TROPICAL TIMBER INFECTION

[tondo]

Hi everybody

I am in Angola and have a question you may help. we are cutting trees and trhey lay in forest for months, it is extremely humid. Should I treat the logs with some product in order to protect them from disease?.I have been told to spray them with diesel fuel!!

Regards

Andrew

[Tom]

As far as I'm concerened, spraying Diesel fuel is a waste of diesel fuel which is washed into the ground where the worms and bacteria there have to deal with it.

Rot is prolific where the wood dries and is wet again.  It creates an environment like the area at the bottom of a fence post at the ground line.

Insects attack felled or stressed trees and eat the sugars from beneath the bark, then bore into the log to lay eggs and perpetuate the cycle.  Removing bark helps but isn't the answer.

The best thing to do is process the logs as soon as they are taken off of the stump.

The next best thing is to submerge the logs where they will stay wet and insects can't reach them.

The third best thing is to bring the logs to one place, raise them off of the ground and continuely sprinkle them with water to keep them wet.

Just getting the log off of the ground will help.

In log form, drying wood will check and ruin it as lumber.  There is no substitute for quickly processing it.

[tondo]

Thank you for youir advice, in Europe I am told to use a product made of BROMURO OF METILO.Do you know it? I know it is used widely in agriculture.
It is quite difficult to remove the logs quickly here because of the terrain, extremely bad roads, rain etc..But I will take your advice

Thanks

Andrew

[crtreedude]

I agree with Tom, the best thing you can do is process them quick. Since normally there is no reason to cut until you can move / process them, just let them keep growing until you are ready to handle them.

In the tropics, everything rots, and really fast.

Leaving them to lay for months seems like a great way to loose them. In Costa Rica, we try to avoid cutting until the dry season, that way we do not tear up everything trying to move them.

[tondo]

Thank you all,

Since I will have serious problems to move the cut trees( about 500) which are very large, quickly. What do you think of the possibility of storing them in a natural lagoon?For a period of about 4 months( rainy period).?


Regards


Andrew

[beenthere]

Tom explained the choices pretty well. If you mean the logs will be submerged underwater in the lagoon, that should 'help'. But 'moving' them seemed to be one of your problems.
Hopefully you are not continuing to cut the trees as indicated in your first message. However , visualizing what you have gotten yourself into here has been difficult. Hopefully its not as bleak as it appears to be.
Can you fill us in with more information about what is happening?  Maybe more help (no money   ) in the form of suggestions will come forth.   ;)

(PS Thanks for the 'freshwater' tip Tom. Not being around salt water, I didn't even think that the lagoon might be 'salt' water. But it's puzzling that 500 logs would be down, and not accessible to saw, but moveable to a logoon. Maybe we'll learn more.)

[Tom]

Andrew,
Fresh water is preferred.  If your lagoon is Salt Water it may have ship worms in it that will make short work of the logs.  Barnacles and other crustaceans and Bi=Valves that may attach to the logs will cause you problems at the mill.

It's just a guess but pumping salt water over the logs may be a better solution to submerging them in Salt water.

If your Lagoon is Fresh Water and you don't have a problem with Environment contamination, then that would be a good answer.

Here, most of the log ponds are dug specifically for that purpose or are Farm Ponds were the Farmer has control of the use.

Before you dump logs in a waterway, public pond or anything like that, make sure before-hand that you aren't stirring up a legal problem.

[sawmillsi]

Tondo,

I have worked in PNG and the Solomon Islands, and like crtreedude I also agree that your harvest method could be looked at.

We never cut the tree untill we were either ready or close to ready to mill them.

We then de-barked the logs then stacked them off the ground.

This helped alot.

We found that just debarking the logs gave us about 2-4 weeks longer before insect and rot set in.

NB. The longest we could leave logs in the log yard before this was about 4-6 weeks before we had to burn them.

I you need a hand, I need a holiday ;), get yourself a few Peterson mills and I can help you cut them where they lay!

I'll look for some photos I have of PNG and the Solomons

Good luck

Simon

[tondo]

Thank you all for your advice its more than welcome.Also to Simon its good someone who has experience in similar circumstances.
To Simon, I have already bough and received a Petersons mill and I will buy more if they work properly.What type of equipment do I need to debark?.
If you are ready, you are more than welcome to come over just say when and we will organize the tickets etc..inmediately, we do need a hand, Angola is not easy our local people are not up to date because as you know the war only ended 2 years ago, but the situation now is good, we are a large company and I am Australian so we will make sure you will enjoy ypour stay.If you like hunting and fishing this place is fantastic.

Await your news

Andrew

[sawmillsi]

Tondo,

When I worked in PNG, I worked as the senior technical person for Petersons agents there. my family in Australia is the Australian agents for Petersons, and when I went to the Solomon Islands, I ran a training course for the Solomon Island agents for Petersons (they were brand new to sawmilling at the time).

I work as a community forester, specifically on sustainable harvesting methods, small scale sawmilling and down-stream processing (value adding after the sawmilling part).

I would really, really, really love to come over (I don't think I can emphasise this enough), but I wouldn't be able until early december (feild days and show plus a [I have typed a profane word that is automatically changed by the forum censored words program I should know better]-load of work).

are you coming back to Australia before then? we could meet up and talk sawmills and harvesting.

What kind of Peterson mill do you own?

what kind of logging equipment do you have?

there are a few ways of debarking:

1. using the back of an axe or large hammer to bruise the bark, before peeling it off with either a crow-bar or spade; or

2. using your dozer or skidder blade, or loader bucket or excavator bucket to rip it off; or

3. using the wheels on your loader/skidder to drive along the log, rubbing the wheels onto the bark, this will rip the bark off as well.

Email me direct at simon_ceglinski@mullum.com.au

Simon

[sawmillsi]

just been shrinking some pics of some work in PNG











these mills are all cutting for export to Australia and New Zealand.

we used a Cat D6 for pulling logs and Peterson 6" and 8" ATS and WPF's for cutting.

i employed local people (men and women) to do the milling, harvesting, grading - i just taught them how to do it.

[tondo]

Hi Simon


I have sent you an email, please advise here in case you did not receive it


Andrew