stripping ohia

[JAJ]

Does anyone have any advice on best way to strip ohia for building?

How should I treat it for exterior uses?

Thanks for your help.

JJ

[leilaniguy]

If it's fresh cut & green, it peels easily with a drawknife, much harder if cured. Paint it with a boric acid wash to preserve it.

[DanielP]

No drawknife needed. Cut two 1 1/2"dia. x 2' long sticks per person.

Lay the freshly cut pole on the ground or sawhorses and walk along pounding it like a drum all over with these sticks. Pound hard. The bark will peel like a banana. This also leaves a smooth cambrium layer exposed. Some turn out stringy. not sure why.

Place the skinned poles on "stickers" to keep them out of the dirt. Stack logs so air can freely circulate and cover from the sun. They will keep like this for several years, but will start to darken.

Borate should work well as a preservative. If you are going to apply a surface finish, I would let air dry a year.

Dan

[Laughing_girl]

Good to see you stayed out of the fires harm, Dan!

[DanielP]

Summer in the southern Cascades is either stunningly beautiful or on fire. The weather and the firefighters turned in our favor. The threat is over for now.

Back soon, Dan

[Kahunascott]

Yous guys are nutz.
3000-3500 psi pressure washer.
It peals the bark and the red and white fibers right off.
And we use the bark and fibers for around the trees and garden.
Jayne just did a bunch for a spit rail fence in our yard.
Watch your toes she almost sliced one off.

If you think health care is expensive now, wait until you see what it cost when it’s free

[DanielP]

Scott,

As we both know, being in the construction business, it is all a matter of efficiency. If you happen to have a pressure washer at hand or have many logs to peel, a pressure washer is certainly a good option. If you don't have either, then it is not as good an option.

The option I described came from the local folks. Low tech, effective and no hurry Brah.

Dan

[Kahunascott]

quote:

---

Originally posted by DanielP

Scott,

As we both know, being in the construction business, it is all a matter of efficiency. If you happen to have a pressure washer at hand or have many logs to peel, a pressure washer is certainly a good option. If you don't have either, then it is not as good an option.

The option I described came from the local folks. Low tech, effective and no hurry Brah.

Dan

---

JAJ asked about stripping for building, no?[8D]
Therefore, I wouldn't want to stand around for months banging bark off the logs. If you don't have one you can rent one for a couple of days and get it done.

If you think health care is expensive now, wait until you see what it cost when it’s free

[hikatz]

[quote]Originally posted by DanielP

No drawknife needed. Cut two 1 1/2"dia. x 2' long sticks per person.

Lay the freshly cut pole on the ground or sawhorses and walk along pounding it like a drum all over with these sticks. Pound hard. The bark will peel like a banana. This also leaves a smooth cambrium layer exposed. Some turn out stringy. not sure why.

Place the skinned poles on "stickers" to keep them out of the dirt. Stack logs so air can freely circulate and cover from the sun. They will keep like this for several years, but will start to darken.

Borate should work well as a preservative. If you are going to apply a surface finish, I would let air dry a year.

Dan
[/quote)


This is how we did the large ohia logs we cut on our property,
since we had limited water, pressure washer method would not work.
Stringy parts is usually on the back of the trees which stay moist, because of little exposure to the sun. That was the explanation that was given to us, made sense, not sure if it was accurate!

[DanielP]

We had poles that we cut near one another, same time, same size. Either the whole pole was stringy or the whole pole wasn't. Most were not stringy. Couldn't figure any rhyme or reason. Oh well, no worries, the process was sweet and they all looked great when we were done. 5 posts, 2 beams, 2 people,4 hours. What a deal!

Dan