Sawing boards from own trees

[Lasse Morin]

I wonder if anyone in this esteemed group has experience with cutting down their own trees and hiring a mobile sawmill to make boards and beams out of them?
I have about ten trees on the property, some really sturdy spruces and birches, a strong pine. They need to go, but it feels wasteful to just burn them. Especially when timber prices have gone up.
It would also be interesting to know how long the freshly sawn timber should dry before it can be used for building.
I am in contact with a company that comes and saws on site. I have no idea about their prices and I'm not in a hurry. I will fell the trees (or rather hire a professional to do it) this autumn.

 

[justusandersson]

I have done that many times, i.e., felled or had trees felled and got them sawn up. However, never with a mobile sawmill, which I don't think is a decisive difference, except that you avoid troublesome transports. I have sawn pine, spruce, oak, beech, willow, among other types of wood. The largest and most valuable sawing for me involved a number of 100-year-old pines, of which I still have a stock. The advantage is that you can have them sawn to dimensions that suit your needs. Additionally, it gives an immense satisfaction to take care of nature in that way. Softwood (pine and spruce) can't remain rough-sawn for too long. Ideally, they should be edge-sawn immediately. Hardwood, on the other hand, can be stored just rough-sawn. Old pines have a high proportion of heartwood that is rarely seen in the market. I think the benefit is mostly a quality gain.

 

[Lasse Morin]

Please specify how long you think the logs can lie with the bark still on.

 

[justusandersson]

As long as the timber is still moist. Maximum 6 months, I guess. I've made the mistake of waiting too long with unedged pine, and then small gnawers appear.

 

[Plupp 433451]

Please specify how long you think the logs can lie with the bark remaining.

You can water the logs so they last longer.
At the sawmills, they spray water over the piles, and the timber can lie for about 12 months at the storage site.

 

[Lasse Morin]

Yes, you are right. I saw that as a child, the swimming bay had a clear view to a sawmill where the water sprayed.
I will use that tip. I have already felled some medium-sized trees (around 45-year-olds).

 

[prototypen]

I think it's a bit silly to first fell the trees and then start thinking about how to saw them up. In the meantime, there's a risk of both decay and pests. There's a date sometime in early summer by which felled trees should be removed to avoid pests under the bark, but that only applies to larger piles of timber. An alternative is to debark the logs, but then they tend to crack.

Get moving now, or else the logs will just turn into firewood.

Protte

 

[heimlaga]

Ideally, you should have them cut as quickly as possible. If the timber is to air dry without staining, it should be cut and stacked entirely by May and absolutely before midsummer. You will never preserve it until next year unless you can store it lying in water in some swamp.

It is possible to cut from October onwards, but if you start earlier in the autumn, the quality usually suffers. It is possible to saw just before the winter cold comes, but then it usually becomes muddy and unpleasant. It is actually possible to saw in the middle of winter too, but frozen timber in sub-zero temperatures is difficult to saw and requires a significantly powerful motor on the saw, and it is unpleasant to handle. Therefore, most sawing is done during the period from mid-March to midsummer.

At the sawmills, they used to soak the newly sawed timber in a tub with some extremely carcinogenic poison before stacking it. I don't remember what the poison was called, but it prevented staining, allowing them to saw all summer and air dry the timber in stacks. The downside was that many stackers developed cancer, and some died. In earlier times before the poison was available, they stopped sawing around midsummer each year. Nowadays, they use mechanical hot air dryers, so they can saw all year round and dry the timber without poison.

The best drying period is spring and early summer. In "råti," that is, the period between mid-July and mid-August, the timber does not dry. Pine and birch are the most sensitive to incorrect sawing time and should ideally be sawed within May. Spruce is not as sensitive. We sawed the last of it yesterday. In total, about 120 logs were sawed for personal building timber this time. We hired a mobile sawmill. Now two tractor loads remain to be stacked. The half we sawed earlier is already stacked. With a modern Kara circular sawmill, you can saw about 70 logs a day, at best close to 100 logs if you have 4-5 people. With older circular sawmills, it's good if you manage 40-50 logs, but since it goes slowly, you can get by with three people.

I usually build high bases under the stacks. I want the timber at least 30 cm, preferably over 40 cm, off the ground. I usually build the base according to the longest timber and extend every other board/plank to each end. This way, the timber is supported along its entire length, and the stack is sparse and dries well. We usually saw the strapping from spruce into 7/8 inch thickness. For timber over 2 inches thick, I use 2x2 as strapping to allow more air circulation so the thick timber dries. In width, I usually leave about an inch gap between each board/plank in one layer. If you want, I can take pictures when I stack.

