Dusted off the mill..

[Ianab]

A while back I posted about taking Taylor's school class up to see a crew taking down a big tree behind her teachers parents home. It's a pretty big Monterey cypress, that was dying (dead?) and was actually growing on township reserve / walkway. Anyway, a ~90ft dead tree over a public walkway has to go. Deal was the crew could get in through the homeowners property, and could leave the mulch and firewood behind. Tree crew thought this was a good deal because they didn't have to haul it away. Anyway got talking to the homeowner and foreman, and suggested there was some useful logs that we could mill. Tree crew thought this was also a good plan, as they could bomb down some decent size sections of the tree, and didn't have cut it into firewood length. (so again less work). 

This is them starting on the tree and roping / bombing down some top limbs. 




You can just see the climber the kids are watching near the top of tree. 





Anyway I get a call to say they left one big logs and a couple of smaller ones, and did I still want to mill them? Went to check it out. The little logs are 26 & 31". 





The bigger one is ~36" on the narrow axis. Should be able to mill it with minimal "shuffling". 




A few teething problems with mill alignment and a busted started cord meant we didn't get much down yesterday, but got a better run today. 

Got the 2 smaller logs down to the bottom 1/4, and will flip those over and cut the other side for some live edge slabs. 









Then after lunch I had a look at the the Big Kahuna. Luckily the plan all came together. Buck the upper forked section off, and it should roll clear. 





Then some more chainsaw work, didn't get my lines perfect, but good enough to crack the forked section in 1/2. 





What we have now. Go and have another hit at it tomorrow after work. Check out the size of the cypress in the background. That one is a whole lot of Nope.  :D

[Ianab]

Just to add, this isn't the butt log. It's still standing about 12 ft tall and 6ft dbh. It's no longer a hazard, and can just rot in place.  :D 

Lil got a picture of the stump. The logs we are sawing came from above this. 

[cutterboy]

Ianab, That was quite a tree! I'm glad you were able to saw lumber from those logs. Who gets the lumber and what can cypress lumber be used for?

[moodnacreek]

A wonderful project but it bothers me that so many show pictures of saw logs with the branches not trimmed off because amateurs copy this and bring me the logs to saw. You could even photo the smooth side and look professional.

[barbender]

Cool project and timber, Ian!

[Ianab]

Who gets the lumber and what can cypress lumber be used fo

We are splitting the lumber, homeowner doesn't have a specific use for it, but it's very nice wood.  Durable enough for outdoor furniture, but also finishes up nice for indoor use as well. Our kitchen table is made from it.

 

pictures of saw logs with the branches not trimmed

Yeah, but it doesn't seem a priority for the tree service guys, and I'm not going to turn away free logs just because they have some knobs  ;)

[moodnacreek]

I just wish the public would not see un trimmed or rotted logs destined to be put on a sawmill. I will take them also but I trim them immediately or hide them because they attract more of the same.  Several years back a well known and respected portable band sawmill builder advertised with images of junk logs on their machines. People see this and bring ugly logs to me to be sawn and it really makes hard feelings when I refuse to do it.