iDRY Vacuum Kilns

Sponsors:

Anyone ever take your mill to a storm damage area?

Started by Haleiwa, September 10, 2019, 09:05:02 PM

Previous topic - Next topic

0 Members and 1 Guest are viewing this topic.

Haleiwa

Just wondering if a big hurricane going up the east coast would create a need to salvage downed trees.   Personally,  I think sawing in the south might be more fun than winter in the north. 
Socialism is people pretending to work while the government pretends to pay them.  Mike Huckabee

Chuck White

Well....... Sort of!  In '08, right after I got my mill, I was out on a mobile sawjob, estimated to be around 2,500 bf of Hemlock and White Pine and we sawed that day and the next day we had a funeral to attend!

Well, during the funeral, a microburst hit the immediate area where my mill was and that 2,500 board foot sawjob turned in to a 12,500 board foot job.

Sawed it all without ever moving the mill!  smiley_sweat_drop

Ended up sawing 71,000+ board feet between mid-May and November!  8)
~Chuck~  Cooks Cat Claw sharpener and single tooth setter.  2018 Chevy Silverado and 2021 Subaru Ascent.
With basic mechanical skills and the ability to read you can maintain a Woodmizer  LT40!

Resonator

Under bark there's boards and beams, somewhere in between.
Cuttin' while its green, through a steady sawdust stream.
I'm chasing the sawdust dream.

Proud owner of a Wood-Mizer 2017 LT28G19

Magicman

Storm downed trees are in a world all of their own.  Most are felled in mis-happened directions and usually across something that needs to be rescued.  Homes, utility lines, roads/highways, and each other.  Most often they are bucked as necessary and moved out of the way as quickly as possible, many to a landfill or disposal area.  The priorities are to rescue and to restore. 

Sadly good and sometimes very good trees are bucked into much less than logs.  Salvaging trees from timbered property is also a chore because harvesting equipment is designed to handle vertical trees not horizontal.  I recently lost over 20 very nice Red Oak and Poplar trees to wind.  No loggers were interested in even looking at the trees. 

A sawyer can only do so much without log handling support equipment (skidders, etc.)  Yes, I will attempt to salvage what I can but skidding 3K lb+ logs for ¼ to ½ mile in hilly terrain with a farm tractor e/w a logging winch is no fun.
Knothole Sawmill, LLC     '98 Wood-Mizer LT40SuperHydraulic   WM Million BF Club Member   WM Pro Sawyer Network

It's Weird being the Same Age as Old People

Never allow your "need" to make money to exceed your "desire" to provide quality service.....The Magicman

SawyerTed

A tornado cut across the county about 2 years ago.  I've been sawing storm damage salvaged trees off and on since.  The bad part is not only did the tornado down the trees many were twisted and split when they fell.  There's a lot of loss due to unseen damage.
Woodmizer LT50, WM BMS 250, WM BMT 250, Kubota MX5100, IH McCormick Farmall 140, Husqvarna 372XP, Husqvarna 455 Rancher

Ianab

Quote from: SawyerTed on September 10, 2019, 09:39:29 PM
A tornado cut across the county about 2 years ago.  I've been sawing storm damage salvaged trees off and on since.  The bad part is not only did the tornado down the trees many were twisted and split when they fell.  There's a lot of loss due to unseen damage.
That's common for tornado damage. If a tree has actually snapped off, well you can imagine the amount of force that takes, and the damage usually runs a long way up and down from the break. 
Better luck with trees that have been uprooted, but the trunks are basically still intact. A hurricane tends to saturate the ground with rain, THEN pushes the trees until the roots let go. It's still a freaking mess to salvage, but better chance of getting usable logs out of it. 
Weekend warrior, Peterson JP test pilot, Dolmar 7900 and Stihl MS310 saws and  the usual collection of power tools :)

Tom the Sawyer

We had a tornado (F4 or F5) go through near here at the end of May.  Within a week or so, logs started showing up here, to be milled at a later date.  The priority for most of the owners is to get their lives back together.  A major damage area was 4 miles straight north of my place (we had no damage) and some of the homes that are still standing also still have tarps on the roofs.  I have a couple of former clients who had homes and property damaged, they are accumulating logs for on-site milling... someday.  

We had a very wet spring so many of the trees blew over with the root ball attached, rather than snapping off.  I did a site visit last week at a property south of Lawrence, Ks. (where the tornado first touched down) and he had a variety of hardwood trees to salvage, which should yield quite a few logs, but he also has a large dirt depression in the middle of everything where the foundation of his home used to be.

I'll probably be milling tornado logs for at least a year.
07 TK B-20, Custom log arch, 20' trailer w/log loading arch, F350 flatbed dually dump.  Piggy-back forklift.  LS tractor w/FEL, Bobcat S250 w/grapple, Stihl 025C 16", Husky 372XP 24/30" bars, Grizzly 20" planer, Nyle L200M DH kiln.
If you call and my wife says, "He's sawin logs", I ain't snoring.

Peter Drouin

I don't buy damaged logs If a customer want's me to cut it's all by the hr + blades
Had one small mill I know of buying a bunch from a tornado here in Alton NH. He got them cheap. Lost his shirt and not around anymore.
I can't see all the wood inside the log busted up. Some times when I cut a log like that and find it's all junk. I get all pith off with the work I just did for that junk. 
A&P saw Mill LLC.
45' of Wood Mizer, cutting since 1987.
License NH softwood grader.

pineywoods

Yup, but I didn't even have to move the mill..Down timber all around me and my neighbors. Tornado hit this area end of april, and I'm still getting logs from neighbors. Two loads yesterday. Almost all are uprooted trees, lumber is good so far..Still have over a dozen BIG hardwoods and numerous pines on the ground on my property, just can't find the time to get them..Temps in the tripple digits ain't helping any >:(
1995 Wood Mizer LT 40, Liquid cooled kawasaki,homebuilt hydraulics. Homebuilt solar dry kiln.  Woodmaster 718 planner, Kubota M4700 with homemade forks and winch, stihl  028, 029, Ms390
100k bd ft club.Charter member of The Grumpy old Men

derhntr

Storm damage makes up a large percentage of logs I saw. On a job now with around a 100 large oak and cherry logs. The last 3 red oak logs I did today scaled 1084 BDFT. Doyle.  All these tree were were wind blow downs. All sawed for fence boards.  
2006 Woodmizer LT40HDG28 with command control (I hate walking in sawdust)
US Army National Guard (RET) SFC

Magicman

Not hurricane damaged trees but ~6 months ago we had widespread straight line winds.  I personally have over 20 fully mature Red Oak trees down that will fall in the 25"-40" butt category.

The sawing job that I finished Friday was downed Red & White Oak trees, I already had two more jobs on the book, and got another call this afternoon.  All 30"+ trees.  :-\

I have no idea when or if I will ever get to mine.  ::)
Knothole Sawmill, LLC     '98 Wood-Mizer LT40SuperHydraulic   WM Million BF Club Member   WM Pro Sawyer Network

It's Weird being the Same Age as Old People

Never allow your "need" to make money to exceed your "desire" to provide quality service.....The Magicman

mredden

Milling Hurricane Michael Oak and Pecan now. Lots of 100 year old trees down in vacant lots. Owners don't want to pay for them to be cut. Only one has told me no. 16' x 32" bitter pecan still sitting there.



Most are hung in other trees so cutting the log out can be "exciting."

A bitter pecan can live for years as a blowdown.

Thank You Sponsors!