Pecan score!

[gr8scott72]

Did a pecan job and brought home all the wood. It was two medium size pecans that were solid all the way through.

All the wood that I am not using to mill will be cut and split and sent to a friend of mine to use in his restaurant to cook with. Yummy!

First picture is the stack of firewood.

Here's the keeper logs:

There was one more good sized one that I had already stacked up before I remembered to grab the camera.

I've already got them all trimmed flat, labeled, painted, and stacked off the ground.

Waiting for my welder to get freed up so he can build my procut mill.

 

[BobL]

Now I really do call that a score!

 

[TraditionalTool]

Great scrore, beautiful wood, but make sure you keep your edges sharp when working it...that's one of the hardest domestic woods we have in the U.S., second only to Mequite...

 

[Frank Boyer]

Pecan is great cooking wood. It is around $600 a cord in N CA. I cook comps with pecan.

 

[Rudedog]

Pecan is great cooking wood. It is around $600 a cord in N CA. I cook comps with pecan.

Wow! I didn't know that. I have a monster Pecan tree in my back yard. I just trimmed a six inch limb while it was dormant. I set the wood aside because I thought it would make a particularly good burn.

 

[gr8scott72]

Wow! I didn't know that. I have a monster Pecan tree in my back yard. I just trimmed a six inch limb while it was dormant. I set the wood aside because I thought it would make a particularly good burn.

Pecan is KILLER to smoke with!!! I make the BEST burgers in the world with pecan chips. I actually used the chips from the chipper on the grill the other night to cook some burgers. WOW!!! Top 3 burger I've ever had.

 

[gr8scott72]

Great scrore, beautiful wood, but make sure you keep your edges sharp when working it...that's one of the hardest domestic woods we have in the U.S., second only to Mequite...

You must have a different pecan than we do here. Ours is not even close to as hard as say red oak. It's harder than say sweet gum or magnolia (two local trees I can think of) but not as hard as most oaks here.

My clothes still smell like pecan from trimming the ends off those logs. I love it.


I love my job.

Here's what I'm working on right now.
This oak is 30 plus inches at the split which is 12' above the curb. The stump is growing over the curb TWENTY FEET down the road.

This is that same tree and the one in the background is next and it's even bigger.

This is the smaller of the 3. lol

 

[Stihlofadeal64]

OH MY! The pecan is a favorite around here for smoking (alongside the Hickory). The last time I cooked we did the Boston butts for around 12 hours and the chicken for 4. The beef brisket was rubbed and smoked till you could cut it with a fork (no knife). Looks like you hit the 'mother-load' on pecan.
Congratulations! Happy Sawing!

 

[TraditionalTool]

Pecan is great cooking wood. It is around $600 a cord in N CA. I cook comps with pecan.

Frank,

I don't cook comps, but do use pecan in my smoker sometimes. I typically cook with hardwood lump, but when I use charcoal I toss in a couple chunks of pecan, goes good with both beef and pork. Good for brisket...I use a Weber Smokey Mountain. What do you use for your comps?

 

[820wards]

Scott,

Now that is a nice pile of wood. And I'm happy when I get one log to mill.


jerry-

 

[gr8scott72]

Scott,

Now that is a nice pile of wood. And I'm happy when I get one log to mill.


jerry-

Well, I get to be picky. I own my own tree service and have access to many, many logs all year long.

 

[Frank Boyer]

Frank,

I don't cook comps, but do use pecan in my smoker sometimes. I typically cook with hardwood lump, but when I use charcoal I toss in a couple chunks of pecan, goes good with both beef and pork. Good for brisket...I use a Weber Smokey Mountain. What do you use for your comps?

I have a 2 axle trailer (JR from De Witt, AR type unit) or a couple of WSM'S. Very few cooks at comps use only logs. Most use charcoal as a base and flavor wood.

 

[820wards]

Well, I get to be picky. I own my own tree service and have access to many, many logs all year long.

So Scott,

How does one approach a tree trimming service/company to ask for trees that they would normally cut/chip? How should us Joe's ask for trees we can mill. Just call and ask?

jerry-

 

[BobL]

So Scott,

How does one approach a tree trimming service/company to ask for trees that they would normally cut/chip? How should us Joe's ask for trees we can mill. Just call and ask?

jerry-

Rather than calling I'd try and somehow make face to face contact. Over the phone you could be any old cowboy and they can't tell much about you from your voice. If you visit them and you just happen to have your wonderful 820 mill in the back of your pickup etc they can then tell you are serious and not just someone that wants to mill premium cherry with a 37 cc branch trimmer.

One time I just stopped on the street to watch a group of tree loppers at work and engaged them in conversation, by the time I'd finished I had their business card and they had mine and they said they would call me next time they had something interesting. They did eventually call me but by then I had logs coming out of my ears and apologised for the inconvenience but I would not be able to take on any of their logs.

