I am trying to find some short lengths of clear white pine or fir, rough sawn all the way down to 1/4 to 3/8" thickness.

We would be using this as shingle stock, so it needs to be clear of knots. But this is easier when you consider that we would be using lengths of maybe 3 feet, letting us cut our shingles from the section between knots -so we don't really need clear boards, just to use the clear portions. We would be looking at I think D-select grade

It is possible we could buy 6" wide 4/4 boards, and cut 3 think planks out of each with a shop bandsaw. But if someone has more accurate equipment to make this, that would be good.

Hi DL, I would think a transportable band mill would be good for this task. I cut a lot of clapboards for all my siding needs. 1/2"x4" in lengths up to 20' at times. It is easy to cut thin stock from a larger cant. The trick is the last piece, as some mills don't cut down to 1/2", I hold my breath at 3/4". So the last board is cut at 1-1/8" and I leave the last 1/2" cut on it and flip it over so I can cut the 1-1/8" board in to two boards. I will usually gang up 3, 4" wide heavy planks which I have cut out of some nice clear white pine logs, removing most of the sap wood. The heavy planks are cut to yield the most vertical grain as possible, kind of quarter sawing but not in a true sense.

Just thinking that is a lot of stock to hand feed through a up right band saw.

Could you get some nice butt logs in your shipment of pine you are searching for?

What is the exposure on your shingles?

Shingles and clapboards need not be tapered.

Tim, would you not have trouble with the bandmill wandering if you are cutting 3/8" boards? a slight movement could ruin shingle stock.

I would actually want to quarter the wood, as quarter sawn stock is more stable -this is the biggest advantage of hand split shakes over cut shingles.

If we can get good enough pine, we might go ahead and split it out by hand. Depends on the cost of buying enough sawn pine to cover bout 650 square feet of roof.

None what so ever...... unless the band is pushed past its dull date, at which time it will expire and things can go bad. So it is not the fault of the band saw but the sawyer. Usually if I get a dive in the band it is while making the last cut on a nice timber, needless to say it is a little disturbing. In a few of my frames I can show you where I had a dull band.

Hello,

So admittedly a bit late in the year I'm busy splitting & stacking some poplar wood as firewood for next winter and reading this post prompted me to try and split out some shingles while doing so. In total about a half hour's effort with mallet and fro, drawknife, shaving horse and carpenters axe netted close to .5 square meters. All pure quarters, wood is very green (see Richard Casselman topic) the billets could have been straighter of grain and there would have been less waste. I know nailing can often split sweet chestnut shingles but poplar nails well. I've had poplar test shingles sitting outside for five years holding up seemingly fine.



Greetings,

Don Wagstaff

We have decided to make them by hand after all.

Don, What 'poplar' are you using? You must remember, I am from Indiana where 'polar' refers to tulipwood, which is not a true poplar at all, and our poplars are called cottonwood and aspen, and never poplar. I do know that cottonwood can be used as shingle stock, and was from time to time.

Your cottonwood is a loose term that can mean any one of a number of different types of poplar including the black poplar but not the Italian poplar, possibly the Canadian poplar but probably not the version of the crossing of the black poplar and Canadian poplar that is the most widely planted poplar here in the Netherlands making it the most likely candidate for the wood I was using for the shingles. To complicate matters more, tulpinhout, which could be translated literally into tulip wood, was the wood, (do you see a Dutch connection there?) we used for our very first project back at the woodworking school and they said the Americans called it yellow poplar, but it is really magnolia, but does bare striking resemblance's - the wood, that is not the tree - to poplar wood, but what you have written strikes me as familiar because where I come from we only had cottonwood and aspen as well.

Greetings,

Don Wagstaff

Ours is eastern cottonwood, and to us it's just a great big pest. It spreads so quickly, and many people have bad allergic reactions to the tuft and pollen. Farmers hate it, because it can so quickly invade fields.

As for Tulip trees, we usually use Magnolia to refer to the magnolia trees that grow south of us. We call it tulip trees because the flower look like tulips. And I hear tell it is called poplar because the trees grow very tall, and their leaves flutter in the wind like a true poplar would.

No, really, the wood itself, the tulip, looks a lot like poplar, hard to tell the two apart just by looking.

Don, I was not debating. Just passing on another explanation I had heard.

How does your poplar handle the weather in use as shingles?

Hello Dave,

Like I said, I've had some shingles standing outside just leaning up against the fence for about 5 years which are in good shape still, Other planks that are outside lying on the ground - off-cuts and so - start to show signs of serious degradation after two or three years. The sawer at the sawmill, a real wind powered sawmill, told me that poplar fencing he had seen lasted 20 years and only rotted from one side. All that said, I guess it is a subjective matter in the end.

Greetings,

Don Wagstaff