Which trees for a log bed?

[ChugiakTinkerer]

Happy New Year!

I'm wanting to build a log bed.  The one Jeff made a few years ago is sort of my inspiration, although I doubt I will be that creative.  I'm heading out to the property next week and will be felling some spruce trees for milling.  I'm wondering it the tops would be a good source of logs for bed-making.

The only other trees in the area are birch and cottonwood.  Here's a shot on the property with my sole stand of birch in the background.  Everything else is spruce, mostly black but some white spruce too.  Actually there's some alder in the area, but it doesn't usually get more than a few inches in diameter.



 

Any recommendations for building a bed frame?

[DDW_OR]

you got a lot of spruce, so use spruce.

save the alder for smoking the meat. have heard that cottonwood can also be used for smoking.
for smoking i use alder, ash, apple, cherry, madrona, and vine maple.

[DDW_OR]

nice sled. so far no snow here.
of course since i said it now we are going to get it 

[Jeff]

I'd go with the birch. It's going to be inside. Spruce=pitch cut the birch now and the bark should hold.

[Jeff]

Hmmm. That birch sure looks like quaking aspen...

[ChugiakTinkerer]

It could be, I know there are a few aspen in this part of Alaska.  It doesn't look like the quakies I saw hunting elk in the rockies, but then this isn't the rockies. 

I reckon I'll start caching candidate poles and logs of spruce, birch, and whatever else I cut.  I can always cut them shorter for firewood if I don't like the cut of their jib.  There's an area back behind the weatherport (the green and tan structure) that I need to clear to make an LZ.  There should be plenty of good starter material there.

Somewhere along the way I picked up some alder that we cut up for firewood.  At least I think it is, has a very distinct aroma coming from the smokestack.  It makes me wish I had some salmon fillets in the smoker.

[ChugiakTinkerer]

nice sled. so far no snow here.
of course since i said it now we are going to get it 

The sled has turned out to be a nice freight hauler.  There's a little background on it here: http://www.dootalk.com/forums/topic/1301089-black-cottonwood-for-a-komatik/

Built it from the first logs I milled!

[starmac]

The aspen we have up here is called popple by some folks, it is not what I am used to in New Mexico or Colorado, but the difference between it and birch is easily seen.

Preparing it would be a royal pain, but I always thought a bed made out of diamond willow would sure look good, if a guy could find a pocket of it that was large enough.

[Jeff]

The aspen we have up here is called popple by some folks, it is not what I am used to in New Mexico or Colorado, but the difference between it and birch is easily seen.

So what do you think is in his photo?  They don't look white enough to me and the black markings don't seem as crisp as on birch.

[starmac]

It is hard to tell from the pictures, at least one of the trees is darker towards the bottom like our cottonwood, but too, what is called cottonwood and aspen or popple are hard for me to tell apart at a glance, till the cottonwood gets large enough to get the rough thick bark on the bottom. The birch bark is easily distinguishable, but my eyes are not good enough to tell by that photo.

[ChugiakTinkerer]

That particular stand of birch/aspen/popple is safe from me for now.  It's the only non-spruce variety of tree on our 27 acres and we're much happier with them standing.  It's definitely not cottonwood, the leaves are smaller and the bark smoother than the black cottonwood I've got at the house.  Now that I think about it, there was a day last summer where the wind was lightly blowing and the leaves on these trees were flashing back and forth in the breeze like the whole tree was twinkling.  Sounds like they might be quaking aspen.

[DDW_OR]

......I need to clear to make an LZ.  There should be plenty of good starter material there.
....has a very distinct aroma coming from the smokestack.  It makes me wish I had some salmon fillets in the smoker.

make a Landing Zone and getting logs. yep, it is nice to do two things in one

"wish I had some salmon fillets in the smoker", well why don't you 

[WLC]

I'm going with either cottonwood or aspen. Leaning more towards Aspen. Not bright white enough for birch. Does the bark have a kinda green tinge to it? 

Jeff, what is called popple up here looks different than the popple I was used to seeing when I would bird hunt in the UP. 

[Jeff]

Popple is slang for several species. There is both big tooth as well as quaking that get called popple. You can also lump in balsam poplar and balm of gilead. Also with its own slang names under the popple slang. Bam, swamp popple, bambagilia.

[ChugiakTinkerer]

I'm going to have to do some field work next week and figure out what these trees are.  I'm pretty sure I've been misidentifying the aspen and lumping it in with the birch trees.

[Brad_bb]

I think you want to consider weight of the bed for when you have to move it.  I'm assuming you'll build it to come apart in sections - like the foot frame and the head frame etc.  So you don't want something too heavy to move.  Spruce is often used.  But it also depends on the look and color you want.  I also assume you're going to draw knife the small diameter logs.  Spruce will have some pitch, I assume you're not going to Kiln dry the logs to set the pitch.  I don't know if that will be a problem - pitch coming out at some point with spruce?

[scouter Joe]

Most of the poles I use for log beds are spruce . They are peeled through the winter and stickered to dry for at least a year . I do use some small red pine ,cedar and the odd tamarak . There is some that will bleed a bit of pitch as they dry but i cut that off with a draw knife . I haven't noticed any more bleeding after sanding and finishing . I generally make at least a half dozen a year . Got 1 to set up tomorrow .  scouter Joe

[Logger RK]

I was guessing Big Tooth,but can't zoom in real clear picture then.

[barbender]

I think that is quaking aspen. Big tooth just grows in the Great Lakes region if I'm not mistaken. Quaking aspen does look different in the mountain West than it does in my area, but it's a far different habitat. I'd expect it to look a little different in Alaska, too. Shoots, even people from around here that go to Alaska are a bit different when they come back😁

[Al_Smith]

If I'm not mistaken quacky can be one huge mass of trees all propagating from the roots .Massive root system .One side of the western Colorado slopes seem to be all piney woods,spruce  the other is aspen,odd to me ,seen it .

[Jeff]

https://www.atlasobscura.com/places/pando-the-trembling-giant
Pando.

[starmac]

Since he thinks it is birch, I am willing to bet that it is. A lot of our birch is not as white as it is in other places, and towards the stump a lot of the time it is darker. Most of it around here that is 8 inches or bigger has a hollow stump starting, maybe that is the reason it is darker. It still has the paper type bark that can be peeled right off, in fact many do collect birch bark for projects, a lot of folks tap the birch for making syrup too, plus some folks just drink the sap. I have tried it and it is not something I want to drink all the time.

Our aspen or popple  is not near as white as that in Nm and Co, and also gets darker towards the stump, so does our cottonwood, but it is more greyish and once it gets 8 or ten inches at the stump it starts getting thick rough bark.

I can't tell by the picks, as far as my eyes go, it could be any of the three, but since he has boots on the ground, I am betting it is birch.

[gspren]

  The birch in my woods is either silver or black/sweet, and by that I mean I have both. Got to go a ways north to see white except for lawn trees.

[Jeff]

I think we need a tree picture!

[starmac]

I have been to the woods the last 2 days and have seen all of our species, but I do not do pictures, maybe Chugiak can get us some closeups.