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pics of a log

Started by northwoods1, November 10, 2010, 06:40:20 AM

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northwoods1

I was cutting on a hardwood job and after I cut this tree off I noticed that the butt of it looked different than most other maple trees. Anyone ever seen log end grain that looks like this? It really caught my eye and that is why I stopped what I was doing and took a closer look. The log is about 16" across. 


pasbuild

Looks like a nice one, same thing on the other end?
If it can't be nailed or glued then screw it

terrifictimbersllc

With a sawmill you get to find out what's inside.
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northwoods1

Quote from: pasbuild on November 10, 2010, 06:45:40 AM
Looks like a nice one, same thing on the other end?

Yes same thing other end, 16' of the tree looked this way.

northwoods1

Quote from: terrifictimbersllc on November 10, 2010, 06:46:05 AM
With a sawmill you get to find out what's inside.

Ha ha, believe me when I saw this log that was about the only thing I could think off until it was actually on the mill and the boards were coming off :D

ahlkey

I have cut a few hard maples over the years that were identical to that pattern.  At first I thought I had something like birdseye or a variation of it but nope it was just a nice pattern. Not sure what causes it but it sure makes for nice table top or anywhere that a unique wood pattern is important.

LOGDOG

My first reaction was "birdseye!". Are you going to mill it or sell it to a buyer?

Meadows Miller

Gday

NW looks like you have Radial Fleck in that log we get it down here in some species of timber like sheoak and the like  ;) It looks real Nice in sawn boards and furniture Mate  ;) ;D ;D ;D 8) 8)


Regards Chris
4TH Generation Timbergetter

pasbuild

I have eight bolts 8' to 12' to saw up this week, I only wish they had as much potential as yours.  Have you sliced a cookie to see what you have?
If it can't be nailed or glued then screw it

tyb525

Last year I cut a sugar maple, 24" on the butt, and produced 4 10' logs, the smallest log was 18" small end. The end grain looked like that.

It had a quilted figure, and some parts had what I would call not-quite-birdseye. It's a nice, light figure. Mine had very distinct bark "swellings" all over it.
LT10G10, Stihl 038 Magnum, many woodworking tools. Currently a farm service applicator, trying to find time to saw!

mad murdock

looks like maybe it could be that nice curly maple pattern you see in old muzzle loader stocks, or on nice guitar or other stringed instrument necks?  The bird's eye I was used to seeing would look like a 5 point star type pattern on the end grain of the log.
Turbosawmill M6 (now M8) Warrior Ultra liteweight, Granberg Alaskan III, lots of saws-gas powered and human powered :D

chevytaHOE5674

Looks sort of like Curl to me. Can you feel any curl in the wood if you bump the bark off?

west penn


Looks like a nice log. If it is curly you will be able to see the curl on the hinge where it broke off. the wood will be wavy. it's reall not hard to spot if the curl is there.

isawlogs


Birdseye  !!!!  Wish you where closer. That log is a keeper if you can .
A man does not always grow wise as he grows old , but he always grows old as he grows wise .

   Marcel

isawlogs

Well did you saw it up yet ???   ;D
A man does not always grow wise as he grows old , but he always grows old as he grows wise .

   Marcel

qbilder

That's birdseye. It's very good birdseye, too. Wanna sell the log as is before you mill it? Or interested in selling the lumber? I use 6/4 birdseye. 
God bless our troops

LOGDOG

NW ... I know the Maple log is the focus here but I just looked again and see that it appears to be sitting on some White cedar logs? Are they nice and solid?

northwoods1

Quote from: isawlogs on November 10, 2010, 07:07:11 PM
Well did you saw it up yet ???   ;D

Yes I did  :) after I had seen that end grain it made me go up and knock a chunk of bark off the log with the poll of my axe and the next pic shows what it looked like. It looked like birdseye to me but the amount of it was ridiculous. It took me a while to decide how to go about about sawing it and I decided to cut the logs short all 48". This was because I could not think of a single end use that would require longer than 4' and it eliminated all the crook in the log allowing me to get the most out of it. I got a variety of pieces from 4/4 to 10/4 and I was trying to bookmatch the best of it. The figure showed best slab sawn. I cut one 1/4 sawn gunstock out of it that I will have to splice with another piece to get a full length stock, doesn't look like much figure now but it should be an interesting pattern when it is reduced to a stock shape. I even went back and dug the stump out, got half a dozen short 8 & 10/4 pieces that were nicely figured. I took a few of those to a friends recently and he ran them through his large sander, without any stain or finish the grain really stands out. Very hard too I can't even come close to denting it with a fingernail, when I run a carving chisel over it the finish is like glass. I do have a lot of cedar that is sound, some that will cut out very wide & clear. The last pic is of one of the larger pieces I have to saw it was 38" on the stump and 156 yrs. old. I just went and looked at a small patch of it yesterday, about 3-4 acres and a farmer wanted to cut it and expand one of his fields. I was suprised to find some of it was very nice, and there was a fair amount of it, I am going to make an effort to buy it to cut this winter. :)

I thought I would post the pics of the log so that if any of you see this kind of end grain take a closer look! :o I look for figured wood all the time with a passion and this tree almost slipped by me.




















