Beech wood processing

[shaneo]

Hi everyone,

I guess I should begin by letting you all know that I am not a woodworker (please contain your disgust) and know little in the mysterious ways of wood. I have come to seek your sage wisdom so please, be gentle. And I thank anyone who replies in advance. Also, I'm not sure if this is the right forum for this but it seemed to be the most appropriate.

One of my neighbours has some very large, very lovely trees of various kinds on their property and following a huge storm in September had to have a large Beech tree felled as it was posing a threat to their house. Sadly most of the timber has been chopped for fire wood but being the young enterprising gent that I am I requested that they save as much of the trunk as was practical on condition that I would have it sawn up at my own expense and could then do with it as I pleased. I intended to sell it but now it would seem I have bitten off far more than I can chew.

I have been out of the country since the tree came down and have only seen the remaining timber this past weekend. One single piece, it's a hair over 2 meters long and approximately 1 meter in diameter. I asked the 'owner' to seal the exposed ends and cover it in plastic back in October. He said he would. He didn't. So this big piece of wood has been sitting directly on the grass, open to the elements for a little over 5 months in the south of Ireland. It hasn't been remarkably cold but it has been wet. The exposed ends have some considerable discolouration, I'll attach some pics so you can see what I'm talking about.

What I'm wondering now is have I left it too late to process? I know I really should have had it sawn up right away to allow it to start drying but I haven't been around so that wasn't possible (I didn't want to pay for the guy with the portable sawmill to come, cut all the timber only to find out I'll never be able sell it).

Is it likely that the damp may have gotten into the wood and damaged it beyond use or this being such a large piece any dampness would not have penetrated deep enough to leave a usable amount of timber?

And finally, if the wood turns out to be ok, dose anyone think I'm likely to recoup the cost of having it sawn? I know Beech isn't the most desirable of woods, do woodworkers buy it?

Thanks in advance to anyone who can send a little wisdom my way.

 

[Woodmonkey]

It may have spalted, in which case it will be more desirable. As long as its still solid and hasn't gone soft then it's worth planking up. Someone with a chainsaw mill could come and do it in situ in a few hours.

 

[marcros]

I am not convinced it will be worth the time of somebody coming out and spending half a day or more planking it up. You then have to sticker it and store it for at least a year or two somewhere out of the way. I don't know what somebody would charge as a mobile mill, but I bet you wouldn't see much change from a couple of hundred quid or more. A woodmiser would be no use because you have nothing to lift the log with. If you had the kit yourself, it would be a different matter.

There is a reasonable amount of timber, however. Beech is probably around £20 a cubic foot when seasoned although there will be some wastage in there.

 

[blackrodd]

Being brutally honest, that's the ugly part you have there, two huge branches trimmed, I see
As Marcross said planking would be expensive but those huge knots would be very limiting for the value, and maybe more on the other side.
I think you should have had the lower part of the tree, usually clearer of branches and such, and maybe some value in two or so years..Regards Rodders

 

[woodfarmer]

There could be some nice bowl blanks in there. Maybe if you could hire an alaskan mill or similar plank it at about 3 and a bit inches thick, let it rest for 2-5 years and hope for the best ?? Not at all scientific but the other choice is firewood and that is about the same amount of effort (ok much less ).

 

[wobblycogs]

My guess would be the same as the others, it's not going to be worth planking due to the cost of getting a mill onsite or carting it off to a mill. I wouldn't worry too much about it having gone soft in just 5 months as it's big old lump of wood and it's been sitting around in the winter. I'd bet if you chainsawed the an inch of each end it'd look like the day it was felled.

Anyway, that doesn't help with your problem which is basically one of cost. Since it's probably not economical to turn into planks and planking is not something that can be done by hand I think your best bet is to try and get some turning blanks out of it. I'd start by trying to split it in half but being beech that may be easier said than done. That should make it small enough to tackle with a reasonably sized chainsaw which could make rough blanks.

 

[JohnPW]

planking is not something that can be done by hand

I'm not sure about that, if you've got the right saw and abled to put in a bit of effort, why not?

 

[lurker]

Wood is expensive because of the processing and logistical costs not the raw material costs

 

[wobblycogs]

Fair enough, technically planking can be done by hand. The fact we have planks from before the age of the engine shows it's possible but that doesn't mean it's easy.

It looks like a 1 man log saw about a metre long can be picked up for around £50 to 70. Doubt that would be enough to this log though.

If you do try planking this by hand you've got to report back on how hard / easy it was (assuming you don't have a heart attack trying).

