Dimensions to mill my lumber?

Started by CabinNick, June 11, 2017, 10:17:02 AM

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CabinNick

I have a mobile sawmill (Woodmizer LT40 with hydraulics) showing up in two weekends to mill logs that I have decked at our property.  About 70% of it is pine but also have Douglas fir, white fir and tamarack mixed in. 

I am building our cabin to code and through the permitting/inspection process so I will only be able to use the wood for non-structural needs.  My plan is to use the pine primarily for board and batten siding and interior paneling.  I plan on using a bench top planer and router to plane the interior boards as ship lap or tongue and groove. I realize this is going to be a lot of work verses just buying it but I like the idea of having the interior walls made from our own trees. 

Questions:

1)  I would like to mill the siding and the interior paneling to the same thickness so we don't have to switch back and forth between two board thicknesses.  I was thinking of milling the boards 1" thick.  This would give me siding that is 7/8" thick and interior paneling that is about 3/4" or 5/8" thick after planing.  Good idea?  Or should I mill the siding a little thicker and the interior boards a little thinner? 

2) I know ponderosa pine makes good siding and paneling.  I have a fair amount of Douglas fir.  Does Doug fir make suitable board and batten siding as well or should I stick with pine? 

We are in dry Eastern Oregon if that makes any difference. 

Thanks for the help. 

glenn kangiser

What you have proposed sounds good. I prefer making my boards similar to purchased boards to use interchangeably.

Note that a 12 inch wide board will shrink in width to nearly 11 inches when dry. I assume about 7/8 per foot of width.  :)
"Always work from the general to the specific." J. Raabe

Glenn's Underground Cabin  http://countryplans.com/smf/index.php?topic=151.0

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NathanS

Doug fir is rot resitant, it's also about the strongest framing lumber there is. If you have clear grained stuff it might be worth talking to the code guys about using it for the floor or roof.

Also know of a company that makes high end Windows out of it, so it's pretty great for just about anything, I think.

Tamarack also has good rot resistance.

Nice thing about leaving it 1" is if you decide to plane it you'll still be at 3 /4.

5/4 stock to make stair treads too. Though you would need a few years of air drying

akwoodchuck

Sounds fun...my $.02 is to only use kiln- dried lumber for interiors...I've seen green rough cut panelling with seams you could throw a cat through after they dried fully...not a pretty sight.. ..
"The lyf so short, the craft so long to lerne."

Don_P

I'd keep it simple and saw it all 4/4. I agree with not using it green. Air dried works though. Dry it for the rest of this year under shelter and then dry it through a winter in a heated building and it'll be at the in service moisture content. I've done quite a bit of hardwood T&G paneling using wood I've sawn, dried and milled. Hardwoods typically shrink more than softwoods, this should work fine. For an entire house keep an eye on craigslist for a 15" planer. One went here yesterday for $450, of course my buddy just missed it.


CabinNick

Thanks for all the advice.  My plan is to air dry the lumber.  I have plenty of time since I am a little less than two years away from starting my build.  I am going to sticker it and air dry it out in the woods all summer/fall this year and then probably move it all into my shop or a friend's barn for the second summer before I plane it over the winter. 

I was going to make most of it into 1x10,8,6, and 4's for siding, trim, and paneling.  Then some 2x6 DF for the outdoor deck, posts and railing material for the interior stairs and outdoor deck, and then a handful 6x6 posts for the roof over the deck.  Any other non-structural things I should be thinking about?

I also salvaged several thousand board feet of specialty wood from a semi-truck accident on the interstate.  All kiln dried ponderosa pine - 13' x 2" x 3", 48" x 2" x 10" glue edged boards (looks like butcher block - made with 1" wide strips) and 7' x 1 1/2" x 5" finger jointed pine.  There is not a single knot, warp or blemish on the entire lot.  Not sure what I am going to do with all of that yet but it is really nice wood that was supposed to be used for making doors and windows.  Not bad for free! The salvage yard was going to burn it all....

ChugiakTinkerer

Have you read through Erik's build thread?  He cut and milled some siding for his cabin, here: http://countryplans.com/smf/index.php?topic=7672.msg185446#msg185446
My cabin build thread: Alaskan remote 16x28 1.5 story

OlJarhead

Congrats on the mill!

You can use lumber you mill for construction purposes but will probably need to have it stamped (some states do not require it but OR probbly does).

I mill 1/8" over dimensional specs for drying and mill full depth unless asked otherwise.  So a 1x12 will be 7/8" thick and 12" wide.  This allows 1/8" for drying on thickness and depth doesn't really matter but I find I don't lose nearly what you expect on widths -- with ponderosa I lose less than 1/8"


CabinNick

Thanks.  Yes, Erik's thread is what ultimately made me decide to mill/finish my own interior paneling.  Looks like a lot of work, but rewarding to use  your own wood.  The mill is coming on the 24th; I will post some pics on my build thread once the sawdust settles. 


OlJarhead

Quote from: CabinNick on June 12, 2017, 08:09:23 PM
Thanks.  Yes, Erik's thread is what ultimately made me decide to mill/finish my own interior paneling.  Looks like a lot of work, but rewarding to use  your own wood.  The mill is coming on the 24th; I will post some pics on my build thread once the sawdust settles.

On a side note I milled my interior paneling at 3/4" to leave 5/8" dry.  I then planed to 1/2" (both sides) and made the T&G -- it's not as much work as it sounds ;) but does take longer.  however, the cost savings are rather large ;)  Paid for my first mill that way really.

NathanS

Quote from: OlJarhead on June 12, 2017, 09:05:17 PM
On a side note I milled my interior paneling at 3/4" to leave 5/8" dry.  I then planed to 1/2" (both sides) and made the T&G -- it's not as much work as it sounds ;) but does take longer.  however, the cost savings are rather large ;)  Paid for my first mill that way really.

Not to derail the thread,. But we have a lot of 18-32" dbh white Ash on our property that are starting to die from emerald Ash borer. I have seriously been thinking of buying a small mill, but we can't wait 3 years for it to dry to do the cabinets, stairs, finishes etc. I'm really considering to do it anyway and just save the wood.

OlJarhead

3 years seems a long time.  I'd do some checking on that as I dry Ponderosa and Doug Fir in 8 weeks though it's a lot drier here I suppose.  Check out forestryforum and ask there what a reasonable time is.

CabinNick

NathanS - do some checking around in your area, you could probably find someone to kiln dry your self cut ash lumber. 


Don_P

If you air dry it through one summer and bring it indoors into a heated room in the winter, stickered, it will be ready by the end of the winter.