Eastern timber tracts

[Rotax Robert]

The skill set for reading lean and limb weight that I need to work with conifers seems simple in comparison to the complexity of figuring the same info for those wide-crowned hardwoods.

Well put, I have followed this thread and have little to nothing add as I have little to no experience with the hardwoods. I might add though here and other places have some great logging pics from our old buddy Gypo. True precision falling with no loss due to shatter or fibre pull can make a good veneer log hold its value. There has been many of $5000 logs made worth no more than firewood.

The few big ones I have slayed I must say I cheated and took a fair amount of limbs/weight off a givin side, It can be a tough read on a large crown.

 

[gf beranek]

A friend in Mass. was telling me recently that the price for veneer logs was less than firewood prices.

Markets fluctuate a lot. And most of the market was in Canada.

 

[stig]

The skill set for reading lean and limb weight that I need to work with conifers seems simple in comparison to the complexity of figuring the same info for those wide-crowned hardwoods.

It's not, really. It all depends on what you are used to, I guess.
I've been a hardwoods faller for over 30 years, so I can read them easy enough, but the first time I looked up an oldgrowth redwood trying to read the lean, it simply had me stumped.
Not that I was going to fell it, I never got the chance to try my skill on old growth, back when I lived in Northern California, only second growth.
Still, I figure I'm most likely the only danish logger to ever have felled redwood, so that's okay.

 

[Al Smith]

A friend in Mass. was telling me recently that the price for veneer logs was less than firewood prices.

Markets fluctuate a lot. And most of the market was in Canada.

Locally the few mills here are tight as the bark on a tree,always have been ,always will be .

When you figure you only cut a woods maybe every 50 years,they only have to deal with you once . Seems funny though because the last red oak lumber I bought was nearly 3 bucks a board foot .:what: Pretty good stuff though ,F and S ,kiln dried planned,straight one side and 12 to 14 growth rings to the inch .

 

[Burnham]

The skill set for reading lean and limb weight that I need to work with conifers seems simple in comparison to the complexity of figuring the same info for those wide-crowned hardwoods.

It's not, really. It all depends on what you are used to, I guess.
I've been a hardwoods faller for over 30 years, so I can read them easy enough, but the first time I looked up an oldgrowth redwood trying to read the lean, it simply had me stumped.
Not that I was going to fell it, I never got the chance to try my skill on old growth, back when I lived in Northern California, only second growth.
Still, I figure I'm most likely the only danish logger to ever have felled redwood, so that's okay.

Well, I can't argue with you there, Stig. Maybe we ought to team up...we'd have 'em covered then, eh?

 

[Al Smith]

I suppose it's just what you get used to . I've only ever dropped maybe half a dozen pine trees in my life but lost count of the big hardwoods . I too wouldn't have a clue what to do with a big Douglas fir on a slope.Take a picture of it I suppose .

 

[Dave Shepard]

Biggest I've cut is a 58" multi stem white pine. Cut it with my little Husky 66. Cherry veneer is about the only money tree right now. Might as well cut oak for firewood. We have 10mbf of really nice tree length RO stacked up at work that would make great lumber or timbers, I hate to think of what will happen to it, probably get chopped into firewood. Rotax, here is an example of a semi failed cut. I say semi, becaue the split is actually an advantage on a small manual bandmill. I cut this for my former boss, and knew I was going to split it, but he was ok with that. You can't see in this pic, but there is almost 8" of bore cut behind the hinge, it goes almost all the way under the shards sticking up. You can pick apart my technique if you want, it was my first Humboldt style cut.

38" Red Oak. Cut it with the same 66 actually. Full comp and no power (and bad technique :roll: ) are bad combos in a big oak cut: With the 394XP I think I could have kept up with the cut, but the 66 just choked. Boring closer to the back of the tree would also have helped, but I was worried about root pull, stump was a little sketchy.

 

[gf beranek]

A split, or wind check, was a bonus in the bigger trees that we would have to rip anyway. Saved us the time and bother, but wood pull was frowned on.

 

[stehansen]

Is that from a thick hinge?

 

[MasterBlaster]

It's from slowing down/stopping your backcut.

 

[Husky D]

A split, or wind check, was a bonus in the bigger trees that we would have to rip anyway. Saved us the time and bother, but wood pull was frowned on.

As Jerry said wood pull is definately frowned upon and would have got me a a good Bo****ing if did it several times but we all have done it once or you haven't cut very many! I know that felling Larch they can pull long whiskers out there centers and ash is always a good favourite for splitting
Dave was it leaning heavily and did you keyhole out the face to reduce centre pull? Sounds like you were trying to bore it and then just cut the back off after.

Heres one i glad i didnt split, I think I would have done if I used the saw in the picture!

 

[Frans]

Al, was most of that oak used in the construction of sailing ships? Old ironsides?
Or was that in Butch's area?

 

[Dave Shepard]

That tree was really leaning badly, probably 45 from plumb, almost perpendicular to the hill, which is much steeper than it looks. It dropped in the open, where we could drive the log truck to it. It had a very broad crown, I don't know if a proper felling cut would have saved it or not, the goal was simply to get it on the ground, without getting hurt. I did bore the back cut from both sides, but the bar was not long enough to bore all the way out. I was fully expecting a split or stump pull, and got both.

Butch, yes, it was from slowing down, the little saw just couldn't pull a full comp chain in that cut, and bogged badly, which did not surprise me. I pretty much got the results I was expecting, and was lucky enough to learn a thing or two and walk away. I will definately refine my technique for the next tree like this. There is a sweet black cherry there that he owns, 36" and straight for about 60'. It's straight for any species tree, and amazingly straight for a black cherry, this is a rare one for our area.

We got the logs on the truck, was getting dark, so we had to make another trip for the firewood. There were quite a few logs above the crotch.

 

[Al Smith]

Al, was most of that oak used in the construction of sailing ships? Old ironsides?
Or was that in Butch's area?

Back in the day they used the oak for every thing from railroad ties to furniture . The money is in veneer today but I guess the market is surpressed from what they say .

"Old Ironsides " is in fact live oak,not native in these parts .

On that subject though,they talk in one of my books of falling a perfectly straight oak in Eastern Pa that was something like 125 feet of usable length .They floated that thing down some river and all the way to Boston to use as a mast for a big square rigger . I wonder how in the world they ever stood that thing up .

 

[Reddog]

Al, They would set the smaller masts first. Then use them as gin poles to set the large mast.

 

[GASoline71]

A friend in Mass. was telling me recently that the price for veneer logs was less than firewood prices.

Markets fluctuate a lot. And most of the market was in Canada.

How about the price of good straight Alder sawlogs out west... Prices have shot waaayyy up over the years. No longer is it just firewood... It almost quadruples the price of Doug Fir and Hemlock sawlogs.

Gary

 

[gf beranek]

No, kidding. Alder? What is it being used for? Furniture? You can't give that stuff away here.

 

[Thor's Hammer]

Alder is now an an excellent alternative to mahogany. if you've ever seen rippled alder boards, you'll see why.

 

[gf beranek]

On the ground it rots in a single season.

 

[Thor's Hammer]

On the ground it rots in a single season.

Interestingly, if you put it under water, it never rots.