# Sweetgum/Liquidamber Tree



## 820wards (Feb 24, 2011)

Here are some pictures of the Liquid Amber tree I took down at my Dad's house today. Next will be to get the pieces home to mill. The tree measures 30" at the base so my 30" bar just made the cuts easily. The trunk piece I cut is almost 8' long and should make some nice 2-1/4" slabs. The saw is my 134cc 1964 Mongomery Wards saw with a 30" bar. It's been upgraded to electronic ignition, carbon fiber reed valves and a 1" diameter intake manifold and carburetor. It's a beast to run weighing about 30 pounds but it sure cuts fast! Dad is 86 and wants to see his tree that he and I planted in 1960 milled so I'll plan to have him out when we mill.

jerry-

Starting on the tree.







Taking it down piece by piece. We tied the pieces off, cut and lowered them to the ground. We took our time, worked safe and got all the pieces down.






The main trunk came down on target and was 21' long. I trimmed it down to piece just over 8' that I will be milling once I get it home.






My Wards Saw






We ended up taking sections out of Dad's fence after a limb flipped and bent one of the steel sections. Only mishap of the project and will be easy to fix.


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## PineFever (Feb 24, 2011)

Nice Pics!
Your gonna have some great wood to mill.


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## cgarman (Feb 24, 2011)

*What the...*

I had to do a triple-take on that second photo. Take a look at the telephone pole behind the green truck. It looks like the lower cross-bar of the pole is in front of the tree, while the rest of the pole is obviously behind. It took me a good 10 seconds to figure out what was going on...

Any way - nice job on a tricky take-down. I'd love to see the lumber. I have a neighbor with sweet gum, and I'm trying to convince him to let me mill it. He wants to keep it for firewood.


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## 820wards (Feb 24, 2011)

cgarman said:


> I had to do a triple-take on that second photo. Take a look at the telephone pole behind the green truck. It looks like the lower cross-bar of the pole is in front of the tree, while the rest of the pole is obviously behind. It took me a good 10 seconds to figure out what was going on...



** Trick photography and I didn't even know it...



> Any way - nice job on a tricky take-down. I'd love to see the lumber. I have a neighbor with sweet gum, and I'm trying to convince him to let me mill it. He wants to keep it for firewood.



** This is the second one I have gotten and the wood is really nice. Offer your neighbor a cutting board or something from the tree. I did that with the first tree I did and people will love that you are going to make something with their tree.

jerry-


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## ChainsawmanXX (Feb 24, 2011)

I bet that Wards just ripped through that Sweet Gum!!


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## 820wards (Feb 24, 2011)

ChainsawmanXX said:


> I bet that Wards just ripped through that Sweet Gum!!




The saw was almost overkill for that tree, but ya have to play with toys like that once in awhile. My dad bought the saw in 1964 and it has cut many a tree in it's day.

jerry-


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## ChainsawmanXX (Feb 25, 2011)

820wards said:


> The saw was almost overkill for that tree, but ya have to play with toys like that once in awhile. My dad bought the saw in 1964 and it has cut many a tree in it's day.
> 
> jerry-


 
"Almost overkill" never ever heard them words!


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## 820wards (Feb 26, 2011)

ChainsawmanXX said:


> "Almost overkill" never ever heard them words!


 
Overkill meaning, the saw was probably bigger than I need to cut the tree down.

jerry-


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## 820wards (Feb 26, 2011)

PineFever said:


> Nice Pics!
> Your gonna have some great wood to mill.


 
Got the tree loaded on the trailer today with the help of my brother, son and a couple of friends. When we got everything unloaded today we used the mini-mill and milled a few of the smaller pieces. Bluerider came by and got to see the mini-mill in action. It was cold here in Northern CA, but the sun came out in the afternoon and it wasn't bad at all. 

Trunk and other pieces to be mill in the trailer. We used a couple of heavy moving dollies strapped on each end and was able to roll the tree up into the trailer. We estimated the 30" trunk to weigh over 1,200 pounds.






3" thick x 6" wide piece of milled with the mini-mill. I'll cut all the ends square with the chop saw tomorrow and seal the ends for storage.


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## discounthunter (Feb 27, 2011)

very cool story. nice wood too.sweet gum gets a bad rap but it usually has nice color with sometimes almost invisible growth rings.it also spalts nice too.


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## 820wards (Feb 27, 2011)

Finished milling some of the limb pieces today. The weather was real nice Bluerider, not as cold as Saturday. T-shirt weather.

Here are pictures of the sweet gum milling I did with only the mini-mill. I cut one piece crooked, but it was the guy with the tape measure. Me...

I'll get the ends all sealed and then mark them with the date/wood type to ready them for storage.

jerry-


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## ChainsawmanXX (Feb 27, 2011)

820wards said:


> Overkill meaning, the saw was probably bigger than I need to cut the tree down.
> 
> jerry-


 
Man I hate how you cant detect sarcasim on the Internet. lol


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## 820wards (Mar 12, 2011)

*Second Post*

Spent some time on Friday today milling a couple of limb pieces I had left from the Liquid Amber tree. Had my 86yr old Dad out to watch and he enjoyed the day. I also have had a burled piece of CA Blue Oak I've had for at least eight year and decided today was a good day to mill it. I did all the milling with my mini-mil and we cut everything to 5/4 and 6/4 boards. The Blue Oak had some really pretty figuring and the LA had a few pieces of crotch wood that will look pretty nice.

jerry-

Here are some pictures

Milled pieces in front of Liquid Amber trunk yet to be milled.






Blue Oak boards washed.






Different angle of Blue Oak pieces.






Liquid Amber with some crotch figuring.






Milled Liquid Amber boards all done using the mini-mill and guide rail board.


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