Texas Ranger

The Ranger, home of Texas Forestry

isawlogs

 I suggest that someone volunteer to take all this off your hands before your eyes get permanent damage from staring at these peices of wood, I am willing to sacrifice myself to do this for your health and well being.

  Marcel,  good inrentions go a long way  ;D :)
A man does not always grow wise as he grows old , but he always grows old as he grows wise .

   Marcel

isawlogs

 Nice wood , all kidding aside , how did it saw ?  I cut some a while back when I first got my mill and found it almost a difficult task to get any speed at sawing it , mind you we did not have the blades available today  ;)
A man does not always grow wise as he grows old , but he always grows old as he grows wise .

   Marcel

Coon

My wifey wants that wood.  :D  She doesn't know what she would have built with it but she says she wants it.   ;D  I told her that she would have to battle it out with the whole forestry forum army before she'd even be able to put her hands on it.  :D It is very awesome looking wood. Be sure to keep us informed on the projects you use it on.   ;D

Brad.
Norwood Lumbermate 2000 w/Kohler,
Husqvarna, Stihl and, Jonsereds Saws

tyb525

WOW! That is incredible stuff. It would bring a fortune if you were to sell it.
LT10G10, Stihl 038 Magnum, many woodworking tools. Currently a farm service applicator, trying to find time to saw!

Magicman

And I see some bowls in that stump.
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metalspinner

 :o :o

Yeah!  That's awesome. 8) 
I do what the little voices in my wife's head tell me to do.

Ernie

Don't forget to send a block of that to Jeff for the cabin.

Quote from: Jeff on April 24, 2006, 10:53:45 PM
This may seem like an odd request but I think it could be really neat. I thought of this last fall but wanted to wait until better weather to put in my request.  Many of you know that Tammy and I have been building a "Multi use portable, moveable, unattached to the ground if anybody asks structure"  ;D  in our back yard. The thread for that adventure is found here: https://forestryforum.com/board/index.php?topic=14094.0

Anyhow, there is a portion of the little cabin left unfinished because of my idea. I would like to get from as many forestry forum members as I can, one piece of wood 5¾" by 5¾" square, by 1 inch thick that has your username on it to help fill in this area. It can be any species, and your name, username and date or whatever applied however you wish, burnt painted, engraved, whatever but I would like to keep the species of wood identifiable.  This is where I mean to put them:


This way when folks are sitting on the porch, or at the pigroast, they can look up and see the different names and different woods.   It'll take quite a few to eventually fill it. Do ya'll think this is doable?


A very wise man once told me . Grand children are great, we should have had them first

chevytaHOE5674

Beautiful piece. Whats funny is that to a veneer or BE buyer that log wouldn't be worth as much as a log with small eye that covers the entire log evenly but not too heavy.


cutterboy

That's amazing! I keep looking for a log like that but haven't found it yet.
To underestimate old men and old machines is the folly of youth. Frank C.

redbeard

Awesome score, Smart thinking on the 4' lengths.
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LOGDOG

That's just awesome! Congratulations on the find. I think I'd have to make something out of the wood that could travel with me if I moved from one house to another. A piece of heirloom furniture or something. That's just beautiful.

SwampDonkey

Yes, before I read beyond the first post I said birdseye, and very good birdseye to. Exactly what the big buyers look for (except the split in the but log), following the ray wood to the pith and small heart. That is just like a signature on a bank note. ;D

Veneer buyers here won't touch birdseye for veneer, it's defect. That's to a rotary veneer buyer.

We sold one log a few years back for $1600, with a 19" top, 12 feet long I think.  It was growing on top of a ridge in shaley soil. ;D
"No amount of belief makes something a fact." James Randi

1 Thessalonians 5:21

2020 Polaris Ranger 570 to forward firewood, Husqvarna 555 XT Pro, Stihl FS560 clearing saw and continuously thinning my ground, on the side. Grow them trees. (((o)))

northwoods1

Quote from: SwampDonkey on November 12, 2010, 06:52:09 AM
Yes, before I read beyond the first post I said birdseye, and very good birdseye to. Exactly what the big buyers look for (except the split in the but log), following the ray wood to the pith and small heart. That is just like a signature on a bank note. ;D

Veneer buyers here won't touch birdseye for veneer, it's defect. That's to a rotary veneer buyer.

