What are the most beautiful and unusual logs you have ever cut?

[Squirrell_Boy]

 I am curious and have seen some amazing stuff posted here. I am talking about logs that you have cut that grew in your area or region. Pictures please if you have them.

Hope this hasn't already been posted recently. This enquiring mind would like to see what is out there. Sometimes you get some real surprises.

A friend often says that opening a log is like opening a Christmas present, you never know what you'll find.

[Swede]

A log I´ll never forgot about; Ø76cm/82cm and 5,5M long spruce I sawed for a customer 05-March. Looked turned but it vasn´t.  I got more than 90% lumber out of it. Couldn´t lift it up with the loglift but there came an excavator on the road who gave me some help.
The customer came by with his tractor and for turning the log we used the front end loader.

Swede.

[woodmills1]

 here are some shots......the first two are of a large elm from saugus mass, the second is a very large maple from macs apples in londonderry NH that I had to split with the 066 first and the last is a set of nested bowls done by a pinkerton acadamey high school student from maple stock I provided.

[jim king]

This is maybe my favorite so far but there are several others close.

[TexasTimbers]

Jim that red stuff looks like my box elder. Of course it can't be because I have the only patch on the planet with as many trees as prolific as they are. ;D

But what is that stuff?

[Dodgy Loner]

I was thinking the same thing, kevjay.  What kind of wood is that, jim?

[flip]

I don't have ANY clue what that stuff is but if you would like to ship 300-400bf my way I would really appreciate it ;) ;D

[Burlkraft]

This is maybe my favorite so far but there are several others close.

Jeezzzz Jim, This was a hard one for you ....Huh  ??? ??? ???

You have the biggest variety of the coolest wood on the planet....How could you choose... ???  ;)  ;D ;D

[jim king]

This is a wood that we worked on for well over two years to identify .  It was a total mystery until our scientist from the U of SC found it in a collection of papers from 1794 written in German detailing it perfectly.    The USDA Tropical Forestry Lab gave up on this species some time ago and left us on our own.  We have since found several subspecies.

Attached you will find a note verifying the   species name from our mad scientist friend in the U of SC.   He was so excited he wrote part in Spanish and part in English.

Para: "james king" <jameskingpe@yahoo.es>
Asunto: RE: "pink flame" has a name
   
Jim,

A short note, which I will expand later:

I have dissected the flowers, took pictures, and compared the data to all but two books (the report on the Explorama flora and the other one on the Leticia site) I just requested these books from interlibrary loan.

Pink flame hembra keys out clearly to the Rinorea subgroup IIa.1. 'Haughtii' Multivenosa complex. It only contains two species which have so far been known to science only from a handful of collections from southern Colombia and SW Brazil from Acre (Acre is the Brazilian state across the border river).

Hembra is distinct from macho, but I can only judge hembra because ony hembra came with flowers. Hembra is clearly distinct from both species in the multivenosa complex, and unless it matches some new species that might be revealed in the above two books, we are dealing with a new species of a rare genus. Rare because rarely encountared, nevertheless the tree may be locally common. You can tell me how common it is on your sites.

Therefore the name will have to revised from Rinorea aff. multivenosa or R. aff. longistipula to Rinorea sp. nov. #1.

Exciting!

Mihaly
Mihaly Czako, Ph.D.
Senior Research Associate
The University of South Carolina
Department of Biological Sciences
700 Sumter St.
Columbia, SC 29208, USA
czako@biol.sc.edu
Tel.: (1-803) 777-8928
Fax: (1-803) 777-4002

[Dodgy Loner]

That's pretty exciting to live in a part of the world where you can actually find trees that are still unknown.  If I find a tree around here that I can't identify, it's invariably an exotic species. :

[Squirrell_Boy]

That bowl is bloody beautiful! I hope no one died making it. That is one intense blood red.

[customsawyer]

One that I like to talk about most would have to be a sassyfras log that I was able to get several 1X10X13 out of and the wood is just as pretty as you could ask for.

[Squirrell_Boy]

Pictures from an unusual log i recently started to cut.

[Dodgy Loner]

Wow!  What the heck was that?  Some kind of maple?  Birch?

[Squirrell_Boy]

Yes, it is a Maple i believe i know which kind, but i have yet to verify it. It had been cut a long time ago and was sitting amongst a large amount of wood waste. I would say it was about a year from being ant food. It was a short, large diameter log that had begun to decay at both ends. I can only account for the dramatic color changes being due to some sort of the spalting process. I lightly hand planed it and wetted it for the pictures. It has a significant amount of blister figure and incredible curly figure. Remember that this is the midwest near the Mississippi river and i have never seen a Western Big Leaf Maple in this area. I am quite positive it is not a WBLM. Blister figure does occur in other species of Maple and some other trees, but i personally have never seen it in this region. I'll tell you more and post more pictures later if you are interested. I took many pictures and often stopped in disbelief at what i was seeing.

