# Salt cedar, AKA Tamarisk



## qbilder (Aug 28, 2012)

Ranger let me have all I wanted from a pile of this stuff in a state park. I'll be going back for more. They were thrilled that I was taking it, and I was thrilled to take it. Got 7 logs in my pick-up that gave me 38 2" slabs. Color ranges from soft pink to deep red to olive drab, and figure ranges from wavy curl to heavy burl. I'm going back for more!!!!















Hearing protection is what I had for size reference. My saw has a 30" throat, too. This slab is around 22"+. Logs are short because of the way the tree grows, and I only took the butt logs. I got what I could manage by myself with no mechanical help, just brawn & sweat. Wood is about as hard as maple or red oak and the mill cuts it nicely. Still several truck loads in that pile, and some huge burls but i'll need a hand with those. Time to put together a CSM


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## k5alive (Aug 28, 2012)

:dribble:


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## ft. churchill (Aug 28, 2012)

Gosh does that salt cedar have some beautiful color/grain to it. Most of that we've got around here are just spindly lil' things no bigger than a man's wrist.


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## qbilder (Aug 28, 2012)

ft. churchill said:


> Gosh does that salt cedar have some beautiful color/grain to it. Most of that we've got around here are just spindly lil' things no bigger than a man's wrist.



Yeah it gets big around a water source, and smothers the banks of any stream. We have some fair size stuff here, especially along the Rio Grande. There are bigger ones to get, but I need help to get them. One root burl is big enough that it'll be the only thing I can fit in my pick-up.


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## qbilder (Aug 28, 2012)

More pics of some salt cedar, oak burl, & maple burl I milled today:


























oak:





maple:





Got several real nice juniper burl slabs but they are buried under the stack of slabs. I'll post pics of it when I get them organized.


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## mikeb1079 (Aug 28, 2012)

holy cow, that's beautiful. good score! for some reason i haven't really come across anything quite like that stuff. gotta keep my eyes open for the burls i guess. the character of those pieces is really beautiful. bound to be ques i suppose?


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## qbilder (Aug 29, 2012)

mikeb1079 said:


> holy cow, that's beautiful. good score! for some reason i haven't really come across anything quite like that stuff. gotta keep my eyes open for the burls i guess. the character of those pieces is really beautiful. bound to be ques i suppose?



Thanks. Yeah most of it will be cut into turning squares for cues. I'll keep a couple of the larger, lesser figured slabs for a table or something.


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## discounthunter (Aug 29, 2012)

more awesome wood saved from a horrible death! nice finds. time for a trailer with a power winch!(and a csm!)


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## brookpederson (Aug 29, 2012)

Beautiful stuff, keep the pics coming:msp_w00t:


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## Burlhunter13 (Aug 29, 2012)

:msp_w00t: Fantastic qbuilder!!! Wow, gotta love the burls, keep the pic comming!

You have the same sawmill I have. How is it working out for you?


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## qbilder (Aug 30, 2012)

discounthunter said:


> more awesome wood saved from a horrible death! nice finds. time for a trailer with a power winch!(and a csm!)



You literally read my mind


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## qbilder (Aug 30, 2012)

Burlhunter13 said:


> :msp_w00t: Fantastic qbuilder!!! Wow, gotta love the burls, keep the pic comming!
> 
> You have the same sawmill I have. How is it working out for you?



It's great! It's as simple as a mill can be. My biggest gripe is the hand crank raise/lower. I like the boat winch type better than the acme screw. Gonna invest in the power up/down. Otherwise, I love the mill. I have cut some incredibly difficult logs with it and no problems. Being a long time woodworker I understand that the blade is the heart & soul of a saw, so any mill has a capability of cutting nicely if the blade is sharp & running true. But this mill is mine, and I like it.


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## Burlhunter13 (Aug 30, 2012)

qbilder said:


> It's great! It's as simple as a mill can be. My biggest gripe is the hand crank raise/lower. I like the boat winch type better than the acme screw. Gonna invest in the power up/down. Otherwise, I love the mill. I have cut some incredibly difficult logs with it and no problems. Being a long time woodworker I understand that the blade is the heart & soul of a saw, so any mill has a capability of cutting nicely if the blade is sharp & running true. But this mill is mine, and I like it.




I was thinking the same thing. Also maybe upgrading to the hydraulic blade tensioner. My setup has a threaded rod that I set to 35LBS with a torque wrench. The hydraulic gauge would be nice, too closely monitor the tension. Love the machine .


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## qbilder (Aug 31, 2012)

Burlhunter13 said:


> I was thinking the same thing. Also maybe upgrading to the hydraulic blade tensioner. My setup has a threaded rod that I set to 35LBS with a torque wrench. The hydraulic gauge would be nice, too closely monitor the tension. Love the machine .



Yeah forgot about the tensioner. It's an upgrade I want to add, too. I don't even use a torque wrench.


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