Maple question

[cglynn]

Hey guys (and gals).  A few days ago the city felled a few trees that were too close to power lines.  One of them happened to be a nice older maple.  A neighbor who is into longrifles encouraged me to salvage a section of the tree as it would make decent rifle stock wood.  I am going to have the section cut at a saw mill, and am wondering how I should have it cut.  Also, once it is planked, how should I go about drying it to proper moisture content?

I thank you in advance for your replies.

C Glynn

[B Shipman]

I actually did this once.  If it's a really wide trunk, you may get more thn 1 stock. Get the center first, quarter sawn. Then slab sawn to either side. Both have their advantages. Cut at least 3 in. thick. Seal the end grain with something. Tar or beeswax works ok, otherwise you have splitting. Wait at least 3 years for an air dried piece. More is better. Unless it's a spectacular piece, clearly it's not worth the effort.  I mean grain strength, figure, and density. There's nothing romantic here, just time, luck and effort.

[halfmeasures]

Be sure to determine that it is red maple or sugar maple and not silver (water) maple before you go to too much trouble. Jim

[Birddog6]

The first thing I do is check the log with a metal detector. If Anything shows metal you are wasting your time because nobody is going to want to saw it.  Had this happen myself with 2) 3' dia 10' long maple logs from my homeolace. Allot of work getting them down & to the mill & then having to take them back to the woods to rot.....

I seal the log ends as soon as I cut them with a sealer, then when I have them sawed I reseal the ends again & also seal any knots or exposed end grains at knots or grain changes, this prevents checking & splitting.

Then I buy firring strips at the lumber yard by the bundle (As it takes ALOT of them) & cut them in lengths to match the widest plank, startin with one stick on the very end & putting a stick spaced every 1' down the length of the plank to the end & one on the very end however it comes out, if it is not exactly to the foot.  This gives the wood air space to let it dry out.  Lay the plank on the sticks then lay a set of sticks over this plank directly above the last set of sticks & insure the sticks are in line with the bottom stocks so the support stays on the sticks. I spray each plank of wood with a termite spray just to be safe & not have any bugs show up. Repeat til I have them all stacked & sprayed. Then I lay a sit solid concrete 4"x8"x16" on the top plank over each stick to hold weight on it. (A 10' plank gets 11 blocks) I let them sit 1 year per inch in a dry climate & this is usually long enough to dry them & I check them with a moisture meter before using them.

I also stack mine close to a wall where I can tie the stack with ropes to the wall to prevent anyone from leaning on them & possibly turning them over as they are usually unstable  stacked this way unless you have rows of 2-3 boards that are all the same thickness & length.  If they are the same, they are much more stable as you can cut the firring strips longer & get 2-3 boards with each stick & this helps stabilize the pile..

I have cut & dried lumber this way for 35 years & have had no problems with doing it this way. Nothing fancy or pretty, just stacked & dried. Never have had any bugs in them however I still respray the stack all over about every 2 years. 

I can't remember the name of the stuff I use to seal the logs. It comes in a 5 gallon can & you just mop it on or pour some of it into a large dishpan & dip the end of the plank in it & seal the exposed knots or end grain with a paint brush & slop it on heavily.  Most saw mills can tell ya what it is called & may have some on hand, but it is not real expensive & well worth the investment as it seals them well.  Years ago I used oil based paint to seal the ends & would do 2-3 applications, but it doesn't seal nearly as well as the log sealer stuff does. The paint will dry & crack & the log sealer stays pliable & does a much better job.

 

[Acer Saccharum]

titebond carpenter's glue works for sealing the endgrain. Water it down a bit for the first coat, so it can soak in. Or latex paint, two or three heavy coats. These two coatings breathe ever so slightly. Even old oil paint in a pinch, but it won't stick if the wood is soaking wet.

Stack it with stickers of dry pine. if you use wet maple, it will surely mold, and this dark staining will go deeply into the planks.

Stack it out of the sun, sheltered from the wind, away from summer heat. In the beginning, when the wood is really wet, you MUST dry it slowly, or the planks will check. You can get a controlled dry by partially covering the stack with a tarp.

[northmn]

I have good luck sealing with paint, some like to take carpenters glue and thin it with water and paint it on.  You do have to seal it.  The best figure ususally comes from the butt end close to the ground.  Curl depends on location and wind action as more wind action gives more curl.  Needs to be a pretty big tree as the blanks quarter sawn will need to be about 10 inches.  Also when you cut them out to a blank, the barrel channel is often located from the center of the tree and the toe plate close to the bark.  Tend to give better grain distribution throughout the gun.  You can speed drying a little by letting it air dry for about a month and then leaving it in an old car with the windows closed. for a while. I have done this and it works.  Remember that any stocks you buy are kiln dried and have not been seasoned for a long period of time.  I ahve a hot box I occaisionally throw my stock into as I live in a very humid area as compared to some and it seems to help while building and can speed drying.  Three year seasoning is OK but I am getting old enough such that I prefer not to wait that long.

DP

[Roger Fisher]

I do believe that any Sawyer would get the hives before cutting that log.. Seriously, they may make you responsible for replacing the blade or it's teeth if a spike or whatever tears up the blade.  I do believe also that most of them examine said log with a metal detector prior to going at the job.  Remember what was posted before if it is simply a plain maple log (no or little curl or soft maple) it may not be worth nutzing with!  Not trying to rain on your parade; but we are all trying to post the pros and cons. And like posted before air drying takes a year per inch.