Hand-Splitting Maple For Mandolins...

[Spruce]

I get a lot of emails from folks who have a tree in their backyard that is coming down, wondering if it might be good for musical instruments...
I think that this is the first time--in 35 years of doing this--that the answer was "yes"...

Here is the tree in question:



They took it out to get rid of the huge mess it made every fall...



Here's the rub...
After the tree was on the ground, the faller cut it into 14" long sections...ugggh!
That tree would have loved to have been made into cellos (or even basses), but que sera sera, that's the way things go...



I thought this might be a good opportunity to show how one might process a tree for mandolins, without using a sawmill. Most builders think you need a lot of tools and knowhow to process instrument wood, but in most regards, it's just like cutting firewood...

Trees like this are not all that rare, but getting to them before they become firewood is, and in this case the decision was already made by the feller that we might get mandolins and mandolins only (fiddles need to be 15" long)...
In any event, I'll get violin/viola neckblocks, which always seem to be in short supply around here...

Anyway, here's how one might go about processing something like this...

Using a froe or wedges and a maul, the "good stuff" is liberated from the lengths...
Make your splits dead-on quarter, and work around the round...

[Spruce]

You'll wind up with a lot of billets--all quartered--that are relatively easy to dry and store, and can be processed later into mandolin backs...
Normally, the sets are sawn green right out of the tree, but in this case--mainly because the tree split very straight--I decided to go ahead and process the wood like I might process spruce--by hand-splitting...







Loading up:





I'll go through the process of waxing the ends and stacking over the weekend sometime, but I just wanted to get the ball rolling...

So-ooo, don't be intimidated by large maples being taken down in your town...
In most cases, it's not that hard to get them into shape to become a nice mandolin down the line...

[Michael Lewis]

Bruce, you make it look easy. I'll leave that kind of work for you guys that are used to lugging green wood around.

It is a pity it wasn't actually cut in longer lengths. I guess the faller just made it into 'farwood'.

[sunburst]

...in this case--mainly because the tree split very straight--

Good score! Yep, that's about as straight as I've ever seen maple split. Bummer about the 14" lengths! Bigleaf?

[David Houchens]

I would like to see a piece with the bark peeled back if you would. Give me a better feel for what the inside will look like when I debark an area on a standing tree.

[Stephen Perry]

I've actually used firewood for fiddles! Silver maple from my yard. There's also a good deal of wood from my property in the trim in my house and in workshop fittings. I have a froe just like that!

Thanks so much for posting. Great to see such things in action

[Spruce]

[QUOTE=bryce;1353827]I would like to see a piece with the bark peeled back if you would.[/QUOT

[JeffD]

I've actually used firewood for fiddles!

Much much better, IMO, than using fiddles for firewood. Just my opionion.

[Spruce]

I would like to see a piece with the bark peeled back if you would. Give me a better feel for what the inside will look like when I debark an area on a standing tree.

OK, here are a few shots...








24 out of 25 times, the yellowish cambium layer will look as smooth as a baby's bottom, with no "bubbles" (quilted maple) or squiggly movement (curly) at all...
A good tree will basically look like the back of a slab-cut Loar, because that's basically what it is...

Here's the same piece, showing the quartered face:





Working up the billets today, so stay tuned...

[fscotte]

Man I love wood. I think I love it even more than the instrument it makes.

[Bill McCall]

Could have made some nice bowls there too. You certainly need more than 2 hobbies.

[Spruce]

Could have made some nice bowls there too. You certainly need more than 2 hobbies.

There's lots of bowl wood in addition to the instrument wood...
...lots.

[kjbllc]

very cool. I will probably end up buying some down the road!!

[choctaw61]

How long will the wood need to season (dry),before u can begin building a mandolin with it.

[Spruce]

How long will the wood need to season (dry),before u can begin building a mandolin with it.

Hi choctaw61...welcome to the Forum...

"They" say a year-per-inch, but I'd give it 3 or so...
There are ways to speed that up...

[choctaw61]

Thank u Spruce. I'm a newbie to the cafe as well as mandolin. I just#find#all this fascinating. I thank all the great people for sharing ur knowledge here. Just fascinating!

[JeffD]

Man I love wood. I think I love it even more than the instrument it makes.

My friend the fiddle maker says similar things. I can understand.

[Mandoborg]

THANKS for posting this Bruce !!........... Love stuff like this....
I remember doing two Red Spruces this way a few years ago and it was WORK !! I imagine splitting maple is probably more difficult ?? Folks should never complain about the price of wood when you actually see what it takes to go from tree to nice little wedges. There's a lot of sweat and dust in there !! Let's see, if I put away $3.74 a week for the next three years , I should be able to buy ......... :O)

Thanks again !!......

Jim

[Spruce]

I remember doing two Red Spruces this way a few years ago and it was WORK !! I imagine splitting maple is probably more difficult ??

In this case, it's about the same...
But not all maples split this easily...

The "problem" with hand-spliting is that it's very wasteful, both with conifers and hardwoods...
Sawing-from-the-log will yield you about 1/3 more wood (that's a guess)...
But I'm of the opinion that conifers must be split out before resawing, for a myriad of good reasons...
Maple? Not so much....

[Jim Nollman]

This all reminds me of something that happened last winter. I answered an ad from a local firewood supplier who had just cut a large bigleaf maple that produced over 6 cords of firewood. When he arrived at my house for delivery, my mouth literally fell wide open. A high percentage of that cord (8 feet by 4 feet by 4 feet when stacked) was flamed, blistered, or quilted, and there was enough it to produce a truckload of top-of-the-line mandolin backs. But he'd cut all of it to ±12 inches lengths, and then split it for firewood without any consideration for grain.

I told him that if he ever found another maple with such grain, he might first try contacting our mutual neighbor, Spruce. And if the next tree was anything like the tree I am still burning this morning, a truckload of that fine timber might give him a bit more money than the $150 he was charging me.

[Spruce]

[mandognome]

Fascinating thread! Thanks Spruce. I would live to see this continue, maybe all the way until the photos are of mandolins?

[Spruce]

I would live to see this continue, maybe all the way until the photos are of mandolins?

Hopefully that will indeed happen...

I'm trying something I haven't done in many many years on this tree...
Because I'm leaving so-ooo many nooks and crannies--and maybe a piece of bark here and there--I've decided to dip each piece in a Borax solution.
This has worked very well in the past to deter any bug activity...



Waiting at the waxpot...



Some one-piecers...



It's actually a lot of fun splitting this stuff out...



Giving the billets a light kilning to prevent fungusing...

[Mike Arakelian]

I've learned a ton of stuff from reading posts on the Cafe', but this is over the top...fantastic!

Thanks..........

[David Houchens]

Thanks Spruce. Thats exactly what I needed to see. The one I might play with since its coming down anyhow doesn't show near thet much wrinkle.