⚙️ EPISODE #217: The most fun I have on my shop bandsaw has to be when sawing up unusual local logs for lumber, especially the kind that are rare and have sentimental value. A local apple orchard was cutting down some trees recently and asked if I wanted any of the wood. What could I say…um, yes please! In this episode I saw one open and see what we have, trash or treasure. I also share a few tips and techniques along the way if you should decide to do a little workshop saw-milling yourself! (Closed captions)
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LIVE EVENTS are filmed in the shop of Tom McLaughlin, host of TV's Classic Woodworking and Shop Night Live. Tom loves to pass on the craft of woodworking by creating projects to present in live video form backed by his over 30-years of experience making fine custom furniture.
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Tommy, as usual you didn't disappoint me. Very nice job on cutting the log and stabbing it. As pretty of a wood maybe make some veneer. Cutting thinner to yield more. I can imagine a mirror pieces on the front of a door. The idea are just screaming out try this. Very impressive, I've enjoyed watching you on PBS when you were younger and I thought what a bumb. Well that ɓumb blossomed to be a class act to follow and I am so glad to see where you are and what a pro on top of it. Thank you Tommy, we will watch more often.
Hey Nelson, thanks for your kind comments. However, I wonder if you're confusing me with Tommy MacDonald who hosted Rough Cut for several years. I had the honor of being a guest on his show several times so when he decided to move on, they offered me the chance to take on the hosting. You can still view those episodes under the name of Classic Woodworking on PBS, as well as Amazon Prime. Or if you're an Unlimited Member of Fine Woodworking, they are available to view on their site as well. Thanks for watching!
Made the top of a stool for my daughter from an apple tree that fell in the backyard. The wood is so pretty! I just discovered your channel. Thank you for your teaching.
Hi, Tom! Good to see you here!
When i was a kid, i grew up in Minnesota, and i remember Apple tree's growing wild up there.
I started using a cordless power plane to get one side mostly flat because bark & dirt do a job on my jointer blades. Then I have cheesy home made osb band saw sled to square up a second edge. After each slice I usually joint the face. For wetter wood I sticker the small slabs together and clamp/ bind it or zip tie it for drying. Mostly cherry, white oak, and salted maple to make gadgets, toys or small projects like napkin holders etc. btw Your apple wood looks great!!
I must remember the Pith and this project. Thanks.
Thank for this very good information. I also have a lot of Appletree Brenches and will use it for some good boards. I fell it this year, And made thick boards out of the trunk with the chainsaw. From the thicker branch parts, I will now implement what you have just shown in the store. 👍🏽👍🏽
👍 It’s is challenging wood to dry, about half of what I cut went quite a bit out of flat. Not great for large pieces but certainly for smaller. Was used a lot for tool handles and smaller kitchen utensils and turnings…hard with nice color. Thanks for watching! 😎
Great, I'll take your approach for re-sawing to the "Bank", quick, easy and safe. THANK YOU! Also, it might be worth mentioning or suggesting an approach for further drying that very wet newly milled wood. I had a piece of aspen that I picked up from a neighbors trash, I live in Colorado so aspen is plentiful. So I painted the ends and waited a bit before re-sawing. My re-sawing was executed with some "standing on my head approach" so once again THANKS for your truly simple and safe approach. I am believing the video was more motivated by you wanting to teach a "Rare" re-sawing approach and the free wood was a great excuse to teach "safe & simple" re-sawing. More about my "standing on my head" effort. Once the aspen was cut into planks it was still very wet, so I layered the planks with stickers to allow for air circulation and clamped the stack to a flat work top secured with clamps and cauls. In a month or so the wood was perfectly dry and it stayed reasonably flat with no checking. Don't know what you did but I imagine those apple planks will twist and bend as they dry. But if you are just making small 3 or 4 inch diameter coasters the twisting and bending might not matter. But if you want to make something that really shows off the apple wood, keeping them flat with stickers, cauls and clamps will make a huge difference.
Thanks Bill! You are so right, the Apple certainly has moved a lot since I cut it up. There are some nice smaller sections though…I can see why I’ve only heard of it used for tool handles and kitchen utensils! Will be fun to do some smaller things with it when it’s seasoned. Great reminder to stick and stack it too, thanks for watching! 👍😎
I would never ever turn down any fruit or nut tree wood. To me they are some of the best looking woods there are. Fun video!
Nice technique. Apple is a great wood for the lathe.
Yes, I have to try some on the lathe for sure! 👍😎
Beautiful color! I try to remember to draw a triangle on one butt end to keep track of the board order when I’m sawing. This helps a lot down the road after they have been flipped around and turned over.
Yes, great practice to keep em organized! 👍
Great shop nite liveTom. I never knew that Apple wood was that strikingly beautiful. Hoping to get into the veneering course as well. I even got a vacuum press so hoping to learn some things! Thanks as always for the excellent content.
