Cankered beech

Clark · February 06, 2012, 06:25:22 PM

Quote from: ahlkey on February 06, 2012, 09:04:14 AM
...even though Beech is not always consider top shelf lumber it does have a special spot in our family history.

I've wondered about that. European beech is used quite often in furniture and it looks pretty nice. IKEA makes a lot of their nicer stuff out of it. From what I've seen of beech in eastern WI it looks like it grows to be a pretty nice tree with respectable form. If we didn't have the canker here would there be more of a market for it or would we treat it like other "undesirable" hardwoods?

Clark

SwampDonkey · February 06, 2012, 06:56:51 PM

That's because it's suppose to be already brought in from the woods and piled in the back yard so you can hit it before the flies arrive. ;D

thecfarm · February 06, 2012, 07:00:14 PM

Now the rest of the story.We are talking about beech at least 2 feet across. You pile,I'll watch. ;) That's why I was splitting it in the woods in four feet. We use to bring all of our wood out on a trailer.A beech at least 2 feet across is still heavy even if the middle is hollow.
One of the beech trees I was cutting down sprung a leak! I put my notch in it and started on the other side and water started to pour out of the stump. I shut my saw off and pulled it out. I thought my saw was leaking gas at first. Felt pretty dumb when I figured out it was water. Guess there was a rotten limb and it had been filling up with water for years.

SwampDonkey · February 06, 2012, 07:09:13 PM

I was talking up to 18" max but ends and tops. Not back breakers. :D Most hardwood that size has been cut down around here.

thecfarm · February 06, 2012, 07:12:50 PM

My Father wouldn't cut those small ones. :

He said we'll let that one grow a while longer. Back breakers is a good word for a family forum. But the memories of working in the woods with him. Makes me smile just to think about it now. But I was not smilling much than. Did not hurt me one bit. Oh to be 25 again.

ahlkey · February 07, 2012, 10:27:03 AM

Clark-- I have seen some of the IKEA Beech furniture and it is impressive. The key I believe is marketing a design that is unique and not just a "me too" product. I am going to saw up these logs this spring and will try to market one or two newer designs using Beech. On this woodlot we are fortunate to have high quality Beech. Most of the time Beech sawlogs are sold just as misc. hardwood given the lack of a market. In general I understand that, as it is typically hard to find a lot of reasonably straight trees or ones that are not hollow in the butt log.

The firewood pile above is just one stack and Beech is the only species of firewood that is sold in split form (do get a preminum). The rest of the species (white ash, oak, hard maple) is sold as firewood logs.

SwampDonkey · February 07, 2012, 11:23:49 AM

Years ago, someone was hot after beech in Nova Scotia. They called the marketing board and I told the guy that most all our beech is diseased and that the only corner of NB that might have significant quantities of smooth stuff would be in Madawaska county. I never heard from the guy since. One time there was a shop not far away that made bowling pins from beech. It didn't operated for too long, and before I even knew about it years ago, it had closed up.

ahlkey · February 07, 2012, 12:29:00 PM

For me when it involves marketing bad news can be an opportunity. I have used successfully the old Sam Walton approach to marketing namely - "swim upstream"! If your design is unique, simple, and affordable then you might have something. It is very easy to make things complicated but really hard to keep it simple. You also have to work with what you have available and having the Beech quality on the woodlot is a positive for me not a minus.

John Mc · February 08, 2012, 10:11:24 PM

Link to a good article on Beech Bark Disease (and actually quite readable)

ahlkey · February 09, 2012, 08:06:01 AM

I have read a number of articles on this subject but this one is one of the best ones out there. Thanks for posting.

John Mc · February 09, 2012, 04:02:08 PM

Quote from: ahlkey on February 09, 2012, 08:06:01 AM
I have read a number of articles on this subject but this one is one of the best ones out there. Thanks for posting.

Thanks. The article appeared in the newsletter of Vermont Coverts:Woodlands for Wildlife. They are a non-profit dedicated to educating Vermont's woodland owners and managers about practical approaches to forest management to enhance wildlife habitat and promote healthy forest ecosystems.

One of the things that first attracted me to this organization is their understanding that managing for wildlife and having a "working forest" do not have to be mutually exclusive. In fact, in a lot of Vermont's forests, they are complementary: the habitat diversity a well managed timber harvest can provide can be one of the best things you can do for wildlife.

I've got hooked, and have been fairly deeply involved in the organization for almost 10 years now.

Okrafarmer · February 23, 2012, 11:01:08 PM

Here is a picture I took yesterday of some pristeen, uncankered beech in somebody's yard down here. Typical of what we see. The largest of this stand was around 14" ABH but beech often grow to 24" or more around here.

SwampDonkey · February 24, 2012, 06:15:27 AM

My yard beech is still smooth, but it's only about 25 years old. They make a nice shade tree and are very strong in the winds. 8)

WDH · February 24, 2012, 08:39:30 PM

We don't get the disease that they do in the North. The beech gets hollow, but not cankered, at least not yet.

SwampDonkey · February 24, 2012, 10:38:36 PM

Hard to believe the scale would not be spreading south already because in the far NW of NB it's too cold for the bug to survive and carry the disease.

WDH · February 24, 2012, 10:44:29 PM

All our beech here in Georgia are smooth as a baby's bottom.

SwampDonkey · February 24, 2012, 11:03:03 PM

Being wingless the progression is slow I guess.

WDH · February 24, 2012, 11:08:30 PM

That is a good thing.

Okrafarmer · February 24, 2012, 11:49:19 PM

It could arrive eventually. Have the fire-ants made their way up to New Brunswick yet, SD? How about the kudzu?

SwampDonkey · February 25, 2012, 05:33:11 AM

Fire ants are here in some areas yes. I have not seen any. But we have a native species of red ant, it is very small compared to the black ant. Some invasive plants cannot survive the native woods here, too much shade. We do have purple loosestrife in about any wetland along the river valley. Escaped from gardens, kills out native wetland plants.

I hope you guys don't think I wish the plague on ya or anything. Just because I'm surprised doesn't mean I'm disappointed. :D :D

Okrafarmer · February 25, 2012, 03:28:31 PM

Sorry about the fire ants. They came here about :

15-16 years ago. Seems like they came in like a conquering army and just tore the whole place up for a few years, then ebbed down to a quieter occupational force that is now being treated with chemicals and so on, and doesn't just go ape all over the place. But for a while there it seemed like the world would end. >:(

As for the kudzu, it is a "highly renewable natural resource" :-[ that takes over everything and will not stop. Deep frost seems to keep it from spreading northward past a certain line, but boy, if it weren't for people keeping it at bay it would probably destroy everything in its path. It can strangle trees, envelop buildings, and almost grow across the road before another car comes along to squash it :

Seems to thrive on carbon emissions from tailpipes.... One of the best antidotes is large numbers of goats, so the goat population is thriving down here. We actually rent out goats to control kudzu.