Cutting up a large log?

[Jon Rista]

I picked up a bunch of wood late last year, from an arborist friend of my parents. He has MOUNTAINS of wood...10-12 feet tall some of them, mountains. He has mostly pine, cottonwood, and a few other native species for Colorado, but he also had some more interesting woods. One was Weeping Willow, and I nabbed a pretty nice sized log of it. It had been drying, oh, quite some time, probably a couple of years...so its got some cracks. I have never cut up a log this large into blanks before...and I am honestly wondering how to proceed. I had hoped to use some of it for a vase, but, I am thinking that might not really be an option with the cracking, and I'd like to get the most out of the wood that is available here, so I am wondering how it could best be diced up.

Dimensions are about ~9-11" D x 31-35" L. It is relatively light weight, so I don't think there is much moisture left, but I can't say that with certainty, there may still be some in the core. One end is a bit angled, the other relatively flat. One side has an area where the bark was torn off before the tree was cut down (not sure how much figure might be in that area, hoping some!)

 

[Kevin Jenness]

Now that's what I call "crappy wood". A small log of stringy wood with heavy end checking, stained sapwood and one face damaged. A challenge to get something good out of, and an opportunity to test your gouge technique.

I would start by cutting back the ends to eliminate major checks. You may end up with a nub. To make a vase of any size you will have to incorporate the pith, which will probably check more unless (posssibly even if) you saturate it with ca glue. You may be able to get some bowl blanks 3-4" x 7-8" or so. There could be some interesting figure around the branch stubs, but they are close enough to the end that they will probably be badly checked. Or, you could turn the entire piece checks and all and fill them with brightly colored plastic. Have at it!

 

[John K Jordan]

I agree it will be a challenge and you might not get much useful wood. I cut up a freshly green weeping willow a storm took down and the wood isn’t great, soft and a little stringy. (but maybe similar or better than cottonwood, I don’t know.)

If your bandsaw will handle 12” you can use it, maybe with a chainsaw to make a flat spot for the bandsaw table or use the plywood method. My video on processing wood with a bandsaw may help. (It’s in the Tutorials/Tips section.) I’ve cut up plenty of log sections that big and bigger.

I’d also start cutting back on the end and see how deep the cracks go. If the visible cracks go away at some point beware of invisible cracks: cut off an additional thin slice, say less than 14”, and see if it breaks apart when bending it a little.

If cracks are deep or all the way down the length, but with a little solid wood between, I’d personally cut it into spindle blanks. You’d have to experiment with turning any pieces you get to decide if it’s worth it. If the wood gets significantly better as you remove the ends, before bandsawing it usually makes it easier to crosscut the log into two or more shorter lengths.

Of course, if you like to turn things with cracks, maybe there will some with enough solid wood to do it safely. No way to know without cutting into it.

Well-established advice is to turn green wood (log sections) as soon as possible after cutting down the tree. Wait too long it often degrades too much to be useful.

 

[Brent@TurnRobust]

Seriously, burn it. Weeping willow doesn't have any real great qualities to begin with. Stringy, and not very attractive. You could make 2 or 3 nice things in the time you'll spend trying to salvage anything from this log. If he has that much wood available, I'm sure you can quickly find many better pieces to work with.

 

[Jaramiah Severns]

Totally agree that this is better off as firewood. My father-in-law recently cut down a weeping willow that he’d planted with my wife when she was young. Thought it would be nice to create a keepsake bowl from one of the logs. What a mistake. Super soft, tear out everywhere no matter how often I sharpened, not a particularly pretty wood…the least fun I’ve had at the lathe in long time.

 

[DON FRANK]

Cut a foot of the end and see if the punk and cracks disappear. If not cut another foot off. There could be a center section that is salvageable but I'd bet against it.

 

[Don Wattenhofer]

I would say firewood except that it isn't any good as firewood.

 

[David Wyke]

My son had a weeping willow come down in a storm a couple months ago. Nice size tree but I had never turned it. Cutting it up green it looked stringy and when I cut some dry limbs it was very stringy. I hauled two dump trailers of it off and decided it wasn’t worth turning. Dumped it at the farm and when it dries out may use it for kindling, I think it would burn like a piece of paper when dry.

 

[hockenbery]

you might be seeing a pattern in the answers.

If you cut 4” off each end you might find a crack free blank in the middle- unlikely - but in a saw cut you get the answers.

Willow in general is tough turn for newbies. It is soft a prone to tearout and fuzzing up it you try scraping it.
A sharp tool and light cuts it can be turned.

Your piece fresh cut might have made a couple of nice NE bowls with interesting rim contours
Looks well past the use by date.

 

[hockenbery]

but he also had some more interesting woods. One was Weeping Willow, and I nabbed a pretty nice sized log of it. It had been drying, oh, quite some time,

Colorado has loads of various nonnative hardwoods planted in communities. Look for fresh cut logs that haven’t dried and cracked.

you might be seeing a pattern in the answers about the willow log.
That blank looks unsafe to turn.

