Although the trees can reach heights of 130 ft with a girth of 1 to 2 ft, hickory harvested in our area won’t grow over 85 ft due to our steep and harsh growing conditions.

A plainsawn hickory board can be full of character, as the contrast between light sapwood and dark heartwood has a striking rustic appearance. It’s currently a popular look in both flooring and cabinetry. No two trees are alike, and we enjoy discovering the treasures uncovered each time we pull a hickory board off the mill.

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Hemlock often grows on north-facing slopes where it experiences harsh winter conditions. When the growing area is also overly wet, the logs can get a defect called shake. Shake is when the growth rings begin separating, which causes the lumber to have linear cracking. It’s one of the most frustrating circumstances about milling hemlock.

The rough-cut, full-dimension hemlock lumber we provide is a fantastic choice for exterior board-and-batten siding, decks and porches, as it can be used green. The building techniques employed by contractors account for minimal shrinkage on such projects. For indoor applications, hemlock will dry fairly quickly with minimal warping when it’s stickered outdoors in dry weather.

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Of the various species we regularly mill, black cherry is a standout. Often referred to as American cherry, Prunus serotina grows to a height of 50 to 100 ft with a diameter of 3 to 5 ft. Its relatively straight grain coupled with a medium Janka hardness rating of 950 lbf (pounds-force) means cherry is easy on our mill blades. We also appreciate its mild, pleasant smell. Cherry sawdust has the potential to be irritating or even toxic for horses, therefore we keep it separated from our animal bedding.

Our cherry logs are between 8 and 10 ft in length with a 28″ maximum diameter. At our zero-waste log yard, the outer bark slabs that are sawed off initially will end up as smoke wood for grilling or home heating firewood. For cabinetry or flooring, 5/4 flitches are removed as needed to square up the heartwood, proceeding with 5/4 boards having minimal sapwood. However, our favorite way is to mill live-edge slabs. These rough-cut 6/4 and 8/4 pieces can be quite remarkable with wide sapwood around curvy live edges. It is easy to envision these beauties becoming artistic tables and other specialty items.

Lumber Capital Log Yard is a family-run sawmill business owned by Ken and Teri Breon. Teri (center in photo) and daughters Emerald and Jade are partners in the milling business selling lumber and lumber byproducts. Their goal is to produce zero waste. Ken runs the logging company and assists at the log yard. Their son Judah, Grandpa Larry and Roxy, the shepherd mix, all play a part, too. Visit their website and their YouTube channel.

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This wide variety of applications cannot only require different wood species but also even wood at various stages of seasoning. “Seasoning” simply means the movement of water out of a piece of harvested lumber. Freshly harvested wood that has a high moisture content is called “green.” This term has nothing to do with the wood’s color. Fully seasoned wood is said to be at a state of equilibrium, but even dried wood with a finish applied to it remains hygroscopic, which means it can absorb moisture from the air.

Over time, woodworkers have developed techniques to both minimize the effect of wood movement and take advantage of seasoning or a lack of it. Frame-and-panel construction, for example, was specifically created to accommodate wood’s seasonal cross-grain expansion and contraction.

Green Can Be Good

Once wood is fully seasoned or cured, it looses flexibility and tends to hold its shape stubbornly. We depend on this in woodworking. The last thing we want is a desktop or table that sways or easily bends under a load. Unseasoned green wood will almost always lead to disaster when it’s used for building fine furniture. As it dries, the wood shrinks, which can cause joints to open. The stock can also distort in a number of ways … none of them good.

But green wood has its advantages in some cases. Wood with a high moisture content is much easier to cut and shape than very dry wood. This is a big benefit when you are working with hand tools, as the softer tissue structure requires less muscle power to manipulate. So old-fashioned tasks like making wooden shoes or utensils were always done with green wood.

Uses for Green Wood

Green wood turns very easily, speeding the turning process up considerably. Woodturners take advantage of that fact when turning bowls and even spindles, if the blanks were riven from a log segment.

While the turner is working with green wood, they must decide whether they will be okay with the changes in a bowl’s appearance as it dries and becomes more oval-shaped. If not, turners will “rough out” the bowl, set it aside to allow it to come to equilibrium and then complete the turning process.