We sold one log a few years back for $1600, with a 19" top, 12 feet long I think.  It was growing on top of a ridge in shaley soil. ;D

This one was growing right up close to a larger basswood. The top of the the hard maple was actually partially under the basswood canopy so the tree was older but kind of stunted.
That isn't a split in the butt of the log it is the hinge where I cut it off and my cuts didn't match. The tree was actually blown over flat on the ground. It was in a small patch (3-4 acres) of larger hardwoods and log trees which was surrounded by 20-25 yr. old aspen regeneration and 2nd thinning pine plantations all of which was blown over from wind damage. A lot of the time I would have to wade into a mess with the chainsaw to cut the trees off, which is what I did with this birdseye tree. I could just get to it and saw it off that is why my cuts didn't match up. After I hooked on to it with the cable machine and pulled the whole mess of downed trees apart, that is when I saw the butt end of it and realized what it was.
I only have one project planned that will require a few of the pieces. I wanted to make a coffee table using 2 of the better bookmatched pieces for the top, the sides and legs I would use wood from the same tree but portions that contained less of the eye. I'd make it in the Chippendale style with Cabriolet legs that had hairy lions paw carved feet that were finished to a high degree. This I would do all using hand tools the way an 18th century craftsman would have done it. For a stain I would use nitric acid or aqua-fortis to really pop the grain and then a violinmakers type varnish over that which had a little red mixed in it and I would rub it all back. That would give it a kind of a candy apple really deep looking finish. I can picture it in my mind would be nice if I can make it reality.

Reddog

QuoteThis one was growing right up close to a larger basswood. The top of the the hard maple was actually partially under the basswood canopy so the tree was older but kind of stunted.

Takes a stress of some sort to cause eye.

That is some very Nice looking lumber 8)

weisyboy

we call timber like that birdseye.

dosent happen often and i have no idea what causes it but i wish i new so i could make it happen more offten.
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SwampDonkey

Quote from: Reddog on November 12, 2010, 07:54:37 AM

Takes a stress of some sort to cause eye.

Not really, I can walk you into stands of it, and they are dominant canopy trees. Trouble is, not all of them make perfect logs for buyers. We cut some 40 + dbh on a town lot (old water supply land), but the figure was only in about 4-5 inches and ran out. Many had 1/2 heart to. So off to the pulp mill they went. ;D

If I was a hardwood mill with crown allocation I could save all that jacket wood and marketed it. J. Sadler does and he has stacks of it set aside in the mill. He only has to pay a small royalty fee on the volume he consumes and not based on figured wood price either. Pretty sweet deal if you ask me. I few years back I was  at the mill and he showed me his stash, dirty bugger. ;)

All the old benches in the forest products laboratory of the "Old Forestry" building at UNB are birdseye.

We also get birdseye in yellow birch, but extremely rare.
"No amount of belief makes something a fact." James Randi

1 Thessalonians 5:21

2020 Polaris Ranger 570 to forward firewood, Husqvarna 555 XT Pro, Stihl FS560 clearing saw and continuously thinning my ground, on the side. Grow them trees. (((o)))

northwoods1

Quote from: SwampDonkey on November 12, 2010, 01:35:21 PM
Quote from: Reddog on November 12, 2010, 07:54:37 AM

Takes a stress of some sort to cause eye.

Not really, I can walk you into stands of it, and they are dominant canopy trees. Trouble is, not all of them make perfect logs for buyers. We cut some 40 + dbh on a town lot (old water supply land), but the figure was only in about 4-5 inches and ran out. Many had 1/2 heart to. So off to the pulp mill they went. ;D
We also get birdseye in yellow birch, but extremely rare.

