Thanks for the kind words everyone, we really enjoy doing this work. I find it oddly satisfying and rewarding disassembling these majestic trees (I don't like seeing some of these beauties go but most of the ones we deal with are problems and hazards waiting to happen), so it seems fitting that we can try to mill this log so it will live on in a sense. If the milling goes well, I'll be sure to get pics and do a thread for ya's. Horkn it was a little too chilly for the my sleeveless shirts today!! The Wood Wolverine yes I know exactly what you're describing, this has some of those wavy ripples and if you look closely in some pics, you can see the main spar is "spiraling".......I've seen that same trait in other curly trees we've cut so I'm hoping for a nice grain.... Thanks Cash Larue, Haftacut, jmb6420, Dave_in_abq, Eric Wanderweg, yooperdave, Mag Craft, stihl kicking, buZZsaw BRAD, and my old buddies Chvymn99, brenndatomu, and eatonpcat and everyone else. I can't take credit for some of them pics, we both took turns in the big tree. Joe climbed the scraggly one the week before.....he's really becoming a great climber, proud to work with him, and we have both learned alot of new techniques over the years....the tools and climbing gear available nowadays is amazing and makes for alot of interesting capabilities! We will be sure to do some climbing at the upcoming GTG's this summer, we hope to see yinz all if possible. We will be in Michigan in April at Backwoods Savage place and two different ones here in PA (one being hosted by Duane(Pa) near Jeanette PA) and our 1st Annual Hawg Days of Summer here near the Overkill Ranch in June! If you can make it to any of these, we'd love to see ya's!!. Go check out our threat about Hawg Days here on the forums...
Nice work Scotty Overkill and Joe blacksmith. You have to keep working on these trees to stay sharp and in condition. I don't think most realize what it takes physically to do this type of work but the demands are great. Also yes, the tools are much better today than they were 50 years ago.
It is hard work, especially starting back up heavy-duty after winter....lol. But the tools definitely are a game-changer...
I went down late this afternoon after sharpening the 36" chain on my mill and gathering up all my milling gear...set up to mill the slab, milled one board off and on my third cut, I hit a dammed nail...... About a foot into this slab, that's when we hit metal... Trashed the chain, too.. Come home, tore the mill down, sharpened the chain AGAIN and went ahead and dressed the bar good... As for the wood, no curl yet but its beautiful wood, and a fairly tight grain, I'm betting at least 100-125 years old.....still hope for curling further in the log.....fingers crossed. Try again Tuesday evening....
Dang, been there and done that many times. It sucks, no doubt about it. After the last time I swore to myself that I’d never do another yard tree unless I had a good detector. I hit hardened screws! And I’ve seen pics of nails where guys went right through. Guess that wasn’t the case this time?
Yeah I am not 100% sure what it was yet, I'll know once I finish off that slab, but I'll be taking another round off of the butt end before I plank another slab off of that log.
