Stump Cuts

In wood turning there is a constant search for unique wood that will catch the eye and set a bowl or platter apart.  The crotch, where a limb meets the main body of the tree, is a great place to find figured wood.   When a limb forces its way in between growth rings, it causes a ripple in the surrounding wood like a pebble landing in water.  The stump section of the tree is totally unique because the entire network of roots come together at one point, creating figure and beauty that can only be found underground.

With this in mind, we here at Pace Custom Sawing set off to uncover a diamond in the rough- the stump burl.  The problem with cutting up stumps is they are covered with dirt and rocks, and that combination is sure to dull or break any cutting tool you throw at it.  We began the process with a power washer, cleaned around the roots and then cut them off with a chainsaw, only to reveal new pockets of dirt and rocks to be cleaned off.  Once we had the stump clean, we were ready to put it on our bandsaw mill and cut slices between four and seven inches thick, ready to be turned into a work of art.

Fresh Cut Cherry

This past week was spent cutting and stacking cherry lumber.  Ben cleared an eight acre lot, with quite a few of cherry trees, in preparation for a home to be built over-looking the river.

All said and done I sawed about 4,000 board feet of cherry.  Most of the boards are sawed to 5/4 thickness, with some 8/4(an inch and a quarter and two inches respectively).  The ends of each board are sealed to prevent checking and the boards are  stacked with stickers about every foot to allow air flow through the pile.

Most of the figured wood was left in 6 inch thickness which we would like to sell green as turning blanks, otherwise we will have about a 7 year wait for it to air dry. 🙂

Air Dried Lumber, A Favorite of Craftsmen.

When reading about the woodworking masters such as James Krenov or George Nakashima you will find that their projects begin with air dried lumber. The same is true of Colonial Williamsburg’s cabinet makers shop.   Although there is debate about the merits of air dried lumber among craftsmen, there are many who rave about its coloring and workability.  Despite this demand for air dried lumber, the chance of finding it at your local saw mill is slim. In this article I will explore the draw for mills today to opt for kiln drying lumber, as well as what leads many modern masters to prefer air dried lumber.

Woodworking is a craft which requires patience, skill and careful attention to detail every step of the way.  Art has been lost in today’s fast paced workplace; production and efficiency rule the roost, the cost is high to sit and watch wood dry.  The rule of thumb for air drying lumber is a year of drying per inch thickness.  A kiln dries the same board in a few weeks, making it the more efficient method.  A mill that uses the kiln drying process also can yield more from the lumber they dry.  This is especially true  with cherry and walnut, species with drastically different color in their sap wood than that of their heart wood.  Mills steam the boards before drying which blends the valuable color from the heart wood into the sap wood, yielding more usable wood in a board.  So kiln drying prepares wood for sale quickly with greater yield, From a mill’s perspective you can’t beat that.

What is good for the mill is not necessarily good for the  woodworker.  Kiln drying stresses wood in a way that air drying does not.  Pulling the water out of lumber rapidly shocks the wood’s cells.   This process makes the end product more brittle, which will be noticed through chip out when surfacing a board, and broken wood when steam bending.  Blending the rich color from the heart wood with the lighter sap wood actually leads to a muted overall look.  The process trades the purples and rich browns of walnut for grey brown, and has a similar effect on cherry.  Beyond the cosmetic differences in heart and sap wood, is the fact that true heart wood is more durable as well.  When the colors are blended, both are sold as heart wood.

When building furniture with cherry or walnut, my choice is air dried for its natural rich tones, workability and durability.

Spring Cleaning

Today was a rainy day, so we took the opportunity to take a break from outdoor work and get some pictures of the virgin long leaf pine that we had salvaged from the Magna Vista plantation home.  Its new home is in the Pace’s barn, which happens to be a catch all for odds and ends.  Much like my desk ends up with piles of random stuff, this space attracts everything that may be of use at a later date.  Unfortunately the mess found its resting place all over our wood piles.

Another obstacle we came across when trying to clean up the barn was the Pace’s dog, Rascal.  He is a true guard dog. Rascal likes to keep tabs on what everyone is doing on the property, and in just about every situation he has picked something that he is protecting; its his.   When Rascal decides what he is going to guard, you will not get near it without some growling, and you will not touch it without him unleashing a bite. Fortunately he aims mostly for the feet and we wear boots.

So Adam and I set out to clean up the barn with Rascal right along side to guard his turf.  Before long we had uncovered the pile of about twenty floor joists. Each of these beams is about twenty feet long eleven inches wide and four inches thick, each straight as an arrow, and each was hand hewn with visible axe chop marks.  The outer wall floor joists were pocked with mortises every two feet to accept the tenons of the studs, bulky two and a half by fives.  Next we uncovered the rafters.  These “A” frames were joined at the top by a peg, and braced in the middle using angled dovetails.  Once the piles were free from clutter and ready to be photographed, their story came to life.  Just by looking at all of these joists and rafters you can see the time and skill required to make them.   The craftsmanship used on this plantation home is unlike anything you will find today.

Seeking Sunken Cypress

Cruisin

This past weekend Adam, Ben and I took a trip to South Carolina to look for sunken virgin Cypress logs.  With only the information that three saw mills were within close proximity on the river, we set off unsure of what we would find.  When we arrived at the site we were eager to take a look around, so we unloaded our john boat into the brackish water, lined five deep with Cypress along its swampy edges.  As we cruised the waterways we quickly found the virgin heart pine pylons the mills once used to guide the logs to their desired location, and better yet we could actually see some limbs of sunken cypress logs sticking out of the water at low tide.

Friday and Saturday were spent hitching the easy pickings to our john boat and sawing them by the riverside.  We recovered a nice variety of wood, all with coloring that can only come about after a hundred plus years underwater:

virgin long leaf pine known for its dense heart wood

virgin cypress with as many as 50 growth rings per inch

Pecky Cypress with unique grooves through out

Our first trip was encouraging, especially considering the fact that we weren’t sure we would come back with anything.  Our primary goal on our next visit to South Carolina is to pull out the pylons that locals have told us are destroying the engine props of boaters unfamiliar with the waters.