Giant for Pine sale?

[kgbond]

I have a large Ponderosa Pine which is not doing well. But it is too big for me to handle. Its 57 inches at the base and 170 feet high. Have a tree broker coming in the morning to bid on the tree. Hate to let it go, it looks clear for the first 80 feet. Any ideas on how I could mill this tree?

KGB

[Ironwood]

That is beautiful. Hope it finds a good home.

Ironwood

[Chuck White]

You could cut it, then cut to log-length!

Then you could split the logs with the chainsaw, then saw them into what you need.

[Satamax]

Depending on the bid, on the use you would have of it etc!

Myself, i would, if very extremely clean split it in four with wedges etc, along the pith, and do a proper quatersawing. If tight grained, why not make guitar soundboards and sell on ebay :D (duh, that just me being weird hey! :D )

[kgbond]

Cutting it with a chain saw into manageable sections is what I was thinking

[redbeard]

If you keep it I would leave the butt in a 8' length then cut 12' 6" lengths all the way up till the big knots start showing if there bigger than 42" dia or less you can take some slices of bark and sap wood off with chain saw. Then make  them into biggest cant with mill and save them for customer  that wants qrt sawn or 1x 2x ect.  parts.  It has been working for me , big cants are easy to work with and blades last longer.

[Overlength]

Big logs make a lot of lumber! I vote qtr saw  it yourself. A good two or three days work with chain saw, but will have some of the most valuable beautiful lumber / slabs of Ponderosa Pine you could ask for. And did i mention big logs make a "lot" of lumber. And isn't that the whole idea of having a sawmill? I did a 60" White Oak, and would do it again, and again.

[Woodsrover]

Looks like you've got plenty of trees already.  I've sawn a couple logs that were really too big for my mill and I don't think it's worth it.  For all the back-breaking work and what you loose splitting it apart with a chainsaw, I wouldn't bother.  Sell it for some cash, buy your wife something nice and spend your time milling what you can handle.  My $0.02.

[slider]

kg,how big of chain saw do you have ?Cutomesawyer may chime in on this one.I'm thinking you need a bar long enough to split it with one pass.I have split some big stuff with 361 stihl  20in bar but you are far better off with making one pass.I disagree with quartering it with a chain saw you can put the half on the mill and do that much easier .keep us posted   al

[kgbond]

I am using a stihl 440 with a 28inch bar, I recently quartered a 42 inch Red Fir, the biggest problem was the weight of the log. The backhoe had trouble picking it up.It did make the finest lumber I have ever seen. See prev. post
Thanks for all the input

[Ianab]

Anyone local with a swingblade sawmill?

We LOVE logs that that, mill it right where it falls.

Ian

[redbeard]

12' logs are a good length for flooring and trim pkgs. You have more options to cut knots out and achieve 4 6 8' lengths. Weight is a big issue its tough on the mill when turning and slamming big cants. I use my forks alot  and filp them on my sawdust dumping area also have a boom truck which allows me to do the heavy stuff.

[customsawyer]

Put it on a truck and bring it to me. ;D All jokes aside I would half it with the chainsaw and cut all the lumber out of it. The lumber from a tree like that is worth the trouble.

[thecfarm]

How many other trees will that knock down? We use to have some big white,we use to cut a "road" for them to fall into. We would take out any sell able trees that was going to be knocked down.

[kgbond]

excellent point, the view of the tree is the path where the falling tree will do the least damage. I am guessing that the tree is 160 to 170 feet tall, but I dont know for a fact. Last year we cut down the tree next to this pine. It was half the size of this pine and was 80 feet long. Thanks for all the comments.

[kderby]

You are correct to go after that tree.  I find by the time the pine needles are red or gone the tree has lost its value as lumber.  Locally I can get dead pine given to me for a pittance.  Most of it goes to barn boards or low value outbuildings.  Prices up here for milled pine lumber is sixty cents to a dollar a board foot, if you can sell it.  Ponderosa is the most common inland conifer in the western USA.  I did sell a tree like that once for $4000 but that was for a trophy home and they wanted the maximum size and length delivered to the job site.  Down East there is a premium on wide pine.  The Western USA does not see value in anything but a 1x12.  If you were within reach and I had a customer Pine like that would be worth $400-600 per mbf.

Trees like that are often stressed to death due to water competition from the understory.  Time to thin hard?  Large trees respond well to increased resources so pick the good ones and give them room to grow.  Historic ponderosa stands could be at sixteen trees per acre.  That is not the stand density in the picture.

Cheers from Oregon!

Kderby

[logboy]

I'm with Ian, find a swinger and slabber and saw it where it falls. I'd love to turn a nice clear log that size into slabs. Would make excellent table tops.

[sigidi]

I vote for  a swinger too  8)