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Spruce

Started by bulldozerjoe, October 08, 2021, 11:11:41 PM

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bulldozerjoe

Family owned property for 40 years, my grandparents bought the property with farm house around 1975, my dad built his house in 1979 next door.. fast forward to 2021 my sister owns my grandma parents house, I own our parents house. Out back there's a
Section of spruce, square lot probably 150-200 trees.. definitely planted by someone.. my grandparents are gone, so I don't know nor does my dad know who planted them.. any idea whoever planted them, what they where thinking.. I'm thinking lumber?? I'm just wondering.. I do see in my travels around tne county the same thing.. big square section of spruce all in line.. any ideas?
Western ny
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BargeMonkey

Large farm here has similar spruce planted, they went in just after the war. 2 squares, 1 alongside the house, 1 across the road, I smoked the the one by the house 2 winters ago. 


 


 
 Some was good, some bad. Stuff in the center was tight ring and shaded out, stuff on the edge had large rings and grew for the sun, wasn't exactly prime wood. 

bulldozerjoe

I'm just looking to saw them up with my mill, for lumber.. but wondering about how they got there.. thanks barge 
New holland tc 45
Fransguard 4000
Sthil 021-028super-029-066

BargeMonkey

 How big are they ? 2x now I cut wood privately that was cheap seedlings planted just after the war. My area out here "Schoharie county" is LOADED with CCC wood, which was planted during the depression. Go out back of my house and your 8 miles till the next road with spruce you wouldn't believe. 

bulldozerjoe

New holland tc 45
Fransguard 4000
Sthil 021-028super-029-066

BargeMonkey

☝ that's like what I cut. Was planted 1945-1950ish. 

SwampDonkey

Mill'er up. What'cha building? ;D

Looks like small knots and whorls a good distance apart. :)

Lots of spruce planted here in New Brunswick, billions by now. Probably 80 years worth. A lot planted, and maybe cleaned and lots not tended to. You have to keep thinning once in awhile to get nice wood and cull (pulp, firewood) the junk. ;) I burn spruce and fir thinnings, never froze yet. :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)))

thecfarm

I cut some spruce before I was a member here.  :o That stuff had more waves than the Queen!! All I had was 10° blades. I hope others will be on to tell you what blades to use. I know 10° won't do it.  ;D
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ehp

here they planted abit of spruce  alot of red pine and scotch pine to slow the wind down cause it was taking all the soil away , we got acres and acres of scotch pine here which is not a great thing 

petefrom bearswamp

Norway and white spruce were planted from the 30s like barge said and also thru the 40s 50s and even into the late 60s.
Norway saws mean and wavy like cfarm says.
A lot of Norway around here on state land goes to Canada.
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SwampDonkey

Lots of spruce sawed up here compared to hardwoods, of course commercially mostly. Some portable, but I suspect more hardwood on portable and w. pine. All I've had sawed was hardwood on portable mills.
"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)))

Resonator

Tons of Spruce planted around my area back in the day, very commonly used around houses as a wind break. I've sawed thousands of Bd Ft on my LT28 with a 10° blade, couple things I've learned. Plan on changing your blade often, slow down speed, and use plenty of lube. Also I oversize the cant when first squaring it up, then when I do the "saw-through" in clean wood I can re-trim flat any wavy faces.
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

sawguy21

Spruce is common along with fir here in the BC interior, very popular for framing and plywood. I have spent a lot of time scrubbing the pitch off.
old age and treachery will always overcome youth and enthusiasm

SunnyHillFarm

It's quite likely they were planted as seedlings from the NYS nursery by the property owner prior to your grandparents. A deed search would tell you who owned the property in the 40's or early 50's.

SwampDonkey

Billionth tree monument 1997 on public lands.

https://forestryforum.com/images/03_21_04/billionth.jpg

Another billion planted by the Irvings, 2018 photo of their monument.

https://www.irvingwoodlands.com/jdi-woodlands-stories-billionth-tree-celebration.aspx
"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)))

ehp

I mostly run when I hear spruce needing cut here , mills pay pretty much nothing for it if they will even buy it 

Sauna freak

A lot of Norway spruce as well as white, black, black hills and colorado blue spruce were planted in my state (MN) from WWII through roughly 1960.  It was a common shelterbelt tree, and available to landowners cheaply from state nurseries, along with Scotts pine and our 3 native pines.  Many spruce stands locally are also former Christmas tree farms left to seed.  Spruce was generally recommended for heavy or wetter soils, the pines for sandy/gravely soils.

