I've Got More Trees Than My Sawmill Can Handle
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- Опубликовано: 28 сен 2024
- Big pitchy spruce isn't my favourite tree to saw but it sure makes some nice lumber. Today I"m sawing up some recent blow down trees before they go to waste. One thing is for certain around here, there is more trees than I can saw in my lifetime.
Sawmill shown in this video:
Woodland Mills HM130MAX with Woodlander XL trailer
woodlandmills....
Sawmill laser shown in this video:
TZ16X70-520L 50mw
www.apinex.com...
BRH 16mm (new mount used in this video)
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K12243
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Sawmill blades shown in this video:
Dakin-Flathers Ripper 37
Ripper 37's can be purchased from:
In the USA - Jerry’s Resharp Inc
bit.ly/3LX4TYl
In Canada - Honig Industrial Equipment
bit.ly/46qB36Z
In the UK - UK - Supersharp
bit.ly/3M2eaP9
@woodlandmills #woodlandmills #sawmill #discoverthewoodland @Dakinflathers #sawmillbusiness #sawblades
Hey Sandy, I don't have a forest of Pine to maintain, but a 100 acres of land that was cleared & then let go....... So plenty of undesirable vegetation to get rid of & save the native trees etc, along with maintaining my main income (A Bed n Breakfast) . I divide my jobs up into smaller slices, trying complete the slice I take on. I've now cleared over 40 acres of scrub & rebuilt my Glamping tents (Safari tents 😁) in the last 5 years........ This is for the most part on my own with a small amount of labour help...Now I stand back & look at what I have accomplished with a sense of pride. Dividing one overwhelming job up into sections really works, you just need to make sure you complete the sections....😃👍
Down here, in Oregon, the local Oregon State University Extension Forester used to preach; "Thin early, thin often", or words similar.
It's good advice that most landowners, (me included) don't always heed.
Pre-commercial thinning (PCT) is almost never a money-maker, but it is sooo necessary for the overall health of your forest. Perhaps Ontario has a 'cost-share' program, like we have through the NRCS (Natural Resource Conservation Service) which could help defray the total cost to you. (And heck, you might make some coin if your clear enough timber.)
Just a thought, or two.
Cheers! From your transplanted BC cousin, now in the Willamette Valley of Oregon.
Hello Sandy,
I’m a French forester, I enjoy your RUclips channel. Thank your for sharing your experience. Regarding your question what is better taking care of trees on the ground or improving your plantation, I would say that it depends where you put value. Let say immediate value or future value .
This being said, looking at your trees , it seems that they are too high compared to their diameter. If high / diameter is above 100 (metric and diameter at 1.3 m) and you remove trees, they will then be exposed to wind and blow down . I tried on a plantation of spruce with a coef above 120 , I lost many trees the next winter , but 10 years after the remaining ones are much bigger.
I selected tree by tree , but in your case you may probably decide to remove one row every 3 rows or 4 rows.
My point of view, whatever is your choice your plantation is at unfortunately risk.
Sorry if my English is not clear, I tried to explain and
hope it brings you some additional elements to make your decision.
Great channel !
Divide and conquer. Investigate hiring a logging crew to thin out your red pine forest (or at least a section of it). I don't know if you'll make any money selling the logs for for pulp wood, it is certainly an option.
I looked into this but for what the return was it wasn’t worth it (video with more details on this to come)
The return would be a thinned stand of trees bringing greater future values. Don't discount that.😊
@@sawingwithsandy as long as it does not cost you money, then you lost nothing, and if they are moderately careful in thinning, then you may have some salvage wood too, I think future gains is the way to percieve this.
@Kris I agree there. My main concern at times with loggers is what the end result may be when they leave and whether it will save me anything or create more work
@ben good points
Sandy, if you consume more sludge, you will be able to do both without any problem.😃😃😃
hahah now you're talking! I"m down for that game plan
Hey Sandy, you could consider looking for someone who does horse logging to thin out the bush.. they have very low impact on the ground.
