood last weekend and finished up right at dark, so I didn't get it on stickers. I flat stacked it into the truck bed and parked it in the shade. The next day it rained and I couldn't get it stacked that day. Yesterday I didn't get home until after dark so I couldn't get it stacked. Today when I finally got the chance to get it on stickers it had turned a red color. What the heck's up with that?

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No, no, no! That's all wrong! :doh:

Send your mistakes to me quick. I'll hide them for you ;).

Looks like things are going very well john. Congrats.
 
I think the wood fairys came to you in the middle of the night and turned maple into mahogany?
dont buy that one.........maybe because the woods been sitting around in the rain, rust?
 
never seen it get that red john,, i was told to cut maple preferably in the late fall or winter to have the sap down.. also to keep the white color it needs to be kiln dried pretty quick.. in hard maple the cream color is ok but in soft maple they like the white color.. its the sugar content i believe causing your color change,, just for grins take a shaving off one board and see if its whiter underneath,, like cherry does it get dark out side but is pink under it till the sun hits it..i havnt cut much maple but my sawyer is the one that old me the maple story.. and i so i went with his directions..
 
I am not a sawyer, but I have heard that storm downed trees are sometimes damaged structurally. Specifically tornadoes twist trees, breaking the fibers throughout, so the boards cut from that wood are internally stressed and weakened.

The advice I have heard is that storm downed trees should be used for firewood. As cheap as I am, I would probably start with small projects and see how the wood performed before it was used for critical components.

Please don't shoot the messenger!
 
I have had some of my red oak go from very light, to very dark after getting wet.

Dry load (red oak with some short walnut boards in the middle)
lumberweb.jpg

After a rain (different load of red oak with maple)
RedOakloadweb.jpg

The short boards are maple. They seem a little pink-ish, but it may be the reflection off the oak.

Perhaps yours will dry lighter.

I am sure you are having fun in any case. :wave:
 
never seen it get that red john,, i was told to cut maple preferably in the late fall or winter to have the sap down.. also to keep the white color it needs to be kiln dried pretty quick.. in hard maple the cream color is ok but in soft maple they like the white color.. its the sugar content i believe causing your color change,, just for grins take a shaving off one board and see if its whiter underneath,, like cherry does it get dark out side but is pink under it till the sun hits it..i havnt cut much maple but my sawyer is the one that old me the maple story.. and i so i went with his directions..

Thanks Larry for the reply. I know that you've had a bunch of lumber cut and was hoping you'd chime in with advice. I'll have to remember the advice about cutting maple. I guess for my neck of the woods it'd be a little later than for you.

Hey, it's that famous and hard to find red maple!!;):D:thumb:

Maybe it's that rare Tennessee red wind blown maple. To heck with the powerball!

I am not a sawyer, but I have heard that storm downed trees are sometimes damaged structurally. Specifically tornadoes twist trees, breaking the fibers throughout, so the boards cut from that wood are internally stressed and weakened.

The advice I have heard is that storm downed trees should be used for firewood. As cheap as I am, I would probably start with small projects and see how the wood performed before it was used for critical components.

Please don't shoot the messenger!

Charles, I've also heard that before. Since it was free I figured what the heck I'll see how it goes.


I have had some of my red oak go from very light, to very dark after getting wet.

Dry load (red oak with some short walnut boards in the middle)
View attachment 60369

After a rain (different load of red oak with maple)
View attachment 60370

The short boards are maple. They seem a little pink-ish, but it may be the reflection off the oak.

Perhaps yours will dry lighter.

I am sure you are having fun in any case. :wave:

I did wounder if it would lighten up some when it dried. It's crazy how dark the wood is. The pictures are of two different boards. I have a couple of boards that have some sapwood. There is a slight difference in the color between the sap and heartwood.

Yes Rick, the mill has been a blast to use. Opening the logs are like Christmas. You never know what you'll get until you get inside.
 
hey john, i know your in the country, and you even got a college degree so bear with me here,, are you sure its maple? because i have never seen maple do that.. now some elm,s might or i have seen mullberry get dark..just checking:)
 
hey john, i know your in the country, and you even got a college degree so bear with me here,, are you sure its maple? because i have never seen maple do that.. now some elm,s might or i have seen mullberry get dark..just checking:)

Larry, one thing I've learned over the years is that the more I know the more I realize I don't know. It's a legitimate question, and I'm by no means offended.:thumb:

I'm 99% sure it's a Red Maple. I've got one more log from the same tree left to cut and i I'll get some pics of the fresh cut wood and post.

I'm going back over today to get a few more logs. He had two trees left standing and decided to go ahead and take them down.
 
good for you john do me a favor if you read this first,,take apic of the log up close and then a pic of the fresh cut board part way in,, so we can see the grain and the color of it fresh.. and if you want leave one out overnight again and see if it turns red too???
 
ok, this time a serious post.

when Im not sure exactly what species I have, because rough lumber sometimes alot of them look alike, if I cant tell by the end grain, I usually plane a bit off the surface to get a better look at the grain and color.
I used to do it by hand, but then remembered I had that little electric 3 inch hand held planer, makes skip planing a zip.
 
good for you john do me a favor if you read this first,,take apic of the log up close and then a pic of the fresh cut board part way in,, so we can see the grain and the color of it fresh.. and if you want leave one out overnight again and see if it turns red too???

Here you go Larry. We got 8 more logs yesterday. I checked the leaves and I'm sure they are Red Maples. Here's a couple of pics of a couple of logs and one of the bark
Here's a picture of a crotch I got from a sugar maple this Summer. I think this will be the next thing I cut. Anyone have any pointers about cutting crotches?
 

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i think its just the on the surface that red color,, never seen any go red like that though.. as for the crotch, are you looking for lumber or a spinniy chunk?

if your looking lumber then take the center and go both ways the thickness of your desired size.. the best crotch will be center and out from there, true up log so you can split the crotch as evenly as you can.:thumb:
 
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