So whatever causes it can make a mature tree begin to produce birdseye? How regularly do you see it where you are? I read somewhere that a good birdseye tree was about 1 in 20,000, have no idea how that was calculated, seems it might vary a lot from one area to the next. I know we don't see it to much around these parts but I am just on the edge of pine/oak and northern hardwood regions the forest is really diverse here.
I've noticed with curl that a person can go hunting for it and find it in certain types of trees. For instance I find it in large older trees that are either on a woods edge or maybe they had at one time been standing with there crown open and allowed to grow more out than up. That is where I find a high majority of it. Seems like birdseye would be more of a random thing, much rarer than even good curl. Maybe it is a genetic thing some trees might be just predisposed to the possibility of it occuring and either may or may not begin to show it. If that was the case you think there would be areas where it occurred though.

qbilder

UP Michigan has the highest amount of birdseye maple than anywhere in the world. It's not all that uncommon up there, especially in the low, wet, rocky soil. In fact, it's tremendously more abundant than curly hard maple. Up there, hard curly is a tough wood to find. However, the other major maple producing area in NY/PA/VT/NH/ME have abundant curly maple and very rare to find birdseye. The terrain & soil is a lot different. The mid to upper Wisconsin, around the area of Wolf River (New London, Shawano) has some of the cleanest & whitest hard maple in the country where the very best veneer wood comes from. And that's only a few hours south of the UP. Maple is a diverse tree and regulated much by it's environment. Main body MI produces a pretty good mix of all varieties of hard maple.

I build billiard cues and hard maple is a staple wood in my shop. I buy from numerous sources as well as process my own. Where I buy it or cut it is dependent on the quality, figure, etc i'm in need of. For the front shaft section, I use only top grade veneer logs from Wisconsin and the New England states, some from Ohio. For birdseye I only buy from UP Michigan. For curly figure I only buy from the mountain areas of New England. It's funny how each geographic area has it's own specialized variety. But doing the kind of work I do, it's easy to pattern and predict how & where to find what I need.           
God bless our troops

northwoods1

Quote from: qbilder on November 12, 2010, 03:47:39 PM
UP Michigan has the highest amount of birdseye maple than anywhere in the world. It's not all that uncommon up there, especially in the low, wet, rocky soil. In fact, it's tremendously more abundant than curly hard maple. Up there, hard curly is a tough wood to find. However, the other major maple producing area in NY/PA/VT/NH/ME have abundant curly maple and very rare to find birdseye. The terrain & soil is a lot different. The mid to upper Wisconsin, around the area of Wolf River (New London, Shawano) has some of the cleanest & whitest hard maple in the country where the very best veneer wood comes from. And that's only a few hours south of the UP. Maple is a diverse tree and regulated much by it's environment. Main body MI produces a pretty good mix of all varieties of hard maple.

I build billiard cues and hard maple is a staple wood in my shop. I buy from numerous sources as well as process my own. Where I buy it or cut it is dependent on the quality, figure, etc i'm in need of. For the front shaft section, I use only top grade veneer logs from Wisconsin and the New England states, some from Ohio. For birdseye I only buy from UP Michigan. For curly figure I only buy from the mountain areas of New England. It's funny how each geographic area has it's own specialized variety. But doing the kind of work I do, it's easy to pattern and predict how & where to find what I need.           

I live just north of Shawano 10 minutes from the Wolf River, only an hour south of the U.P. so I've been all over that country too. I cut for years here on the Menominee Indian Reservation in the nicest stands of hard maple you have ever seen.  Birdseye is not that common around here, much easier to find curly hard maple. I find curly all the time and it takes a pretty curly piece to get me excited any more. Now birdseye, I can count on the fingers of one hand how many times I have found one that was good. I've got friends down in KY., W.V. & Virginia that get some really fine curly wood down there, not as white and clean as the hard maple up here can be, but very curly, very hard, very stable, very good everything. Curliest tree I have ever seen was a hard maple from PA. , they called it the liberty tree. I've seen a rifle blank sized piece sell for $1k.

SwampDonkey

Any birdseye I see either grows on shallow shale soil or igneous sandy soil. That town lot, for example, was really shaley and was also mixed with some huge red spruce (20-36" but ends) standing like white pine, but not the height of pine. It is almost not seen in deeper soils in the settled areas of the province because of logging history more than anything. It isn't hard to find birdseye for me personally because I've been in a lot of woods, not just for work but for hunting and fishing. So, I've got an eye for it. I know many sites where I can drive today and see birdseye guaranteed. It's basically in the more remote undisturbed areas. I've seen cords and cords of it in pulpwood because it was either "culvert" logs or bad heart, crooked you name it. For a scrounger that wanted turning blanks, that pile of pulpwood could be a treasure trove. :D Curly hard maple is more of a lottery. Red maple is very common to have curly, many however have it in the but end only. I like hard maple curl the best, as it has a tiger stripe appearance.

There is a couple different hard maple in MI, black and sugar, but the wood you can't separate apart.