Howdy Sandy- hope you’re able to get some help doing the thinning. Managing a forest is a lot of work for one person. Take care and God bless
Sure is a big job but I sure do enjoy doing it. Always appreciate having you along for the videos! Thank you for all your support
I'd spend a season developing your access trails, so that it's easier to pluck the windfalls out when they happen. If it was me I'd try to get around 70% of the windfalls to the mill as first priority, I'd leave the worst 20-30% to turn into nutrients for the current and next generation of trees. Perhaps as piles to create small critter habitat, which further nurtures your forest. What you really need is an apprentice or Intern that can run the mill for you while you're doing all that. Then next season, when you have a handle on all the windfalls, start thinning.
Long retired from forest management. I would help land owners plan their forest harvesting and silviculture. I would suggest a planned approach to thin your pines in amounts you have time to process. Include some time to salvage the best of the wind blown trees. The less valueable downed trees are can very valueable to the local wildlife as they return to the soil.
This is going to be a crazy crazy crazy crazy crazy crazy suggestion but you could with the trees you have build a slight Tabernacle . tint Barn 60 ft by 40 ft using the largest nylon tarps you can get where we call harbor freight and you can get the rope from them too and use your trees to make a tent and a roof and do like you see the the pesticide businesses do on houses and build a tent house so it's airtight you can lock your lumber in and you can spray a pesticide in there to kill off the insects until you are ready to work that lumber.
good video and job i would get the best of the fallen trees first. the big problem is the trees are planted to close to begin with. we had trees planted years ago like that they never made much. me and dad planted some our selves at a much bigger spacing and they did great 3 acres made more logs than 20 acres they planted . here they charge way to much to cut haft of them out plus most damage the trees that are left. take care, be safe and well..
I think you have to get someone in to help.
Think that may be the only way I get both the cleanup and thinning done
Great video Sandy ! We hate to see wasted trees use what we can, I take all the branches off clean before they hit the mill, to hard rolling them & the knots are in the way trying to cut, You cut some nice planks :) Sandy maybe you have a friend with a mill that will come help you !
Stack the blowdowns to rot in a central location - can use that as input into compost later (wood is high carbon - need to mix it with other material for good mix but it’s a start).
Dollar today is worth $10 in thirty years. Same with forest - take care of your investment so it grows healthily, blow downs are a sunk cost. No point chasing after them if your current investment needs tending and you can only pick one of the two options for what to work on.
Sandy, you are in a tough position. You have more work to do than you can get done by yourself. Only you can decide if you want to not get all the work done or if you want to get help. If you decide to get help, then is it help that you hire (pay) or partner with (trade wood or something else). What are the costs (now and future) of each decision?
When I am in a position like you are in, I like to get a piece of paper and start making a list of the choices and the good and bad of each. Eventually I get to a point where the best decision for me becomes obvious.
Good luck
Hi Sandy. I feel your pain when the log dropped. I saw a video (not 100% relevant), in which end dump a) drives up parallel to large log., then b) uses bed hoist to lift one end of log, then c) a log (maybe 36") is positioned vertically to support the log on the high side, then d) truck repositions for end of log just proud of the bed dump end, then e) horse the log onto bed about +50% of the way and level it, then f) truck repositions going backwards to force log 100% into bed by pressing up against a standing tree. If you can follow all that then you have a superior imagination.
Looks like the rack you built for slab cutoffs is working well
Logs on the ground helps wildlife, its good for the land you own. Seems like if you are maxed out on your current setup... it may be worth leaving the lower value ones to help the forest
Sandy, harvest the never ending fallen trees. I have the same issue. So many fallen trees its hard to keep up with it actually I can't. I'm leaning towards a selective cut on my property....
It sure is an uphill battle some days
Have you considered cutting all blowdowns to a few standard cant sizes, stacking cants for future milling to dimensional when you've caught up a bit?
