hardwood source

Damn it man U got everything you may would want very cool !! we have the iron wood trees around here also and they are what they are call, them hard as iron ,,, You must have biggins ours only get to about 6-8 " across .

Most of the iron woods here get to about 8" but have seen a few at 12"+. Where our farm is in Door County with the prevailing east wind off of Lake Michigan we are a few degrees cooler and trees take longer to grow which means tighter growth rings and denser hardwood. The last time we logged some of the hard maple logs made veneer grade and because of the growth ring density were shipped to Europe to one of the high end car manufactures for veneer. Made some good money off those logs.

That's pretty cool stuff Jason! My point was; that there are sources of hardwood in places where we may not ordinarily look. The prices of milled-hardwood at the home-centers ( and I'm talking small pieces..) is absolutely ridiculous.

I've mentioned keeping an eye out for old quality furniture being thrown out... carried out to the roadside with a "FREE" sign attached. One single drawer from an old Maple bureau would contain enough wood-panels for a lifetime of model-engine mounting-beams. These old drawers were typically made up of four wall-panels of between 3/8" to 1/2" thick solid hardwood.. and assembled with glued dove-tail joints.

That old furniture is sadly "long out of style".. so people just throw the pieces away or worse.. "burn them". Because they're not considered antiques; they have little value, but the materials/workmanship is something that we don't see anymore. Old bureau-drawers are often used as "containers/crates/boxes" at flea-markets/garage/rummage-sales for containing heavy old hand-tools and such. Keep an eye out for them.

Understood. If I were to get ambitious this weekend and hack off an ironwood how thick would you want the engine bearers to be? 3/4” x 3/4” or 1/2” x 1/2” or ? X ?

Jason_WI wrote:Understood.  If I were to get ambitious this weekend and hack off an ironwood how thick would you want the engine bearers to be? 3/4” x 3/4” or 1/2” x 1/2” or ? X ?

I wouldn't need anything larger than 1/2" x 1/2".. but I'm not in any hurry. It would be cool to have a sample though. I've never seen it around here.. and I don't know how else I'd ever find any.

I'll cut the boards at 3/4" that should be plenty of margin to yield 1/2" boards through the planer.

What typical lengths? I could cut these in 3' long strips and ship in a mailer tube for easy shipment.

Jason_WI wrote:I'll cut the boards at 3/4" that should be plenty of margin to yield 1/2" boards through the planer.

What typical lengths? I could cut these in 3' long strips and ship in a mailer tube for easy shipment.

That sounds very cool Jason! I was thinking possibly; a couple of 10" lengths stuffed in a paper-towel tube??  When the time comes.. we can discuss shipping-cost.

OTOH...... if you could rip 1/8" x 3/4" or 1/8" x 1.0" x 25-30" strips; it would provide experimental-stock for the "flat-frame" construction that I have mentioned here previously. Building a 1/4A to 1/2A "Goldberg-style" C/L sheet-wing design with a hardwood strip-spar will build a stronger and more warp-resistant wing.

It's all good!

I have white ash that is 1/4" thick that can be planed down to 1/8" thick for spars. I'll measure the length but I think they are already at 48" in length.

Jason_WI wrote:I have white ash that is 1/4" thick that can be planed down to 1/8" thick for spars. I'll measure the length but I think they are already at 48" in length.

Sending a PM..

I was able to cut the ironwood today. From tree to lumber in an hour.

Found a growing tree in the woods. Cut it down and then cut to length. I cut it at 9’ long.





Get it on the mill and cut into boards. The growth rings vary from 1/16” to 1/8”.






The sawmill has a Honda 20hp V twin on it. When cutting the ironwood which isn’t very big it makes the Honda grunt. This stuff is hard and dense.



Then the lumber needs to be edged on both sides. I have a twin blade edger that has a movable blade. Set the width then run the flitch through and end up with a board.



Stack and sticker. Ended up with 45 board feet. Lots of engine bearers.

Nice! You make Paul Bunyon look like a slacker!

