About a month ago a friend of ours called and said they had some tree tops I could have. I'm thinking he had some trees around the house topped off. When I went to check it out, he drove me around in their SXS for about 1-1/2 hours showing me what was available. I was way off in my thinking about the tree tops, they have 80 acres and sold off 60 large trees for lumber, the tree tops were from that sell off. I was overwhelmed, this is a long term deal, and only 7 miles from us. I got 2 pickup loads today. Here's a few pics, because we all love pics!
Mostly white oak, and walnut (which I'm not a fan of). But also hickory and shingle oak (which is in the red oak family). He wants the new cuttings removed first, but I've got my eye on some dead hedge...
One surprise for me, is some left over tops from a Sycamore tree. Do they actually take Sycamore for lumber?
It was a good question so I looked it up. Seems if the sawyer knows his stuff it’s worth the time. Or, around here, anything not “normal” goes into pallet production. Let’s hope it goes to something worthwhile. Nice score. That should keep you busy for awhile. American Sycamore Lumber
I can appreciate the amount of work that is for you. When I cleaned up my in laws woods after loggers came through, depending on the size of the tops and time I had, I could usually tackle 1 or 2 tops each time I went out to cut. It was a lot of work, but I got a ton of firewood that way. Never got to all of them, because some were in a wet area I couldn’t get into with the truck and couldn’t get close enough to pull them out. Looking forward to tracking your progress along the way
Awesome hook-up! Looks like you’ll be busy busy for a good while. And great timing with it being so close to home. Travel costs will be minimized.
WOW! Ill say that's a bonanza. Overwhelming to say the least. Lots of good wood in those tops, but obviously lots of work. Nice that its close to home too. How many species did you see?
You are more inspired than I. That looks like a lot of work. Sycamore is impossible to hand split. Dries fast, makes a lot of ash and not a lot of heat. I guess it’s ok shoulder season wood.
One reason I haven't touched it till today is because it's been snowing and thawing so much, the ground is soggy. I don't want to make ruts, let alone get stuck and really tear the ground up. I've got a 4x8 utility trailer, and a sxs that I will probably use at some point. I won't be alone on this project, he said there's a couple other guys that will be getting some, and my neighbor will get help out also. That's ok, there's a lot to be got.
It is a lot of work, he has a campground area, for when the kids are visiting. He wants that area cleared first. I'm hooking up a chain to what I want to drag out and cut up. Of course it drags a whole lot of branches with it. There's mostly white oak and walnut. Then shingle oak and hickory. I sure there's other species I've yet to ID. Almost everything Ive gotten this season has been white oak, and when I noticed a red oak in the pile I got excited for something different. After I got it out, I noticed there's still leaves on it, and it's not red oak, it's shingle. It's in the same family as red oak, the bark is similar and it has the same vinegary smell, but cuts harder and is heavier. I had to look up the leaf when I got home to id it. Turns out shingle oak splits very thin, and the settlers used it for shingles or shakes for roofing. Interesting how some things get their name. Here's the leaf and bark of the shingle oak.
That is beautiful wood. I figure there must be a niche market for it. I didn't see any other standing sycamore on his property, they may have taken more if it was there.
This huge hollow shingle oak log is laying right there, practically in the way. I'm thinking it would be easy to cut up and split. Is this worth taking?
Looking at how thin the base of that tree was, it's amazing it was still standing, and if nothing else it's a safety thing for it to be down.
I'd take it. Oaks, especially reds, like to rot at the base like that around here too. mike bayerl recently fell one similar. Very sketchy!!
