Dodgy Loner and I spent the afternoon sawing. First Cherry and finishing with Sassafras. He will have to give a tally on the amount that we sawed, but he has gotta stack it first. ;D
(https://forestryforum.com/gallery/albums/userpics/20011/DSCN0605.JPG)
He had about 15 logs. The knotty, hollow, ugly Walnut is not his. ;D
(https://forestryforum.com/gallery/albums/userpics/20011%3Cbr%20/%3E/DSCN0607.JPG)
Loaded and ready to travel.
(https://forestryforum.com/gallery/albums/userpics/20011/DSCN0608.JPG)
I kept a close eye on my Logrites.
The "new" Daddy looks good! I am jealous about the sassafras. That is one species that I have never sawn, but I have seen the wood and it looks like ash with a cinnamon blush to it.
If what I see in the log picture is cherry, those were some fine ones!
Are you doing any hiring Magic? :) You gotta 'em lined up.
Yes Danny, he had some very nice Cherry logs and only one showed any sign of stress. The Sassafras was twisty, but it still turned out some nice lumber. Smelled nice also. :)
Justin has a nose for wood. I bet the sassafras smelled delicious. Now, I want some!
We never even talked about you....well....maybe we did. ;D :D
Maybe I will get to see him and his Dad over the Holidays.......
We were running & gunning, so we really didn't have much time for conversation. He will be back next week to help with that Walnut. :-\
He is good with walnut.........
He would have to be very good with this Walnut. :D
Good looking whack of boards 8) 8)
What was the dia. of the sassafras? Here in N. MS the sassafras we have on our land might make a good fence post, but not grow big enough to saw. Seems like they get a little bigger than fence post size then die. :o >:(
Tony 8)
This Sassafras was probably 16" little end. I know of a Sassafras stump on my place that is probably over 4', but most by that age are hollow. I think that their root system is their weakest link. Now I'll have to read up on Sassafras. ;) :)
Quote from: WDH on December 09, 2011, 09:34:06 PM
Now, I want some!
Danny,
Next time you are in Virginia, come by the house in Madison. I have some big ones and we can put one on the ground for you. The last one we put on the ground was about 32". Made a real nice set of kitchen cabinets for a log home in Fairmont, WV.
Bruce
nice pics mm, thanks for posting. it does look like dodgyloner is getting a little too familiar with that nice orange cant hook. :)
Bruce,
If it comes with Spring Rolls, I will be there tomorrow ;D.
Gday
Looks like you both had a bloody good friday fellas ;) ;D ;D ;D ;D ;D 8) 8)
Regards Chris
Now that's a nice day at the office
Sounds like you two had a very fun day, as in the best kept secret in America is that productive hard work is fun. 8)
I've let a few sassafras volunteers start to grow up just to see how big they'd get and what the wood would be like- so how long do I have to wait? As long as for my giant sequoia to reach full height?
Lj
Quote from: ljmathias on December 11, 2011, 03:22:29 PM
Sounds like you two had a very fun day, as in the best kept secret in America is that productive hard work is fun. 8)
Lj
Thats Spot On Lj More people should try it hey Mate :) ;D ;D ;D ;D ;D 8) 8)
It was a fun day, indeed, MM. I am still sore from moving all that lumber! I finally got the last of the wood stacked this afternoon. But it was nice getting to look at all those lovely boards a second time. I still can't believe you made it through the whole pile without changing blades! That was some real magic there :o
Danny, you are right, I had some fine cherry logs in queue. There were 11 cherry logs from 3 trees that were growing at my friend's camp along the Bogue Chitto River. The average sawable length of the logs was 33' - considerably better than what I was typically able to find in GA! The DBHs were 14.5", 18" and 22". There is still a 23" cherry out there with a 60' sawable length that I still have my eye on ;D
Magicman was right about the size of that sassafras, too. The largest log was 16" on the small end, and the other two were around 14-15". I have seen a lot of 11" and 12" sassafras out here, but this one was the biggest I've come across. The top of it blew out when a tropical storm came through in August.
I ended up with 210 b.f. of 5/4, 12' cherry (all from the same log - it was the biggest of the bunch) and 75 b.f. of 16/4 cherry. The 16/4 consisted of only two "boards" - one 11" wide and the other 14.5". They were the hardest to move!
The rest was mostly 4/4 in 8' and 9' lengths, with some 7/4 and 8/4 thrown in for good measure. I don't have an exact tally on that stack yet, but it's a little over 800 b.f. (~650 cherry and ~150 sassafras). So the total count was about 1100 b.f.
I will post some pictures of the stacks when I get a chance :)
Awesome! I like the way that you and MM cut the cherry with the variety of thicknesses. That is a whack for sure and worth good $ around here. I get over $3.00/BF for 4/4 or a little more as long as it is not split or cracked bad, which is a problem near the pith. On small logs, there is almost certainly a throw-away board or two at the pith. With bigger logs like you had, you can cut the pith out and still have a decent q-sawn board.
You should be set for cherry for a while 8).
Quote from: WDH on December 12, 2011, 08:05:17 AM
I like the way that you and MM cut the cherry with the variety of thicknesses.
Say what? I didn't get to make any decisions. He told me what he wanted. I just had to figure out how to get it. :D smiley_thumbsup
He sounds like a customer that knows just what he wants.
And due to my superior sawing abilities, :o He got it. :D
I had a lot of time to eye those trees and think about what I needed. There were not many throw-away boards with these logs. The best of the bunch were the 14.5"-wide, completely clear boards from the butt log of the 18" tree. I'm still on the lookout for a tree that will yield some 18 or 20"-wide cherry boards, so I can make a dresser out of one board ;D
That area seems to be real good for cherry based on what MM has posted before. That seems odd to me as South Miss is a long way from prime cherry growing country. Must be something in the water. I am sure that you will find that big cherry for your dresser. Is everything big in Miss, like Texas?
Danny, our Cherry trees are considered low grade and are generally marked as pulp trees. Often these and also Hickory have been left by the loggers as being uneconomical to harvest. The result is that there are places with some very large Cherry trees. I am needing some 16' Cherry 1X6's so I took a walk through my woods last weekend. I easily found two candidates. One within sight of the Cabin's back door.
Folks always seem to want Cherry and Walnut lumber, but are unwilling to pay much for it.
The cherry trees around here may not be highly thought of by loggers and foresters, but I think that it is a missed opportunity rather than a reflection of the quality. Having sawn a lot of cherry that would be considered "low grade" back in Georgia, I am nothing short of delighted by the quality of the trees I've found around here. They are generally taller, straighter, clearer, and less affected by black knot fungus than the cherry trees that I dealt with in Georgia. I drive down the road and rubberneck at the some of trees I pass on my daily routes :D
I know of at least one sawmill here that sorts out their cherry logs and sells the lumber at a premium compared to the red oak and poplar that is their bread-and-butter. I am surprised that more mills don't do the same.