FROZEN LOGS

[Kevin]

Is that the Forestry Forum tree next to the house in the picture taken before Halloweeny?

[Tom]

It sure looks like it, doesn't it kevin?

[Kevin]

Could be a frosted tropical.  :D

[Jeff]

I guess maybe it is the forestry forum tree. Its a juniper. Its the first tree I planted on the property after Tammy and I built the house. the blue spruce in the second picture is the second tree I planted. My dad planted it originally on a north facing hill at his place. At ten years old it was still only 2 foot tall. I planted it in 84 and thought it was permanently stunted. It grew only inches a year. It had a smaller white spruce right next to it til last year. I cut that down as our "Tree of hope" Christmas tree.

That white spruce must have been hogging the nutrients because just this year the blue grew over 3 additional feet! I would say its now around 12 to 15 ft tall.

[Tom]

It was probably suffereing from the "I'm shaded and hungry in Jeff's front yard, nobody loves me anymore, blues."

[woodmills1]

here is another thing to remember with the cold weather coming.  any supports that touch the ground will freeze to it. also any blocks used to level your mill will freeze solid to the ground.  In winter I try to remember to lift the hydraulic loader feet off of the ground when not sawing, and lift up some of the leveling feet, especially any that sit below the ground surface.  almost nothing worse than getting ready to move the mill for an outside cut and finding that it is frozen solid into or on the ground.  try to remember to blow any water out of the drip lines while they are not frozen also.

[Fla._Deadheader]

DanG guys. These are memories I choose to not think about. :D :D :D
  In my younger days, I was a lineman for a Power Co. in the NE. Yep, I was born a Yankee. Converted as soon as I could. ;)
 Imagine climbing poles that are 10 feet higher than the trees and getting a face full of 0 degree wind, at 20-30 MPH from Alaska, all day long. Can't wear enough clothes, cause ya can't reach the work. How about 250 foot Steel Towers. They were REALLY fun around Jan. or Feb. Extreme cold would snap the Aluminum wires and we HAD to get it back up, DanG the cold !!!  Occasionally, ya might stick to the steel. Now THAT was fun. :

  NOPE, Sunny Fla. is just fine, thank you. May not have the timber here, that I remember, but, I can always go to town wearing shorts on Jan 15, if I want. 8) 8) 8) RIGHT Tom and DanG? Oops, I fergot, youse guys are up in the "FREEZE" belt.  ;) ;)  Harold

[Ron Wenrich]

I've never heard of sap only turning to slush.  It's primarily sugar water, not anti-freeze.  I've been in the woods when I've heard the trees crack from the cold.  And I've seen some frost cracks in trees.  You get a lot more up there in NY.

Your -30F will cause them to crack.  We don't get that cold, but do have spells where it gets down to about 0 for a couple of nights.  We haven't had any for a number of years.

[Jeff]

Jeff,  

 I was under the impression that trees won't freeze until the temp. gets down to -30 degrees F. an lower. The sap will get slushy but will not freeze solid.  If you cut the tree down and its below freezing, the log will freeze solid in short order.  That's what I've always been told.

I guess my answer to that would be: Have you ever taken a coke off the top shelf of the refrigerator, opened it and took a quick drink then watched as the whole thing turned to frozen slush before you could take another?

[Noble_Ma]

I just went outside after catching up on these posts to do a little test.  I took an axe and wacked the  ends of the red pine I have ready to cut.  They are both frozen as far as I can get the axe in.  Some were cut this week and the others were cut two weeks ago.  There's not much sap running from them and I was wondering if that might make them freeze faster??  

What's so bad about being a Yankee!!!  

[Brian_Bailey]

I was just wondering if what I heard was true. I'm not a logger so I don't have any first hand experience in cutting down trees in the winter.  All I noze is that when I buy logs in the winter there usually frozen solid. I have heard trees pop from the cold but thats only when its in the -20 & below.  Haven't seen those temps.in a few years.

Jeff,  I'm a pepsi man so I can't relate to the coke thing  .

Ron,  It's been awhile since I took chemistry, but, isn't sugar water a weak anti-freeze solution?

[Kevin]

Frozen Pine (link)

The Alaskan Mill eats frozen logs for breakfast!
        

[Ron Wenrich]

Brian

The operative word there is "weak".  You might gain a few degrees, but not all that significant.  The -20F would probably be right for most of those northern species.  But, those species that grow a little farther south probably aren't as used to those temps.  Shoot, down in Florida, their trees probably pop when the temps get down to +25.   :D

I often wonder why the more northern species have thinner bark.

The worst time I have for frozen logs is in the spring.  Most of the logs in the deck are good, but those laying on the ground are frozen on 1 side.  That leads to some interesting sawing.

[Minnesota_boy]

I've noticed that the logs seem to get harder as the temperature goes down.  Sawing softwood at zero is like sawing hardwood at 70.  It's real noticeable when you start on a cold mornig and then have the temperature climb during the day.

[BRP]

All this talk about frozen logs makes me want to put another log on the fire.I don't envy you boys up north this time of year but in the summer I could almost sell my place and move
BRP

[Fla._Deadheader]

Speakin of FROZE !!  We were steamin back to the landing last night and ran the last 2 miles in TOTAL darkness, no runnin lites on the "Barge".. Wind got out of the NW and my shorts and flannel shirt winter wear did NOT do it's job. Wind picked up to about 20 MPH and it dropped to about 48 degrees from the front that moved through. I'm movin MORE south.  ;D :D