Stool and chair builders will sometimes take advantage of green wood by mounting legs that are fully seasoned into sockets on chair or stool seat blanks made of green wood. As the wood of the seat shrinks, the leg sockets become tighter and more secure. (This technique, of course, can go considerably wrong if the green seat board happens to split as it dries.)

Ancient ship builders (and even some modern ones) used green lumber to make their boats, because it could be bent to form hulls and was more easily shaped by muscle power. Wood carvers and craftspeople who make treenware (wooden vessels or products used for food preparation or serving) also rely on green wood. So did bodgers (traditional forestbased woodturners) who turned table and chair legs from unseasoned wood.

Timber framers often choose green lumber, too. Since no kiln drying is involved, large planks and timbers are less expensive. Rustic furniture is another area where green lumber often makes good sense. The thick stock often used in this type of furniture does not distort easily as it seasons, and the joinery is usually not exacting. And just as green lumber is great for hand carving, it’s also a fine choice for power carving — a specialty that’s becoming more popular these days.

Throwing a Curve

Steam bending wood has been around a long time, thanks to the flexibility of green wood. It’s an ideal technique for making skis, sled runners, rockers, coat hooks and much more. To bend wood with steam or heat, your stock should never be kiln dried. Unseasoned wood will bend most reliably if its moisture content is 20 percent or even more!

These days, most woodworking is done with kiln-dried lumber, and with good reason. It is the product that best suits our “flat-andstraight” woodworking tasks. But there are times when green lumber is actually still the better choice.

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Bowl Blanks

Turning green lumber is perhaps the number one use for unseasoned, wet wood. Depending on where you live, there are trees all around you. When a neighbor drops a tree, often they will be more than willing to let you grab a chunk or two, especially if you bring your own chainsaw. You’ll need to further refine the wood with a froe, band saw or chainsaw to get a workable blank out of the piece, but that’s another story.

Many bowl blanks you purchase from woodworking suppliers like Rockler are green lumber, but not all of them. If the blanks are coated with wax, the chances are high that they are green wood.

Local Mills or Online

I did a quick Internet search of “sawmills near me” and found three of them within 50 miles. One is a favorite of mine, and I know of two others that did not even come up in the search. My point here is that you can probably find a local sawmill reasonably close to you. They will be happy to sell you green lumber, and they probably have dried lumber for sale as well.

The selection will probably be limited, compared to a traditional lumberyard. But that can lead to some serendipitous choices. My first (and at this time only) use of Tennessee coffee tree lumber occurred because it was basically my only option. It turned out to be a great wood to use — beautiful, strong and finished well.

When buying from a small local mill, the operator may be happy to help you, or you may be a bit annoying to him. You may need to be diplomatic and open-minded. After all, this ain’t a big box store.

Another way to get green lumber is through online marketplaces like Craigslist. That poses a bit more risk than a sawmill, as you will really not be able to truly know what you’re getting. A moisture meter would be a great tool to have when you buy lumber with a sketchy origin. So will a handheld metal detector or nail finder.

Milling Methods

I own a 16″ band saw and a chainsaw. When I get access to newly downed trees in my yard or around the neighborhood, I will often make my own blanks or boards. I secure a section of trunk in a jig that keeps it from rotating as I slice a couple of boards from it. I can then take it off of the jig and, with the flat face of the wood on the saw table, use the fence to make more cuts. It is slow and dusty work, but I find it enjoyable, and I can make my own choices regarding grain and figure orientation.

There are more ways to find green lumber, but I hope these tactics can at least help get your search started.

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When Does it Matter?

If you are building a set of storage shelves for your laundry room, worrying about the figure of the wood is an unnecessary step. Your concern there is strength and usability. (Can it hold all the laundry detergent and can you reach it?)

In the same way, the interior and back of a cabinet or chest of drawers are often not seen and as such don’t benefit from a fancy figure. That’s why those components are regularly made from a less fancy secondary wood such as poplar or pine, because while they are structurally sound, they are also less expensive.