In terms of forestry use, there was a lot of experimentation to supplement the paper industry post-WWII locally.  Paper was softwood reliant...aspen had not yet emerged as the dominant pulp species, and slower growing native spruce and jack pine were being rapidly depleted.  The various spruces were planted with the intention of supplying high quality softwood pulp and eventually sawtimber for dimensional lumber and additional products such as plywood.

I have sawn Norway, White and Black Spruce, strictly for structural and general purpose lumber.  It makes beautiful rafter boards.    Light and one of the strongest woods by weight and dimension for this application.  Don't expect pretty, smooth boards as you get with quality pine and other woods.  You will get some wave and chatter on the small knots.  The wood I've sawn also remained quite stable through air-drying, with little loss due to warping or checking.  For special projects, it takes torch treatment well, producing good contrast in the carbonized springwood.  Black spruce was commonly rift sawn for utility flooring and decking as it has good wear resistance for a softwood.  It is subject to shake under repeated stress.
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barbender

White and black spruce are our natives in MN. Black spruce grows in large lowland swamps in often pure stands, ir with tamarack. Usually it is too small for saw timber, but we do get occasional stands where we sort stud bolts out if it if the paper company isn't screaming for it. On even rarer occasions, I've had to sort out a few black spruce bolts that exceeded both mills' 20" max diameter. White spruce grows in mixed forests naturally. A lot was planted in plantations but it tends to experience high mortality in pure stands. UPM planted thousands of acres of white spruce plantation, we used to thin a lot of them but now it tends to get  clearcut. They plant it on wide random spacing so it will come up in aspen regen now. 
  If the knots are small, spruce makes great lumber. Light and strong.
Too many irons in the fire

SwampDonkey

Quote from: ehp on October 09, 2021, 08:43:29 PM
I mostly run when I hear spruce needing cut here , mills pay pretty much nothing for it if they will even buy it
A lot of people have made a living at it for decades. But you're right, the price sure isn't that great these days. I can't remember when no one would touch hardwood unless firewood, but if I were 20 years older, yes for sure. Old farm houses and buildings here, that are old enough, haven't a stick of hardwood in them for construction or trim. That big shed on the back was for all the hardwood they could cut and pile.....for firewood. And I know the best straight grained stuff was a target, was hand split. ;)
"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)))

Bruno of NH

I saw lots of spruce some with turbo 7's if that doesn't work frost notched bands.
Makes nice lumber .
Lt 40 wide with 38hp gas and command controls , F350 4x4 dump and lot of contracting tools

Clark

Of course, if you don't need the lumber right now you could thin that plantation, put more volume on the best stems and have something even better to cut down the road. Spruce responds well to thinning but truly excels when you release 3 or 4 sides of the crown.  I can find the study if you're interested but it's another option to consider.

Clark
SAF Certified Forester

Coastallogger

Building 20X20 dovetail log cabin off grid.

Clark

That looks quite familiar. If it isn't the same study the results are the same. Thin spruce but be sure to release the crop trees on at least 3 sides. 

Clark
SAF Certified Forester

Kodiakmac

Quote from: SwampDonkey on October 09, 2021, 03:45:55 AM
Mill'er up. What'cha building? ;D

Looks like small knots and whorls a good distance apart. :)

" A lot planted, and maybe cleaned and lots not tended to. You have to keep thinning once in awhile to get nice wood and cull (pulp, firewood) the junk. "
Which describes EVERY privately owned spruce/pine plantation planted in this part of Eastern Ontario within the last 50 years.  Here's how it works:
(1) Move out from the city to a former hundred-acre farm
(2) Convince yourself that you'll be doing something good for the environment if ...
(3) You let summer students working for the Ministry of Snatch-your-Resources plant seedlings in your old fields at no cost to you
(4) That's it!  Walk away.  No maintenance necessary.

And a lot of the plantations on Crown Lands (public) are in the same shape.
Robin Hood had it just about right:  as long as a man has family, friends, deer and beer...he needs very little government!
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SwampDonkey

Quote from: Kodiakmac on October 18, 2021, 04:21:03 PM

And a lot of the plantations on Crown Lands (public) are in the same shape.
Not so around here, I've been thinning in plantations for 25 years. A lot of them you would barely know they was planted except along the road in the dead zone. We call them ones 'natural plantations', fill plants. ;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)))

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