I’m down for some ironwood bearers. Let me know what you want for it. Thanks for taking the time out in the cold to help us out. I like your Husqvarna. I have one and it’s been a great tool.

Wish I could get a hold of some of those planks to re-do the wood in my pickup bed!

Ron

Cribbs74 wrote:I’m down for some ironwood bearers. Let me know what you want for it. Thanks for taking the time out in the cold to help us out. I like your Husqvarna. I have one and it’s been a great tool.

Wish I could get a hold of some of those planks to re-do the wood in my pickup bed!

Ron

Shipping might be kinda pricey for large planks. There will be plenty of ironwood for bearers especially if its just 1/2" x 1/2"

I cut the boards at 1" thick so if thicker ones are needed there is plenty of material to do that.

Jason That's a nice set up U got there ! Do ya'll do board work for a business stand point ?

No but I have cut lumber for others. It’s a hobby and for use on the farm. It is an all manual mill and works best with 2 people for any kind of production numbers. Big straight logs I can cut 2000 board feet in a day. Small crooked logs and you cut that number in half or less.

I have a lap siding attachment and can cut lap siding up to 12” wide.

Then people think their walnut tree in their yard is their retirement. Usually full of nails and screws which will wreck a blade. I have a metal detector and if it detects any metal I won’t cut it.

Cooper jacketed bullets I can cut right through without damaging a blade.

My tree guy calls those "house trees" with more nails than expected in the bottom 10 ft.

My firewood guy delivered a split log that had more wire and nails than one would expect, all grown into the tree decades old.  We had a good laugh about it.  He really does try to not sell junk filled wood.  Some trees were living fence posts.

There are too many trees badly damaged by just a single nail or lawnmower strike.  Look up Compartmentalization of decay in trees (CODIT) for more information.   It is surprising how some species will grow over debris while others practically die from injury.

Phil

https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ostrya_virginiana
This stuff?

That is some pretty wood. I could find uses for it.

Phil

Ok guys the ironwood had been stickered and air dried for almost a year. Time to plane them up and get them cut in strips or sell as a short plank to cut your self.

What are the sizes I need to plane the boards to? They are currently at a full 1 inch. I can easily get 3/4" x 3/4" if needed for those .60 size CL planes This stuff could be tapped for threads its that hard. Fingernail doesn't make a dent.

It is supposed to rain this weekend and I should have some time.

How do your blades hold up to that wood?

I'm pretty sure the planer wont like it. I have variable speed feed on the 12" RBI planer so that will help. I wish I had a insert carbide cutter head but I cant justify the cost for the amount of wood working I do. Hopefully it doesn't chip out too bad.

The table saw I have a heavy kerf 18 tooth rib blade from Freud installed. That should work well on the ironwood. I have the 10" contractor Sawstop table saw so at least I wont saw off my fingers cutting the thin strips.

I am still game for some small planks of this stuff.  Say 4x12 , or larger, at some thickness.  Probably not gonna be engine bearers though.

Unless the surface looks like a used toothpick I have worked with some seriously hard wood pretty well.

I would say 1/2 " 5/8 " and 3/4 " 4 5/8 X 12 5/8 " Would work for most apps. I will take 1 board each or if you want to cut them would bee great ! , i have a table and scroll saw ( scroll may not cut it though. )(:O

Jason_WI wrote:Ok guys the ironwood had been stickered and air dried for almost a year. Time to plane them up and get them cut in strips or sell as a short plank to cut your self.

What are the sizes I need to plane the boards to? They are currently at a full 1 inch. I can easily get 3/4" x 3/4" if needed for those .60 size CL planes This stuff could be tapped for threads its that hard. Fingernail doesn't make a dent.

It is supposed to rain this weekend and I should have some time.

Hi Jason, "Thank you" first of all.. for following-through on putting some of this wood aside.. and also for following-up on this thread.

I would like to have a sample of it.. and will PM the details.

Hornbeam is the tree. Look it up. It’s scarce in the US, but prolific in certain states.