More Sinker Cypress

[Ocklawahaboy]

Wow that is amazing Woodey. Are the darker areas soft, or are they just stained?

You are talking about the dark satin running parrellel to the pecky pattern right?  I think it's just water stain.

[Magicman]

I sawed 2 sinker cypress logs a few weeks ago and the ends looked like your pecky log picture. 

That is the normal Pecky Cypress.  Pecky Cypress LINK

[Magicman]

Pecky Cypress is some very valuable stuff.


 


 
Here are a couple of pictures of Pecky Cypress that I posted in another thread.

[Nomad]

I worked with a guy a while back who was bringing some big cypress logs up from somewhere down there, don't recall exactly where.  But (again, as I recall) he said these had been under water for like 100 years or some such time, so they had been felled by an ax or a hand saw.  The really interesting part was that, apparently, there was some kind of stamp on the back side of the ax that different companies had, and they would strike that stamp in the end of the log so that they could sort them out after they floated them down-river.  He said in these 100-year-old logs, the stamp was still clearly visible.  Amazing.

     Believe it or not, in Florida you're required by law to make all reasonable attempts to contact the owner of that stamp.  If he's still in business and wants that log, you are required to give it to him, gratis.

     (I ain't making this up; I took that silly course.)  Of course, if he said he wanted it I guess you could just drag it back out into the river and let it sink again. ;D

[MotorSeven]

     Believe it or not, in Florida you're required by law to make all reasonable attempts to contact the owner of that stamp.  If he's still in business and wants that log, you are required to give it to him, gratis.

     (I ain't making this up; I took that silly course.)  Of course, if he said he wanted it I guess you could just drag it back out into the river and let it sink again. ;D

I don't doubt what you are saying...but that supersedes all common sense................... :-\

I guess "finders keepers" does not apply in this day age....arggggggg..............

[Ocklawahaboy]

     Believe it or not, in Florida you're required by law to make all reasonable attempts to contact the owner of that stamp.  If he's still in business and wants that log, you are required to give it to him, gratis.

     (I ain't making this up; I took that silly course.)  Of course, if he said he wanted it I guess you could just drag it back out into the river and let it sink again. ;D

I don't doubt what you are saying...but that supersedes all common sense................... :-\

I guess "finders keepers" does not apply in this day age....arggggggg..............

Those logs were not intentionally discarded so the owner might like them back.  If you set your wallet on the roof of the truck, wouldn't you like to have the person who finds it return it.  Silly comparison but same principle in my book.

[backwoods sawyer]

A brand is a brand :P
Cattle rustlers were shot
Log rustling could get you smiley_hanged
Finding the owner or at least the history of the log could be rewarding.

[Nomad]

     The last two posts both make good points. 
     However, the owner of the log stamp expected to lose a percentage of logs to sinkage.  This isn't taking logs out of somebody's private business lot.  It's spending stoopid amounts of money to try to recover wood that's been sunken for a century or more.  Remember, those individual logs are a lot more valuable to us today than they were to the men who originally harvested them.  And they were reaping a wild crop, not something they'd raised and nurtured.

[backwoods sawyer]

Brands have the law backing them as being the owner wheather you rounded up a few strays and put your brand on them or you put your hard earned money into harvesting a stand of timber that you purchased and got all the permits to send down the river.

When I was studing forestry brands have some strick laws to back them up and the consiquences are quite firm.

Not like a law written on a whim like, No ladys over 70 may ride a white horse thru town on sunday wearing a white dress kinda laws.

[beenthere]

     Believe it or not, in Florida you're required by law to make all reasonable attempts to contact the owner of that stamp.  If he's still in business and wants that log, you are required to give it to him, gratis.

If a state government has such a law, then it seems the onus is on them to provide the listing of such brands being registered, not on someone "making a reasonable attempt" which is very ambiguous, to say the least.

Cover your tracks with a trip or two to the library and call it "a reasonable attempt" ;)

[SawyerBrown]

Interesting ... 

