How to Saw Logs - Part 2
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- เผยแพร่เมื่อ 7 ก.พ. 2025
- This video covers a lot of different aspects of wood, logs and how to saw them, Including: Spalted Wood. Introduction to the different woods and their characteristics, Introduction to different methods of cutting logs into lumber. Making River Tables. The importance of Log Size on Sawmill Efficiency. Introduction to Calculating the Board Feet of Lumber in a log and its Weight.
Cutting "Cookies" and "Chargers" from a log. Sealing the end grain of lumber and logs.
I have watched a million sawmilling videos. I learnt more, watching George's videos. Then all others combined. Thanks for your time making your videos and sharing your knowledge, it's appreciated.
Thank for the very nice comment.
I agree. There are plenty of entertaining videos on sawmilling, but George so far to me has the most useful information I'm looking for as a hobbyist Sawyer.
100% agree
Thanks for backing me up George, I told my wife we needed a "full grown tractor", I think she will go along with me now.
I have enjoyed both part 1 and 2 of your videos. Hopefully I will retain the knowledge I have gained about many things and look forward to other videos. New to saw milling with my homemade band saw sawmill mostly on yellow pine (in Ga) from a tornado 2023. Great information here for those of us who want to know.
I'm just a young guy enjoying getting into wood working and was 'gifted' some fresh cut black cherry logs. Found this series and I I've learned so many invaluable tips both with my immediate "how do I make these into something I can use" issue but also as someone who will probably be buying a lot of fresh milled lumber in the future. Thank you so much! Not only is it great info but I feel like i could listen to you impart knowledge all day at the local watering hole.
This man knows his stuff. This is wisdom! Thank you for passing it on.
This video and part #1 offer some very good information. Direct, to the point and BS free.
Thank you, George, for taking your time to produce this kind of video.
Thanks for the nice comment. check out my other 15 video's.
Thanks George, this is the only channel which goes to such extent to explain the intricacy of different woods and sawing techniques. Good job Sir!
think for the nice comment
@@georgewoodoftexas3509 pleasure George, you are a bastion to the “Sawyer” industry!
Thanks George I normally never finish watching a sawmill video but yours I did.
Thank you for taking the time to explain all this in a comprehensive way. I understand so much more now.
Thanks George from New Zealand.
Thanks George. Your a young man yet keep going. Great video
You should get your own channel and teach , YOU ARE THE MAN ,
Great videos. Looking to learn sawmill work, I’ve watched numerous videos but none as informative as yours. I’ve subscribed to the channel, looking forward to seeing more, and have referred your videos to others. Thanks for making the time to share your experience.
Great Videos really like the way the guy explains things Very noligible.
Awesome thank you, just purchased saw mill and need all the help I can get. All I got right now is ash.
Thank you for the very valuable insight from your experiences working with logs. After my first dive into milling, I learned quickly that anyone can cut a log up but far fewer can cut one right. This information will help even the most amateur sawyer turn out professional level material.
These are very informative and well presented in an easy to listen to manner. Thank you for these.... from the UK.
Thanks for the great comment. I am working on a video on a new way to cut out better turning blanks that will be out in about two weeks. See you then.
Excellent George very informative
Thanks George, Learning much more then I imagined.
Thank you for sharing your experience and wisdom!
Hi from Canada. Great videos George
Thanks, comments are appreciated.
Thank you so much. I do appreciate your common sense approach to sawmilling. Keep up the good work
Thank you sir for sharing your time and knowledge !
Absolutely loved it.. thanx again
Thank you for sharing your knowledge sir
wonderful information. This will come in handy. I'll watch all your videos.
Really great information here, thank you, George, stay safe, Jim.
Great information !!! Thank you !!
Thanks George,
This is good information. I needed it!
Tony
I'm in winnsboro moved here last year and bought a sawmill for my own use. Wonderful channel and the info is worth it's weight in gold! Would love to see your operation up there in quinlan
George Freeman, 214-334-4035
Thank you very much !
Just find it hard to believe that you have so much knowledge. How did you learn so much?
I study a few hours every day. But mostly I have learned from others that have shown me how to do things. Just passing on things that were taught to me. Always keep an open mind and try something new. Thanks for the comment
Great information. Appreciate your sharing with us. Thank you!
George, how thick can you cut a cookie without it pie splitting? I would cut it much thicker then using a router to flatten out cuping, twisting.
Thank you for the information very well put together videos.
Love your videos great job.
Thanks, hope it was helpful.
Thank you. Good information.
Nice work, George! One note: you are out of focus, both in part one and two. The focus is on the boards behind you. Just maybe the camera's too close or you're using a lens with a too narrow angle. 😬
Medullary rays are nice.
is that any conifer that you would not seal? Fir, spruce; I live in Montana. I am not sure if we have any oaks, . We have black Cotton Wood and Birch willows , I suppose I can look that up.
Mr. Wood - how much weight is lost between green log and, say, a standing dead ash tree? I have a hundred dead ash from the emerald borer, so wanted to know how long I can cut the logs before I overwhelm my little tractor's lift capacity. Thank you very much for sharing this information with us!
There is NO exact answer to your question. Only general answers based on my experience. Each species of tree is different in the way it reacts to dying and then rotting. As a general rule a dead tree loses very little of its weight in water or sap just standing there. Most of its weight reduction will be in the loss of tissue from rot/ the fungus attack which eats the carbohydrates or sugars from the trees tissue. This means that if you waited long enough for the tree to reduce weight it is often too rotten to put on your sawmill.
