Log weights

the log weight calculator at woodweb uses a 75% moisture content.

Gregorama,

Unless you know the moisture content of your logs and the moisture content that the table or formula is assuming, you can be hundreds of pounds off. LogBear’s method seems to have a lot of merit to get around this problem. I do have one question about that method that the woodworker community may be able to answer. If most of the moister in a log is lost from the ends, should I expect the end of the log to be significantly dryer than the middle of the log? If the log is fresh cut this probably has no effect but what if the log has been drying for a few months? When does a log have a uniform moisture content? Anyone know this?

ClubMike
Here are the weights for several species of pine in pounds per cubic foot for “air dry” wood.
Lodgepole pine 30
Ponderosa pine 32
Red pine 28
Whit pine 26

Well, I put in those same numbers, 16" Grand Fir, 40'long, got 2200+ pounds.. I wonder who's right? I feel a little more comfortable with the specific gravity method, especially since it seems closer to the empirical evidence provided by Logbear.. I wonder if our resident engineer has a chart he uses?

Greg

I posted this same link in another discussion thread. You might want to look at other discussions to glean information. This particular site is listed in the rolodex.

http://www.woodweb.com/cgi-bin/calculators/calc.pl?calculator=log_weight

I've been wondering about that same thing; I plan to use a material-handling forklift for my house, and need a capacity. So, according to the chart, that 16 inch log figures like this...

volume of wood: 3.1416 x 8inches (.666) squared x 1 foot= 1.39 cu ft.

weight of that much water = 62.4 pounds x 1.39 = 87 pounds

specific gravity of green Fir =.41, so 87*.41= 35.7 pounds per foot, or

1428 pounds for a 40 footer...

go figure! :roll:

Greg

When I built my house I wondered about the weight of my base log. It was 16" average diameter. I cut a 1' piece off the end and it weighed 40 lbs. It was 40' long. --- 40 lbs/ft X 40 ft =1600 lbs. It was Douglas Fir.

That would be good info to know, I hope someone has the answer. I have lots of pine on my land. Nice straight tall pine. I wonder what it weighs???

I asked a similar question over in the construction forum, but it seemed relevant here. And I hope this doesn't come across as lazy, but has anyone ever weighed a log? I appreciate the charts on that page, but I'd like to know what a ballpark range (within a couple hundred pounds) might be for a log weight? Say we're talking about a 40' log, 12" avg diameter, lodgepole pine, fresh cut in the winter.

For example. :D

Ok, Thanks

Toward the end of this article it gives the density of a variety of woods both green and dried.

http://www.ces.purdue.edu/extmedia/FNR/FNR-156.html
:lol: