milling osage

[chessieboy]

I'm going to get an Osage log milled.  I have a couple questions I was thinking 3/4" ruff cut.  What would you folks recomend?  How do I keep the slats from checking after they're cut?  Is it ok to have them cut right after felling or should I wait?

Thanks Bill

[Pat B]

I'd cut them at least 2" thick and resaw later. Seal the ends well and you should be OK. Stack and sticker the boards when done in a protected area out of the weather.
  I'm not sure about sawing when green. Someone else will have to answer that.

[gstoneberg]

I've only had osage lumber milled once.  The guy doing it would only saw the wood green.  Once it dried he would not touch it...said it was too hard on his equipment.  As it was, we broke one band saw blade and dulled a second one badly.  Even though I paid more than I wanted , I doubt he made much money after replacing that blade.  I had a lot of trouble with the wood checking while it dried.  He said he doesn't have any trouble, but I sure did.  I had him cut my wood an inch thick and it ended up varying between 7/6" and 1 1/4".  With the splitting problem I had I would probably do as Pat suggested next time and cut it thicker, planning on resawing later.  I don't know that my band saw would do the resawing though.  Probably have to use the table saw.

Good luck.

George