[Dodgy Loner]

I'd love to see more pictures, and you're right about bigleaf maple not occurring in your area.  It's quilted figure, not blister figure, that is primarily restricted to bigleaf maple.  The figure on that board definitely looks like a soft maple of some sort but the coloration does not.  I agree with you, it's probably just from sitting out so long.

[Daren]

Here is one from awhile back

https://forestryforum.com/board/index.php?topic=19133.msg274072#msg274072

These are the kinda trees I look for to saw.

https://forestryforum.com/board/index.php?topic=23288.0

[Squirrell_Boy]

Yes, Dodgy Loner i too believe that it is one of the soft maples. I am using R Bruce Hoadley definition's for figure and it seems to fit his definition for blister figure as he describes quilted as more elongated. Obiviously i have never cut WBLM before and this is the first i have ever come close to anything like it. I have heard this kind of figure described in various ways, blister, bubble or quilted. I think they have a few more, but we would have to check with the left coasters. I would definately describe it as blister figure IMHO. That is what it resembles, but it is a matter of semantics and perception.

Daren, i have seen many of your posts and your website and would definately say that we are kindred spirits when it comes to the type of logs that we go after and the way we cut. I admire your work. This log proved to be a test of my will as blister or quilted figure tends to occur on flatsawn / tangential surfaces and this had very intense curly figure on the radial or quartersawn surface. I decided to pursue the blister type figure for as long as it would go. It did run out the deeper i got into the log, but the curly stuff remained. I love spalting too, but have never seen such vivid colors. It is actually a pale orange in places.

[Dodgy Loner]

Daren and Squirrell_Boy, I've sawn up quite a few trees over the last several years, but nothing like those ones.  Thanks for sharing, hopefully I'll come across something like those one of these days!

Daren, how did the standing trees in the thread you linked to turn out?

[Squirrell_Boy]

Wait! That was just the little boards, now it's time to see some of the bigger stuff. I could write a little book on this log. It is a strange story. Sometimes nature gives you a gift and it is up to you to make the best of it. I cut it the best way i could think of with my feeble mental (and physical) powers. It presented some interesting choices.

[Dodgy Loner]

*insert long whistling noise here*  Now I'm really jealous!  Are you going to try to sell those boards, or will you use them yourself? ???

I've cut some apple up that had a little bit of curl in it.  It was a tree that my grandad planted 40 years ago.  I made a coffee table for him out of it last Christmas.

You can kinda see the curl in this picture:


This is what the table looks like:

[Squirrell_Boy]

That is a beautiful table! Sentimental too i bet. That kind of stuff means a lot to me and i love to cut up trees for people who have some kind of emotional attachmment to the tree. I love the live edges, kind if serpentine sweep to your table and the wedged joinery.

I have some emotional attachment to the the log i am showing because of all of the unusual circumstances surrounding the obtaining of it, when i cut it open and some other things that happened. It is truly one of those things that makes you think there are mysterious events that happen in life for some unknown reason. I am not kidding.

I hope to keep some for myself, but most it will be for sale once i am done documenting everything and writing it up. One of the great things in life is seeing what others will create with it. I also need to eat and pay my bills. I hope some of it will end up as fine art, like some beautiful furniture, a slab table top, electric guitar body or other musical instrument or even some fine turning. Who knows? It will be exciting to see.

I don't mean to get all philosophical, but one of the truly great things about this forum is the sharing of knowledge, experience and creativity. It is a great community with a sense of humor and people who don't hoard their knowledge or experience. My hats off to all the people who created this forum and the dedicated contributors who give selflessly.

When i started cutting this log i was like a kid who wanted to run around and say "Look at this! Isn't it amazing!" It was like look at what nature or God created and i was able to help facilitate it's beauty to others.

We all know cutting logs is part science, part art and mostly luck. I got lucky.

I hope others will post their experiences like this.

[Dodgy Loner]

Thanks, SB.  You're right, the story behind that table gives it sentimental value that is worth many times more than the table itself.  The tree was a lot of fun to saw - every board was nearly flawless, just a couple of small knots in the very center, and the color was just unbelievable.  I know what you mean about getting excited when sawing up a beautiful log.  It's like unwrapping a Christmas present.  You're not sure what you're going to get, but you're pretty sure you're going to like it .  And when the boards turn out as nice as the ones in your picture, you'd be crazy not to get excited.
8) 8) 8)

[Squirrell_Boy]

Just wanted to post some more pictures of the funky maple i cut. 50 inch wide slabs with mineral stain and some of the most unusual figure i have ever seen. Some people refer to it as Landscape figure. It is an optical illusion that creates a three dimensional effect. It is sometimes called Landscape figure because it can resemble mountains, hills or something like a lunar landscape.

