![]() Wilder grained wood yields more irregular split boards that require extra material for jointing and planing into shape later. Species like ash and oak split cleanly where no knots are present, so you can split them closer to final size. Split boards 1” to 2” thick, depending on how a particular piece of wood behaves and how thick you want your finished boards to be. ![]() You’ll find the best boards come from the middle of a log, where the wood is widest and the growth rings closest to perpendicular to the face of the boards. Most firewood splitters handle blocks up to 24” long, so when you find a good log, cut blocks to this length, even if you’re making your firewood shorter. Clear, straight-grained, easily-split species are easy to cleave into board-like billets. You can also use an axe or splitting wedges to do the work. ![]() The simplest involves a hydraulic wood splitter. I’ve had good results using two methods for milling lumber from small logs in my shop. Near perfect quartersawn growth rings are what you see. ![]() I milled this very high-quality little board from a block of ash firewood that was too good to burn. You can even treat construction-grade beams and planks from building supply outlets as your “logs” resawing them into smaller pieces for project work using some of these same techniques. ![]() You’ll also get complete control over grain orientation and the look of your wood. Besides saving money, this kind of micro milling gives access to species of wood you’ll never find for sale in lumberyards. Dry this wood properly and you’re ready to joint, plane and cut material into parts for small projects. It’s surprisingly easy to mill short, small logs into furniture-grade boards in your workshop, all without special equipment. UPDATED 26Jun2020 + 2 videos below: It’s easy to look past the obvious fact that lumber comes from logs, but once you start thinking this way, interesting things can happen. ![]()
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