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Oh man, there is a very serious wood haul

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Oh man, there is a very serious wood haul

#1

Oh man, there is a very serious wood haul

David Hammond, in Powder Springs GA

>in the near future for me and my father.

Man, I'm so overwhelmed... My family talked to an older Docter today, who used to own almost three hundred acres, two miles from our house. We purchased some hay from him several months ago, and have just gotten to know him. The Doctor is an older man now, and had no children. He has just given all but forty acres of his land to a college. The land will begin to be leveled this June - and trees abound on this peice of property. We came to the gentleman today, who's name is Doc Hill, asking if we might hunt his soon to be leveled property for Beech tree saplings, as we would like some on our land. He said sure, but said he wanted to show us something - and he knows about our bowl turning business. We rode across a huge pasture and forded a creek, then climbed a hill to come upon a massive, massive Beech tree. I had no measuring tape, but the tree must be thirty-four, to thirty-six inches across... He pointed out several of these huge Beeches, five to seven trees, none of which are smaller than sixteen inches in diameter, the largest being that three foot monster. Then Doc Hill proceeded to tell us that we were welcome to fell these trees, if we thought we could use the wood for bowls... Could we?! The gentleman then proceeded to tell us that if we would get these trees on the ground, and bucked up into tractor managable logs, he would load them on his own flatbed Ford, and drive them to our house. So, tomorrow morning early, my father, brother, uncle and my big 395XPW head two miles down the road to begin harvesting what must be upwards of thirty tons of beech... There is also the possibility of five Hackberry trees, all of which are an average of two feet in diameter, the largest passing forty inches easy, but that monster may have a cavity. I hardly know where to start on such a project - I just finished reading Bill Grumbine's adventure for the umpteenth time, as well as the article on Earl's fir - fascinating reading. We only have half the day tomorrow, but we hope to begin just getting the trees thrown, and on the ground. Then, much chainsaw gas is to burned in the coming weeks! It looks like I'll be turning enormous amounts of Beech, and possible Hackberry, in the near future...

David - overwhelmed, in turning Heaven!

Re: Oh man, there is a very serious wood haul

#2

Re: Oh man, there is a very serious wood haul

Glenn Hodges

>Congulations David,and you have the lathe to turn those big things. Those trees would have probably been bulldozed down and burned. I am headed out today to get a cedar and a magnolia. He Offered me a pecan, but I told him I had all the pecan I could use for at least a couple of years. Have a good one.

Nashville, Georgia

Re: Oh man, there is a very serious wood haul

#3

Re: Oh man, there is a very serious wood haul

David Eaves

>Wow, that's very cool well done. Glad you've got all the equipment to handle it too.

Happy harvesting!

David

Re: Oh man, there is a very serious wood haul

#4

What a lucky man you are

Ron Sardo from PA

>Enjoy your haul!

Re: Oh man, there is a very serious wood haul

#5

Re: What a lucky man you are

JamieDonaldson

>You will need a drum of green wood sealer as well as a warehouse or barn!

Re: Oh man, there is a very serious wood haul

#6

Re: Update! Even better than expected:

David Hammond, in Powder Springs GA

>Wow. That's all I can say at this point: wow. Me, my Dad, brother and uncle headed out early this morning, chainsaw lubed up and ready to go. In less than two hours we felled (really my uncle - he did the felling with the big Husky - he was a tree man for twenty some odd years for Georgia Power) some six beech trees, all massive, beautiful specimens, destined to be wood chips in a matter of months. The first tree we tackled was about thirty-two inches in diameter - this one had a cavity in it, but the cavity has caused some neat, fine-lined black spalting, and some good coloring. This tree won't yield those one or two "big 'uns" but it contains hundreds of "smaller" bowls and vessels. We kept moving, as our goal was to use my uncles expertise to get these trees on the ground, where I like to work them! We cut five "smaller" beeches - none of which were less than fifteen inches, the largest of these reaching some twenty-six inches across. Then, we tackled one of the biggest trees I've ever even seen. The crown, the leaders, the trunk, everything about this beech was just huge. As my uncle was running that saw, water, the sap and life of that old giant was just pouring out, bleeding on the ground... And it was sad, it really was - but to think that the tree was destined to be mowed down and burned or chipped up was not a considerable alternative, considering we were given the opportunity to save such a beautiful peice of God's Creation. And this big tree is solid, solid as a rock through to the center - absolutely no cavity. I hope to clear two bowls over thirty inches, close to thirty-six inches out of the first section of this tree. Boy, the work is ahead of us, that's for sure, but much of the truly unpredictable and dangerous work was accomplished without injury. I think I'm going to start seeing Fagus Grandifolia in my sleep...

Here's just one photo of the biggest giant felled today.

David


img

Re: Oh man, there is a very serious wood haul

#7

Re: Update! Even better than expected:

David Eaves

>Thanks for posting. Its good you have someone who knows what they are doing too, you sure don't want to make mistakes with trees that size!

Glad you can save these magnificent trees from a terrible fate, and they hopefully can live on for many years in your creations.

David

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