Our Western Red Cedar

Before milling, I remove the bark by hand with a pry bar. Bark can hold gravel and other debris that can damage sawmill blades, so I also pressure-wash the log before it goes onto the mill. Removing the bark gives me a clear look at the wood underneath and helps me identify cracks or other areas I may need to work around during milling.

I quarter the log with a chainsaw using a jig attached directly to the log. The jig has to be positioned carefully so the cuts divide the log as accurately as possible into four equal sections.

Getting those first cuts right is important because the orientation of each quarter determines how I can position it later on the sawmill. Accurate quartering gives me the starting point I need to mill the boards with the growth rings oriented as close to vertical as practical.

I then reposition the jig on each half and cut through the centre again, dividing the original log into four quarters. For these smaller cuts, I use a more appropriately sized chainsaw.

I usually quarter several logs at a time before beginning the sawmill work. My lumber kiln holds around 1,000 board feet of eight-foot lumber, which typically requires about six logs, or 24 quarters, to fill.

Not every quarter turns out to be usable once the log is opened. Some may contain knots, rot or other defects that were not visible from the outside, so I usually need to prepare more than 24 quarters for a full kiln load. The stack shown here is a little over halfway to a full load and fills the available space in front of the sawmill, so this is where I begin milling the quarters into boards.

I use a manual bandsaw mill to cut the individual boards. The thin bandsaw blade has a narrow kerf, which reduces the amount of wood lost as sawdust, but producing quarter-sawn boards requires considerably more handling than simply sawing straight through a log.

I place each quarter on the mill bed and use a scissor jack to level it from end to end before making the first one-inch cut. Because the quarter initially rests on its rounded live edge, its position changes as material is removed and the quarter is turned. I have to carefully level it again before each new cut to keep the boards a consistent thickness from one end to the other.

Here is one of the boards fresh off the mill, showing the straight vertical grain produced by the quarter-sawing process.

After each cut, I turn the quarter 90 degrees and level it again from end to end using the scissor jack. This alignment has to be accurate each time; otherwise, a board can end up tapered or uneven in thickness and may not be usable in the shop.

Once the quarter is level again, I make the next one-inch cut.

I continue this process, turning the quarter back and forth and removing one-inch boards until only a small section remains. At that point, I change how the remaining piece is positioned on the mill so I can continue cutting usable lumber from it.

I can use boards as narrow as 2 inches in the shop, so I continue milling each quarter down to that point rather than discarding usable cedar.

Once all of the quarters have been milled into boards, I sort each board according to the widest usable dimension I can get from it. I inspect them individually for cracks, live edges and other flaws, then decide whether each one is best suited to become a 2-, 3-, 4-, 5-, 6-, 8- or 10-inch-wide board.

I group the boards by width, stand them on edge on the sawmill, and trim them to size. Some need only one edge trimmed to remove the live edge, while others need both edges cut to produce a clean, usable board.

Here is a load of lumber after milling and trimming, stacked by width from 2-inch boards on the left up to 10-inch boards on the right.

I use a cube van to keep the freshly milled lumber protected from the weather and to move it from the sawmill to the kiln when a full load is ready.

The final drying stage begins by stacking the boards in the kiln with precisely cut spacers, called stickers, between each layer. These spaces allow air from four circulation fans to move through the stack and across the faces of the boards.

I use a Nyle dehumidification kiln, which gradually removes moisture from the lumber while maintaining controlled conditions inside the kiln. The temperature is held at about 40°C / 104°F during the drying schedule, and a typical load takes around 7 to 10 days to reach the moisture content I am looking for.

Four moisture sensors are placed within the stack, or kiln charge, to monitor the moisture content of the lumber throughout the drying cycle. Four additional sensors monitor conditions inside the kiln room, including wet-bulb and dry-bulb temperatures.

The kiln controls make adjustments automatically as conditions change, adding heat, venting excess heat when necessary, and running the dehumidifier compressor to remove moisture from the air at the prescribed rate.

Once the lumber reaches the moisture content I am looking for, I turn the kiln off and leave the boards inside for about two days so they can cool and equalize before moving back into the shop.

I then run each board through the planer to bring it to a consistent thickness and expose the clean finished faces of the wood. At this stage, I can properly assess the grain, colour and any remaining flaws, then decide which parts each board is best suited for.

A full kiln load like this typically provides enough usable lumber for approximately 35 to 40 Adirondack chairs.