Curious if any body does this. I'm looking at the possiblity of starting to turn some pot calls and possibly some duck calls. Mostly plan on hacking around until I can retire and get serious but that's at least a decade out.
Any how, we have a good stand of ash on our property along with birch, some cedar, maple, and pin oak. My yard at home has some black walnut around the perimeter. There is also a white oak that was hit by lighting about 20yrs ago that has some smaller burls on it. One looks like it has some good nodules on /in it. My question for anyone who may cut thier own trees is what size trees are you looking for and do you normally want the heartwood or does it matter.
How do you cut the tree up after it's on the ground? Are you looking for intersections of branches to the trunk? I'm looking to get a stock pile of wood drying for when I can get serious after retirement. I would think I could cherry pick the best and the rest will fuel the fire place.
Thanks for any info you can give.
1st off, find yourself a local saw mill. Once you have a tree down, take sections of 6 to 8 ft to him and have him slab it live edge. I have mine slabbed around 2 1/4 in. Which gives me ample enough for final milling to dimensions I use. The larger the diameter the better. After it's slabbed, your gonna need a place to stack and dry it. Don't forget to seal the ends with anchor seal. I stack using spacers and set a fan a few ft away. I do this in my garage and basement which is air conditioned. Which helps because of lower humidity. It will take months to dry. If you want it dry sooner, ask your saw mill if he's got a kiln. Get a quality moisture meter to monitor its progress. Personally, I find it's better to just rummage around his stock and get material that is useful to me, rather than take up space in my garage. But it's all up to you. But I'm guilty of it too. It's a sickness. I'm still working up some Ash from over a year ago.
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Thanks for the reply Mastevt. I thought about what you've recommended as there used to be a small mill near the cabin. I'm not sure the old guy is still working. I'm not in a hurry to get wood dried. Probably gonna be a few years before I can get serious. Just looking to get a stockpile of different woods going. All the better if I can get from our property. If I were took cut out specific sections of the tree and cut them up with a band saw and or table saw what should I be looking for or is it cut open and see what the grain looks like.
When you sent your wood to get slabbed are there certain things you look for when deciding what to send. Also are there things you look for other than burls before you cut them down?
I think a small woodshop is in my future. All my other space is taken at the moment.
Thanks again for your time.
Look into the different cuts of wood, and you'll begin to understand more on the Grain. Like quarter sawn. Certain species of wood look better quarter sawn than straight cut, especially oak and Cherry in my opinion. Crotch wood also tends to produce more figure. Myself, I'm into more of the Spaulted stuff. Primarily because I like to stabilize the wood. That's a whole nother subject to get into. Fun and addictive as much as making calls. If you slab and can retain a bit of sap wood in your final blank, that's a plus. Contrast makes great character. The pics below show the figure I talked about and the Spaulting I like. (https://uploads.tapatalk-cdn.com/20220330/ff4df46d07dd08824a53ec033aeef9b3.jpg)(https://uploads.tapatalk-cdn.com/20220330/2cdafbb629038b432c488283b55da126.jpg)
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Very nice. Are you getting those colors by adding dye during the stabilizing process? Like the blue pot. Did you fill the spaulting with and epoxy then stabilize with dyed cactus juice or something? Looks like possibly the red Stryker too?
The color is achieved by adding dye to the stabilizing fluid. I've got 9 gallons in different colors, plus clear. The spaulted pot was done in clear.
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Quote from: mastevt on March 29, 2022, 10:18:56 PM
Look into the different cuts of wood, and you'll begin to understand more on the Grain. Like quarter sawn. Certain species of wood look better quarter sawn than straight cut, especially oak and Cherry in my opinion. Crotch wood also tends to produce more figure. Myself, I'm into more of the Spaulted stuff. Primarily because I like to stabilize the wood. That's a whole nother subject to get into. Fun and addictive as much as making calls. If you slab and can retain a bit of sap wood in your final blank, that's a plus. Contrast makes great character. The pics below show the figure I talked about and the Spaulting I like. (https://uploads.tapatalk-cdn.com/20220330/ff4df46d07dd08824a53ec033aeef9b3.jpg)(https://uploads.tapatalk-cdn.com/20220330/2cdafbb629038b432c488283b55da126.jpg)
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How things have changed in a matter of days. I've been sitting on a chunk of money for a new garage watching it lose its value over the last 1 1/2 years waiting for lumber prices to come down. I've decided to take the money and buy a portable sawmill and cut my own lumber for the garage, future woodshop, and other projects that are in the works. I've got it narrowed down to 2 mills at this point. A Woodlands HM126 or Frontier OS27. Both are comparable but leaning towards the Frontier because of it's electric start option. Should be pulling the trigger sometime this week after a little more research so I guess I'll be learning a lot more about woodgrain and how to cut it in the near future.
Cut a sweet(red) gum down in the yard that made some jam up pots!
Stabilized also. I don't see how I'd ever build enough calls to justify going into milling. My gum was processed with an alaskan mill and my bandsaw....never again ;)
That Sweet Gum looks awesome!
