I’ve spent the entire day cutting trees into logs and bringing them home… They aren’t lumber yet and all of them are not here yet, but it won’t be long now. Here’s a couple of shots of the maple. It’s a little over 30’ long and the big end is 36”. It’s been down a year and it’s spalded, but not punky. I cut into it to see what it’s going to look like after it’s sawn. It’s also tiger striped through and through. I have to wait to bring it home. My log arch will straddle a log 32” in diameter and this one is too big to pick up. I’ve been building another one that will straddle a 48” log that’s 16’ long. I should have it built and bring this log home next Saturday.
I put one of my stocks at the end of the log and you can see it in both photographs. It’s 30” in length. The owner of this log saw my Timberking 1220 sawmill next to my house and a few logs. He stopped and asked if I would haul it off for him! Will I ever. This may be the most figured maple I’ve ever cut. Opening a log like this is like digging for buried treasure…
The walnut trees are in a back yard and down a steep hill. I cut the logs 10’ long to make them lighter so we could pull them up the hill slung under my log arch. It took a couple of tries to get the heaviest butt log up the hill, but we didn’t spin the wheels too bad. The walnut is a beautiful dark chocolate color. This was a yard tree with lots of Sunlight so the sapwood is a little thicker than it would be if the tree had grown slower under the shade in a forest. Here’s what it looks like trying to pry up the back end so I can get the front safety chain attached. If the log is a few feet longer, it balances and it’s easy to latch the safety chain.
This next photo shows the top of the tree. There’s a couple of 12” diameter logs left to pick up. The bottom tree had a huge fork that’s going to be some serious flame grain. I should be able to get enough figured wood from this crotch to cut seats and backs for two Maloof style rocking chairs! Yep, I’m slabbing all three trees 2 1/4” thick and they should make a lot of rocking chairs. I’m going to take most of the large limbs to the woodworking shop at the Senior Citizens center.
The last photo shows the other walnut tree where the butt was cut from the stump. I’ve got permission to use a backhoe and dig up the stumps. The tree service that dropped them left enough wood on the root ball to make gunstocks from them too. Anybody in East Tennessee that has a backhoe and wants to trade some digging time for a gunstock or even a rocking chair, send me a PM and let’s go digg!
This log is also too big to bring home today. I hate to leave it while I’m finishing the big log arch, but I don’t think very many people around here have any way to move it… I’ll post some pictures when I get a chance to saw these logs into lumber. The maple should have something over 1000 bft of lumber and all the walnut logs should have about the same amount of finished lumber.
-- Hal, Tennessee http://www.first285.com
13 comments so far
Nate Meadows
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881 posts in 378 days
#1 posted 300 days ago
That is awesome! You are going to have so much fun discovering the beauty with in!
Nate
-- "With a little bit of faith, and some imagination, you can build anything!" Nate
jaykaypur
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2501 posts in 580 days
#2 posted 300 days ago
You have some nice wood there. A lotta work but in the end….I am sure it will be well worth it! Great find/grab.
-- Use it up, Wear it out --------------- Make it do, Or do without!
lightweightladylefty
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2068 posts in 1884 days
#3 posted 300 days ago
Hal,
Thanks for sharing such an exciting gloat!
L/W
-- Jesus is the ONLY reason for ANY season.
Joe Lyddon
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6397 posts in 2224 days
#4 posted 300 days ago
WOW!
What a HAUL!
Man, you’re set for a LONG TIME with Maple and Black Walnut!!
C O N G R A T U L A T I O N S !
-- Have Fun! Joe Lyddon - Alta Loma, CA USA - Home: http://www.WoodworkStuff.net ... My Small Gallery: http://www.ncwoodworker.net/pp/showgallery.php?ppuser=1389&cat=500"
Jim Jakosh
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7332 posts in 1277 days
#5 posted 299 days ago
Hal, all I can say is that I see about 50 gunstocks sitting there!! Great find. Milling that will keep you out of the bars for a few weeks!! It must be great to be able to cut it your self to the dimension you need to work with!!
...................Jim
-- Jim Jakosh.....Practical Wood Products...........Learn something new every day!!
Post_Oakie
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62 posts in 325 days
#6 posted 299 days ago
Great haul. Looks like your new log arch will get quite a workout. Hope you post a photo when it is finished. What do you look for to determine tiger stripe in the maple? How are you going to cut it on your portable sawmill? Will you quarter the logs with a chain saw to fit them on the mill? I made the mistake of not picking up a great walnut log out of a yard the same day it was offered, and when I did come for it, it was already cut into 18” pieces of firewood! Hate to see a grown man cry, especially when its me…
-- Good judgement comes from experience. Experience comes from bad judgement.
HalDougherty
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1820 posts in 1409 days
#7 posted 299 days ago
Post-Oakie,
To see the grain in the log, I cut into it with my chainsaw and smoothed the piece I cut off both with and against the grain. You can see it! Sometimes when the bark is removed, you can see ripples under the bark where the stripes will be inside. Like this one.
Yep, I’ll have to whittle ‘em down some to fit them on my sawmill. It’s 34” between the support posts and I have a log deck big enough to hold a 20’ log. Only these will be too heavy to move cut that long. I’ll cut them into 10’ 6” logs. The maple is spalded so I’ll whittle the sides of the butt log to get it on the mill and slab it down. The first slab will be 8” thick, I’ll turn the log and cut off another 8” thick slab. I’ll set these aside after I slab them and saw them after I cut the center section. I’ll turn the center section on it’s edge, and take off 2 1/2” boards till I get to the center, flip it and take off 2 1/2” thick boards till I get to the center, then I’ll cut the top slabs. I use my log arch to pick up the slabs, move them and set them back on the mill. An 8” slab 10’ long must weigh over 1000 lbs. None of this stuff can be moved by hand or turned with a cant hook. Here’s how I sawed a red oak log 38 inches in diameter last Summer.
-- Hal, Tennessee http://www.first285.com
Don W
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9972 posts in 739 days
#8 posted 299 days ago
that’s a good day. There is a few new stocks in that black walnut log for sure. I anticipate some fine post in Hal’s future.
-- There is nothing like the sound of a well tuned hand plane. - http://timetestedtools.wordpress.com (timetestedtools at hotmail dot c0m)
SASmith
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1369 posts in 1159 days
#9 posted 299 days ago
Congrats on a sweet find.
-- Scott Smith, Southern Illinois
Roman Hrytsak
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379 posts in 858 days
#10 posted 299 days ago
I can see some fine boots in some of those knots and twists and discards! Great post. Look forward to seeing your projects from this haul. Yikes!!!
-- Roman:... there are no mistakes, just opportunities for a design change!
BertFlores58
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1537 posts in 1094 days
#11 posted 299 days ago
Hal,
Congratulations for these very nice timber. If only I am around, nothing will be wasted. Branches is already good enough for me. Be careful and take it easy. You are a lucky guy.
Good luck!
-- Bert
gfadvm
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6654 posts in 862 days
#12 posted 299 days ago
Now you just need to buy a backhoe! Then you can dig up the stumps and move the logs. Wish I was there to help and share in the booty as that looks like some great maple.
-- " I'll try to be nicer, if you'll try to be smarter" gfadvm
Roger
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9192 posts in 976 days
#13 posted 299 days ago
a Mother-Load..
-- Roger from KY. Work/Play/Travel Safe. Kentuk55@bellsouth.net
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