[jpad_mi]

Wow, that is some beautiful wood SB! Your enthusiasm is justified.

DL, I love that table! Very nice work! How do you get the bark to stay on?

[Dodgy Loner]

More beautiful boards, SB!  That looks like a once-in-a-lifetime find!

Jpad, the key to keeping the bark on it to cut it in the wintertime when the sap is down.  I cut this tree in early January, and the bark stuck to it like white on rice.  If you cut a tree in the spring or summer, there's nothing you can do to keep the bark from falling off.

[Ironwood]

NNNNNICE SSTUFF, SB

             Reid

[Max sawdust]

Just found this thread SB ;D
That is one heck of a log
Finding a log with blister figure in the Midwest is unusual isn't it. ??? 
What clues on the ends or bark/surface did it give you that it had figure in it?
Do you know what species it is?
max

[Ironwood]

MaxSawdust,

I have found "blister" here as well. Mine did not have the color variation of SB's, and his had the combo of curl, blister, and color. These are usually on BIG OLD trees. If you peel an area of bark you are looking for #1 ridges of curl (most common) and second (more unusual, and evidence of blister) round bubble looking blisters. They almost resemble little water drops as you look from above. This water drop look will be mimicked in the grain. I have usually seen it iin soft maple, but I also have some VERY large hard maple which I have not yet cut that has it as well (I want them to spault).  The blister is somewhat different than quilt found in big leaf, it is more what I call "water mark" meaning, when sanded and finished the wood looks as though there are water drops on it, like it rained big fat drops and they are sitting on the surface, they are VERY three dimensional as you move around the piece. I just sold a small (18" diameter) table that had this look on the top. I will try to get some pics.

Another good description is a spring roiling up from the bottom of a shallow little pond. The image I get is the water pushing up slightly at the surface. It looks kind of like that.

             Reid

[Max sawdust]

Thanks for the description Reid.  I am familiar with Birdseye and how to spot it under the bark and on the ends of cut logs, and learning to spot curl.  But never seen a log or for that matter never physically held a board with blister!
Great descriptions!  I will keep an eye on the big old soft maple logs that come my way.

Just sold a 2.5" thick slab of curly Red Oak.  Came out of a log with 220+ growth rings.    This puppy was both big and old, just as you describe. 

Sure do enjoy "discovering" figure in a log or for that matter seeing other peoples discoveries.
max

[Ironwood]

Blister pics of eastern soft maple



 

[Tom]

Good pictures

[Dodgy Loner]

There's a dead boxelder in Whitehall Forest (one of UGA's school forests) that looks just like that.  Wish I could get my hands on it :-\.

[Squirrell_Boy]

Reid,

I could not have said it better regarding the possible identification of figure. The log i cut and documented must have been nearly 60 inches in diameter at one time. It was about 53 inches at the widest when i found it and it had already had two sides very roughly ripped down with a chainsaw. I know that had to be some work. I found 2 very old cut nails near the center of this log at the narrow end. I pulled them out of the punky wood by hand. Easiest nails i've ever pulled.

These are fast growing trees, but it must have been quite old. I could not count or do a per inch average of the growth rings on this log due to the condition of the ends.

I am no longer sure that this type of figure is as rare as i thought. I went through some of the local wood lab/dump and found another, lots of blister, intense rippling...unfortunately it was already a plant holder. Then i found a huge Sugar Maple with what appeared to be quite a bit of figure similar to burl and lots of curl...too deteriorated to cut up. I almost cried.

The Landscape or Terrain figure in that slab mesmorized me when i poured water on it. It is an optical illusion. I have never seen so many colors in one log as this one had. I can only speculate that it was a combination of age, mineral stain, and some strange spalting. Much of the sawdust was pinkish and orange. 

[Squirrell_Boy]

BTW Ironwood those are some very nice pictures you posted. They really show that blister type of effect. The grain can run everywhere in this type of figure. You even get end grain on the face of the board.

If anyone is wondering if they see blue (not like blue stain) on that one slab they would be correct. I should have had it professionally photographed.

[Squirrell_Boy]

What the Hay! I took so many pictures of this it is silly not to post them. These are from the first slab i cut from this unbelievable log. I think it was about 36 inches at the narrow end and around 40 at the wide end of this slab.

There was so much going on in the way of figure and color in this one slab. Let's see... blister, tight curl, multiple color spalting, mineral stain and some landscape / terrain figure. Maybe someone can describe it better to me.

I don't mean to get carried away, but this was too wild and hard to believe.

It was overcast and getting into the evening when i took these pictures. The sun would poke through for a moment and change the whole effect. It was a surreal experience. My brother thought i was crazy and had been out in the weather too long when i told him.

[Squirrell_Boy]

Two more pictures for now. Maybe someone can explain better what is going on with all of this and can explain the variety of things that happened with this log.