It sure does.
The mill will be for lumber, lap siding, and tongue and groove for a myriad of project in the works. Brother is in the process of finalizing the start of a house build as well. The lumber won't be ready in time for the house if he sticks to the plan but should have plenty for his detached garage. I think he might be planning on some hardwood flooring now.
Should be plenty of wood processing going on in the next few years to allow for cherry picking wood and have a good stash for when I can get serious about making calls when I retire in at the least 10 years.
I guess the 1st project will be a storage shed for the fresh cut lumber to dry in.
Well now you're talkn!
They're not Turkey Calls, but some Owl Hooters for locating turkeys. Made from an Ash tree I cut down in my front yard 1 1/2 years ago.(https://uploads.tapatalk-cdn.com/20220407/010824de37412a37324a193dd0ff874a.jpg)
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Very nice!
Does anyone do this for box calls? Ive got a tone of old growth cedar and some ash on a piece i have. Would.ljme to have wood ready in a few years. What size thickness should I mill for future call making?
Have been cutting trees and milling them for 12 years. I like to cut 9 qts or 2.25"rough. Have a few thousand bf on hand for box calls. Same plan as OP. Have enough forever. I get alot of yard trees that logger friends don't want to mess with.
If you have the means to cut and haul, find a logger and tell them what you are after.
Well, the mill showed up beginning of June. I went with a Woodland Mills HM126 Woodlander capable of handling 16'11" logs with a 26" diameter. I've had just over 16' on it so far.
Pretty pleased with the mill. The shipping not so much! Some hack forklift operator decided to punch a few holes in my boxes. Ended up bending one of the track rails so the assembly was put off for about 2 weeks until a new one could be shipped out. He also dented the gas tank and the flywheel cover on the engine. Everything runs fine and the tank doesn't leak so I decided to grin and bear it.
Finally got the mill up and running for the July 4th weekend. Been going after a few quaking aspens that came down in the wind last fall and this spring. The Mill cuts them like butter. I'll use this lumber for a wood drying shelter and storage of the mill when not in use. It's the most abundant tree on our property. Not the best for construction lumber but good enough for an out building.
I've got and integrated trailer system with log ramps and a hand wench to get the logs on the bed if the mill. The trailer system allows me to pull the the mill to the fell sight of the tree/trees with our ranger SxS. Our land is pretty flat and it only takes about 10 minutes to level the mill with 6 Jack stands.
I've got 5 - 10' post and a number of 2x8's ready to go in the pile of lumber in the pic. I've got 2 piles going. The second 16' pile isn't in the pic. Got some 5' - 4x4's and about 100 1x2 stickers for the drying stacks cut up with the mill. I'm not worried about sticker stain for the aspen and they should be plenty dry by the time I start stacking better quality lumber. 3 more posts and I'll be able to start construction on the shelter.
Once the shelter is complete I got my eye one a few ash trees for future call making. I've also spied a number of pines that will becoming down for a garage and miscellaneous lumber. We've also got a number of suger maple on the property and some white and red oak mixed in. Possible hard wood flooring, trim boards, and of course call wood from the oak. Not sure about the maple for calls as I've read it's pretty finicky when it comes to moisture.
I've got a lap siding attachment for the mill and have been reading the aspen makes decent siding if you coat it with a primer and acrylic latex paint. Over 10 years in Wisconsin and still in great shape when the study ended. I think it will do just fine for an exterior covering the of the future wood shop.
All in all I'm very happy. It's a little bit of work but it's keeping me a in shape for duck season this fall and of course turkeys next spring.
I don't build calls , but saw a lot of lumber. One of the best toys I've ever bought
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Quote from: Chuck1443 on July 27, 2022, 08:59:56 PM
I don't build calls , but saw a lot of lumber. One of the best toys I've ever bought
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It's been pretty interesting so far. Been seeing some pretty.cool looking grain patterns in the aspen I've been sawing. 2 more 10' 6x6's and I can get to work on the shelter.
Quote from: Paulmyr on July 31, 2022, 09:19:43 PM
Quote from: Chuck1443 on July 27, 2022, 08:59:56 PM
I don't build calls , but saw a lot of lumber. One of the best toys I've ever bought
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It's been pretty interesting so far. Been seeing some pretty.cool looking grain patterns in the aspen I've been sawing. 2 more 10' 6x6's and I can get to work on the shelter.
I shouldn't call the sawmill a toy . They are are great investment and will pay for itself over and over , if not by sawing for others ,it will by the savings of sawing your own
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I'm promised a piece of this burl when the tree finally falls, I plan to have one spun for me to build a kit call with and will send some to have one made of it as well. Closest I will come.
(https://i.imgur.com/Hm1M7GVl.jpg)
That's one heck of a burl. Looks twice as big underground.
Quote from: Paulmyr on August 21, 2022, 09:23:57 PM
That's one heck of a burl. Looks twice as big underground.
It really is quite impressive in person.
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