Logitis Annonymous: Can You Pass By A Pile of Wood Without Stopping?

your not the only one. I cannot pass by one of those skip bins that they have at building sites without looking inside and salvaging anything worth keeping.

-- BRODY. NSW AUSTRALIA -arguments with turnings are rarely productive-

A very interesting story. Pl add a few pictures next time, to add to the fun.
Sharad

-- patanjali

I’m the same. i can’t pass even a little scrap of wood. or a log. or even a tree without looking.

I have blogged some of my log hauls here. I am hopelessly addicted. I cannot go anywhere without looking at fallen logs and at least attempt to get them home. I am most often successful.

-- Urban logger, http://nelsonwoodworks.biz/

Last fall I loaded two ash logs into my work vehicle… a Toyota Prius, before I even owned a Lathe!

-- Ned - 2B1ASK1 http://nedswoodshop.blogspot.com

Some of the most priceless looks come from people watching me load logs into my BMW while wearing a custom suit.

-- My favorite piece is my last one, my best piece is my next one.

Yes, we Lumberjocks seem to have the Logitis/Scapitis gene. It has gotten me into trouble on many a day. I am cursed with working in the heart of West Michigan’s furniture industry and have 4 sources of materials within walking distance of my office. That is also the only reason I went with a station wagon instead of a sedan. Must have space to hall all of that treasure home….

Yep, it is bad when you can just walk onto the shop floor of another company and have all the full-time employees know you by your first name…. That or they call you on your cell when they have something interesting for you! I have even been know to stash my treasures at work so that way my wife doesn’t know that I picked more free lumber.(Had to make cutting boards for everyone in my shipping department to keep them silent!)

Yep… I have it bad! I would not change it for anything!

I can’t stand to pass up free wood, or cheap even. (see my latest blog about that) It pains me though that I can’t make my own lumber of any sort, so when I pass up a nice sized log, especially Black Walnut, I cringe and curse myself a little bit for not having the equipment to make lumber. Usually the only logs I do pick-up are the ones that are hollow in the center as they make great planters.

-- Respect your shop tools and they will respect you - Ric

Oh, I didn’t mention the other more recent additions. My husband brought back two large logs (5 ft. x 24” diameter each) of Pecan from my mother-in-laws home in Georgia that fell during a storm this past spring. (I made her a cane last Christmas and I guess she likes it.) She saved the tree and he picked it up this summer. They are in my driveway so now only one vehicle can fit. One is upright, the other laying on it’s side. My Dad and I intend to create something out of them, don’t know what yet, but it will be with a chain saw. We both have too many projects right now to devote the time. I wish I had a local friend who had a portable mill. But then again, where would I put the lumber? I need to join Logitis Annonymos.

-- "They who dream by day are cognizant of many things which escape those who dream only by night." ~ Edgar Allan Poe

A buddy of mine calls me an invites me to go to his secret “log dump” to cut some elm burl with him. He and I are working in this field with our truck getting fuller and flatter by the minute, in 95 degree heat with no rest breaks. I decided that I was tired of wrestling with the 4’ diameter elm (which was covered in burls all the way around), so i wandered over to where this 2’ diameter cherry log is. I was cutting into it to see what it looked like, and it was all burl. So I stop with all of the elm and started cutting cherry. I was using this maple stump to get the cherry off of the ground, when I realized it was all curly maple. So I started cutting that too!

Finally, there was some AAAA+ curly, spalted maple that was too good to leave behind, so I threw out some of the elm burl to load up the spalted maple. That was 2 years ago, and I still have some of the wood left…

Best. Day. Ever.

-- Steven

me too. I can’t pass a chance to get free wood

-- There is no such thing as a mistake. Its called a design modification Rick Kruse, Grand Rapids, MI

nedB just reminded me. i got about 20 logs anticipating a lathe up to a year before i got a lathe.

I drive by a tree that I think is soon going to fall, just hoping it fell during the last storm.

-- Brian, Lebanon PA, If you aren’t having fun doing it, find something else to do.

I have an older brother who called me up one day to bring my new Chevy truck to haul a cherry log he had cut. It was uphill and all we had to do was slide it down on the road. We stood it upright because it was too heavy to lift. We turned it over into the bed of the truck. Unfortunately, it folded my new tailgate into a V. He could tell I was extremely disappointed. He just looked at me and said, ” That’s a working truck now”.

So, where are the photos of the projects from these woods?

The crotch piece of Maple that threw my hip out of wack is full of fungus growth. Since it was very green when we hauled it, and it’s not protected, it grew like crazy. I tried killing the fungus with rubbing alcohol. That seemed to stimulate it. It was on the dirt, but now it’s elevated so I’m hoping it will stop spalting. It will be interesting chopping into it. I can only imagine it can be made into a bulky sculptural chair or bench or just a sculpture with all the fungus growth.

-- "They who dream by day are cognizant of many things which escape those who dream only by night." ~ Edgar Allan Poe

Hi, my name is Ned and I’m a woodaholic…

My most recent score… I was walking along, passed a yard where three gents were cleaning up from downing a small ornamental cherry tree. I got a couple of houses past, then went back and asked if I could have a piece or two…

-- Ned - 2B1ASK1 http://nedswoodshop.blogspot.com

Hi Ned, Welcome to Logitis Annonymous. [Everyone sign in please and help yourself to the coffee and cookies.]

I’ve been eyeing an old, diseased ornamental cherry and it was recently cut down and the wood was left for the scavengers. I managed to get 4 interesting pieces into my SUV and haul them home. I still need to remove the bark but they look promising as several are crotch pieces and maybe some burl.

-- "They who dream by day are cognizant of many things which escape those who dream only by night." ~ Edgar Allan Poe

Well, I finally got a photo of the log that kicked butte. It has been weathered and infested with lichen, so the spalting should be quite interesting. I need to work on this before it decomposes too much. It’s now sitting on a concrete paver, no longer on the soil, which caused it to spalt.

It’s too bad I didn’t get it on the paver earlier, and maybe injected edible mushroom spawn instead of having it infested with this lichen.

-- "They who dream by day are cognizant of many things which escape those who dream only by night." ~ Edgar Allan Poe