OT - Do I mill it or make firewood?

[Tycer]

Norway Maple. ~24" diameter, ~10' long. Standing dead one year, zero rot. It got barked by bugs due to a flower garden too high up the trunk.

Not sure which way to go. I can't think of any uses I might have, but with the knots and no splitting, it might be pretty.

[Newtmaker]

Boy, living in NC I would think you could find somebody that was willing to pay money for that!
That would make several board feet of nice lumber that some folks pay a pretty penny for.

Walt

[piller]

Yep, I wwould sell it or have it milled into some very nice looking lumber for home projects.

[Cimarron]

In your picture it is hard to tell but I'm not so sure how much lumber you would get out of it. I have this problem when people bring "logs" to my mill. They think you can saw around corners and get every last inch of board out of something that is forked or curved. It doesn't take much curve to reduce the amount of usable lumber in a log. Also it is the small end that determins the working diameter of a sawable log not the biggest diameter. Thats not to say a woodworker couldn't make some nice things out of your log. Then there is the hardware issue. A city tree is bound to have some metal in it. A new 54" blade is anywhere from "expensive" to "way too expensive". The last good used blade I bought was $900.

[stretch]

Well, there's lots of wood in that log.

What it's good for is the question.

With those knots and branches, you're not
going to get very much in the way of clean,
clear, long lengths of cabinet-grade wood out
of it. Somebody could get some really cool
wavy-edged mantles or table tops out of it,
but nobody will know that until you start milling.

I might try to mill the lower section if I could
get it done cheaply or for free - but you're
only gonna get a minimal number of 6-foot
boards. The big notch didn't help your prospects
in that regard!

On the other hand, it looks like at least a cord
of good firewood, though the top part might
be hard to split by hand.

Good Luck!!

-Stretch

[wecsoger]

And unfortunately a tree in an urban environment is always regarded with suspicion by the miller. Especially the lower part.

My current boss has a portable mill he sets up when he's able to make a deal. It has to be a goodly quantity of lumber to make it worth his time and when he's finished, he puts it in two stacks, the customer chooses the one he wants.

Said the best investment he ever made after that mill was one of the hand held security wands like you see at ball games and airports. Urban trees or backyard trees up to six or eight feet may have all sorts of metal, wire, nails, screws, etc. imbedded in them. Anything from leftover yard sale signs to clothes lines.

Don't know about lumber, but I'd be tempted to chainsaw it down to smaller, more usable sections and wedge out sections you could true up on a table saw and planer. I'd bet money you could get some slabs that local guitarist's would love to get their hands on. If it's the kind of wood I'm thinking of, I'll bet it's so hard it 'rings' when you hit it right. With a good grain that would make an awesome Telecaster clone.

The rest of it, sadly, would just make some beautiful firewood.

[ollogger]

sorry that tree is fairly old some one has pounded
or screwed something in it during its growing years

[adirondakjack]

In the end, it'll burn nice. I dropped one here that was pin-straight, 36" at the base, first "V" at 28ft up. Made good firewood s all, but we got maples out the wazoo here.

[Marlin32]

Unless you have your own way to get it milled, or someone close by does that does some craft type work, it is just firewood. Good, firewood, but mostly just firewood.

[FWiedner]

I'd bet you could get at least three lovely gun stock blanks out that log.

[HEAD0001]

Firewood. I know a few guys who own and run full time mills. As well as a few people who also own portable mills. They would not even consider putting that log on their mill. Way to close to that house behind you. I would bet $100 to a donut that there is metal in that tree. No doubt about it.

If you take it to a mill and they hit metal with it. You will have a big bill on your hand. I don't even like putting my good chains in logs like that. I always cut with an older worn out chain when cutting logs like that. Metal for 100% sure. Tom.

[Chuck 100 yd]

It`s too small for decent lumber as far as gun stocks go.
It would make good fire wood .
If it has curl in it ,it will make some nice smalls like pistol grips etc.

[gcs]

At the cost of fuel oil, firewood looks like a better option, what you save NOT buying oil, you can buy a bunch of gun stock material.

[FWiedner]

You can always give up and turn it into sticks and kindling.

Why not have some fun and explore what's possible?

[Pitchy]

I would be leary putting it on my mill, ain`t worth the risk of tearing up a saw blade. I hit one of those hooks someone screwed into a tree for a cloths line once, caught it in the gusset and cut her right in to with no damage, dern lucky.

[2571]

"And unfortunately a tree in an urban environment is always regarded with suspicion by the miller. Especially the lower part."

MIL lives in TN Civil war country. Nobody will mill local trees because they're full of lantern nails, bullets, pieces of ancient wire fence,etc.

Kinda shame but we do find junk in 'em when we burn them.

[Jeff H]

And unfortunately a tree in an urban environment is always regarded with suspicion by the miller. Especially the lower part..........

Yeah, last "yard tree" I took in - he made me mill myself.
I resharpened (touched up with a file) the blade three times getting through two eight-foot logs. Eventually............I took home about 80BF, but I paid dearly for that "free" lumber.

[Gobblerforge]

Lead bullets won't hurt the saw. I have a board that, while thickness planing, exposed a bullet in the wood. I thought it so cool that I used that board to make a holder for keeping my 1860 pointed up while loading it so I could show the bullet.
Gobbler

[claybob86]

Lead bullets won't hurt the saw. I have a board that, while thickness planing, exposed a bullet in the wood. I thought it so cool that I used that board to make a holder for keeping my 1860 pointed up while loading it so I could show the bullet.
Gobbler

Picture?

[Chuck 100 yd]

My boss has lots of Walnut milled at the saw shop where I work. I was given a log about 30" X 16' after the saw discovered 36 16 penny nails in the first pass .I had to cut it in half so I could haul it in my 3/4 ton pick up.
I saved most of it with my chain saw.
I love free wood!!!
Mails and such are very hard on saw blades.

[Gobblerforge]

Sure, Claybob.
This is the stand. If you look to the right of the barrel you can see the torn and healed wood grain that the bullet passed through.

This the back side that shows the bullet.




Gobbler

[pokey]

And unfortunately a tree in an urban environment is always regarded with suspicion by the miller.

a few years ago, the guberment widened a road downtown. there was an old
walnut in the way, it was actually two trees grown together. one was a black
walnut the other english. they must have been three feet through. when i drove
by they were chunking it up for firewood, made me ill to watch. it looked like
chocolate cake inside dark and smooth. i suppose the thinking was, too much
hardware, not worth the trouble.

[Paladin]

Mill It...

[1894c]

tooth-pics...?

[KCSO]

Depending on how it dried and how many checks there are in the wood you CAN rip it up with a chain saw and get some nice pistol stocks from it. I made a really niice flintlock piistol from the stump of a maple I cut dow, but i blocked it and coated the ends with wax and dried it for 3 years first.