From log to workbench journal

[Von]

Let me start with: I'm a hobbyist and this is a learning experience/journey rather than a how-to and is being motivated much by me wanting to take this particular journey rather than what makes most sense (which would probably be buying already dried wood). This series of posts are as likely to demonstrate what not to do as what to do. Caveat emptor. Suggestions welcome.

I've been hoping to build a "real" workbench for a while now to replace my ~25 year old plywood and 2x4s construction which has served me well, but I'm finding too light and shaky as I get more into hand tool work. Honestly though, it's just something I want to do. For plans, I'm using the Wood Whisperer Roubo-style split top workbench (basically two 11" wide 3.5" thick laminated slabs). 

I mentioned I was looking for lumber to a friend and this triggered him thinking about several dead trees he had on his property. He's also a hobbyist and is in the process of finishing his house but has also not done any milling before. He offered me as much of what-we-thought-was-a-hickory tree (more on this ambiguity in a later post) as I wanted if I'd chip in on having a guy come our with a Wood Mizer plus offered to store my wood for "a while" until I figure out where to dry it.

In the following photo, you see "my log." It's a little over 2' in diameter. The tree died last year he thinks and he dropped it recently. My back of the envelope math told me one 8' section should give me 2-3x the wood I needed for the bench. I fell in love with the idea about making a bench starting from a log and getting to take part in the milling (kinda a hobbyist's safari). So I accepted my friends offer and asked for a 8' section. We left the rest of the log intact until a use is found for it. (Discussion on the forum about this...)

Skipping some log logistics (short version: have a neighbor with a tractor), the next image is my log section getting milled (the boards in front came off what is now on the back side of the mill). This was a blast to watch. The hydraulics on the WM (the two doohickeys in the middle between the boards and the log) let the operator rotate the log as well as raise, lower it and brace it, so once the log is rolled on to the machine everything is down by the machine. Very cool engineering.

End view of the mill in action, flattening the second side of the log.

A couple lessons learned during the milling - be prepared by knowing what you want so you can answer questions. The miller and I had a chat before he began and agreed we'd go with plain slabbed boards since I only needed relatively narrow 2x3.5" (for the top and rails) and 2x4" (to laminate for the legs) boards. He offered to do quarter swan but warned it would take a lot longer and I wasn't sure enough of the benefit and didn't want to cut into my friend's milling time - in hindsight I wish I had been more confident on that front. He offered to leave on live edges and I said no. Once he started cutting and got the log squared, he figured out he could do 14" or 11.5" wide boards, and I went with 11.5" since they were lighter and I couldn't see any advantage to having them wider for my use case.

And the result - 11 boards 11.5" wide and 2 1/4" thick. They measure 30% moisture. I figure if all goes perfectly, I will only need four boards for my bench top, one for the legs and one for the rails, so I've got extra (famous last words). Right now the wood is all still sitting as you see it in my friend's shed until I find/make a permanent place for them to dry.

 

 

[wtnhighlander]

Whatever species that turns out to be, its going to make a superb hand-tool workbench. For hand work, mass is everything. 

[Ron Swanson Jr.]

@Von 

I'm popping corn and sitting up, very interested.  Excited to watch this proceed! Very cool, sir!!!

[Mark J]

Those boards look like they'd be quite heavy, even after they dry.

[Von]

On 10/12/2024 at 9:48 AM, Mark J said:

Those boards look like they'd be quite heavy, even after they dry.

I can carry one with effort but prefer a friend helping. The mill operator, with youth and a burley physique on his side, made carrying them look easy.

[Von]

So, the species. My friend thought it was hickory because the ground all around the trunk was littered with hickory nuts. As the miller was doing his thing, he mentioned he thought it was Black Oak. In retrospect wish I had asked him more about his identification.

I had never heard of Black Oak. A little internet research tells me Black Oak is in the Red Oak family. Well, Red Oak I know, so a quick cut on some scrap reveals the following end grain, which certainly looks Red Oak-ish to me with the strong rays and, if you zoom in, open pores. And for the first couple days the wood had a very strong smell - neither pleasant or unpleasant to my nose, I'm sure I've smelled it in some commercial mulches. A strong smell seems to be consistent with freshly milled Red Oak from what I've read online, with people both hating and loving it. Certainly not sweet like hickory samples I've found. The bark is rough, but the furrows are not too deep, which is consistent with other oaks we found.

BTW, my friend and I did go back to where he felled the tree to try and find foliage with no luck. Just too much many other trees and debris around, we weren't able to identify anything as likely from the tree. Since it had been dead a year, we're not even sure it had any foliage on it when it was dropped. We weren't able to find any acorns among the hickory nuts, which would have helped confirm, but since it had been dead a year, hard to draw a conclusion from that.

So I'm thinking I've got something in the Red Oak family. As to distinguishing Black Oak, I still don't really have a clue. As far as I can tell, does it really matter much as they seem to have similar properties.

Clearly I'm ameteuring this and welcome any guidance.

 

 

[Mark J]

@phinds, is very knowledgeable on these matters. See if you can sand some end grain up to 400 grit and post an up close and sharply focused picture.