Awesome, so glad you enjoyed it! Yes, I was surprised how nice it looked too…I’m guessing it will look spectacular after drying and with some oil varnish! Hope you have fun in the veneering course, and remember to use the affiliate40 code 😎 Thanks! 👍
@@EpicWoodworkingthanks Tom. I unfortunately missed the chance for the discount but hope to still get into the class. Looking forward to it.
@@victoryak86Discount still going on. They told us they extended it another week so give a go! Details: epicwoodworking.com/fwwcourse
@@EpicWoodworking oh that’s fantastic! I’ll get on that. I’ve got to renew my subscription with FW anyway. Thanks for letting me know.
That rules me out, it is New Years Eve. Happy New Year all.
Very good! Well cut wood.
Interesting and very informative. Thanks Tom!
Thank you! 👍
I've learned a lot of log milling techniques by watching some of the sawmill videos. @Hobby Hardwood Alabama Sawmill is a great example.
Thanks Paul, I’ll check that out! 👍😎
I use a hatchet to make one flat (ish) side, which is the bottom. If needed I clean that up with an electric hand planer. Apple is, indeed inlined toward checking.
I have some Holly, Bradford Pear and Sweet Gum like that. Good info with the how to.
I resawed some gorgeous pieces from my Plum tree that died forcing me to cut it down. They are a pretty small tree so I couldn't get a lot out of it but the colors are wonderful. It is also a very dense wood and doesn't plane the best due to the change of grain directions.
Applewood is excellent for carving spoons!
Yes, so I’ve heard…I have a few that are bent perfectly to make nice strong ladles! One of these days I may revisit these logs on an episode and show how sweet an applewood spoon can be…if I don’t mess it up! Thanks for watching 👍😎
Old timers used a chalk line to establish that 1st straight cut.
According to Roy Underhill, they used Apple wood to make handsaw handles.
Bandsaws seem to be going out of style. I am keeping mine for stuff just like this. Several decades ago one of the apples at the Farm (Dad's home) split in half. I took the fallen part and sliced up boards, plates and turning squares. Made something for my folks and all my siblings from the apple wood. Apple is hard. Works a lot like cherry (surprise! Fruit wood works like fruit wood!). Sharp blades/bits are a must. Beautiful color...almost like an auburn chestnut color. Even made a couple pipes from apple...just be sure to properly break in the bowl!
Thanks for all of your content, I've really enjoyed the Epic Woodworking channel. Wanted to say that I'm seeing a fair amount of sparks coming of the guide bearings on your band saw. Just fyi. all the best.
... and that is some "gorgeous color" !
Thanks Aaron, I’m glad to have you here! I love doing this, it’s been a great road to travel and for some reason never gets old 😎. And yes, the sparks were from the “push bearing” being a little closer than necessary, the guides on this Felder bandsaw are made of ceramic, so not uncommon to see a few harmless sparks now and then…especially harmless when sawing such wet wood! Thanks for watching! 👍😎
Living in a county that is the 3rd largest apple producer in the US I have no shortage of apple wood for woodcraft. As a woodturner I stay away from this species as it moves A LOT during the drying process, as well as checking and cracking. I would love an update in a few months to see how well the thinner stock dries. Great video and best wishes
Thank you, and yes, what I cut has as you said has moved a lot…and cracking! But you are left with smaller sections that look good and have potential. I’ll come back to it sometime in 2024, will be fun to see what “smaller items” we can make out of it, and try some finishing too. Thanks for watching! 👍😎
Disston used apple to make handsaw handles
Oh wow, that’s interesting! Have you seen that written about somewhere, I’d love to learn more. Thanks for watching! 👍😎
And it was the best feel in the hand. I like to have some on hand to repair broken horns on fleamarket saws
Thank you for showing this technique as it is so much easier than creating the other type of jigs as you say. Stupid question but the bending plywood-I assume if I get thin enough ones, I can duplicate that effect? Also, I appreciate your wife/producer in how she relates timely questions both from viewers and herself, so that we can absorb better in real time. I really appreciate what you show us on these shows. Thank you
Thank you, it is our pleasure to share this part of our lives and be creative along side you…virtually at least. I meant to mention other types of things plywood should work just about as well, thin and flexible enough to take the shape but not too thin as to offer shaky support. Thanks for watching and being with us! 👍😎
Apple is great for turning from what you can salvage out of a log like small chunky pieces as it's very unstable, as you've done discard the pith.
Thanks
I had a bunch of birch rounds and used heavy paint on the ends… three years later it’s all firewood because of the checking.
Wow. So many words, so little action.
Our content is recorded live. Try listening at 1.5 playback speed. But if it’s not for you, no hard feelings.
Great class
Thanks Carl! 👍
Tom, that's a cool technique using that flexy plywood. I've always heard that drying time for green wood is typically a year for each inch of thickness. That being said, how long will you wait to use these pieces and will you just sticker them for air-drying? Thanks~!!
