I’m new here. My eyes are red and tired from being up way too late from reading so many great posts. I can’t tell you how excited I am about this resource. I intend to be returning to this site regularly. A big thanks to all of you.
I currently live in Costa Rica, on the Osa Peninsula. I’ve shaped a few foam boards, initially out of desperation (not easy to get boards down here) but all it took was that first one and now I’m hooked. To the point…
We have several large balsa trees on the property that are being cleared out next week and I want to take the opportunity to cut them properly and then follow up with the best possible way to turn them into workable stock for shaping surfboards. Does anyone out there know the best procedure for milling then drying balsa (or maybe its drying then milling.) Also, maybe someone can point me to some resources for which types of cuts are best. Anything would be helpful.
Thanks.
ps. I did search several times for a post on Swaylocks with this information and didn’t find one, but then maybe I just need some ‘search engine’ semantics help.
there is at least one guy here that has done just that, he goes by the name Wood Ogre.
there is a thread titled “Hi Wood Ogre here” (or something like that) that starts out with pictures of balsa logs being turned into balsa lumber. If this link doesn’t get you there just try searching under that name.
You could try a moisture meter or go back to basics.
Take a chunk, weigh it, leave it dry for a while, weigh it again…repeat until no more weight loss. It is then as dry as you can get it without using an oven or kiln. You can speed it up a bit by putting it in a vacuum bag and leaving the pump running, but it will probably burn out the pump before green timber is really dry.
A cheap kiln can be made in a steel shipping container (or a ply box). Seal it and insulate it well, stack the timber, stick a heater in there and run a dehumidifier in there as well.
It works pretty good but if ambient humidity is high things are rather slow and you probably don’t need the condensed water where you are!
It has been awhile {1979} since I was in Ecuador working with Skip so had to find some old slides to jog my memory. We got logs that were rough milled/sguared to about 4 to 6’'. Than piled em crossway’s in the yard so they could breath. It was Ecuador it was HOT so it did not take too long before we could use em.
ACE makes a great point. Cut wood dries way faster than logs. Surface area, yada, yada. I didn’t read that point here so far so I thought I’d emphasize it.
Hi John! I am Wood_Ogre and I have harvested my own balsa trees and milled them so here is what I know. First we cut the trees from a boom truck and lowered the sections so the logs would not fracture. My logs were from 6 foot long to eleven feet. As soon as they were down I skinned the bark off using a draw knife. The bigest problem was powder post beattles. They jumped on these logs within a few hours and were causing much damage. I found that brushing on ortho-clor, end of problem! I milled all the logs within a few days on a small bandsaw mill I cut thicknesses up to a max of about 3 inches and as thin as 1/2 inch whatever it took to get the best boards out of each log. I brushed ortho on each board as it came off the mill. the boards were stacked and banded to help hold them straight. It only takes a couple months for the boards to be dry enough to use. I learned a lot from this project and when we harvest again I will only cut down one tree at a time. mill the logs the same day and stack them, sticker them, and band them all in a day or two and put them in my wood kilne. That way I will not need to use the Ortho clor. The beattles will not go into the kiln as it is to hot and after the moisture is down under 12% they don’t bother the wood any more. Without the use of the kiln you are stuck with using an insecticide or risk loseing the wood. aloha! Wood_Ogre
Thanks for the clear and concise information, WoodOrge. Yep, no Kiln here, so I’ll be spraying the wood to keep the critters off.
I’ll be sure to put up some photos of the whole process and keep you all posted.
I’ve attached a few shots of a 500 year old hardwood tree that fell in May (been dead for about 16 years). The locals call it Sangrio Negro… I call it the hardest, most beautiful wood I’ve ever seen. Thought some of you wood-folks would appreciate seeing it.
As you can probably tell, Wood_Ogre IS ‘‘The Man’’ to address your question. Search his prior posts, you will find a wealth of good information. Good luck on your project.
Howzit Wood_Ogre, Yikes we have powder post beattles on Kauai. Just what are they and are they non-native to Kauai? Probably came over on the Super Ferry,ha,ha.Aloha,Kokua
John. I use a six inch brush to put on the ortho because I feel that spraying gets it all over everything- your clothes, shoes, dog ect. With the brush it gives more control but is slower. And by all means use a chemical mask, gloves, long pants, long sleeve shirt, shoes, and wash the clothes after each day of use. We don’t want any dead wood workers here. Best to cut the logs with a band saw. The easiest wood I have ever cut!! Lot of tension in the wood so you will get a lot of splitting. Kokua. powder post beattles may have come here with the hawiians as they are also found in Tahiti and other pacific islands . They also like mango wood and bread fruit wood. The Supa Fairy!!! Yikes!!!
The ones we see don't have a hole any where's near that big, maybe 1/32 or even smaller. They used to be in bamboo furniture from the Philippines but now they treat the wood before they ship.Aloha,Kokua
here in hawaii we have 3 kinds of powder post beatles.Bostrichids are the ones that are found in the bamboo from the Philipines. but we have them here too. Lyctids are the ones that Thrailkilled mentioned and I have not found them to be to big of a problem as they tend to stay in the sapwood. The Anobids are the ones that seem to be the biggest problem here. They will get on the wood as soon as you cut it and bore in and lay their eggs. Aftere they are in the damage is done and the only way to kill the eggs is to heat the wood over 140 degrees for 48 hours. If you don’t they will hatch out and bore their way back out doing more damage. This happened to a lot of Mango wood flooring that came from the big island a number of years ago. The floors were installed and a few months laiter the beatles hatched and came out of the floors right through the varnish. This kind of ruined the mango wood flooring reputation and many installers stay away from it now. You want to stop the Anobids before they get into the wood thuse you need to fumigate as soon as you cut down the tree. If you see the little frass piles you beter hurry before to much damage is done. The good news is they are not much interested in the wood after it is dry down to about 15% moisture and another thing is they don’t go after all kinds of wood. It is interesting that I have harvested mango wood on the dry side of the island that had no beatles and when I harvest on the wet side they are after the wood before you get the trees on the ground. Wood_Ogre
