# Milling Giant Sequoia



## 2dogs (Nov 23, 2010)

I hope this works, I have a new camera and I'm using my daughter's laptop. Here goes.

My friend Andy told me he was going to mill some Giant Sequoia and that he thinks it would be the biggest log he has milled so far. The logs were about 45 minutes away so he had not seen the wood. I told him I would be able to help and also take some pictures. The butt section was pretty impressive, about 7' high and 6' wide.






The tree turned out to be about 100 years old and as I hope you can see by the rings, it grew fast. Some of the rings were 1" across. There were many bark inclusions to deal with also.


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## 2dogs (Nov 23, 2010)

We had to trim the butt swell first. An 084 and a little prying did the trick.





Then the mill was put on blocks, about 14" at the large end and 8" at the small end. We had to move the mill head from a ladder.





We milled mostly 8x8 cants to be sawn into fence boards on the Woodmizer later on. The butt section weigh 20,000lbs and the 8x8 cants must have weighed 200lbs. All 6 logs were 12' long plus trim.





Andy hit two nails in the butt section. This one was nasty and dulled the blade and broke corners off carbide teeth. We also hit a bullet about 20" up the trunk.





The tree was growing in Atherton, an exclusive area in the SFO bay region.


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## qbilder (Nov 23, 2010)

That's pretty awesome!!!! Good thing it's soft wood and easy cutting. A log that size could wear on a blade. I guess your nails did that trick, though.


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## mtngun (Nov 23, 2010)

A bullet in SF, eh ? Must have been one of Dirty Harry's stray rounds ?

Awesome pics, awesome mill.


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## huskyhank (Nov 23, 2010)

YES!!

Thanks for posting this.


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## BobL (Nov 23, 2010)

Nice work!


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## deeker (Nov 23, 2010)

Very impressive!!


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## 820wards (Nov 23, 2010)

2dogs;
The tree was growing in Atherton said:


> I'm surprised that Atherton let a big tree like that to be cut down.
> 
> Cool pictures. I'm not that far away and would have love to see that tree milled.
> 
> jerry-


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## tomtrees58 (Nov 24, 2010)

nice the wood looks like mulberry here in the north east


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## willbarryrec (Nov 24, 2010)

*Wow awesome!*

Thanks for the post!


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## TSRuff (Nov 24, 2010)

As someone else pointed out not too long ago, I am amazed at the growth rate in areas where there is no winter (FYI, cold and rainy is not winter!) and where there is always a lot of moisture. Besides some very aggressive growing willows or maybe a big cottonwood I have never seen anything even remotely close to 1" a year.

With the rings that size, how does it affect stability and strength of the wood?

Nice milling!


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## johncinco (Nov 24, 2010)

Looks like a lot of fun, and work! I went to a day like that in Madison WI and watched a Peterson work. It was a lot of fun. Does Lucas make a slabber? We did a lot of beams like you, to be cut up later on a band mill, but he also made a bunch of huge slabs that sold for big $.


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## houtworm (Nov 24, 2010)

:chainsawguy:big stufff


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## mikeb1079 (Nov 24, 2010)

too cool man, thanks for posting!


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## TraditionalTool (Nov 24, 2010)

820wards said:


> I'm surprised that Atherton let a big tree like that to be cut down.


Yeah, they do have all types of rules and regulations in those cities in the Portola Valley area...in fact, I got some trees that came from Portola Valley a while ago, and they wouldn't let me go up there on the weekends, only during the week are contractors and workers allowed to go in there...


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## 820wards (Nov 24, 2010)

TraditionalTool said:


> Yeah, they do have all types of rules and regulations in those cities in the Portola Valley area...in fact, I got some trees that came from Portola Valley a while ago, and they wouldn't let me go up there on the weekends, only during the week are contractors and workers allowed to go in there...




I know of the Portola area. Some of these citys are funny.