Where figure comes to the fore is in exposed areas that are the show faces of your furniture, such as the top of a table or sideboard, the drawer fronts on a chest of drawers or the doors of a tall cabinet. That is where you want to help your project show off and draw the viewer’s attention. It has the effect of a nice shirt and tie worn over a white cotton undershirt.

Other Considerations

Once you become aware of the different types of figure available, even within a species, it is a great way to spice up the look of your projects. But just as food can become too strong to eat with an overload of spice, so too can excessive figure overpower a piece of furniture.

A large project constructed entirely of wood with a crazy wild figure can come off visually as a bit over the top. To keep that from happening, builders will often use exceptional grain in a specific area of a project only — say the top of a chest of drawers or the doors of a tall cabinet. And they will offset that feature with subtler figured wood of the same species to extend a sense of harmony throughout the design. This is one area where handmade furniture has a huge advantage over production pieces: you can choose where to accentuate with figure.

Another place where intense figure is not best used is where there is a lot of machining or carved detail. Using quartersawn white oak in the carved panel on the opposite page would have the figure fighting with the shape of the carving.

You are the Boss

You may have noticed that the directions here have been in the form of guidelines as opposed to rules. All of these choices are subjective, and there are likely no right or wrong decisions. Experimenting with the options is the best way to find your preferences. As stated earlier, this is one of the ways to truly enhance handmade furniture. Learning about figure in lumber is a fun way to advance your skill in the craft.

Lead Illustration by Ian Kirby.

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A downside to buying “in the rough” is that these boards haven’t been corrected for natural defects that often occur during the drying process. Some amount of bowing, cupping, twisting and checking are likely — and either you’ll need to correct for it with your shop machines or the lumberyard might do it for you for a fee.

What Lies Beneath?

With some species, it can be very difficult to tell what the grain pattern and color of a board is under that rough exterior. The murky, dark-colored top layer of walnut and cherry in particular can mask lighter sapwood areas. If grain pattern and color consistency is important to your project, ask the yard if they are willing to “skip plane” it for you. This light planing pass will reveal at least some of the board’s characteristics, which can help. You’ll pay a nominal extra fee for skip planing.

Roughsawn lumber has a quartered thickness, such as 4/4, 5/4, 6/4, 8/4, 12/4 and 16/4. Expect to see a wide range of widths and lengths, too — that’s the advantage of selling by volume instead of by “1x” or “2x” standardized lumber sizing. It’s sold volumetrically in “board feet” instead of a “per foot” price.

So you’ll need to know how to calculate each board for the number of board feet it contains (where one board foot equals a piece 1″ thick x 12″ wide x 12″ long). But if math isn’t your strong suit, mobile device apps such as “The Woodshop Widget” can tabulate it instantly. An app like this can be a big help!

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1. Home centers are obvious destinations for wood, but inventory is limited to mostly construction lumber and plywood. A small selection of hardwoods will have top-dollar pricing. You can do much better elsewhere.

2. Specialty lumberyards, advertised in woodworking publications and online, typically stock a wide variety of both domestic and exotic species options and board sizes. Many carry one-of- a-kind figured and slab lumber. Their staff are often woodworkers who tend to gladly share their expertise. A yard that specializes in furniture-grade lumber for the general public can become your best friend. Some of these specialty yards also sell their lumber on the Internet, increasing your options for species not found in your region.

3. Woodworking retail stores such as Rocker are also staffed with experienced woodworkers and carry a moderate to extensive range of wood species and sizes. The lumber is generally surfaced and, when sale-priced, can provide good value. A store has the added advantage of being a one-stop shop for everything else you need — hardware, glues, finishes, tooling, jigs and many other supplies. Rockler also sells some hardwood online.

4. Classified ads on Craigslist and other similar listing sources can put you in touch with local sawyers who cut, dry and sell lumber on a smaller scale. Want ads are also a great option for buying caches of boards stored in barns, sheds and home shops. Often, families of deceased woodworkers are willing to sell off inventories of lumber for very modest prices, particularly to buyers who will put a loved one’s precious boards to good use.

