ND forest

[Grampa_Joe]

Since you all know how Mark M has decimated  central NoDaks forest, I thought I'd show ya how Mother Nature supplies an old lineman with cedar to cut.

Winds in excess of 110 mph took out about 2 miles. So here's what ya do with it.

[Kevin]

Joe, is that creasote build up under yer nose?  :D
Did you wear a mask?
How much scrap metal did you salvage?

[Tom]

Our cedars have limbs on them.  You must have some weird stuff growing up there in all that cold and high winds.

Are they treated?

Look at his slab pile holder.

[Grampa_Joe]

Kevin - It's way to gray for creosote.
Tom - I don't save or cut the treated ones, just keep the old butt treated ones and cut the butts off. Most of what I save was installed in the 40's.

[Grampa_Joe]

Kevin - I forgot to answer ,but we don' save the metal. All the steeel is galvanized and the aluminum wire has a steel core.We're usually lucky if we can get a scrap metal place to take it.

[Tom]

I'll bet you could build a fire in a barrel and put that wire in there and melt the aluminum off and drain it out of a hole and make ingots. ;D

[DanG]

You forget, Tom.  Stuff don't rot out there the way it does here. Them poles wouldn't have lasted long enough to string up the wire, if'n they were planted here in the Swamp. :-/

Looks like you're getting some pretty wood outta them poles, Grampa. Is it true that the power pole is the ND State Tree?

[biziedizie]

  Joe that chunk ooo steel that ya got in your left hand is that a crank to move the head forward??? Or does that raise and lower the head???

   Steve

[EZ]

Before I bought my Baker mill, I came real close in buying the 1220. I'm still thinking about it for a inside mill. Iwonder if you can get one with a electric motor.
EZ

[Fla._Deadheader]

Boy, I sure miss "hookin" them poles all day.----------------Yeah, right !!!!!!  Anybody wanna buy a bridge ??? ??? :
   We used Western Cedar for our 35,500 lines. They were 65' long. Only the bottom 10 feet were creosoted.
  Wish I had been smart enough to build a mill back then. We used to take the broken ones out to the woods and dump 'em. : :  They were 12" at the top.  : :

   Glad ya got the picture thing figgered out, Grampa

[shopteacher]

I've cut some cedar poles and got some really beautiful material out of the. Never hit to much in the way of metal, most was attached to the outside and a lot of the nails were short and taken off with the slab.  The cedar poles around these parts were only treated at the butt end and put in place long ago.  Had a friend who was a lineman and he'd get some for me, but since he moved up to Union President that source has disappeared.  I wouldn't mind having enough of that stuff to face my barn with, it looks great with a clear finish applied.

[Grampa_Joe]

I can't keep all the names and questions straight( maybe I should print them out) but here's a couple answers. I think being as how I'm a DYI type I could smelt a lot of the wire, but I don't have the time to go to all these places to retrieve it, it belongs to the Co. and we need it out of our way. Cedar poles in our neighborhood last a long time. I took some out a few years ago from the late 30's to early 40's with about 3" shell rot. The thing in my hand was the "power feed" there is another crank just below and at 90 degrees to this that adjusts the head. I'm trying to get enough of this cut to build a fence 6' x 350' and panel a sauna which is 14' x 14'. I'm going to retire soon and then maybe I can go into the recycling business. " Grampa Joe's Lumber and Line Hardware".

[shopteacher]

GJ,
  You might want to use some of that cedar and wire to make snow fences. I hear it snows in ND sometimes. :D :D :D