Another member here BlueRider, milled a big elm tree in San Jose and the city actually cut the tree down and then let him mill it right there at the street edge. He taught me a bunch about milling. 

After milling the elm, his friend found a camphor tree to mill. Can't remember the city now, but very close to San Jose. At first they said when they cut the tree down they would let us mill the tree. Then, the day the tree was to be cut down they told us we couldn't mill the tree. We couldn't even be there when it was being cut down. We were told that they would leave what they wanted to leave. It was in firewood lengths. What a shame because it was a big old tree.

jerry-


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## TraditionalTool (Nov 25, 2010)

820wards said:


> I know of the Portola area. Some of these citys are funny.


Yep, no contractors/noise on the weekends so the rich and famous can get their beauty sleep! :-/


820wards said:


> Then, the day the tree was to be cut down they told us we couldn't mill the tree. We couldn't even be there when it was being cut down. We were told that they would leave what they wanted to leave. It was in firewood lengths. What a shame because it was a big old tree.


I had a very similar thing happen, the city was taking some maple trees down over by Saratoga/SanTomasExpwy, a friend of mine lives across the street from the park. He asked if we could have the trees, they said yes, but then when we went to go get them they told us that one of the city guys wanted them.

Easy come, easy go...

I got a couple truckloads of logs for free, these came out of Portola Valley, pines and eucalyptus:


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## 820wards (Nov 25, 2010)

TraditionalTool said:


> Yep, no contractors/noise on the weekends so the rich and famous can get their beauty sleep! :-/
> 
> I had a very similar thing happen, the city was taking some maple trees down over by Saratoga/SanTomasExpwy, a friend of mine lives across the street from the park. He asked if we could have the trees, they said yes, but then when we went to go get them they told us that one of the city guys wanted them.
> 
> ...



Nice pile of wood.







I have a neighbor who owns a commercial landscaping business, and he said he would call me when he has a old tree that needs removing. 

Happy Thanksgiving!

jerry-


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## BlueRider (Nov 25, 2010)

820wards said:


> I know of the Portola area. Some of these citys are funny.
> 
> Another member here BlueRider, milled a big elm tree in San Jose and the city actually cut the tree down and then let him mill it right there at the street edge. He taught me a bunch about milling.
> 
> ...



The camphor tree was in Mountian View and it was a real shame because you guys would have gotten some 24" wide x 8" long straight boards, a real rarity in size for camphor.

The elm was a parking strip tree and San Jose has some "interesting" rules regarding them. They are considered city property but each home owner is responsible for maintaining the parking strip trees adjacent to their property. If a home owner wants to remove one they need a permit, which is free. The home owner is responsible for the cost of removal and must replant a replacement tree. If the city decides a street tree must be removed the home owner has no say and the city bears the cost but they will not replant a new tree. I have never had any luck with the city of San Jose letting me mill a parking strip tree they removed. I have done several that were removed by the home owner which was the case Where Jerry came down to watch. The part that was pushing the rules a bit was that we were milling the tree in the street. Not that any one was going to try and make us move a 36" diameter 12 log

One of the first elms I ever milled was on the univrsity campus. I tried to get permissin to mill it and all I got was a big run around. A friend told me that it was scheduled to be cut into fire wood and that several people would be very happy if it were not there when they showed up the following monday to remove the trunk. We went over there on saturday and acted like we were supposed ot be there and found out that people don't ask questions when you start up a chain saw with 42" bar.


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## TraditionalTool (Nov 25, 2010)

BlueRider said:


> Not that any one was going to try and make us move a 36" diameter 12 log


FWIW, if you ever get wind of that type of log, please do let me know. I could move a 12' log that is 36" in diameter, although I need a tire at the moment, I have an F-450 flatbed that has an 8,000 lb. payload, and the bed is 12' long in the back. It has toolboxes on both sides but there enough space to get a log in there, and secure it. Especially interested in hardwood myself. Anything larger is fine also, would cut it down. I can deal with getting it off myself after I get it back as I have a lift back at my yard.


