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Hemlock

Started by Bruno of NH, September 27, 2019, 07:11:07 PM

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Bruno of NH

Finally found a good supplier of hemlock logs.
I have folks ask for it but couldn't get a good connection. 
Going to be paying 150 a thousand + trucking.
Started milling some today for a guard rail order today. 
Lt 40 wide with 38hp gas and command controls , F350 4x4 dump and lot of contracting tools

PAmizerman

Good deal! 
There's quite a good market for hemlock around here. You should be able to do pretty good with hemlock.
Woodmizer lt40 super remote 42hp Kubota diesel. Accuset II
Hydraulics everywhere
Woodmizer edger 26hp cat diesel
Traverse 6035 telehandler
Case 95xt skidloader
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WM bms250 sharpener
WM bmt250 setter
and a lot of back breaking work!!

petefrom bearswamp

Best of luck Bruno.
Shake can make sawing for the best yield a challenge.
Price sounds right too
Kubota 8540 tractor, FEL bucket and forks, Farmi winch
Kubota 900 RTV
Polaris 570 Sportsman ATV
3 Huskies 1 gas Echo 1 cordless Echo vintage Homelite super xl12
57 acres of woodland

Bruno of NH

So far this load has had no shake in the logs I have sawn so far :)
Lt 40 wide with 38hp gas and command controls , F350 4x4 dump and lot of contracting tools

123maxbars

thats a good price, people down here in TN treat hemlock like gold get calls for it all the time, 
Sawyer/Woodworker/Timber Harvester
Woodmizer LT70 Super Wide, Nyle L53 and 200 kiln, too many other machines to list.
outofthewoods
Youtube page
Out of the

A-z farmer

My grandfather told me stories of cutting hemlock in the 20s and sometimes the shake was so bad the tree would just explode when it would hit the ground .We have used hemlock for building barns for many generations.

Zeke

barbender

Hemlock was present in MN forests pre-settlement, but it didn't come back after the initial logging. There's a few isolated little stands that are protected with high fences (for deer). I've never seen one in the woods, wish we had it.
Too many irons in the fire

bobnic

Hemlock is my favorite wood to mill.  I never use and water, pine sol, or any other lube with it.  Just wipe down the blade with a 50-50 mix of bar oil and diesel.
Thomas 2413

Old Greenhorn

Y'all are making me rethink my opinion of this wood. On the woodlot I manage it is everywhere and I had considered it a bane. I cleared out about 70 trees making a spot for the mill. It grows like weeds and in thickets. We have some big ones and I have held off on cutting those figuring I would use those for something like fences boards or other junk usage. They are very nice trees, straight and true with high crowns around 75' or more. I know that it it fairly good wood for sheathing etc, but I never really thought of it as having 'value'. My local sawyer friends say the shake issues here are huge. I guess it just takes one or two good hurricanes to "shake things up" and you have useless wood. I have yet to encounter that experience. I'll have to think about this a bit more than I had.
Tom Lindtveit, Woodsman Forest Products
Oscar 328 Band Mill, Husky 350, 450, 562, & 372 (Clone), Mule 3010, and too many hand tools. :) Retired and trying to make a living to stay that way. NYLT Certified.
OK, maybe I'm the woodcutter now.
I work with wood, There is a rumor I might be a woodworker.

thecfarm

I have built 2 out buildings using hemlock and sold some hemlock logs. When I sold logs,I had very little trouble with shake. My first out building the same way, Than I built the Women Cave. I went to the same area for the hemlock,trees within 50-200 feet of where I was cutting before,I had problems with shake with these logs. Than I would only get 2 logs out of each tree and there would be black inside the logs. I would not find this in the butt logs,just a ways up into the tree. I was using all this stuff green. Most times cut the tree,saw the lumber and build with it all within hours. There was some lumber that dried for a month. I like hemlock and wished I had more of it. A very strong lumber. I have lots and lots of Eastern White Pine,not so strong lumber. I would gladly swap white pine for hemlock,if I was building. But white pine logs are worth more than hemlock. These trees are 70-100 years old too. My father was born in 1923 and he could not remembered this land ever being logged. Yes,trees would be cut for a house,but never  logged professional.
Model 6020-20hp Manual Thomas bandsaw,TC40A 4wd 40 hp New Holland tractor, 450 Norse Winch, Heatmor 400 OWB,YCC 1978-79

Chuck White

This past Friday I sawed a 16' Hemlock log and got lots of stuff from it, 4- 4x10 beams, 3- 2x8, 1- 2x10, & 2- 2x4

This stuff is brutal HEAVY, but it is great framing lumber!
~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!

thecfarm

Stories that A-z farmer about his Grand Father feeds the shake problem too. Yes,it could happen,but I have never seen it.