The lumber broker nearby has curl and birdeye for sale. It's not that costly to buy, but definitely high end. A piece of finished red oak in the box store costs way more. :D

What we call the "North Pole" area has birdseye in the hardwood ridges (dominated by hard maple) from Robinson Ridge to Hardwood Ridge to Maneater Mountain. Very few, even in NB, would even know where I'm talking about. ;D
"No amount of belief makes something a fact." James Randi

1 Thessalonians 5:21

2020 Polaris Ranger 570 to forward firewood, Husqvarna 555 XT Pro, Stihl FS560 clearing saw and continuously thinning my ground, on the side. Grow them trees. (((o)))

chevytaHOE5674

Quote from: qbilder on November 12, 2010, 03:47:39 PM
UP Michigan has the highest amount of birdseye maple than anywhere in the world. It's not all that uncommon up there, especially in the low, wet, rocky soil. In fact, it's tremendously more abundant than curly hard maple.

We sell our BE to buyers from all around the world and they all say it is among the best you will find anywhere. As for hard maple curl I see it as much if not more than BE but for us it has much less market and often times it just gets sawed in the mill and shipped with the rest of the lumber.

Good soft maple curl on the other hand demands a premium as it is used for guiters and such. But finding small hearted soft maple with good curl and no worm around here is harder than finding good birds eye IME.

This is just my observations watching 30-40,000 feet of logs coming through the yard a day.

northwoods1

Quote from: chevytaHOE5674 on November 12, 2010, 05:28:20 PM



Good soft maple curl on the other hand demands a premium as it is used for guiters and such. But finding small hearted soft maple with good curl and no worm around here is harder than finding good birds eye IME.

This is just my observations watching 30-40,000 feet of logs coming through the yard a day.

Chevy, curly hard maple is used for guitar backs and sides also. And of course violins... soft maple is never used. My guitar is curly hard maple with a spruce top, naturally  ;D I know where there is a market for any good curly hard maple you get I know of many craftsman who are looking for it. Where is your mill at exactly?






chevytaHOE5674

I work for a mill in Baraga, Mi. We buy wood from the western UP and into northern Wi. If we get enough Curly HM for a truckload and can find a buyer of that quantity then we will sell it. But more often than not people come in wanting to buy a stick or two and it just causes more hassle than its worth so it gets sawed and sold (sometimes as figured sometimes with the regular lumber).

qbilder

Quote from: SwampDonkey on November 12, 2010, 05:07:12 PM
The lumber broker nearby has curl and birdeye for sale. It's not that costly to buy, but definitely high end. A piece of finished red oak in the box store costs way more. :D

Would you be so kind as to PM me the contact number? I'm always in the market for top grade figured maple in 6/4 or larger. I buy 1000bf pallets at a time. Not too much but enough to justify the time.    


This offer is good for anybody who gets into some good high figure hard maple. Sources come & go with the availability of the logs, so i'm always looking.
God bless our troops

northwoods1

Quote from: chevytaHOE5674 on November 12, 2010, 06:40:30 PM
But more often than not people come in wanting to buy a stick or two and it just causes more hassle than its worth so it gets sawed and sold (sometimes as figured sometimes with the regular lumber).

I know exactly what you mean by being a hassle for a larger mill, that is exactly why it is so profitable for me to find it and sell it :)

pasbuild

Some things I have been told over the years in regards to birdseye in the U.P. of michigan

The best area in the world for Birdseye Maple in both quantity and quality is the U.P.
the best area in the U.P. is northern Marquette county and Baraga county
Eye figure is caused by stress to the tree, if the stress is removed (open up the canopy) the eye figure will stop. (most of the eye that I get and use in my cabinets and furniture comes from such trees that get over looked for figure)
½ to 1 percent of hard maple will have eye figure, 1 percent of the eye trees will have exceptional figure.
there is an average of 4% growth per year in this area.
check out the wood species for eye at WWW.UPcustomcabinetry.com
If it can't be nailed or glued then screw it

SwampDonkey

Quote from: qbilder on November 12, 2010, 07:31:01 PM


Would you be so kind as to PM me the contact number? I'm always in the market for top grade figured maple in 6/4 or larger. I buy 1000bf pallets at a time. Not too much but enough to justify the time.     

For the benefit of all:   http://www.maritimelumber.com

You could ask them, but I believe the figured maple and birch is all from NB. They mention red birch on their website, but I think it is the red figure we get sometimes in yellow birch that is used as a cherry substitute. So it's just a trade name I believe. I haven't asked them.
"No amount of belief makes something a fact." James Randi

1 Thessalonians 5:21

2020 Polaris Ranger 570 to forward firewood, Husqvarna 555 XT Pro, Stihl FS560 clearing saw and continuously thinning my ground, on the side. Grow them trees. (((o)))

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