rip & plane before seasoning

[Woodworks]

I'm going to say no and go against what everyone else has said, not to be argumentative I just think you may be lessening your chances of getting decent timber out of your stack.

 

For one until fully dry you can not predict where all the defects in the board may be. You cut to rough sizes you lose the ability to cut around surface shakes, checking and other defects. You can put weight on the top of the cut pieces but what is to stop the smaller individual components warping and cupping laterally? While still in board for the whole board remains more stable.

 

Also cutting to smaller pieces may cause the timber to dry too quickly, once again causing defects. Hardwood is generally dried in plank form before further processing for a reason, because it remains more stable. Even dry timber can banana horribly off the rip saw.....

 

 

 

Be patient and find somewhere to stack the timber out the way where you can forget about it until it is dry and ready.

 

Only my thoughts........

 

[Peat]

For one until fully dry you can not predict where all the defects in the board may be. You cut to rough sizes you lose the ability to cut around surface shakes, checking and other defects. You can put weight on the top of the cut pieces but what is to stop the smaller individual components warping and cupping laterally? While still in board for the whole board remains more stable.

 

Also cutting to smaller pieces may cause the timber to dry too quickly, once again causing defects. Hardwood is generally dried in plank form before further processing for a reason, because it remains more stable. Even dry timber can banana horribly off the rip saw.....

 

I was wondering about this. Planning on milling up some dimensioned timber with my alaskan - 4x2"s, that sort of thing out of Ash. But my experience of Ash is that its very liable to move, often with boards tearing themselves in half. I can easily see an Ash 4x2" banana-ing beyond being usable. Do you think it'd be a safer bet milling through and through and then ripping it after a couple of years drying?

[Stompy]

I was wondering about this. Planning on milling up some dimensioned timber with my alaskan - 4x2"s, that sort of thing out of Ash. But my experience of Ash is that its very liable to move, often with boards tearing themselves in half. I can easily see an Ash 4x2" banana-ing beyond being usable. Do you think it'd be a safer bet milling through and through and then ripping it after a couple of years drying?

 

I'd do exactly that but I am no expert miller. Ash can move somewhat, not as badly as say, Elm, but still there are some internal tensions.

 

Mill it into planks, let it dry then rip down to the size you need. Even after a year a 2" slab of Ash will be a lot more stable than when freshly cut and less likely to move quite as much

 

I'm sure the experts will be along shortly

[agg221]

If the log was through and through sawn and the boards are over double the required width you won't lose much by ripping dead up the middle. This is where it will distort or crack most anyway so it will take the stresses out and reduce this tendency.

 

Alec