Daninvan
ArboristSite Operative
Yet another day of fantastic weather at the beach. Sorry to all of you still snowed under! Just my bowl turning buddy and I today.
Finally an indication of another person marking logs in the log dump! This guy has a sense of humour apparently, and he took a bunch of cottonwood that I don't want anyway.
We set up to do an oak (foreground) and box elder (background). Weren't 100% sure on either, the oak was from the same tree we milled from last week with not very good results. The box elder had been sitting on the beach since before last summer and we figured it would be full of stain by now. And we weren't even sure it was box elder, thought maybe it was some other kind of maple.
The oak turned out better than last week, there was some splitting and a couple badly placed knots, but it was not terrible. We milled two 4" slabs and several 2 1/2" slabs out of it. My bowl turning buddy took some, and I took a few pieces home with me to go with the oak I took the last two times I was out. This was the last of the logs from that oak.
Cutting the rotten end off the other log only increased our puzzlement, it was very soft like we would expect box elder to be, but the chips had no red colour to them at all. When we got the end piece off, we saw there was a bit of colour, but it was almost in a ring around a darker core. Not at all like the box elder we are used to cutting.
So we proceeded to peel off a couple slabs, and it was glorious! Subtle orange colour with some nice figure and minimal staining and cracking and knots. Definitely box elder. My bowl buddy took most of it, I grabbed a few smaller pieces as I am still drowning in box elder from a few years ago.
It was a busy day at the log dump, the busiest I have seen it in a long time. A truck came by to dump off the first of two pretty big loads of pretty big alder logs that were being cut down nearby. (Lots of joggers, strollers, and gawkers today in the good weather!)
A couple guys came by just moments after the alder got dumped and tore into it for firewood. Some of the logs were way too big for the firewood guys though, so I am sure I will be able to get some next time out if I want. Alder isn't that desirable for cabinetmaking or bowl turning apparently, although I find it to be a good and cheap substitute for poplar when doing mock ups. I still have several big chunks from a couple years ago . . . One of the city guys said he was going to call a local native Indian band and let them know about it as they like to use it for smoking food, carving, etc. That would be pretty cool.
And, a couple of young guys came out and cut into a big piece of western red cedar that had been hollowed out by fire. They cut three big rings out of it and loaded them into their truck. Look like bases for glass top tables. I think between all the different groups, there were four saws going at the same time. Exciting!
Hope to get out again next week. Still have several logs that I marked this past spring waiting to be milled up. Elm,Port Orford cedar, and another (hopefully!) box elder are the best candidates. Also have a large piece of beech that's been sitting there for two years.
I got a card from a guy who cuts down trees for the local electricity company, he gave me a tip on a walnut log that went down earlier today. Also a guy who cuts down trees at a local golf course told me they have a ton of locust out there, so I gave him my contact info. Hopefully he will give me call in the next while. And co-incidentally a friend who was out walking his dog spotted a flowering plum this afternoon that someone had taken down. Seems that when it rains it pours!
Finally an indication of another person marking logs in the log dump! This guy has a sense of humour apparently, and he took a bunch of cottonwood that I don't want anyway.
We set up to do an oak (foreground) and box elder (background). Weren't 100% sure on either, the oak was from the same tree we milled from last week with not very good results. The box elder had been sitting on the beach since before last summer and we figured it would be full of stain by now. And we weren't even sure it was box elder, thought maybe it was some other kind of maple.
The oak turned out better than last week, there was some splitting and a couple badly placed knots, but it was not terrible. We milled two 4" slabs and several 2 1/2" slabs out of it. My bowl turning buddy took some, and I took a few pieces home with me to go with the oak I took the last two times I was out. This was the last of the logs from that oak.
Cutting the rotten end off the other log only increased our puzzlement, it was very soft like we would expect box elder to be, but the chips had no red colour to them at all. When we got the end piece off, we saw there was a bit of colour, but it was almost in a ring around a darker core. Not at all like the box elder we are used to cutting.
So we proceeded to peel off a couple slabs, and it was glorious! Subtle orange colour with some nice figure and minimal staining and cracking and knots. Definitely box elder. My bowl buddy took most of it, I grabbed a few smaller pieces as I am still drowning in box elder from a few years ago.
It was a busy day at the log dump, the busiest I have seen it in a long time. A truck came by to dump off the first of two pretty big loads of pretty big alder logs that were being cut down nearby. (Lots of joggers, strollers, and gawkers today in the good weather!)
A couple guys came by just moments after the alder got dumped and tore into it for firewood. Some of the logs were way too big for the firewood guys though, so I am sure I will be able to get some next time out if I want. Alder isn't that desirable for cabinetmaking or bowl turning apparently, although I find it to be a good and cheap substitute for poplar when doing mock ups. I still have several big chunks from a couple years ago . . . One of the city guys said he was going to call a local native Indian band and let them know about it as they like to use it for smoking food, carving, etc. That would be pretty cool.
And, a couple of young guys came out and cut into a big piece of western red cedar that had been hollowed out by fire. They cut three big rings out of it and loaded them into their truck. Look like bases for glass top tables. I think between all the different groups, there were four saws going at the same time. Exciting!
Hope to get out again next week. Still have several logs that I marked this past spring waiting to be milled up. Elm,Port Orford cedar, and another (hopefully!) box elder are the best candidates. Also have a large piece of beech that's been sitting there for two years.
I got a card from a guy who cuts down trees for the local electricity company, he gave me a tip on a walnut log that went down earlier today. Also a guy who cuts down trees at a local golf course told me they have a ton of locust out there, so I gave him my contact info. Hopefully he will give me call in the next while. And co-incidentally a friend who was out walking his dog spotted a flowering plum this afternoon that someone had taken down. Seems that when it rains it pours!