However, finding the owner of logs that old should be fairly easy.  They'd have to be at least 110 years old, and there can't be that many people in the whole state that age.  (Although, there ARE a lot of old people in Florida!  We export them from the northern states ...)   ;D

That brings up another serious question, though ... so when did they stop using that method of moving and identifying logs?  (Or do they still?).  Interesting piece of logging history ...

[Magicman]

Thankfully the logs that I will be sawing were trees that were recovered and not logs.  They were bucked into logs after I looked at them.  Log floats were not a normal method used to transport logs here.

When the Mississippi river floods, the trees are floated to a landing and usually tied to standing trees until the water goes down.   

[backwoods sawyer]

"Brand" means an identifying mark upon forest products or booming equipment, as provided by rule and regulation of the State Forester; any brands in use and registered with the Public Utility Commissioner"

A call to the Public Utility Commissioner and State Forester would be a reasonable attemp to contact. Then you will find out wheather it is still an active or inactive brand :P

[MotorSeven]

I know I'm beating a daid 'orse here.....but this is known abandoned property on public property. The loggers/owners never made an attempt to recover, so they should not be entitled decades later to said property. All I am saying is that the "law" in their favor is absurd. Jeeze, if that were the case, then every shipwreck would involve a huge can of ship worms. Ok...Im off the soap box :D

[beenthere]

if that were the case, then every shipwreck would involve a huge can of ship worms

From what I read, that is exactly the case in every shipwreck. Many worms and then some....

Sunken logs in Lake Superior involved finding heirs of previous lumber mills for ownership, and then in the end, the Indian Tribes put their oar in the water to lay claim to their "heritage". Usually ends up in some "payoff" to settle the dust.

But when you mention "abandoned property on public property" then sounds like the public owns it and it would be much more difficult to take.

[hackberry jake]

There should be a time limit on claiming things like that, say 15 years or so. Just like if you lost your wallet and you didn't make an effort to find your wallet for 15 years... Then you clearly didn't care about your wallet.

[Magicman]

 

 
The rain quit and I was able to move in on the Sinker Cypress early this afternoon and sawed two logs.


 
The first log was solid and sawed out some very nice 1X12 lumber.  The second had a huge knot and rotten cavity, but it had 4'-6' of good wood on each end.  We sawed some 1X14" & 16" boards for raised panels, etc.

Tomorrow should be a good day and I should be able to get some good pictures.  Because of the ring shake visible on some of the log ends and the possibility of bad logs, this will be sawed "hourly rate".

[Magicman]

OK, a good day and a few pictures.


 
Most of the logs are very good such as this one.


 
And then some do not look so good.


 
Until you look inside.  The swirls in this lumber were eye popping.


 
This morning's "off bearer" is seen carrying a 12 foot 1X8.


 
And then she shoveled sawdust.


 
And then she hopped into the JD 6415 and brought up some more logs. 


 
Another "not so good looking" log.


 
But not to worry.


 
It yielded some fine lumber.


 
Another log's lumber.


 
Some nice pecky lumber.


 
Some nice bookmatched lumber.


 
And four 3"X26" slabs for counter tops.

The customer will have much more than he needs so most of it will be for sale.  The customer's wife that was helping this morning is wishing that she was building a new home.   

[beenthere]

MM
I suppose the price/bdft goes down a bunch with help like that...   :

;D

[Magicman]

They might say that "good help is hard to find" but that one found me.  She did not hesitate to grab the ends of the  slabs and 1X12's.

[WDH]

Who is looking at lumber  . 

[PC-Urban-Sawyer]

Who is looking at lumber  .

With a helper like that, it's hard to get bored...

[backwoods sawyer]

MM looks like you are getting good recovery out of those logs, lot like the WRC we got out here. Some nice looking lumber being milled there.

[Magicman]

Yes Harvey, even the logs that appear to be hollow have produced a nice yield.  We have not found a total junker yet.

Today has been spent removing limbs, and replacing a damaged power weatherhead.  Also getting generators to my BIL and our Daughter to run the Fridge.  That storm last night was quite severe.  We were walking the floor at 3:15AM.   :-\

The customer is stickering lumber today and we will start back sawing Monday AM.

[dablack]

Beautiful lumber coming off that mill.  I've seen you pull some beautiful lumber out of half rotten stuff before!