Official Luthiers Forum!

Hello All,

Need a little advise on billet cutting. I just cleared a lot for a house I’m building, and we cut down
a Red Oak common to the North Georgia mountain area. The log is about 30" in diameter by 8' 6",
and is straight, with no knots. I was going to just cut it into lumber, then I thought why not try a
few billets. I know it’s not going to be as tight grained as your more northern species, but, what
the heck! Got nothing to lose! One draw back here, as some you already know, this is not the best
time of year to cut trees for lumber. The sap is up, but, I had little choice as to when I could cut it
down. I’m thinking, its still worth a shot!

Questions;

1. What dimensions should I cut the billets for sides & backs?

2. How long to air dry before slicing to rough thickness?

3. Should I kiln dry, or air dry?

4. Should the butt ends be sealed?

5. Most importantly, what is the best way to achieve a well quartered billet?

Maybe to many questions, sorry

Robert

_________________
Everything has beauty, But, not everyone see's it!

It depends on what type of wood you are cutting and what kind of mill you will be using Robert.

THIS   is a pretty good link to how to quarter saw logs into billets (or boards) using a band mill such as a woodmizer.

The best method is to buck the log into 2 or 3 ft long chunks and then split the chunks so that each split piece starts from the pith (center) of the log and goes straight outward toward the bark. This will produce triangle shaped billets that can be stacked and dried until you are ready to resaw them into useable boards.  This method of quartering logs will produce little, if any, runout.

Hope this helps!

_________________
Reguards,

Ken H

[QUOTE=robertD]Hello All,

Questions;

1. What dimensions should I cut the billets for sides & backs?

2. How long to air dry before slicing to rough thickness?

3. Should I kiln dry, or air dry?

4. Should the butt ends be sealed?

5. Most importantly, what is the best way to achieve a well quartered billet?

Maybe to many questions, sorry

Robert[/QUOTE]

Qnswers:

1. For back and sides, I would suggest bucking the log into 36" long sections for your side materials and 24" sections for your back materials. Of course it is always easier just to buck it all  into 36" sections and resaw what you want later.

2. At least a year under perfect conditions. Longer is always better as long as your wood can get proper air circulation through the stack.

3. Air drying is always better for instrument woods.

4. yes. this will help to prevent the wood from end checking. I reccomend using anchorseal for this.  It is really inexpensive and they will ship it right to your door.

5. I answered this in my last post.

Hope this helps!

Ken

_________________
Reguards,

Ken H

Hi Ken,

Thanks for your help!

Actually, I was hoping you would chime in. I know you own a couple of saw mills, and I thought
you might have tried this yourself a time or two.

As far as, the type of mill, I have a good friend that owns a portable band saw mill. He’s cut a lot
of board feet for me over the past 5 years or so. He’s very knowledgeable in the art of sawing logs,
but, he and I talked about this before, and he said to me, that he doesn’t know a lot about cutting
for instruments. He told me to find out how, and he’d be happy to do it. Also, my friend is a guitar
player. He, and his blue grass playing buddies get together twice a month, and have a jam in front
of an informal audience.

As for the type of wood, everyone around here calls it Red Oak. I’m not sure as to the exact species.

Something you said raises another question though.

Are you saying? Cut to 3' lengths first, then split into billets using a splitter, rather than cutting
along the grain to create the billets?

Thanks again,

Robert

_________________
Everything has beauty, But, not everyone see's it!

The best way to prepare the wood wouldnt involve a sawmill at all. That method is just to cut the logs into 3' sections and split them into quarters. This way, you would be assured of no runout in the final wood. This is a pretty labor intensive project, especially for large size logs. It is a LOT easier to split the logs while the wood is green and freshly cut. After the wood is dry and seasoned, you can then cut it into tonewood size boards with your band saw or a resaw specially designed for this purpose.

Of course, you can always saw the wood at any time in the normal manner. No need to cut the log into short cuts. In order to keep insects out of it, it is always best to cut it right away ans stack and sticker it like you would any other hardwood. You may get some runout in the wood, but it is not all that important with hardwoods .like it is with tops (especially spruce). In order to use the wood fro instruments, it would be best to quarter saw it. If you are planning on selling any of it to other luthiers, they wont buy anything that isnt quarter sawn.

Let me know if ou have any other questions!

Ken

_________________
Reguards,

Ken H