Harvesting wood by myself

[Michal]

Hello! Im Michal, Poland.

I would like to share with You few photos from our activity. We are helping with my friend people to harvest trees from their gardens. For cutting fruity trees dont need any permission in Poland. So far we cutted few walnuts. We are making it for free (ok, not for free, we are taking wood). Ofc we focus on big trees Our only special equipment are chainsaws and truck. Tree from this photo had 5,5m high tree trunk. Total like 12-15m.

We had to cut it on half. We think that log had around 800kg weight.

We were taking em out using rope and car. But also by hands rolling. I dont have photo of putting it up on car, but this we are making also by hands using primitive tools like crowbar and little logs to pull it up and set on same level as car floor.

And that how looks walnut after milling in lumber mill

Now its drying. When it dry a little we will take it to dryer. After all will be nice table top or somethin like that Boards got even from 35 to 45 cm width and long for 2,2m - 2,3m.

Is it posible to do same in UK?

 

[Michal]

Here is another from last weekend. Its always lotery with walnut. Never know whats inside... This one got just a little dark inside.

It was more wood to fireplace then to milling. But what a fun with cutting it!

 

[heronviewer]

Good luck with your drying - it looks nice wood !

 

[Trainee neophyte]

That was me, last year. This year I have a big length of almond - not sure whether to plank it or use for bowl blanks. Either way it may be unworkable if I leave it too long, so I had better get organised.

 

[Woody2Shoes]

Hi Michal - yes we can do the same in the UK (outside a "conservation area"). I have a very similar piece (a few pieces in fact) of walnut drying in my shed! My tree had been damaged by a previous owner with a "strimmer" - the bark was damaged near ground level and this had allowed fungal attack. When we cut down the tree, there was a small ring of healthy wood at the base (the centre had rotted out), but no rot within about 300mm above this. A strong wind would have snapped off the tree near the base! Don't forget to show us what yours is made into.

 

[Michal]

Hi Michal - yes we can do the same in the UK (outside a "conservation area"). I have a very similar piece (a few pieces in fact) of walnut drying in my shed! My tree had been damaged by a previous owner with a "strimmer" - the bark was damaged near ground level and this had allowed fungal attack. When we cut down the tree, there was a small ring of healthy wood at the base (the centre had rotted out), but no rot within about 300mm above this. A strong wind would have snapped off the tree near the base! Don't forget to show us what yours is made into.

Yes thats next problem with walnut. He like to have roten inside. Fist one that we cutted was roted in place where was branch cutted few years before.
This next walnut w8 for milling. Maybe next week they will mill it.

 

[Keith 66]

I saw a photo on fb of a walnut that had been cut & slabbed, it was obvious that they had cut the tree off just above ground level & right where the tree forked. Ruining it & thus reducing its value by a huge amount. Walnut exhibits its best figure in the base where it flares into the rootball & at the crotch of branches. Just one high grade gunstock blank from those areas is worth more than all the rest of the wood put together

 

[glenfield2]

Apologies for muscling in on someone else’s thread with a query. My daughter is having a huge, and I mean huge 40ft+ eucalyptus tree cut down in her new garden. Is this timber of any value? What might it be used for?

 

[marcros]

Apologies for muscling in on someone else’s thread with a query. My daughter is having a huge, and I mean huge 40ft+ eucalyptus tree cut down in her new garden. Is this timber of any value? What might it be used for?

There are a lot of eucalyptus species but they tend to have very limited uses. I have a feeling it isn't even good firewood.

 

[Concizat]

Judging by the first 3 photos, I think you could have done with a bigger wheelbarrow

 

[Exluthier]

Apologies for muscling in on someone else’s thread with a query. My daughter is having a huge, and I mean huge 40ft+ eucalyptus tree cut down in her new garden. Is this timber of any value? What might it be used for?

Eucalyptus seems to me to be good only for blunting any tool you care to apply to it ...

 

[Michal]

Judging by the first 3 photos, I think you could have done with a bigger wheelbarrow

hahaha yeah sure lol

 

[gregmcateer]

Eucalyptus can blunt tools, but it does turn well, so if you aren't a turner, you might try local club(s) - they would probably take it of your hands.