BlueRider said:


> We went over there on saturday and acted like we were supposed ot be there and found out that people don't ask questions when you start up a chain saw with 42" bar.


That's funny...yeah, people stand back when the chainsaw starts up, heh? 

I have quite a bit of logs right now, but always interested in hardwoods such as walnut.(hint hint) If you hear of any and you can't get them, or possibly might want to split it up in lieu of help getting it, let me know. I am close to San Jose.


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## Hddnis (Nov 28, 2010)

mtngun said:


> A bullet in SF, eh ? Must have been one of Dirty Harry's stray rounds ?
> 
> Awesome pics, awesome mill.





I don't think Dirty Harry had stray rounds. If that is his bullet then the tree needed shooting.





Mr. HE


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## TraditionalTool (Nov 28, 2010)

820wards said:


> I have a neighbor who owns a commercial landscaping business, and he said he would call me when he has a old tree that needs removing.


Those logs above came from a contractor that was building a foundation and running the sewage for a McMansion. The house that was there was about 1200 sq.ft., they are tearing it down, a shame in some ways...

The house is on the market as they build it for about $7.5M, and by the looks of the tax numbers, the builders/investors paid $4M for the property with the 1200 sq.ft.home on it.

I had to pay for the trucker to pick them up and take them down to my yard in Morgan Hill, and that did cost me $600 after it was all said and done. My main concern was the pines, I'll mill those up into 2x6 decking for the house I'm building. I think this will mill up into enough 2x6 to cover my main floor, 2nd floor, and the porches. Not a bad investment if I can get that done in my log home.

BTW, speaking of giant sequoia, a friend of mine lives up off the eel river, and a couple years ago the storm blew a redwood from the bank of the river. He ended up having a guy cut it into 3 pieces so he could get it out of the river and across the street to his property. River was up to the road...11' at the butt end, and it was 60', he netted over 10,000 bf after it was milled. That is a lot of wood, I saw the tree sections which they did with a lucas, they were too big for my bandmill...


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## rbtree (Nov 28, 2010)

Nice. Here's one that was even larger...and 98 years old. We removed it this summer. Largest tree to be removed residentially in the Puget Sound region, I'm sure, in 13 years. 10.5 foot at ground level, 8 feet dbh, 158 feet tall, over 12,000 board feet including the bark, and about 70 yards of chips

http://www.flickr.com/photos/rbtree/sets/72157624162999759/show/
It's going for custom use of some kind. Being processed by www.liveedge.com


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## Hddnis (Nov 28, 2010)

All the GS I've milled was very light weight when dry. Seemed strong for the weight, but did twist a little while drying. Largest log I milled was in the four foot range. Most of the GS trees I've taken down you could park a skid steer on the stump, some of them would hold a full size pickup. Smallest I took down was fourteen years old and 23" DBH. I really hate rigging them, they stick the ropes full of those pointy little spines.





Mr. HE


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## TreeWinder (Nov 28, 2010)

Thanks, really shows off a Peterson type mill


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## 820wards (Nov 28, 2010)

TraditionalTool said:


> Those logs above came from a contractor that was building a foundation and running the sewage for a McMansion.
> 
> I had to pay for the trucker to pick them up and take them down to my yard in Morgan Hill, and that did cost me $600 after it was all said and done. My main concern was the pines, I'll mill those up into 2x6 decking for the house I'm building. I think this will mill up into enough 2x6 to cover my main floor, 2nd floor, and the porches. Not a bad investment if I can get that done in my log home.




Sounds like you have your work cut out for you. 

jerry-


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## 820wards (Nov 28, 2010)

rbtree said:


> Nice. Here's one that was even larger...and 98 years old.




Thant is quite a tree you cut down. I don't know if I would want a tree that large next to my house either.

jerry-


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