Cut some big wood today

[Peder McElroy]

Had a great today . Needed some logs for the mills so I went to my forest and picked out a nice 150' redwood. The 12' butt log weighed 8000 lbs. Here are some photo's,If I can load them,If not they will be on my photo gallery.G

[Chuck White]

Hey Peder;
You already did the hard part with your photos.  I haven't quite got that down myself yet.

But, open a new post or edit the one you already have.
Go to your galery and click on a photo.
Once the photo enlarges, scroll down to the white box and hight the info there and rt click and select copy.
Then go to your post and click paste.  then your photo will be in the post.

[bandmiller2]

Peder,is that you half way up that redwood,you've got some real timber.Back east we don't have anything quite that large.Do you have equipment to handle that size log?? Frank C.

[SwampDonkey]

Yes, nice timber. When do we get to see some lumber? ;D

[pitotshock]

Truly some inspiring sized trees. Don't think that I would have the kahunas to scale and cut the top off from way up there...

[Okrafarmer]

Peder,is that you half way up that redwood,you've got some real timber.Back east we don't have anything quite that large.Do you have equipment to handle that size log?? Frank C.

Very few. We have some trees in the 140-150 foot range here in South Carolina, and others here and there in the other eastern states. He said this one was about 150'. Beyond that, we don;t have anything to speak of, and of course the mature redwoods get to be more than twice the size of his.

My boss owns some land on a mountain here in SC and he had a massive red oak blow down a year or so ago. It is way back on the property and we can't currently get any of our heavy equipment to it due to terrain-- it is 4-5' in diameter, and measures 140' long on the ground.

[SwampDonkey]

Even white pine probably max out at about 130 feet around here, they always are above the main canopy by several feet. Hardwood around here max out around 80 feet, mostly 60-70 feet. Spruce can sometimes be found around 110 feet or so, I measured a red spruce one time at 102 feet.

[Okrafarmer]

I wish I knew the height of the massive old white pine at my great-great-uncle's house in Belgrade, Maine, It was over 5' in diameter. A few miles away my grandfather had the biggest cedar (red, I think?) I've ever seen and it was between 3-4 ft abh and about 60' tall more or less, with massive leaders-- a very bushy tree at the end of his house. I've also seen some stunningly huge white pines along the Belgrade Lakes and by Unity Pond in Waldo County-- don't know how tall they were.

[Okrafarmer]

Anyway, if he'd said he cut down a 175' redwood I guess I just would have kept quiet!  :D I look forward to visiting the redwood groves sometime-- that will be very awesome. We can't match the redwood as a species with anything we have here, of course.

[bandmiller2]

Peder, I checked out your photos nice Belsaw setup.That redwood is going to be a pretty big mouthfull for the belsaw,what system do you use to turn the logs on the carriage.? Frank C.

[Magicman]

That is sooo different from anything here.  Thanks for sharing some of what happens on your side of the world.   ;)

[paul case]

That is sooo different from anything here.  Thanks for sharing some of what happens on your side of the world.   ;)

most of the trees(oak and hickory) in my neck of the woods are almost big enough to get 3 - 10' logs out of. pc

[Peder McElroy]

Frank C . I will mostly be using my Lucas mill on the big stuff. The belsaw is used on the smaller trees and I have to turn them by hand. I hire a crane for the big trees as the logs weigh between 4000 to 8000 lbs and my forklift won't lift them,my fork lift is good to about 4000 lbs. Peder

[northwoods1]

I like the 4 post corner setup in your garage that gives me some ideas.

[Birk-man]

Peder

How did you get the log to fly?



Peter

[StephenRice]

Peder

How did you get the log to fly?



Peter

I imagine someone used a BiG DanG Crane!

[bill m]

What was the reason for using the crane for the log sections? In another picture it shows the climber just jumping the top out of the tree. If there was enough room and with nothing to get damaged by the top couldn't you just have let the logs fall? With the right notch and back cut the logs would flip one time and land flat.

[Stephen1]

I also like the 4 post set up for the garage. why? is that a mastercraft I see stored in there?

[Okrafarmer]

How did you get the log to fly?
Peter

He just gave it one DanG big push. Haven't you ever seen anybody do that?

[StephenRice]

How did you get the log to fly?
Peter

He just gave it one DanG big push. Haven't you ever seen anybody do that?

Hey, anyone to climb up that far in a tree like that and do what he was doing has got to be a stud, so why not?

[Peder McElroy]

The crane could not reach the top three 16' logs and they shattered when they hit. They fliped about 2 times. We tried to change the notch but they still hit wrong. we fell the last 2 as they were closer to the gound. The only to save the wood is to have them hit stright down.

[paul case]

so i guess if you fell the whole tree it would ruin the logs too or would you just have to go to the next county to pick it up?pc

[StephenRice]

Paul,

I am going to guess that the logs would be fine, except you may be right about having to get a bus ticket to reach the other end of the log.

Peder,

I am going to assume that redwood logs are brittle just like red cedar, aren't they?

[paul case]

i have fell serveral red oaks and black oaks that are good logs but fall on a limb or fall before i get enough cut and they bust from one end to the other. thats the stuff everyone refers to as ''strong as an oak'' pc

[Peder McElroy]

Yes they are brittle. If you fall them up hill it is better,but this ground was flat for about fifty feet and then up hill so the tree would brake up.Plus the damage to the trees around it. More control by limbing it first and then chunk it up in the sizes that I wanted.