Ok so this was brought down on my property last September and I haven't sealed the ends it an old maple there was some rot in upper portions the bigger piece is 16' long and I bought a double ended 72" Cannon milling bar to mill it with have a pair of running 090s to power the mill and plan to use 68CL chain that will be modified to a milling cutter I want to make 2" slabs to make future desks and work benches for our new shop and a Dining table from whichever piece ends up the nicest looking when dried. Plan to have local metal fab shop do the bases. A saw-buddy from Michigan has similar plans for a big one on his property and has used his smaller mill a good bit so we can help each other out. How can I tell if I waited too long and the log will be crap when milled? I sliced a few branches out back and there is spalting really nice inside, no idea about the trunk section though. Should I cut the ends and paint it and wait till spring to mill it? I can get pics of anything that would be helpful. thanks in advance Dave
I'm sure it'll be fine to mill, worst case scenario is some splitting on the ends. I say take a slab or two off and have a look-see....I'm sure there's still some good wood in there.
I say mill it asap. You could use a pic (ice pic or similar) to see how punky it has become. You can always trim that off after it's slabbed. The maple hunk I milled turned out very very heavy at 2 1/2". Break out the weight lifting belt!
One thing is for sure...it isn't going to get any better if you leave it longer. Paint the ends...mill...if it's splitting, cut past the split and paint again. Paint isn't that expensive.
Maple will go from nicely spalted to punky very quick. As others have said, mill it ASAP. Painting the ends is only going to help with checking on the ends and may actually accelerate rotting.
