unbelievable lumber

[spencerhenry]

milled up a few rocky mountain juniper "logs" last week. lots of crook, lots of twist, lots of knots, lots of taper. all the snow around the mill is now red. slab by slab i took the pieces off of the mill, with each piece i was absolutely amazed at the color, and the grain. the most beautiful lumber i have ever milled, and some of it the most spectacular i have ever seen. these logs are potentially old growth. a 10" diameter log is around 200 years old, the biggest log i have is over 18", not solid throughout, but definitely old. the boards are never big, the biggest 8' piece is probably less than 5" wide. the grain and color though, would make this wood ideal for crafts, pistol stocks, turning. if i had the time i would like to make a rifle stock out of the stuff. hell i'd like to make anything out of it. it is truly amazing stuff.

[oakiemac]

sounds like you had some fun. It is really rewarding when you saw nice stuff like that.

Btw-update your profile with your location so we all will know what part of the woods you are from.

[spencerhenry]

planed up a piece of the juniper today. 30" long 12.5" wide. CLEAR. got out a magnifying glass and a wet sponge and tried to count rings. so tight that 20 lines sometimes are less than 5/16". best estimate is that this board has over 550 rings! need a better magnifying glass, but want to count my biggest log. maybe over 600 years old?

[TomFromStLouis]

no picture? never happened.  ;D

C'mon man, give us a break here. How many of us have seen somehting like that ya think?

[spencerhenry]

dont believe me, thats fine. doesnt really matter. but if you want a picture look up juniper on ebay. there is a picture there of a bookmatched 600 yr old juniper board. people in the midwest and other parts of the country dont understand that at high elevation with near desert rainfall, everything grows slow. i have aspens from my property that are under 10 dbh, and over 90 years old. service berry brush that at 2" dia is over 20 years old. i cut down 3 doug firs a few years ago, 28" dia, 275 years old. ever heard of a bristlecone pine, look up the ages on those trees.

[Buzz-sawyer]

Spencer
I dont think its that Tom doesnt believe you , he is kidding with you  to get to see a pic. ;)
Any way, I know you are right, as a matter of fact the oldest living things on earth are High Country cedar trees out west.....in the thousands...more so than giant redwoods.
but only a few feet in diameter.