 

[Woodmonkey]

I'm assuming "by hand" he meant just using a chainsaw freehand rather than actual hand tools

 

[shaneo]

Hi everyone, so 9 months later and it's finally time for an update and for me to ask for some more advice.

First off, big thanks to everyone who replied first time, all the advice and info really helped. Much appreciated.

I contacted a portable saw mill (the only one in Ireland as far as I can tell) and learning the cost decided it wasn't worth it. I wasn't aware a chainsaw mill was a thing until 'Woodmonkey' mentioned it so I searched and very luckily found a guy who does it located only only 1 hour from the tree (also the only one in Ireland as far as I can tell)!

The guy came and cut the wood all in one day in August, working from dawn to dusk. As I stated previously, I don't know much about timber but it seems like quite a nice piece. I am hoping to make a few tables from it the slabs turned out really well, very nice coloring and some lovely spalting. Some photos attached so you can see.

Since then the timber has been stored in my garage, with the windows open and a few thin strips of wood between each slab to give some airflow. Again, pic attached to show whats going on. The guy who did the cutting advised to let them dry for minimum 2 years before I do anything to them.
Does that seem like an appropriate amount of time?

And most importantly, fungus. I have been away since September and when I returned found a big piece of fungus growing on an exposed piece of one of the slabs. I have searched online to find out what it may be but not found anything (partly because I'm not really sure what to search for). I have given a quick glance over the rest of the timber but not found any more, only on that one spot that gets sunlight through the window.
Close up pic included in case anyone knows what it is.
Can anyone shed some light on the fungus? Is it bad news, is all my lovely timber ruined or is this just something that will pass and not effect the wood in the long term.

Again, thanks again in advance to anyone who can lend some wisdom.

 

[wobblycogs]

Those are some nice looking planks. I don't know what the fungus is but the wood shows signs quiet a bit of spalting so it has been attacked by fungus for a while (spalting is the black marking showing in image 4). You can kill the fungus by kilning but you'd need to either transport the wood to a kiln or try and rig something up in your back garden. As long as the wood hasn't been attacked by the fungus too much it will be fine, in fact spalted wood is often quite desirable. If there are any soft spots due to rot you can soak them in wood hardener to make them workable. Finally, avoid breathing in any dust from wood that is spalted, you don't want fungus inside you ;-)

 

[shaneo]

Thanks wobbly, good to know. Ill have to invest in a decent respirator!

 

[woodpig]

You've ended up with some nice looking wood there, I bet you're glad you ignored some of the advice!

 

[shaneo]

Hi everyone, I'm back to bug you all for more advice.
I was wondering if anyone who has experience working with beech might know at what moisture % is acceptable to begin working the wood.

The beech has been sitting in an unheated garage with relatively decent airflow for almost 2 years now. I got a moisture meter from Lidl and tested the planks this weekend and most of the results were around the 12% mark.
Now I can't vouch for the reliability / accuracy of a Lidl product but there was a variety of around 0.4% across all the planks, the lowest being 11.8% the highest being 12.2% so it seems to be consistent if nothing else.

Ultimately, my goal is to turn these into slab table tops so there's little work to be done to them, mostly sanding and finishing.

Does 12% seem like an acceptable level to begin working the wood? 2 years seems like a short drying period to me but I'll happily admit I've no idea what I'm taking about. As always, any advice is greatly appreciated.

 

[Phil Pascoe]

Get them indoors for a few months, ideally where they are to be used but anywhere dry and warm will do. They are wide boards so will probably cup quite a bit, so there's not much point in doing too much until they're a little bit more stable. I mean warm day to day living temperature, not warm up against a radiator.

 

[cowfoot]

I got a moisture meter from Lidl and tested the planks this weekend and most of the results were around the 12% mark.
Now I can't vouch for the reliability / accuracy of a Lidl product but there was a variety of around 0.4% across all the planks, the lowest being 11.8% the highest being 12.2% so it seems to be consistent if nothing else.

Try testing a few items of furniture that have been sat indoors - should give you a reference.
Well done for getting the timber!

 

[mayo.mick]

That's some nice spalted beach you have there! I've turned some in recent weeks, shows some great colour and grain!

 

[Fitzroy]

Moisture can vary depending on where you test, i.e. A well ventilated edge or the centre of the board in the middle of the stack. The normal rule for air drying is a year per inch. You can also check using an offcut, weight it, dry it in the oven until it stops loosing weight and calculate the moisture content from the two values.


F.

 

[ComfortablyNumb]

12% is perfect