With all of the leaves off, now is a time to walk through and see what has happened in the woods. I spotted this nice Cherry tree down. I stepped off 36' to the butt and it looked like 16"-18" dbh. It's going to be a bugger getting it out. It will take a winch line and a couple of blocks. I'll try to bring two 18's out, but I may have to whack it. If that Red Oak on the left comes out, it will be firewood.
(https://forestryforum.com/gallery/albums/userpics/20011/2410/Image0060.jpg)
I hope it's solid. There was very little taper for the entire 36'. :)
nice find for sure. i want to see inside. pics please. yeah i know you have to get it out of the woods first. pc
WOW !! nice Cherry tree....
I was given 4 large cherry trees last year almost that large but the centers were rotten.....
I hope yours is solid..... That would make some pretty lumber!!
Not really having an immediate use for the lumber, I'll really have to give some serious thought to buck length. The picture really doesn't show it, but that baby is in the bottom of a hollow. :-\ Gonna be work.
Even if it is hollow, the good stuff is on the outside. :)
That is a nice find! I love a good cherry log :)
Good luck getting her out of the woods!
I would think that a 10 foot log would provide sizes that would exceed most woodworker's needs. Wouldn't it be easier to take it out in smaller hunks? Your tractor's loader could pick a small one up. :)
Unless we have a reason, we like to keep our hardwood logs short, 10' is good. However, maximum recovery dictates log lengths. 10' allows us to trim out some defect and still have a good usable length. We mostly are making flooring and panelling for our personal use. We do have three long cherry Shaker tables at work, that is the only thing I have seen long cherry used for. They were in the 14' to 16' range. All in a row, they make a great banquet table, but were getting pretty unhandy to move around. The 16' is now cut in half awaiting some new parts to become two 8' tables.
I almost always buck my logs to 10', it's a happy medium and they aren't too heavy that way :)
Boards and slabs are lighter too. ;D
I agree and even shorter logs actually since it's cherry. I have a LOT of rough sawn cherry and when I go to actually machine it to S4S and use it I wish all of it were no longer than 9 ft rough so I can get a max of 8 ft usable after chopping off split/checks. I cut it as a best fit for what I had and some is 12-14' and I will never do that again.
Given wood is a living thing and moves dimensionally you cannot functionally use wider than 3-5" pieces for glue ups and thats pushing it. For length - ripping or joining is an issue over 8-10 feet for most people. The bulk of S4S I functionally use is under 4 feet to build anything like cabinets so if you cut and mill it all 9-10 ft your good.
If it were oak or ash or some other really strong lumber for beams, etc. that would be totally different but cherry is for extremely accurate furniture, cabinets, flooring, etc and will rarely be required to be longer. Chop it off and drag it out easy unless there is someone who has a specific request.
Another vote for ten footers.....
In thinking about what I need in my shop related to a kiln, I decided that tens are as much as I ever need, so I will build my kiln just over ten feet. I never build casegoods over ten feet in one piece anyway, too hard to handle. Nice cherry log.
you could use both the cherry and the oak for flooring on your new addition
I cut 8' 6" and 10' 6". Mostly the 10' 6" because of the practical applications that others have pointed out and because it is more efficient with 20% more lumber in each board versus the 8' 6" logs.
Why would the oak be firewood? It looks like a nice butt log from what I can see in the pic.
Quote from: WDH on February 16, 2011, 08:34:52 PMWhy would the oak be firewood? It looks like a nice butt log from what I can see in the pic.
It's a Water Oak, which as you know, is the poorest quality of our Red Oaks. It falling indicates that the root system had failed, which may also indicate even poorer quality. Plus, I gotta have firewood for next year.
Neither one will be an easy chore to get out of that hollow. :-\
Lynn,
I have not found water oak to be too bad if it grows in the right conditions. Water oak, willow oak, and laurel oak are commonly called "pin oaks" in your part of the South. They are bad to epicormic branch, but I have seen some very fine quality clear water oak logs in the swamps of Central Georgia. I have also seen some very bad ones too, especially in the bayhead swamps in your area. And, like you said, man does not live by lumber alone, he also needs firewood :D.
Surely there is some other fallen trees or dead ones you can use...I hate to see potential lumber turned into firewood ;) Course ya gotta do what ya gotta do :)
Quote from: WDH on February 16, 2011, 10:22:04 PM
Lynn,
I have not found water oak to be too bad if it grows in the right conditions. Water oak, willow oak, and laurel oak are commonly called "pin oaks" in your part of the South. They are bad to epicormic branch, but I have seen some very fine quality clear water oak logs in the swamps of Central Georgia. I have also seen some very bad ones too, especially in the bayhead swamps in your area. And, like you said, man does not live by lumber alone, he also needs firewood :D.
is that possibly the same as what some folks here call river oak? i have cut some of those and just as you said some are real good and some real bad. pc
Nice cherry log,Magic. I echo the crowd. 8' to 9' is sufficient for cherry boards. 4' cherry boards have market value. Good luck skidding them out. How about a power winch?
Paul,
I have not heard the term river oak before. There are a number of bottomland oaks, both in the red oak and the white oak group. I assume that "river oak" refers to a red oak?
"Man shall not live by lumber alone..." :D I like that one.
Quote from: WDH on February 17, 2011, 07:30:35 AM
Paul,
I have not heard the term river oak before. There are a number of bottomland oaks, both in the red oak and the white oak group. I assume that "river oak" refers to a red oak?
I believe Nuttall Oak is sometimes referred to as Red river oak
Oh yeah, nice cherry! :)
Mississippi has 36 different "Oak" tree species listed. Add to that the different common names that locals use and it leads to "Oakconfusion". A common and non-curable affliction.
