I have a chance to harvest my own wood; how do I do it?
Many of the trees and shrubs found around your home can be used in
shipmodeling; any of the fruit woods (apple, cherry, pear, etc.) are
useful, as are some ornamental plants such as boxwood, dogwood,
holly, and hawthorn.
Start by cutting the wood into manageable lengths - 2-3 feet is
reasonable.
Remove all the bark and the cambium layer underneath;
these are havens for grubs which bore tunnels into the wood.
Chisels and a drawknife are handy here.
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| How logs shrink and split.
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| How split slabs shrink.
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Split each piece down the middle - the wood as it dries will
shrink more along the circumference than radially; splitting will help
avoid the
formation of large, radial "tension" cracks. If there is decay at the center (apple
trunks are frequently hollow), remove this as well.
Paint the ends with wax or paint to inhibit moisture loss - this will
reduce end "checking" (this is a good use for those old partial cans of
paint that were saved for touch-up on the house).
If you have different types of wood, mark each piece with the species
so you'll remember what you have when you are ready to begin sawing.
Stack the wood somewhere out of the weather to season; put "stickers"
(1" strips of wood) between the pieces so that air can circulate freely
around the pieces. A good rule of thumb is to allow 1 year per inch of
thickness for air drying.
When thoroughly seasoned, saw the wood into planks or billets; a
bandsaw is useful for this.
Note: seasoning will frequently cause trunks to twist somewhat, and
branches to bend. (Branches have the growth-rings thicker at the bottom
to help support the horizontal limb. These should be slabbed with cuts
along the original vertical orientation; if you cut the other way, the
seasoning slab will cup badly.)
{John O. Kopf}
I can relate to you how I do it. First, the wood must be sawn
into slabs. Next if you do not have access to a kiln, you can do
the following: Starting with a base of some type of wood slats
(stickers) a little longer than the slabs, place a layer of wood
to be dried. Then another layer of stcikers, then another layer
of wood to be dried. Do this until you have all of the wood to
be dried, stacked and layered. This should be done inside. Make
sure (very important) that the stickers are directly beneath each
end of the stack. This is to help prevent the ends from splitting.
Space the stickers at various points along the stack so no
warping or sagging will occur. I then place a weight of some kind
on top of the stack to help prevent warpage. It will take on the
average 3-6 months for the wood to dry. depending on the heat
available. More heat, less time to dry. Checking the stack
periodically is also a good idea. Sometimes the stickers get
moved around, so the ends of the slabs have no support under
them...Regular run of the mill saws will work for modeling
wood. Just be a bit careful when sawing the round pieces into
slabs. Sometimes you get some fun things going on while doing
that....
{Cody Hart}
A large band saw is best for preparing billets for curing.
The logs should be squared by cutting slabs from four sides.
Then, depending how large the logs are, cut billets from 2 to
4 inches thick. Then stack these billets in a staggared fashion,
such that there is an air space around all four sides. This
stack should be indoors, protected from rain, etc., and allowed
to cure for a couple of years. The billet ends should be coated
with protective wax substance to slow down the checking tendancy
of the wood. Once the wood has reached desired dryness, you will
need a thickness sander, table saw, band saw, jointer, depending
on what you want to do. For example, you could cut a thin slab
off a billet with a bandsaw, then run the slab through a
thickness sander, dressing both sides untill desired thickness
is reached, say 1/16" or 3/64". If you run the billet over a
jointer first, you can save a number of passes through the
thickness sander, because one side will be smooth and flat.
Then with small table saw, rip planks to desired width. There
are many ways to arrive at the same end. Unless you are into
woodworking, you can buy custom milled model lumber for a lot
less than the cost of all the machinery, plus the learning curve
on using the machines.
{Phil Krol}
Based on my experiences, I offer the following advice:
- Seal the end grain - butt ends and knot ends
- Get the bark off. It causes problems with insects and drying.
- Get it into billets as soon as possible.
- Do as much quarter sawing as is practical - it does not rack as
much as it dries.
- Use a chain saw if necessary to get the butt to a manageable
thickness.
- A band saw is best for producing billets.
- Round logs are difficult to cut into parallel planes - use
pinch dogs or nails to secure the log to a carrier board - to
slide on the saw table. It also needs a square edge to slide
along the fence. You can sacrifice the carrier to the saw blade
until the metal clamping comes into play.
- The thickness of your raw stock will be dictated by the
clearance of the throat of the saw minus the thickness of the
carrier board.
Wet apple is prone to fungus attack and will split badly as
well as end check - I recommend a thickness of 1 inch max on
billets. The longer you wait the less usable wood. Properly
stacked, 1 inch should be ready to use in a year.
{Dean Warden}
Also check out the Nautical Research Guild's Article
YOUR OWN LUMBER MILL FOR SHIP MODEL BUILDERS.
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