This is a shake on my land.

             



The straight line was cut by a chainsaw. Too big for pulp,so it had to be split. This was done by a logger.This was one of the old hemlock. Still have some up there. Big limbs,6 inches across about 10 feet up and BIG trees.Than the lower limbs are just stubs sticking out,maybe a foot long,a sign that the trees are past their prime,like the one above. I sure can't remember,but I think that tree was 3 feet across.These grow by the bog. These are all firewood,if I cut them. Makes great firewood for the OWB. These really open up the forest when they are removed. They need a place to fall too. Takes a while to remove everything that these big trees will knock down.
@Chuck White, brutal HEAVY,how right you are. I was putting up full 2x10X12 on the Women Cave for rafters. One of my friends stopped in to help. He did not show up for a month after that. :D :D Than I had some that dried for a month and he helped me put those up. He liked the one that dried for a month,much better. He was shocked how much lighter they was. The first ones was from stump to build in less than an hour.It's an Old Timer wood, Well I say Old Timer. My Father talked about it a lot.
@Peter Drouin saws a lot of it.
Hemlock is a lumber that likes to split,when dry,when nailing close to the edge or that is what I am told. Never used any that was air dried for any lenght of time.
Model 6020-20hp Manual Thomas bandsaw,TC40A 4wd 40 hp New Holland tractor, 450 Norse Winch, Heatmor 400 OWB,YCC 1978-79

crowhill

I like hemlock for framing buildings! Just put 16' x 20' addition on camp. All green hemlock for the joists, rafters and roof strapping. Dry white pine for the 2x4 studying. Figured they would hold since the sheathing was 3/4" plywood, which was a donation along with 2" styrofoam pink board for insulation. Had only one tree with shake and it didn't show until was ready to use for 1" strapping on site. I dropped one board and it broke into several pieces. Every board I dropped split or broke apart  so didn't use any of it for anything other than the firepit. It's really heavy at a full 2x8x16' by yourself when wet tho!
TimberKing B-20, Kubota M-4900 w/FEL with tooth bar, hyd thumb and forks, Farmi winch, 4 chain saws.

Resonator

Don't have many Hemlock on my land, thought the few I've cut either have ring shake or some amount of center rot. One of the loggers on YouTube said the shake is caused by a hard freeze late in the spring, after the sap is flowing, causing the frozen wood to crack in the wind.
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

Ed_K

 Also caused by fungus if the roots set in wet land. I run my saw into the base just below were you would cut an if it smells like pig poop ;D I leave it for sugar wood. Most here in western ma. is a 50/50 guess on good or bad.
Ed K

farmfromkansas

When I was in the building business, was glad to see hemlock come out from the lumber yard.  Only thing better was douglas fir. The lumber that was worse was SPF, which means spruce.  Because there was never any pine or fir.
Most everything I enjoy doing turns out to be work

nativewolf

Shake is caused by bacteria, lots of scientific articles on it (our own member wood doctor and ron have replied on this topic dozens of times (at least it seems that way).  Also, you cant really tell it from external examination of the bark if I remember one study I read, it was very interesting attempt to predict it, loggers sawyers etc all failed to predict shake in hemlock.  

Liking Walnut

Two Trax

I have about 360 acres in NE PA with a fair amount of hemlock on it. I have had some logged in the past, but to be honest was never able to get much for it. I had a portable sawmill in to mill some a couple times and found the lumber quite useful. I now own a mill and am currently building a good size pavillion from hemlock I cut and milled from my own property. It makes excellent material for outbuildings.

I have found a few trees with shake and lost some due to the wooley adelgid blight, but overall my trees seem reasonably healthy. 
Livin the dream!

thecfarm

I forgot how much I sold hemlock for 25 years ago. But I do remember it was not much. My eastern white pine is worth alot more. Bruno mentioned about 150,which seems about right,where I can get 300 for white pine.
Model 6020-20hp Manual Thomas bandsaw,TC40A 4wd 40 hp New Holland tractor, 450 Norse Winch, Heatmor 400 OWB,YCC 1978-79

K-Guy

@Bruno of NH 

I had a forester out to check out my land here in Maine and he told me I had some nice sized  hemlock but it looked like the woodpeckers had got to them. After the woodpeckers are gone they leave openings for bugs to get in and ruin the timber. Sorry it was a couple of years ago and I don't remember which one. Ask your local foresters about this and how to check for them, so you don't waste your time on unsaleable wood.
Nyle Service Dept.
A common mistake people make when trying to design something completely foolproof is to underestimate the ingenuity of complete fools.
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