Q-link/ loony alert

[Tucker943]

2 employees. That's all. I'll try and drum up pics. There's some around.....

 

[Reddog]

Paul, no wonder your nervous. After the pics you posted today of the hollow/dead tree. You gave that charm a work out today.

 

[OTGBOSTON]

That's for sure. I heard that alot of those masts were made of virgin white pine from Maine. They were called King's Pines cuz the king of England had his mark cut into the most desirable trees so they were reserved for that use.

There are still trees in Mass with that mark on them...

 

[gf beranek]

He doesn't sub full time. It's getting less and less. He built a large and successful tree service starting when he was 20. In the early 2000s a bad divorce, followed by a hard drug binge left him with nothing. Nothing at all but a few tee shirts. He lost 3 homes, his whole business, and everything he ever worked for. Some by his own choosing, some not. He cleaned up and put his life back together 7 years ago. He survived for 5 years without a drivers license by subbing for guys. A lot of guys. He was often booked a month out during that period with subbing jobs. He got his license back 2 years ago and has been soaring since. Several beautiful tree trucks, a bandit 250, skid steer. He is a freak about saving money and making cash purchases. Yes, I've worked with him a lot. My father left and died when I was 2. My uncle raised me as his son after that. I grew up in tree trucks, literally, it was my entire childhood. I was running saws at the chipper and loading trucks with a skid steer at age 10. I never saw a summer break once I turned 11. I went to work 50 hours a week until school started in the fall. He told me I would thank him one day for that...... Yes, philly is loaded with trees that would make most men flinch. 130 foot oaks and tulip poplars are everywhere. I mean everywhere. Yes, old school climber. Half inch line with a tautline. Cigarette in the teeth type

Amazing story I can relate to. Thank you.

 

[cory]

There are still trees in Mass with that mark on them...

Have you seen one?? I had heard the same thing re trees in Maine. But then I got to thinking, how could any mark on a pine trunk still be discernible after 150-200 years?

Edit: not to mention the tree would have to be maybe 300 years old now. Do pines live, or at least stand, that long?

 

[cory]

Amazing story I can relate to. Thank you.

Isn't that cool??

 

[RIVERRAT]

Well, I can not say I haven't taken a fall, but I can say I never been cut by chain saw. Well, once when I pulled the chain backwards on the bar. Since I gave it up I don't fear jinxing myself by saying that.

I'm the opposite. Some sphincter pucker swings. No falls worthy of mention. But I been bit by the saw twice.
The last time I was bit, it got in my head a a little. But not for long.

 

[OTGBOSTON]

Have you seen one?? I had heard the same thing re trees in Maine. But then I got to thinking, how could any mark on a pine trunk still be discernible after 150-200 years?

Edit: not to mention the tree would have to be maybe 300 years old now. Do pines live, or at least stand, that long?

Just pics. A good friend of mine who goes by moss on the boards, has actually climbed some of them.

 

[cory]

That's cool. It'd be fun to see a pic of what the king's mark looks like now.

 

[Al Smith]

Here ya go thanks to good old Google

 

[brendonv]

Thats freaking cool.

 

[squisher]

Damn cool thread. Thanks everyone for sharing their stories.

 

[Al Smith]

I read the article that picture came from .According to what it said the British navy wanted at least 80 feet of clear log for those masts .

 

[woodworkingboy]

Yesterday I couldn't find my charm before heading out. I used to clip it to me, but lately had been just putting it in my pocket., like the day before yesterday. It fell out somewhere. It sort of bothered me, but what can you do, and my wife asks me, "Are you working above ground today?", like it bothered her too. I looked for it a bit before and after the job, in the car and my shop.... When I got home my wife tells me that she found it outside at the base of the stairs, off to the side. It is small, but her eyes went to the spot. She thinks it wanted to be found. I can accept that. Hope to take better care of it now. I kissed it and put it back into it's box until the next time, so the world is right again.

 

[Al Smith]

Just for curiosity I googled the mast heights of the only remaining sailing ships in the US fleet. The Eagle ,a coast guard training ship and the USS Constitution .I was aboard the Eagle while docked at the coast guard academy in New London Conn .The masts are 147 feet .The Constitutions masts are 220 .

Where in the world did they ever find anything long enough for those masts ? Although it's likely the Eagle has metal masts the Constitution as built would have had to be wood .

 

[Burnham]

If I recall, the upper gallants were mounted to a secondary upper mast that was mounted to the lower mast. Probably 2/3 of the total height was the lowers. Still a hella piece of timber.

 

[cory]

Here ya go thanks to good old Google

Nice, Al! Good find!

 

[stig]

The reason those trees were so valued was that the prime supplier of mast and spar trees in europe, Pommerania, was about logged out of old growth timber by then.

The old world had been logged out by the time the "new world" was discovered.

London furniture makers like Chippendale about shit their britches when the first shiploads of American chestnut, walnut and oak arrived in England.

 

[Al Smith]

Oh they got in a big ruckas when the king of England found out they were running out of stuff to make masts out of . Kinda tough to be the sovereign of the seas with no masts .

If I recall correctly they outlawed the burning of wood for a time being in London and damned near chocked the people to death from the coal smoke .

Can you imagine first getting a big old straight log to the water just to float it out .Then lifting that heavy rascal out and shaving it to size with nothing but hand tools .Then lifting the monstrosity in place on the ship with nothing but derricks and hand winchs and fall blocks .

Once they got the thing built it took a pretty big crew just to sail those things .Not to mention about a zillion good trees just to make enough lumber for them .

I've seen several large ships built from the keel up but I just can't imagine what it would take to build a large man of war out of wood .

 

[cory]

Yeah, it is mind boggling.

Stig, are you saying that way back in the day, logs were being clipper-shipped across the ocean to Europe? I woulda thought that is a thing of modern times.

 

[stig]

I've seen several large ships built from the keel up but I just can't imagine what it would take to build a large man of war out of wood .

I can tell you that, Al.
One of the last wooden men of war ships, or call it battleships in modern terms was the frigate Jylland.
Buildt just after steam power won over sails and before metal clad sides won over wood.
It was build by crossing several layers of wood to make the sidings about 20" thick.
It is one of the largest all wood ships in the world today.

If I remember correctly, It took 6000 mature oaks to build it!!!!!

Cory, I have a reprint of an English book about the timber trade in the end of the 1800es.
They are whining about the fact that such stuff as pommeranian pine and Spanish ( cuban) mahogany is almost gone.
We have been raping the planet for a long time.

I have lent it to an English woodturner, so i can't come up with any quotes.