If you saw before the end of May, the timber can be used for building in August-September unless you insulate it so it can continue drying on-site. After midsummer of the next year, it will be completely dried.

The sawing cost for a full load of finished-sawed timber on my 5 or 6-ton Gisebo tractor trailer usually corresponds to the price at the building material store for the amount of timber I tow on an unbraked trailer behind my Opel Kadett. The profit is greater on thicker dimensions where the number of saw cuts per cubic meter of wood is smaller. For 4-inch boards, the price of home-sawed is the same as purchased if you account for a little tax-free hourly wage for yourself for the work. Around here, sawmills usually charge 50-70 euros plus VAT per hour for themselves and the sawmill. The timber owner arranges for helpers.

 

[Offroad]

Ideally, you should have them cut as quickly as possible. If the timber is to air dry without staining, it should be cut and stacked completely by May and absolutely before midsummer. You will never keep it until next year unless you can store it lying in water in some marsh.

You can cut from October onwards, but starting earlier in the fall usually compromises the quality. It's possible to saw just before the winter chill arrives, but it usually becomes muddy and unpleasant. You can actually saw in the middle of winter as well, but frozen timber in subzero temperatures is hard to saw and requires a significantly powerful saw motor, and it's unpleasant to handle. Therefore, sawing is mostly done between mid-March and midsummer.

At the sawmills, during the summer, they soaked the freshly cut timber in a tub with some extremely carcinogenic poison before stacking it. I don't remember the name of the poison, but it prevented staining, allowing them to saw all summer and air dry the timber in stacks. The downside was that many stackers got cancer, and some died. In older times before the poison was available on the market, they stopped sawing around midsummer each year. Nowadays they use mechanical hot air dryers, so they can saw all year and dry the timber without poison.

The best drying time is spring and early summer. During the "råti," which is the period from mid-July to mid-August, the timber doesn't dry. Pine and birch are most sensitive to incorrect sawing time and should preferably be sawn in May. Spruce is not as sensitive. We sawed the last of it yesterday. It was a total of about 120 logs sawn for house-use timber this time. We hired a mobile sawmill. There are two tractor loads left to stack. The half we sawed earlier is already stacked. With a modern Kara circular sawmill, you can saw about 70 logs a day or, in the best case, closer to 100 logs if you have 4-5 people. With older circular sawmills, it's good if you manage 40-50 logs, but since it's slow, you can manage with three people.

I usually build high bases under the stacks. I want the timber at least 30 cm, preferably over 40 cm from the ground. I usually build the base according to the longest timber and extend every other board/plank to each end. This way, the timber is supported along the entire length, and the stack is sparse and dries well. We usually saw spruce for the struts to a thickness of 7/8 inches. For timber over 2 inches thick, I use 2x2 for the struts, so there's more air circulation, and the thick timber dries. In the lateral direction, I usually leave about a one-inch gap between each board/plank in a layer. If you want, I can take pictures when I stack.

If you saw before the end of May, the timber will be ready to build with in August-September if you don't insulate it so it can continue drying in place. After midsummer in a year, it's completely dried.

The sawing cost for a full load of finished timber on my 5 or 6-ton Gisebo tractor trailer usually corresponds to the building supply price of the amount of timber I haul on an unbraked trailer behind my Opel Kadett. The profit is greater on thicker dimensions where the number of saw cuts per cubic meter of wood is less. With 4-inch boards, the price of home-sawn is the same as bought if you account for a little tax-free wage for yourself for the work. Around here, the sawyers usually charge 50-70 euros plus VAT per hour for themselves and the sawmill. The timber owner arranges for helpers.

I have just sawed around 50 logs of wilderness panel (spruce), so if you had the desire and energy to upload some pictures of your stacks, that would be brilliant.

Any tips on what to do with the slabs? Is it firewood, or can something fun be done with them?

 

[Lasse Morin]

The planning wasn't the best, that's for sure. I talked about removing a few trees to get more light on the solar panels and an enthusiastic helper got me started. Without thinking about anything but firewood.
Now, these weren't thick trees, but I do have a few real big ones that need to be removed this fall because they stand in a row, like a curtain against the afternoon sun on the porch. Then it will be time to saw.

I think it's a bit silly to cut down the trees first and then start thinking about how to cut them up.
Protte