In my area of Northeast Texas, I can leave a cut log on the ground about one year before it becomes too rotten to use.
Thanks for your answer! I will harvest the dead ones and see what I can get!@@georgewoodoftexas3509
Once again great advice still learning I'm on a big budget can I use waterproof wood glue to seal the ends thank you again George
Regards
Steve UK London
You could use glue but it normally dry's very hard while green wood is shrinking and moving. Not a good combination. Anchor seal and other green wood sealers are designed to coat the end green of your wood but allowing it to move because of its soft, stretchy consistency even when dry.
George
@@georgewoodoftexas3509 Thank you George did not think of the shrinking process Thank you again Steve
cant believe you only have 84 subscribers
apparently, my channel is catching on. today I have almost 1000 subscribers and 63,000 views. the growth has been almost unbelievable. Thanks for the nice comment.
About the pith. Is there a significant difference from spruce or pine to hardwoods regarding quality? Reason I am asking is that I regularly see boards with the pith at the construction stores around here - and we only have spruce and fir available there (Norway).
I have done some work with post and beam construction. To avoid/reduce cracks a cut is sometimes made with a saw from the surface to the pith along the length. What do you think about that?
Thanks for two really instructional videos here.
The answer is yes, construction lumber (2x4) often has the pity in them. Do you care if the 2x4 cracks after you put it in a wall where it will be covered up? You would care very much if the lumber with the pith in it cracked after you made a piece of fine furniture.
There is also a difference between the soft pity that is in pine various the very hard pity that is in hardwood lumber that caused it to crack more. Best practice is get rid of the pity at the sawmill, and make firewood out of it.
@@georgewoodoftexas3509 Excellent answer. Thank you for explaining. And again for some very good videos.
👍🏻👍🏻👍🏻👍🏻👍🏻👍🏻
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how about pine tar to seal with ?
George I have a bunch of yellow pine logs I am going to use to build a shed. How long should they sit before milling? They've been down about a month.
They can be milled now but I usually wait 6 months or more to let the pine sap set. It saves getting that sticky mess all over my sawmill, tractor and myself.
@@georgewoodoftexas3509 Okay thank you George! Your videos are perfect! Don't change a thing.
can you please talk about bugs? I found a 24" yellow pine log but the bark was flaking off. After removing it, there were termites. Is that wood just trash?
A long subject with lots of methods. I plan a future video to address this.
You say to avoid the pith, but I often see it in 4x or 6x material... like a 4x4 ??
Pine Construction material, not hardwood fine woodworking lumber. Who cares if a fence post or barn post cracks. But we care very much if the fine hardwood table we build cracks are warps after we have make it. I know some of the sawmilling and lumber issues gets confusing, all of us are trying to understand it and learning to work around natural wood issues. thanks for the comment.
Are you available for hire to mill some logs I have
Yes, If your near Quinlan, Texas
George 214-334-4035
Do you have an email address that i could contact you? I would like to talk to you. Lost a huge red oak tree from Beryl. I hated losing this tree it was the best one in the yard. When i was 13, my grandfather taught me and my cousin how to frame. We built a garage/shop for my grandfather's boat. Shop was built probably 1978. My grandfather was from East Texas. The shop was built with conventional framing with the diagonal brace for the walls. When the tree fell both side of the galvanized tin roof took a direct hit. I was very surprised at how well the building survived. The roof is going to have to come off to repair the building. I have a couple joists that will need to be replaced along with rafters. Both sides of the galvanized tin had holes punched into it. I was able to patch it because we had extra galvanized sheets stored along with a coffee can full of galvanized roofing nails. I'm thinking about having the red oak milled. The tree is approximately 93.5 inches (used a tape measure) around or 29.77 inches in diameter. The tree splits off into 2 trunks at 20 ft. It's about 43 inches wide (rough estimate) where the trunk splits into 2 separate trunks.
I get 768 bdft on a 24" x 24" x 16' log! How are you calculating it! I think you counted 400 bdft!.....help
You know how to open a can of worms this early in the morning.
Trees grow and are tapered from the large end of the log to the small end at your 16' log. It makes very little difference where you use the Doyle, Scribner or International scale to calculate Board feet of lumber in a tree. These calculators ESTIMATE the board feet of lumber in a felled tree and or log BASED on the small end of the log. They are based on taking a square cant out of the middle of the log and throwing away the trim and off cuts of the log. Small sawyer's often salvage a lot of lumber from these off cuts.
To say that all these lumber tables were made to benefit the logging and sawmill operators is an understatement. You apparently saved many of these off cuts.
It gets worst: Loggers and wood buyer often us a BILTMORE stick to estimate the lumber in standing trees in the forest. These are also estimates. My experience is they tend to overestimate the B.F of lumber in a tree. To compensate for this loggers often underestimate log length and diameters.
I checked my figures on the 400 bf. log and that's what the charts show. To get the high number of BF. from your log you must have saved all off cuts of wood.
Your timing is perfect with this question as I just completed a sawmilling job where we went out and measured all our standing trees of Red Cedar, cut the trees and brought them back to the sawmill. The BF. output of these logs was carefully measured, and this subject will be addressed in a future video. I will be producing it in about 2/3 months. I am waiting for the lumber to be dried and installed in a horse tack room before finishing this forth coming video.
My spreadsheet sheet about that experience raises even more questions than you have raised about chart accuracy.
George