Worth trying this Beech?

[Arbtech Tree Services]

Dropped this on Friday and would like to have a go on Tuesday. Current set up is 36" Alaskan but have a 72" rail set turning up tomorrow, saw is MS880 with standard 48" bar.

Question is which one to have a go at? Butt is 6'4" diameter and the rot goes about 5' up I think, upper stem next to it is 43" but not sure of all the limbs coming off it.

 

Any thoughts please.

 

 

Regards,

 

Steve.

 

[Treemoose]

Cut the rot off see how much stem is left?

I'd be tempted to quarter saw some of it even with those branch knots and see how it goes.

 

Not done much beech so I'm sure someone with more knowledge will come along.

[gobbypunk]

Hi I would cut the rot off and see what the rest mills like take a couple of cuts to see what its like hopefully you should get some nice figuring/spalting in it

Cheers Happy Christmas Mark

[Arbtech Tree Services]

Thanks both, the customer wants something made of it so have a turner coming to site in the morning to see what's best to take then will carry on ringing up till we get to some decent timber.

 

Regards,

 

Steve.

[Arbtech Tree Services]

Yep, half way along and still soft as cheese...

[gobbypunk]

That but in the photo with the saw on it I would mill that just take 2 cuts and see what you get I bet that looks cool when milled ideal table top

Cheers Mark

[spiral]

For a commercial mill , clearly not worth it, for an money making enthusiast with time to spare that outer 8 to 10 inches of good wood is worth slicing off perhaps all round the tree. {Like American grade sawing.}

 

Could yield a couple of gorgeous figured 2 inch deep, 3ft wide boards from beneath the sap & above the rot on all 4 sides, I would guess?

 

A lot of work for 4 or 5 potentially nice boards, though.

 

But At that size that's probably the most stable prime cut other than quarter sawn?

 

Then just leave the middle to rot away.... it wont take long.

[spiral]

mmm interesting J with crown cuts Ive always thought the larger the trunk, & the flatter the growth rings across the board the better the stability?

 

Its when the growth rings on the outer edges of a crown cut are more perpendicular to the board that that the cupping increases? that's normally the lesser diameter pieces?

 

But you've cut & dealt with 100s of times more beach than I.

 

So where would you say peak stability point on a crown cut is? I know the far outer is no good , nor the inner. {other than quartersawn.}

 

I figured at 8 to ten inches in from the bark, that might be a fairly stable board. {Although of course all beech is horribly unstable stuff.}

 

I was assuming the second length was the one full of c.2ft diameter branch stubbs? to me that visiblr top side at least is firewwod.

 

What I presume is a third length looks more viable if the large branch is cross cut out.

[se7enthdevil]

mmm interesting J with crown cuts Ive always thought the larger the trunk, & the flatter the growth rings across the board the better the stability?

 

Its when the growth rings on the outer edges of a crown cut are more perpendicular to the board that that the cupping increases? that's normally the lesser diameter pieces?

 

But you've cut & dealt with 100s of times more beach than I.

 

So where would you say peak stability point on a crown cut is? I know the far outer is no good , nor the inner. {other than quartersawn.}

 

I figured at 8 to ten inches in from the bark, that might be a fairly stable board. {Although of course all beech is horribly unstable stuff.}

 

I was assuming the second length was the one full of c.2ft diameter branch stubbs? to me that visiblr top side at least is firewwod.

 

What I presume is a third length looks more viable if the large branch is cross cut out.

 

any crown cut board is invariably unstable as it is highly sensitive to radial shrinkage and expansion with the first few boards being the worst affected...

 

nearer the middle of the tree you will still get cupping down the middle of the board so wider boards 25-30" are usually split in to 12-15" widths and then put in a kiln or stacked for air drying.

 

the very middle of the tree can be quarter sawn and will obviously yield the most stable stock.

 

 

 

not all beech is horrible and unstable. it's been used for centuries in furniture and kitchenware and i don't think it deserves the bad reputation it has.

 

i use it for my skittles and as long as its dried correctly it's perfectly good wood. the reason people hate it is that it like to dry very quickly naturally and splits because of this. as long as you control the process you have an excellent material to use.

[spiral]

any crown cut board is invariably unstable as it is highly sensitive to radial shrinkage and expansion with the first few boards being the worst affected...

 

nearer the middle of the tree you will still get cupping down the middle of the board so wider boards 25-30" are usually split in to 12-15" widths and then put in a kiln or stacked for air drying.

 

the very middle of the tree can be quarter sawn and will obviously yield the most stable stock.

 

 

 

not all beech is horrible and unstable. it's been used for centuries in furniture and kitchenware and i don't think it deserves the bad reputation it has.

 

i use it for my skittles and as long as its dried correctly it's perfectly good wood. the reason people hate it is that it like to dry very quickly naturally and splits because of this. as long as you control the process you have an excellent material to use.

 

I understand all that Steve, & agree, just with the exception that Ive seen, the outermost crown boards cup a lot so do the innermost, but it seems to me there is a peak point, on exceptionally large trees where the boards are more stable.

 

At a guess it would be the first outer board of the inner square if one squared the log like a beam first?

 

Its boards were the growth rings are almost equally flat across the end grain of the board but but the opposite of quarter sawn.