Were there any other hickory trees in the area to account for the nuts?

[phinds]

It does look like oak, but I'd like to see a cleaner, closer look at the end grain.

As for distinguishing black oak from other red oak LUMBER, it can't be done outside of a very elaborately equipped wood lab and even then might require a very expensive DNA test.

TREES, I am told, CAN be distinguished but I know  nothing about trees other than that they are reputed, possibly correctly, to be the source of lumber. 

[Von]

On 10/14/2024 at 11:02 AM, Mark J said:

@phinds, is very knowledgeable on these matters. See if you can sand some end grain up to 400 grit and post an up close and sharply focused picture.

Will do. I probably need to give it a little time to dry before I can sand it.

On 10/14/2024 at 11:02 AM, Mark J said:

Were there any other hickory trees in the area to account for the nuts?

Yes. The area was a basically moderately dense forrest with a good variety of hickory, oak, beech, cherry, walnut and probably other stuff. We found at least a couple hickory trees nearby to account for the nuts.

 

[Tom King]

Every Oak in this country is either one of many varieties of White Oak or Red Oak.  There are many of each.  Hickory is neither of those.

[wtnhighlander]

Good news is, aside from the open pores being harder to keep clean, oak will probably be much more comfortable than hickory as a workbench. Still strong and hard, but forgiving enough that the mallet won't rebound into your face every time you strike a chisel!

[phinds]

On 10/14/2024 at 6:20 PM, Tom King said:

Every Oak in this country is either one of many varieties of White Oak or Red Oak.  There are many of each.  Hickory is neither of those.

And to further complicate things, with both the red and white groups there are the live oaks.

http://www.hobbithouseinc.com/personal/woodpics/_discussion_theoaks.htm

[Mark J]

Interesting, I'd always wondered why call some oaks "live".

[phinds]

On 10/14/2024 at 9:31 AM, Von said:

My friend thought it was hickory

Von, I should have added above, there's no way this is hickory. The rays are too strong.

[Von]

On 10/14/2024 at 11:02 AM, Mark J said:

@phinds, is very knowledgeable on these matters. See if you can sand some end grain up to 400 grit and post an up close and sharply focused picture.

@phinds End grain sanded to 400 and three photos below. First at 1x, second at 3x, and third at 8x (max on my phone). I welcome any thoughts and suggestions. Thanks in advance.

1x:

3x:  

8x: 

[phinds]

Thanks. Definitely oak.

[Von]

Tried out the new moisture meter today and took some numbers to start baselining again.

First, I noticed while oak is not listed in the manual, it is on the back of the meter. <Shrug>

Reading on the side of the pieces of milled scrap gives me ~11% which I don't believe.

Reading on the end gives me high 20s, which I find much more believable. 

The cherry around my shop comes in around 10-11%

Oddly, I cannot get a reading off a piece of S4S oak from a big box store.

 

[wtnhighlander]

If that box store red oak is the same as my local stores carry, it may as well be thermally modified.

[Von]

Someone pointed me at this video from Lincoln St. Woodworks which I believe is good advice for anyone considering this path.

My goal for this week is to get my wood out of my friend's barn and somewhere more permanent.

He mentioned to me he put a bunch of weight on my wood because he noticed it was starting to cup. I thought I had time to get it to permanent storage before strapping it :-/

[Mark J]

55 minutes ago, Von said:

Someone pointed me at this video from Lincoln St. Woodworks which I believe is good advice for anyone considering this path.

Interesting and entertaining video.  Well produced.  They mentioned that they had created a beginner woodworking class.  I wonder if that might be of interest to @Humberto. 

[Von]

Got the lumber out of my friend's barn and into my storage unit today. First time I've seen the wood since milling and I don't see the cupping my friend mentioned, so either the weight he put on it addressed it or his eye is more sensitive than mine (he wasn't there when I picked it up so I haven't had a chance to chat with him directly). My third strap was too short (somehow it got cut) - I plan to add 1 or 2 more to the two I did get on. Hard to tell from the photos but there is ~4-6" between the lumber and the back and side walls.

I did notice that a board shifted and was pushed up right against its neighbor and some nasty mold spawned where they touched. Not clear to me yet if I need to do anything about this or if now that I've fixed the circulation problem, it will just take care of itself as it dries out. 

Moisture measurements are all over the place, from 20-50% - I'm guessing depending on where the board was in the prior stack. I am a little worried the storage unit doesn't have any ventilation. I plan to drop by ~once a week and open the door for a while to let the air turn over. I might also get a battery-powered (no power in the unit) job site fan to help expedite that.

[Ron Swanson Jr.]

Looks to me, and my complete lack of experience in this area, like you're doing a great job that will yield a lot of usable stock.

[roughsawn]

Air circulation is paramount when drying air dried lumber in a timely manner. It'll dry eventually, it'll just take a whole lot longer.

[Mark J]

Just a guess on my part, but I think it would be better to kill the mold.  

[Tom King]

When it's that green a moisture meter has too much trouble with it.  It's too wet to matter at this point.  I would mist some bleach on that mold.