I still haven't verified the species with anyone that is credentialed in that area. I'd like to get a macroscopic or microspopic analysis done.

Could any of the Foresters on the Forum do that?

[Riles]

The Forest Service will identify your samples for free, but they warn they usually can't get it down to exact species. Details for shipping your sample:

http://www2.fpl.fs.fed.us/WoodID/idfact.html

[junkyard]

Those are some beautiful woods . Now the famous words" when I was young. I sawed some Lilac and Sumac on the table saw. to small for any thing but sure were pretty.
                   Junkyard"

[Dodgy Loner]

SB, I work in the wood quality lab at UGA.  You can send us a small sample and we can identify it for you.  It's not possible to ID maples down to an exact species, but I can definitely tell you whether it's hard maple or soft maple (or if it's something else altogether).  I'll send you a PM with my work address.

[Squirrell_Boy]

Thank you all very much,

I am almost certain i know what Maple type it is, but i don't want to be presumptuous. The bark and texture of the wood are very familiar to me.
I believe i have cut the same type before with nice curl figure in it.

Junkyard, I have seen pens turned from Lilac and one of the Sumacs. You are right they are beautiful. Lilac smells wonderful when it is dried out and burned on a fire. If i see someone cutting some down i always ask for some.

Junkyard, i think most of us are naturally curious about different woods and figures in wood. Although sometimes curiosity gets the best of me. Don't ask me how i know...OK, i must confess. Several days ago i wasted a whole bunch of time and energy cutting up a huge Maple crotch hoping for some spalting, nice figure, etc. What i got was mostly a bunch of punky stuff with a couple of huge holes in it.

[Ironwood]

This is the best "water mark" blistered soft /hard maple I have seen around these parts. This one is soft.


           Reid

[Daren]

Here is an unusual one. I brought it up in the urban forestry section cause it was a yard tree. Red bud burl log (more burl than log  :D)



I sliced some 20-30 pound burls off of it, here are some of them. I should not have cropped the 5 gallon bucket out of the picture, it gave some scale. They are nice sized.



And some baby ones too.



I got three 5 gallon buckets of babies (size of a Big Mac- to the size of an apple pie) I cut one of the babies into pen blanks.



I turned a little scrap, there is alot of eyes/figure even in that tiny piece.



I sawed a few live edge slabs, they are small, but cool. I think a small table or something from them would be sweet.



I cut a few funky bookmatches too.



After all the pretty stuff was off I still has a 12" square cant...but the center was rotted out on one end and the thing is short. I pulled a couple boards and left it, I may saw on it some more. If I was needing 3-4 foot boards.

[Kelvin]

Real nice Daren.  That is cool.  i"ve never seen a red bud like that!
Thanks everyone for posting pics.  Its great to see.  My stuff is all pretty plain, i gotta get some of that exotic looking stuff.
KP

[metalspinner]

Daren,
That turned piece looks like Thuya burl.  It sure is pretty.

[Ironwood]

NNNNNNNNNice Daren. Reid

[Squirrell_Boy]

Now that is what i'm talking about! Nice posts. There is some crazy figure out there. You guys rock! Reid that lower picture borders on what i'd call quilted figure.

[fencerowphil (Phil L.)]

This may not be the all time fav,...

but its DanG close:


You would know that the customer is wanting plain vanilla Sweetgum for horse stall wood and my
logs come up with this yucky stuff.   

(Yuk, yuk, yuk)   ;D

Phil L.

[Squirrell_Boy]

That is some beautiful sweetgum. I have only cut one sweetgum before that was about 20 inches in diameter and 10 feet long. It was nice, but nothing like that. I'm not surprised it's going in a horse barn. I have seen a few barns that are nicer than peoples houses. I hope the horses appreciate it.

[Dodgy Loner]

That's horrible, Phil.  Come on up to Athens and I'll trade you some creamy white sweetgum logs straight up for that ugly, mottled junk. ;D

[WDH]

Very nice SG, Phil.

[fencerowphil (Phil L.)]

About that too-pretty SG going to the horse stables, er...,
:-\
Well, ya see there were two trailers there for the lumber, uh....

One trailer was headed for the customer's horse barn and the
previously mentioned stall construction.  The other trailer was
to be taken back to my place.

Now we all know that you can't let green figured heart SG be
nailed up to dry too fast.  It would be just toooo likely to split
and warp.  Not enough restraint to keep it flat and too much air.
That would not be right for the customer, now would it ? !!

Sap wood to the customer's trailer and heart wood to MINE! ;)
;D
Even so, some of the pretty stuff is going to dress up the tops
of some of his stall rail system - at least until the horses gnaw it.

Phil L.                             P.S.   I cut 12 logs from 18" to 30" and
                                              every one of them had from 9" to
                                              18" of the good stuff.    Glad I had
                                              more than enough logs!