Drying / Preparing Felled Timber

[Little Ern]

I'm sure this will have been covered before but I am never very successful at using the search facility.
A mate of mine fells trees as part of his job and due to a tornado in Derby last week there is an abundance of timber available which he is involved in cutting up and carting away. He has offered me a some odd small/medium sized trunks including some Yew. I'm new to this game but
thought someone might be able to give me a few pointers.
I'll be able to plank up to about 8-9" Dia stuff when the bandsaw arrives and recognize that it will need to be stacked properly to dry out.
Any major do's and don'ts? Also what about turning blanks?
Should I let the logs dry out a while before planking?
Sorry if these are 'noddy' questions.

It just seems too good to miss but I don't want to end up with a yard full
of timber if it's not worth doing anything with.

Many Thanks,

 

[George_N]

I've not much experience of doing this but it is essential to seal the ends of your logs as soon as possible to stop them drying too quickly and splitting. Gloss paint, bitumen paint and melted paraffin wax are often quoted as being suitable. As ever the experts will probably be along soon with better information.

 

[bill d]

The main issue is safety: most sawmilling operators try to avoid dealing with the smaller stuff for that reason. The usual workshop tools just aren't designed to work with the sort of material you will be trying to convert into boards. You can - with care - produce a small amount of useable stuff but don't be too ambitious. (Unless you are taking delivery of an absolutely enormous bandsaw I'd be surprised if you can produce any significant amount of 9 inch boards, for example.) You might like to consider hiring or borrowing a portable chainsaw mill outfit, which is probably the best diy option for slabbing up timber up to about 15inches in diameter. But unless you've got a really big amount to do it's probably not worth it. Anyway it's slow, noisy, messy and quite sweaty work.
Turning blanks are another matter though and you should be able to get some nice stuff out of the kind of timber you'll be dealing with. Instead of making the first big cuts you could split the round timber using hammer and wedges. Work it as 'green' as you can.
Do you have an open fire or woodburner? You'll produce quite a lot of firewood, but Xmas is coming and at least you may be able to sell a few bags of yule logs. :lol:
Good luck, but be careful!

 

[Little Ern]

Thanks for the replies.
Points duly noted.
I think I'll go round to the site and just pick out some suitable stuff rather
than my mate turning up with his pick-up full of timber. At that stage it would be seem a tad ungrateful to reject any.

By the way, the bandsaw isn't huge - 9" max cut.

Thanks again.