Rough saw lumber and what you built out of it (1 Viewer)

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Replacement barn floor joists - 4" X 10" X 16'. Heavy.

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2" Barn flooring plus 4" X 6" joists, rafters, wall girts

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Barn frame ready for joinery (and one 4 X 10 joist that the framer screwed up by cutting it short :doh:)

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I save the crotch wood for small stuff

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It's a shame that every Ash tree is dead but we're awash in free wood.
 
I have made several things from the rough cut oak they use for cribing. One of our customers used to stack it and give it away as fire wood, lots of 4x6 and 2x6 rough cut oak and maple, had to pick thru, We used to get some that was oiled before they loaded it and had 100 tons of steel stacked on top it was real nice once it dried. but that was years ago.. as you know they offshored alot of that. If you know someone who loads flat cars they are always pulling it off they will usually give it to you.
 
I've never done this, but I have a VERY small project in mind: a banister for my new house made from cedar that grew on the property. There's some dead (fallen & standing) that I could use; or a couple of live ones that barely survived falling over, so I don't mind cutting them if I have to. There's not much activity of this type in my area, so I haven't found anyone who will do the rough-cutting for me yet. I only have a cheap 16" Husqy (just for cleaning up the property) and no mill, but I'm curious about how to do this...

1. How do you keep the initial cut flat, so you're not sawing a warp into your lumber? I understand with a big bandsaw mill, but it seems like it would be really easy to goof it with a handheld on my first attempt.
2. Does the chainsaw oil stain the finished lumber, or is there so little that it doesn't matter?
3. What diameter of a log (at the small end) will I have to start with to end up with a ~3x3" banister?
4. If I wanted to leave the top of the banister as an uncut face of the log, how do I prep & smooth that face so it looks good, has no splinters, wears well, and takes stain/varnish/whatever properly?
5. Should I stain or varnish it, or just leave it raw? Will raw cedar take stains from skin oils? (No kids, pets, or smoking)
6. What extra challenges am I setting myself up for by aiming so small? I assume it will be very difficult to support such a slender piece. I do have a cheap 10" table saw, and a cheaper horizontal/vertical bandsaw.
7. Any other pitfalls I missed?

Thanks for any info & advice.

BTW
This is the banister I made, with its temporary (undersized) handrail:


Unique banister (for phone apps)

The PREVious several show how I made it.
 
Turned this load of sawmill red oak, 2"x12"x10' that had been my pa's barn for over 30 years. Unknown origin, but had been stacked properly out of the weather.
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Into this farmhouse table.

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Hand planed edges to save kerfing, legs are built up from the same slabs as is the base frame. 100% red oak. Heavy as :censor: but turned out beautifully. Best part was ma telling me Pa would be proud of what we made from it.
 
I've got my mill over at a friend's place for the time being, because he can get log trucks to his place so we can mill longer stuff--33' is the longest possible on the bed and extension. I've milled a bunch of 25'+ 6x12s, but now we're making Tongue and Groove. So I set up the time-lapse camera of me milling a decent size (20"+) lodgepole pine into 2x6's that will then be run through the planer into Tongue and Groove.



Just kind of interesting to watch this way. You can't see the bed flexing in person--I assume it's because we can't set it on a truly solid base like concrete here.

Dan
 
Neat stuff on here, something about seeing the sawing marks on the wood that is very nostalgic I guess.

We had a row of decent sized fir trees dropped next to the house a few years back, I bought one of these Beam Machine® - Lee Valley Tools and made the biggest timbers I could get out of them with a huge Husqvarna saw my buddy dad has, still have them stacked up waiting for the right project to come along, it will be a rustic build because I didn't get them very square, but that'll just add character I guess.
 
That is some massive wood. I would love to see the machine that it takes to even move those things. Simply beautiful.
 

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