Another time I was at a saw store and a pair of hard core Maori's tree loppers came into the store. They seemed to be impressed by the length of chain I was buying from my 42" bar - "whet cud I pussobly bi cutting wuth thet"? (Thats how people from NZ talk). I just so happened to have the BIL mill in my van and they came out to the store car park gape at it, another conversation ensued and within two minutes we swapped contacts - never heard from them again, but I didn't pursue them either.

They other way I have been offered losg is via an online woodworkers forum. These are people with an interest in wood but no facilities for milling. They often have trees taken down and are prepared to let you mill it for just a few boards from it in return.

By now I have so many log supplier contacts I cannot attend to them all and feel a bit bad about it. Jeff the tree lopper has to occasionally block the logs I cannot keep up with milling into firewood

Down our way there can be insurance, noise and OHS issues if you are going to mill on someone elses property so you have to convince the tree lopping service and their client that you are a responsible operator. One possibility would be to have some copies of photos of you milling showing responsible PPE use etc.

 

[gr8scott72]

So Scott,

How does one approach a tree trimming service/company to ask for trees that they would normally cut/chip? How should us Joe's ask for trees we can mill. Just call and ask?

jerry-

A lot of what Bob said is true but I think calling wouldn't hurt either. You could call and let them know what you are looking for and tell them you would show up with a trailer if they just call you. Even knowing what someone can do as far as milling up a large log on site, I don't know that I would let someone do that as it would take too long on a customer's yard.

Oh, and don't just call once. Call back and keep calling back until they realize you are serious.

We had a neighbor at this big job we are doing ask for the wood. They live only about .5 miles away and I've already taken 4 24' trailer loads of oak to them and have probably 7 more to go. I'd much rather take it to them instead of taking the time and gas to drive it all the way home.

I did bring the last trailer load of the day home. Got to start working on the firewood pile for next year.

 

[huskyhank]

Scott, I'm jealous - that's some nice wood!

As for finding logs, I just ask around. Before too long you'll get something. And like Bob says once you are known for it, you might have more than you can take. Showing people what you do and/or the resulting wood sticks in their minds.

 

[820wards]

Finding Trees To Mill

Bob/Scott,

Thanks for the information. In the town I live the city now is no allowing people to residents to cut trees down over 50' without permission from the city, and must be taken down by a licensed tree removal company. There also has to be a reasonable reason why the tree(s) must come down. Then once the tree is down the resident only has 30 days to remove the wood. I was able to get a maple tree because the neighbor/owner had been contacted by the city that he only had a few days remaining to remove the wood, or the city was going to come out and remove it at owners cost.

I know the company the city contracts with to do tree removal. I think I will try to find their local office and see if I can talk to them about getting trees I can mill. Can't hurt to try. I just hope I won't be pushing a snow ball down a hill that turns into a big snow ball I can't stop. I'll worry about that when it happens.

Thanks all for your comments, maybe this will help others find trees they can mill.

jerry-

 

[discounthunter]

grtstsott,pecan is best processed green.once it looses water, it hardens quickly.

i love me some pecan , great to cook with, great in the fire place , great for wood working. congrats on a great score!

 

[TraditionalTool]

You must have a different pecan than we do here. Ours is not even close to as hard as say red oak. It's harder than say sweet gum or magnolia (two local trees I can think of) but not as hard as most oaks here.

You must have a different pecan than the rest of us.

According to Janka they rate pecan and hickory (same species) at 1820, where white oak is 1360 and red oak is 1290. Hard maple is 1450, just slightly harder than oak, and that aligns with my experience. I have some hickory that is hard as nails. The purple heart I have is way harder to cut...so some has to be taken with a grain of salt as it depends on how much moisture is in the wood, IMO.

In my experience, hickory/pecan is way more difficult to work than hard maple, in how it cuts, shaves, mills, etc...and those splinters will hurt if you snag one...DAMHIKT...:monkey:

Anyway, it is beautiful wood, and it looks excellent mixed with walnut for cabinet work. Here's some pecan with purple heart I did a houndstooth dovetail on...both are hard, hard, hard...(1820 for pecan, 1860 for purple heart). And as we all know, on paper is not real world, I can tell you that the purple heart that I have (was from flooring) is way harder than that minor spread on the Janka scale. I bet yours hardens quite a bit as it dries though...

 

[rarefish383]

So Scott,

How does one approach a tree trimming service/company to ask for trees that they would normally cut/chip? How should us Joe's ask for trees we can mill.

Local ares can be real different. The way your city works kinda makes sawable logs a rarity. Here in the Metro DC, MD area wood can be a pain in the but for a tree company. My cousin runs 3 crews and if each one brings in a load of wood that makes a big pile. The labor of processing fire wood got so bad he just quit selling it. He gives a lot away to landscapers he knows that sell wood in the off season. Premium saw logs go to the mill, anything else if you saw them on a job, they would give it to you. He might charge you for time if he had to travel. If you had a place set up with a sloped rig to set the log on, he'd use the knuckle boom and set it on for you. If you called with an interest list he would get back. Call and ask.

For that matter if there is any one in the DC, Montgomery Co area that has a wish list PM me and I'll try to hook you up, Joe.