Nice score :) Finally about through processing cemetery wood.

[Intheswamp]

lukem, I think I'm going to go ahead and put the chips in the small lane between the beds. A "little" grass killing/weed-control between the beds will be good being as I can't get my lawn mower in there. We'll see...

mwn, I think I'll go ahead a split the rounds...gotta use that new splitter for something, eh? Plus, they can go ahead a be drying good. It wouldn't surprise me if they cracked, though. I've got some big white oak rounds that have been sitting for a couple of months now and they've got some big cracks radiating from the center of them....they're going to meet Mister Huskee, too, though.

Ed

 

[Intheswamp]

I've sliced thru a red oak burl with a band saw hoping to get some interesting pieces of wood that might be useful for something decorative, but they were awful. Fell apart like they were chunks of wood just pressed together without glue.

I saw a really nice piece of some south american wood burl a carpenter was using for an instrument console on a yacht.
Something like $300. l/ft. Was pretty, but couldn't believe what they paid for the wood and by the time they cut a hole in it for an instrument there wasn't much left to see.

I've cut a couple of burls off and they seem pretty solid but I haven't tried slicing through the middle of one. One small one had a small hollow spot in it. I don't have a clue as to how those on the big log would be, though.

Does the burl extend down into the trunk very far? I'm trying to figure out how I would save the burls if I decide I want to, I could always throw them in a shed or something...the loss of the firewood is negligible. If I cut'em up...they're gone. I'm not looking to make money on them, but figure if somebody wanted to use them I'd rather see'em go that way than up in smoke....???

That's some mighty expensive wood from SA

Ed

 

[Intheswamp]

I'm about through processing the cemetery red oak. I'm slow.

I think I'm going to end up with probably 1.2 cords of usable firewood. The outer inch or so of the wood was punky and I ended up splitting off a bunch of slabs to get rid of most of the punk...I learned that doing that takes time!<groan> I wasn't as picky on the first 1/2 cord but on the second I was more selective and culled a lot more wood. There's also some small 3-4 inch rounds that are simply too punky....there's a good face cord I would imagine, that I'll be dumping or burning in the fire pit.

When I first started splitting the oak I checked the moisture content which was very high. Standing dead for a year I figured it would be dryer than what the meter read and being new to the meter I figured it might be "off" a bit. During the splitting I split both vertically and horizontally. At the end I had that big branched log that is seen in the foreground of the "pile" picture. I cut that up Saturday and split it vertically. When I started splitting it I saw something that I hadn't seen when splitting horizontally...as the wedge started into the wood I could see moisture rise out of the wood on either side of the wedge. That was impressive and very convincing that oak will definitely take it's sweet time drying if not cut and split...even if it's dead.

Witnessing this moisture as the oak was compressed reminded me of seeing what looked like small puffs of "smoke" appear when splitting some of the clear-cut wood with the first splitter. I would split a round and there would be this little cloud of smoke...I wrote it off as dust or something, though the wood wasn't dusty. I'm thinking that this was moisture being released as the wood cracked in two. Anybody else witnessed this?

Anyhow, I'll try to get some pictures up before long. It'll be nice to move on to some wood that isn't so punky.

Ed

 

[woodchip]

That's a brilliant woodpile from the tree...

I might be tempted to carve a small cross for the cemetary chapel out of some of the wood.
Sort of a thank you, and also something for them to remember the tree by for the future

 

[Intheswamp]

That's a brilliant woodpile from the tree...

I might be tempted to carve a small cross for the cemetary chapel out of some of the wood.
Sort of a thank you, and also something for them to remember the tree by for the future

Excellent idea, wc. I had been thinking of making some crosses for a couple of people from some of the wood but a cross for the church itself would indeed be nice. This is a historic church, an old old hardshell Baptist. I'm not sure that any members are left. The small town who's town proper the church is situated in does the maintenance on it and the grounds along with contributions from individuals. The annual town reunion is held on it's grounds.

Thanks for the suggestion!
Ed

 

[KodiakII]

Any estimates on the age of the old beast? Your founding fathers were probably still pooping yellow when this old one was a sapling.

 

[Intheswamp]

Any estimates on the age of the old beast? Your founding fathers were probably still pooping yellow when this old one was a sapling.

I wish I had a close estimate. The guys tried counting the rings in the trunk sections but they said they ran together so bad they couldn't do it (or didn't have enough patience). I counted the rings in one of the limb logs that I got and and counted 55. There is no telling how many rings were in the trunk. You're right...that treat saw this country grow into what it is (or isn't) today....lot's of history went by it.

Ed