I was talking with some sawyers the other day about some maples I want to cut down.  My question to them was:  "When is the best time to cut a tree down - spring, summer, fall, or winter?"

 

Their response was that if you want to keep the bark on the boards as you slab the tree, then you want to cut the tree down when the sap is down (I take that to mean winter). 

 

Having see PDFs and other documents discussing the virtues of various woods, I got to wondering if there is any chart that states the optimization period for keeping the bark on.  I assume that different species drop their sap at different times and rates.

 

Along the same lines I got to wondering how long one should wait before cutting a tree into boards for woodworking.  It doesn't seem to make any difference in the construction industry but I would assume that it makes a great deal of difference in woodworking.

 

Thoughts????

i've always thought that the sooner you saw into boards he less checking and uneven drying you'll have

Good question. I have taken logs to the sawyer all times of the year and they have never said anything about waiting. Of course some of the trees were having to be brought down so it wasn't a choice of when to take it down.

Most of it I have tried to get to them as quick as I could.

I've heard the same thing about cutting them up. However my grandfather, a master craftsman fro the old country, said that they need to be left alone for awhile before cutting the logs into boards. I'm not sure if his reasoning had to do with maintaining the quality and sharpness of his tools or with the quality of the wood when it iis cut. My personal experience is that if I wait for awhile for the logs to dry out some, that I get less warpage and othe defects that moist woods give you. Regardless, all lumber I bring into my shop gets a two week acclimation vacation before I use it.

John Hechel said:

i've always thought that the sooner you saw into boards he less checking and uneven drying you'll have

The sawyer I am dealing with now, Brent Cashion, is getting ready to cut up a walnut log that's been sitting bout a year now, and it is still high in moisture, will have to sit another 9 months or a year before it can be used. Just for a fram of reference. And I believe he cuts em green too, freshly cut.

Mostly good info above.

I'll add a little also.

1) Logs dry out VERY, VERY little by laying around. The ends (if not sealed) will dry out and "check" pretty quickly in some species. I've heard that the unsealed cut ends dry out 25 times faster than the rest of the log, hence the splitting.

2) When (how fast) to cut wood varies a lot by species. If you want the brightest, whitest Hard Maple then you want to cut it at the coldest time of the year and cut it quickly before it has any time to turn brown. Red Elm (if you're wanting to use it for anything besides blocking) works best if it is aged quite awhile so that it gets some of the twisting out of its system while still a log before being cut into boards. Some things don't matter too much. Black Walnut has probably the most flexibility of anything that I know about. It can lay as a log for 15 years and then get cut and you'll get some decay on the sapwood but the good wood inside just gets a nicer and nicer shade of brown.

3) Some things like Red Oak are best NOT cut during the hottest weather since it can dry much too quickly at times.

4) One of the "old-fashioned" ways of trying to get good lumber was to girdle the tree about 5 years in advance of when you plan to cut it down. In the case of a Walnut, it sets the tree on high alert for a threat and it makes more of the stuff that turns the wood brown. This would be pretty much the opposite of what you'd want to do for a Hard Maple though where you want the white sapwood. This may have had something to do with having less limbs and foliage to deal with and being able to get a crop of corn growing without having to do all the work of clearing the trees though!

5) I suppose that in the heavily mechanized world of the big sawmills the big issue is getting the log and turning it into lumber as quickly as possible to avoid high inventory costs so not much of any of the above matters much. If you have enough hardware and know-how, just about anything can be cut whenever you want. That's probably not the world that we are discussing though.