 

[Woody2Shoes]

Apologies for muscling in on someone else’s thread with a query. My daughter is having a huge, and I mean huge 40ft+ eucalyptus tree cut down in her new garden. Is this timber of any value? What might it be used for?

I think there a lot of species/subspecies and I've got very limited experience but the only stuff I've ever had was wild-grained (spiral around the central axis), tough as old boots and very moisture retentive (I guess this is a survival strategy in a very dry climate - kind of opposite to, but similar to ash, which has a very low moisture content - again probably as a survival strategy, but against rot in our climate!)

 

[SaltyBob]

A quick 'Google' says Eucalyptus is a good firewood, burning quite hot. It has a high oil content (so some don't fancy the oils that 'may' build up in chimneys). The oils also make it rot-resistant (so good for exterior furniture) and water retentive; so needs to season quite a while and will be prone to twisting and 'checking', appears good for wood turning. I hate burning useful wood, so I'd make some turning blanks and some thick, green planks and let them season for a year to see how much they move; paint the end grain with Anchorseal or equivalent.

 

[NickWelford]

I was on a walking tour in Portugal some years ago when we came across some groves of eucalyptus trees, mostly felled and joint on the ground. According to the tour guide, there had been a scandal where native trees and brush had been cleared under some EU scheme and planted up with eucalyptus as a cash crop in a rather arid area. Turned out that there was very little value in the timber for any reason whatsoever, and they were just left lying, the ground now useless. Might have been the variety planted or just another expensive EU blunder.

 

[Lightning bolt]

Apologies for muscling in on someone else’s thread with a query. My daughter is having a huge, and I mean huge 40ft+ eucalyptus tree cut down in her new garden. Is this timber of any value? What might it be used for?

In regards to this & O.P. I have harvested a whole bunch different species logs here in Ireland from various freinds & family's gardens. Huge macrocarpa which is a beautiful aromatic v.stable & durable softwood. Laburnum which was almost too small to go on my mates sawmill, but beautiful timber a bit like walnut, the creamy sapwood got eaten alive by insects. Large Scotts pine, again v.aromatic, full of resin with spectacularly swirling & tight grain, I especially love this as I grew up next to the tree. Holm oak, full of wild figuiring, medulery rays I believe, have it seasoned now for 10yrs & am about to start using it in the new house i'm building, along with the rest of the stuff above. Some v.small wild cherry & Apple, hard & interesting.
But to the above quote...I did some eucalyptus a good no. Of yrs back, the biggest problem with it is drying it successfully. It twists, splits, buckles, collapses between grain etc...etc...
BUT if you can dry it successfully, @ least the stuff I have (which is prob similar, large popular gum tree in Ireland v. u.k...), It's spectacular! I planed & finely sanded/polished & oil a small test piece & it's truly stunning. Full of rippled shimmering grain, which looks 3d.
So advice, get it sawn into biggest sizes possible & be prepared for alot of waste. Stack it to air dry in total shade with as much weight as possible ontop of it, drive a car or tractor on top if poss!! I think the best would be to have a welded steel rack bolted to conc. Slab & wedge it periodically....maybe not worth the effort/expense though....as many conc. Blocks as poss would defo help any way. I love this way of getting wood. It's the most sustainable method going & you get unique pieces, it is labor intensive & patience building...
Have fun

 

[glenfield2]

Thanks for all the eucalyptus advice. It’s a helluva tree to bring down given its proximity to houses, neighbours gardens etc so a professional tree man will do it. He will likely want first call on the wood; if it was a quality timber I’d try and rescue some but it seems a gamble and sadly I don’t have space or time.
Why do people plant these trees and then not look after them? Our last house was surrounded by towering leyllandi planted 40 years before. At least we got a mountain of logs - though it’s a resinous wood and can block chimneys easily (how do I know that!)

 

[Lightning bolt]

Leyllandi are banned now in built up areas in Ireland. It's also decent timber but loads of sapwood. One of the knee braces in my timber frame is chainsaw milled from a curved piece of it....

 

[Glitch]

Was watching Escape to the Country recently where they had a slot featuring a local business. It was a guy farming eucalyptus for firewood. Fast growing. No doubt there are tree planting grants or subsidies for this sort of thing.