5. Backyard lumber might seem implausible, but there’s no reason your stormdowned maple or overgrown oak tree couldn’t become excellent lumber if you can process the log. Here again, classified ads can help. Find an enterprising sawyer with a portable band saw mill who can come and slice the log into green lumber. You’ll need to air-dry the material for at least a year, or have it kiln-dried, but the sawyer may have suggestions for who could take care of that part of the process, too.

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Salvaging a dead or dying tree, or logs that a power company or homeowner have cut, and milling them into useful lumber is a very satisfying experience If this idea is in your wheelhouse, there are two ways to proceed: One is to find and hire a good sawyer that has the right experience to do the job for you. Many portable sawmill manufacturers have their own forums and links pages where you can find a reputable sawyer in your area. Some sawyers have their own web pages or are listed in your local phone directory. The other method is to buy or borrow the equipment and do the job yourself.

VIDEO: Portable Sawmill in Action

Here are some tips I gleaned from veteran sawyer David Boyt, publisher of Sawmill and Woodlot Management magazine, to help you prepare for the job:

• Make sure that you can get the mill to the worksite. You might have to trim some trees or bushes to be able to drive your pickup truck or tow vehicle to the site. Plus, if the mill is on a trailer, you’ll need plenty of room to negotiate corners and turn the trailer around. Once there, you’ll need a large, level worksite on which to set up the mill. Ultimately the size of the site depends on the length of the logs you’ll be milling, but a flat spot that’s 30 feet square is a good place to start. You’ll also need a level spot fairly close to the worksite where you can stack the freshly milled boards.

•  Setting a sawmill’s track rails directly on the ground (see lead photo, above) makes it easier to load logs, but then you’ll have to bend over to pick up every slab, board or edging you cut. Some operators opt to raise the sawmill up (8-14 inches is typical) by setting it on top of either rail ties or beam cutoffs. This can also make it easier to level the sawmill — necessary for proper operation. Make sure and secure the mill’s adjustable feet with lag screws to prevent the bed from shifting during use.

• Figure out how you’ll get the logs to the mill from where they’ve been cut or stacked. Ideally, you should transport the logs on a wagon, trailer or, if you have access to it, a front-end loader. One handy device is the LogRite® Buck Arch, a wheeled sulky that can be towed by an ATV or 4-wheel drive vehicle (there’s also a small hand-pulled model). Dragging the logs can be a problem for two reasons: 1. Dirt and grit end up embedded in the log’s bark and will take their toll on the band saw blade (if you’ve hired a sawyer, they may charge you for extra blades). You can clean light dirt off logs with a long-handled barbeque grill brush. 2. Dragged logs tend to leave deep ruts in soft ground, which can make walking around the worksite hazardous.

• To save board-handling time, stack your logs so that the longest, best quality stock is cut first. As you work your way down to the smaller, poorer quality logs, you’ll reach a point where it’s too much work for too little lumber (an exception is cutting some of your lower quality logs into blocking and stickers; you’ll need lots of these to properly stack the freshly cut lumber and keep it off the ground). If you’ve hired a sawyer, it’s usually not economical to have them cut any logs shorter than 8 feet and/or less than about 8 inches in diameter (plus some lumber mills have trouble clamping down shorter/smaller logs). The lumber yield just doesn’t add up to the amount of time it takes to cut such logs.

• Have a cut list—or at least a good idea of what lumber dimensions you want—before you begin, especially if you’ve hired a sawyer. For example, if you ask for 2-in thick lumber, that’s what you get. But if you ask the sawyer for lumber for a 2” thick tabletop, he’ll probably recommend cutting the boards 2-3/8” thick so that after they are dried, you’ll have enough thickness to plane the boards down to 2 inch final thickness. When cutting boards that’ll be used for furniture, a good sawyer will take the time to look for interesting grain patterns and be extra careful to cut clean, flat boards. But if your goal is to produce flooring for a trailer or siding for a shed, it’s more economical for the sawyer to speed through the job. If you plan on using the milled lumber along with commercially purchased lumber, let the sawyer know so that they’ll produce the same dimensions for the sawn boards (e.g. a store bought 2×4 is actually slightly less than 1-1/2” by 3-1/2”).

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