A gas company is clearing along its pipeline in a nearby woods and they are willing to move logs to the road for me to take. There are a several dozen oaks (equal numbers of red and white) but most are 11 to 15 inches in diameter with no branching for 10 to 20 feet. A few trees are 16 to 18 inches. How small of trees are worth taking? How much sapwood is acceptable on timbers? What grade of timber is suitable? There are also three cottonwoods of 20+ inches with 30 feet to the first branch. Any suggestions on using these? Perhaps rafters?

I can borrow a portable sawmill again. We are thinking about building a shed for livestock. Thanks for your advice.

Mike,

I think these logs are very suitable for timber framing. The acceptible grade depends on the end use, really. I would have all the posts be white oak and keep the red oak up under the roof and away from the weather and ground. I would also try to minimize sapwood on the posts. Other than that, waney and sappy edges don't really matter (unless there is extreme wane). If the logs are straight, you can get an acceptible 8x8 out of a 12" log.

I would use the cottonwood for roof decking (1x's) rather than framing timber.

Good luck and keep us posted,

Gabel

I just logged about 20,000 Board feet of lumber for my timber frame. I made myself a cheat sheet as we milled the lumber so I'd know what diameter log would generate a specific size timber (according to my own timber schedule). I'll search for that cheat sheat and get back to you.

Does your log to timber schedule account for sapwood, which can vary wildly from species to species? Or is sapwood ignored/used as part of the timber without a problem...

Greg

Thanks for the advice and your cheat sheet would be welcomed. I just hate to see the wood wasted and would try to design a shed to fit the logs. My plan would be to seal the ends of the logs and store them covered but outside until November when I have time to mill and assemble. I plan to use the white oak as sills and posts while keeping the red oak higher and drier in the building. How will the sapwood do? How much more likely is it to rot?

When you're harvesting logs you can estimate what size timber will come from them by first figuring out the needed diameter per size of timber.



In the above drawing you can see that it will take a 8 1/2" diameter log or larger to make a 6x6 timber.

I create a log list by first getting a timber list, with this list showing the actual sizes (6x6 for example) and adding another column and label it diameter and insert the diagonal dimension (8.5") in that column.

An easy way to get the diagonal dimension is to measure across your framing square from one dimension (width) on one leg to the other dimension (depth) on the other leg.

Then when the logs are stacked you can measure the narrow end of the log (usually the end towards the top of the tree), inside the bark, the shortest distance across to see if it will meet the needs of the log list. If it is larger then you'll gain extra boards or planks as it is milled.

Hope this helps.

Jim Rogers

Here's my cheat sheet. All log diameters are approximate, not nearly as accurate as Jim's method. Also, this does not account for sap wood, I honestly didn't have a problem with it. However, some that I let air dry for awhile did turn blue on the corners. Others, that were cut then immediately planed and kept out of the wheather did not turn color. I made my timber list first as Jim described.

6x7: 10" log
6x9: 12" log
8x8: 12" log
8x10: 14" log
8x12: 16" log
9x13: 20" log

Of course this is measuring the smaller end of the log. Good luck with everything!