If you cut 4” off each end you might find a crack free blank in the middle- unlikely - but in a saw cut you get the answers.

Willow in general is tough turn for newbies. It is soft and prone to tearout and fuzzing up it you try scraping it.
A sharp gouge and light cuts it can be turned.

Your piece fresh cut might have made a couple of nice NE bowls with interesting rim contours
Looks well past the use by date.

 

[Richard Coers]

As Crocodile Dundee would say, "That's not a large log", THIS is a large log.

 

[Lou Jacobs]

Walking through Scotland on the Great Glen Way, came across this timber yesterday. Think I can get a piece in my carry-on bag?

 

[Jon Rista]

Thanks for the responses. Sounds like the only thing its going to be good for is a decoration. Which I think, is what I'm going to use it for. I will be xeriscaping part of my yard, maybe this year, probably next. I'll toss this in there as a decorative piece. Sounds like that is the only use for it!

 

[Jim Grieco]

You could also try your hand at power carving with this log
On a side note, if you do not know already, cottonwood is a nice wood for bowls and hollow forms

 

[Richard Coers]

You could also try your hand at power carving with this log
On a side note, if you do not know already, cottonwood is a nice wood for bowls and hollow forms

Except for the cow urine smell!

 

[Jon Rista]

You could also try your hand at power carving with this log
On a side note, if you do not know already, cottonwood is a nice wood for bowls and hollow forms

Oh, I don't know if I have the time or patience to carve it.

I do, however, have a lot of cottonwood. The guy with the wood mountains, had a small hill just of cottonwood. I have turned a bunch of it, but I still have plenty left. Some people really hate cottonwood, but I find it turns well, turns fairly easily, and takes on a really nice sheen when finished.

Except for the cow urine smell!

Where are you getting your wood??

I have turned a fair amount of cottonwood, I can't say it ever smelled like anything's urine. Its interesting the things different people smell when turning various woods. On another forum, someone started a thread about, it was either padauk or purpleheart, that smelled like cow manure? Other people chimed in saying the same wood smelled nice or even sweet. People had all their stories about what different woods smelled like...

I've turned some wood, unknown to be perfectly honest, that smelled pretty bad...the poo of some kind of creature. I only got a couple whiffs, as I generally try NOT to smell any wood, wood dust and me don't mix at all, so I'm always wearing a respirator. Still, its interesting how woods can smell good or horrid, depending on the person.

For the most part, when I smell wood, it smells like wood... Its pretty rare that I think wood smells different. I think mostly fruit woods, are where I smell something, and its usually a sweet smell (sometimes semi-similar to the fruit, but often just a sweet smell that is quite different from the smell of the same tree's fruit.) Padauk doesn't smell like anything in particular really, but, its dust causes SEVERE problems for me. Purpleheart sometimes smells slightly pungent, but again, I have a harder time with its dust. Yellowheart has sometimes smelled a little sweet. There are a couple of woods that I think smell, a little putrid? I had some random cutoffs of wood from a bin and I don't know what kind of woods they were...but, given they were cutoffs and who knows where they came from, I honestly wonder if the putridity was natural to the wood....or, perhaps, some other environmental saturation factor that seeped into the wood?

 

[John K Jordan]

its interesting how woods can smell good or horrid, depending on the person.

Everyone I know loves the smell of Sassafras while turning. (Root beer was traditionally made using an extract of Sassafras.)

We have a LOT of Sassafras here, grows like a weed, some trees are tall and trunks 18"+ diameter.
The wood is fairly coarse grain, not as dense as cherry or walnut.
The wood has a nice "ring", sometimes used in guitars and dulcimers; I've made music boxes from Sassafras.

JKJ

 

[Jim Grieco]

Its interesting the things different people smell when turning various woods.

Funny you say this - I swear Bubinga smells like popcorn when cutting/sanding!

 

[Brian Gustin]

Where are you getting your wood??

I'd ask the same of him - but I'd wonder if it was sourced from barnyard trees... some trees can pick up the smells of surrounding environment especially if it is from groundwater - Many years ago when I was a kid, there was a pine tree on our property that was growing in an area where septic system was leaking (near the leach bed) - when it was finally cut down, the whole tree while it was being cut up stank to high heaven, not like any pine you ever smelled...

 

[Jon Rista]

I'd ask the same of him - but I'd wonder if it was sourced from barnyard trees... some trees can pick up the smells of surrounding environment especially if it is from groundwater - Many years ago when I was a kid, there was a pine tree on our property that was growing in an area where septic system was leaking (near the leach bed) - when it was finally cut down, the whole tree while it was being cut up stank to high heaven, not like any pine you ever smelled...

I wonder if ground water is also how the manure smell can get into the wood? A guy over on the IAP forums insisted his wood (pretty sure it was purpleheart) smelled of cow dung. I think I asked if it had been sourced from a manure pile, but, I guess ground water from cow pastures sucked up by the roots, is probably a better explanation.