Also these oaks are very abundant. So much so, that I can be very choosy when firewood is selected. There are enough cull and fallen trees to supply our needs. I don't fell any quality trees for firewood. Cherrybark Oak provide the most heat and the least ashes, and is my preference. Water Oak is my second choice for firewood.
With the ice and wind I have several down in the gullies that I am trying to figure out how to get out. I don't have a winch and don't know if an inexpensive one would do the job. I know I have some red oak, white oak, and hickory.
I won't use my truck winch because that's really too much pulling. I'll use a 100' cable and blocks that I chain to trees to change directions and keep the noses from digging in. Kinda "long line" them out. I'll let John Deere do the pulling.
I had another look at those two trees. First, the Cherry is 23" dbh. I saw a split at about 34', but it will easily make three 10 footers. I was mistaken about the oak. It is a Cherrybark, but even for firewood, it probably would not be worth the effort to retrieve it. That baby is hollow big time. Looks like it lost it's root system, fell, and that compromised the Cherry's roots causing it to fall.
(https://forestryforum.com/gallery/albums/userpics/20011/2410/DSCN0015_%28Small%29.JPG)
yes,
the river oaks we have are red oak . they have a thin silverish bark and the meat wood is brown and the sapwood is thin.
oakconfusion ramapnt here too. pc
Post some pics of the leaves.
i only get the logs . i dont think i have any of them on my place. pc
Paul, I think it was before your time here, but WDH did a most excellent series of threads on identifying oaks on the Tree ID board a few years ago. There is a whole bunch of good info there. ;)
With absolutely nothing to go on, but being it is in North East Oklahoma, gonna call it a post oak.
A nice looking Cherry tree, Magic, that should be some nice lumber.
I went in after the Cherry this morning. My hopes were that the tree had been down for a couple of years and the log would be partially dry. I was hoping for a special project with at least the butt cut. No go.
It was starting to sprout vertical shoots from the horizontal log. It will be a couple of years before anything can be done with this log. And Heavy, yeah. My 1530 JD was not a match. I was not able to skid any of it out of that hollow. It will take a long winch line and some blocks. I'm also still wanting to recover that stump.
(https://forestryforum.com/gallery/albums/userpics/20011/2410/Image0068MS.jpg)
Bucked into three 10' logs.
(https://forestryforum.com/gallery/albums/userpics/20011/2410/Image0069MS.jpg)
Showing the typical check that our mature Cherries have.
(https://forestryforum.com/gallery/albums/userpics/20011/2410/Image0072MS.jpg)
The butt is finally free from the stump.
(https://forestryforum.com/gallery/albums/userpics/20011/2410/Image0073MS.jpg)
The top was badly split above 30'.
That's going to give some nice looking wood!
I know that you have moved big logs with that grader blade on the tractor before, but the closer you get the log to the drawbar, the better the tractor will handle it.
I used to keep my skid hook attached to a tool-bar on the arms of the three-point hitch, just to get the weight off of the ground a little, and them do the actual pulling with the drawbar. Have you tried that?
I'll have my logging forks on the tractor when I go back. My wheel tracks were filling up with water yesterday, so it was too wet anyway. I even tried to work my way down the hollow and into the bottom, but the ditch got too deep. At least I did get a trail cleared to the logs.
Do your logging forks attach to the 3pt? That will work well. Forks on the front will only makes things worse.
Yup, a highly modified rear hay fork. I do not skid logs with the tractor without either the blade or forks attached.
Quote from: Magicman on March 27, 2011, 08:54:13 PM
Yup, a highly modified rear hay fork. I do not skid logs with the tractor without either the blade or forks attached.
Now I know you are bound to have a pic. somewhere...tell me where to look...Tim
I have a set of forks for the 3pt, I don't know how I got by before I got them. I can pick up 3 10' 18" logs at a time with it, and I don't even have to get off the tracor.
Actually Tim, I don't have a picture of it. It has been several years since I've had to skid logs.
That is one exceptional cherry, Magicman! It will definitely be worth the effort 8)
Can't wait to see the lumber that comes out of those logs! I'm sure you'll have fun getting them out. ;D
I covet that cherry :).
Quote from: WDH on March 28, 2011, 08:03:07 AM
I covet that cherry :).
Me too! :o
I sawed some cherry last week. Didn't have to worry about the wood pinching the blade because as soon
as you set it free it just popped right up on both ends ::)
Some of the boards had compound stresses in them. They went up and sideways :D
The guy claims he will be able to use it
' They went up and sideways ' :D ...........
Could always build rocking chairs;
They that went up would make the rockers;
They that went sideways would make curved arms :)
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The three Cherry logs got skidded out Friday, and are now at the Cabin ready to be sawed.
(https://forestryforum.com/gallery/albums/userpics/20011/3609/Image0260b.jpg)
I just hung the tongs over the top link catch on the "Quick Hitch". I have no idea how old those tongs are. They belonged to my Great Granddad and he died in 1936. The amazing thing is that I can find no evidence that they have ever been sharpened.
(https://forestryforum.com/gallery/albums/userpics/20011/3609/Image0270b.jpg)
Skidded out.
(https://forestryforum.com/gallery/albums/userpics/20011/2410/Image0265b.jpg)
The butt log has ring shake and a hollow center.
There will be some wonderful cherry lumber in your future :). You are building a cabin, right? ;D.
QuoteThe amazing thing is that I can find no evidence that they have ever been sharpened.
Prolly nothing that would cause them to get dull and need sharpening. I've not touched mine up in the 40 + years I've had them and expect they are about the same vintage as yours (although mine have had the tip welded back on one side). I too use the quick hitch top hook as it works great and is always on the 3 ph.