Drying hardwood is nearby 1 year / cm (1/2 inch) and 6 month for soft wood. When your hardwood board is 5 cm and more it will take much more time. At both end you should put some paint
What do you do for drying the boards now that they are cut down? It was a bit of an eye-opener to realize that it isn't very practical to mill up a log that would yield boards for larger projects. But still, a lot of fun.
See my comment, it points out and experience I had with re-sawing and drying wet free wood.
यूपी उत्तराखंड में ब्लैक वुड उपलब्ध है
I missed the live stream, and wanted to ask you about a "small" log that I want to mill on my bandsaw. The log is from a large bush that used to be in my front yard, and my Mom LOVED it. I believe it's from the ceder family, and incredibly hard wood. It's about four feet in length, 12 -15 inches in diameter at the base, and about 8 to 10 inches in diameter at the top of the log. The root ball is still on it, and I'm thinking about cutting that off with a chainsaw, and turning that part on the lathe, but because of the tapering diameter, I am stumped (no pun intended) on how to safely mill it on my bandsaw, or if I should just bring it to a mill that has a bandsaw mill to be cut down?? I have never done any resawing. I really do not want to harm the lumber with screws like you did here because, I don't have much lumber to gain from this log. In answer to preventing rust on a blade after cutting wet wood, soak a paper towel in WD40, the WD stands for Water Displacement, and the 40 is just the 40th recipe they tried to get to their final product. Whatever tool you are using, completely expose the blade, if a bandsaw, open the doors, rotate the wheels by hand, gently applying the WD40 to the blade. Let the WD40 sit on the blade overnight, and wipe it clean the next day.
That sounds like a great chunk of wood, and the special meaning makes it all the better. I’m curious to know the species. I remember having holly bushes in our front yard in NC, but very nothing close to the size log you have there. I think given how you described the whole situation, it would make sense to see if you can find someone to help you out with it. You could ask a bandsaw mill guy for his advice. Those mills may require it to be over a certain length to be able to cut it. Hope that helps a little bit. Thanks for watching! Oh, and thank you for the great tip with the WD40! 👍👍😎
You can safely cut your wood on the band saw with out screws or nails if you have a miter slot. Build a flat sled with guide runner in miter slot - attach over head clamp dogs to your sled to hold your log. The big ? is: do you need the full length for intended project? Shorter pieces are easer to handle and results will be more rewarding. Good luck on your project!
I trimmed my neighbor's neglected Apple tree last fall 2022 for him as he was building the foundation for his house. Since no one had trimmed the tree in decades, there were some larger and longer sections. After I was finished cutting it, it dawned on me to take a few logs and slab them. It does smell like rotten apples, so I stickered and stacked it under my bay window outside and leaned a board up against it to keep the snow from blowing in on it during the Michigan winter. This spring I put it in the garage until summer, then down in the basement to give it it's first session of planning and a month rest. Eventually I got around to thickness planning it and thought my blades were dull as it tripped my circuit breaker and was burning the wood. Eventually I got it to the point where I was just skimming the smallest amounts off. I made a 4"x10"x3" wooden match stick box with a sliding top and a striking sheet that slips into an office cabinet label holder. It turn out beautiful and a real surprise house warming gift. He built a huge pizza oven inside his pizza parlor room (Sicilian) so the gift will definitely be used. I told myself I needed to get over the labor pains before using up some of the remaining wood that didn't check, but I like the coaster idea and that could be done very quickly. Thanks
Thanks Bob, that’s a great story! You have more experience dealing with it than me, interesting how similar our observations…especially the smell! 😎 I plan to get back to the orchard and grab a few more pieces, but I have to control myself so much wood, so little time and room for it. 👀 I’m interested to hear how the coaster making turns out for you if you make a few. By the way, I did a Shop Night Live video on how I made them and the link is in the description. Thanks for sharing your experience…and for watching! 👍😎
Tom, save the cutoffs and use them to smoke some salmon or other fish on the grill. Soak the pieces and put them in a metal pan so they smoke and don't burn. Great for the salmon. I save my trimmings from the apple trees for that.
I ate half the hamburgers
Please please get to the point sooner. You,re killing me
Click bait! Apple is hardly a rare wood nor is it particularly beautiful. Mostly it is rather plain. Also it warps and twists a lot so not a good wood for woodworkers.
I guess you’re right in a way, but I’m not trying to trick you. I was thinking of “rare” in the sense that you don’t see it much as it’s not commercially available due to the nature of most of the trees. It does appear to be difficult to dry and get quality material as you say, but I am seeing some very nice color. It is quite hard, and was used in the past to make saw handles and spoons. Better for smaller projects for sure. 👍
Cannonfodder, The main point is about how to mill unusual or lesser used logs. Have you even watched this? The wood is beautiful but challenging which is also part of the point. No one said it was easy so maybe try not to being so dismissive and glib. It is often used for smaller projects such as spoons, coasters and similar utensils some of which are mentioned here.
Too much bullshit
Please point us to your KZhead channel. I want to learn something from a smart A😂