Yes, you would handle cants twice but could mill 2,3 possibly 4 at a time since they would be same size, thus recouping time lost plus the bonus of having all the lumber in the stack the same size...
Also, you could REALLY use a motorized chain or belt to carry away the slabs so can keep sawing. Maybe position forks or slab bin just under end of conveyor?
I guess if the blown down trees are not interfering with roads, power lines or production, maybe leave those for now and work on the thinning process. The blow down probably has issues (rot?) already, that's why its down. The standing trees you harvest would have better quality wood, to use or sell. Just a guess, I have no idea what I'm doing....
Yeah that’s good point. The red pines seem to be better quality than the balsam fir that constantly snap off or blow down
Hi Sandy, did you make a video on those log stops? They look really helpful. Love the channel.
For sure. Here it is ruclips.net/video/cTrTS5A7UpQ/видео.htmlsi=6b2HKRa2UgN_p0b3
Good afternoon Sandy it is a little bit of a delimas but acording to what i have seen of your propriety some of the area where trees as falling you can not always reach due to weather so what i suggest do those when time is proper also look at the size of the logs if they aremore then 16 at the butt be more selective then when the grounds are to wet get the ones in the red pine plantation the one in the plantetion will be good for longer than the ones on the ground also make yourself certain days like monday and tuesday to bring and cut down trees wendesday and Thursday to mill them and stack so that give you friday ,saturday and sunday to do other shores around like mowing having fun and relaxe also for the red pine start around the mill going away from it you do a little that way and before you know it you will have a big area done so that is my suggestion other might have a better one but a little every day after a month you will turn around and be suprised of what you accomplish have a great day and enjoy your work otherwise you will discourage yourself
great point about being selective. Spending a few hours on a 6” tree compared to thinning for the health of the red pines May be a bad idea
Go get some woofers regularly with WorkAway and Helpx, and having help, you could go through some job quicker. I would do 50/50, pick up fallen trees, and thinning the forest.
I would focus on a small area of woods at a time and do your thinning one section at a time. You don't have enough hours available to handle all the blow down and do thinning on the whole property. One small section at a time leaves properly managed areas - scattered blow-down removal is very time consuming and will contain more damaged timber.
I see it as an investment question. Where do you get the most payback on your time and effort (investment)? I suggest there is more to be gained for a healthy red pine forest than from grabbing the fallen trees. So, my suggestion is to prepare a plan by sections, and thin out that section. If there are blowdowns there, fine, but don’t go looking for blow downs. Eventually you will get to them unless they get rotten. You will have greater satisfaction and a healthy forest. The loser here would be the trees that go bad!
Good way of thinking. The blow downs I’m referring to are mostly in other areas of the bush no where the red pines are
Drill a hole for a keeper pin where the log ramps meet the log rack to stop them from popping up and out. (edit.... a piece of pipe would work for a pin. )
It's funny you mention that as now that I hear you say that I think someone reminding me to do this a while back (it may have been you as well) and I completely forgot until now! Thank you!
I make patches to my blow downs n thin that way.then I'm doing both at the same time.
My blow downs are predominately in areas outside the red pine forest
Keep sourcing the blow down, deal with the thinning in winter, the wood keeps well at that time of year, find urself customers to sell the excess to
As for thinning, I'd probably try and sell some To a logging outfit for chipboard. Failing that I'd let the fallen ones lay there and save the living trees. Just my 2 cents, not telling you what to do.
Dang shame that first log fell off though. I was interested in how far the rot went. Good vid. Thanks.
I did some pricing recently and will have a video on that real soon. What I was told was surprising
You would think they knew what they were doing when planting. I'm not sure but you think they would be the zero maintenance type of belief.
Are the blowdowns good quality wood or did they blow down because they were rotten or cracked? Might want to protect your future lumber and do the thinning, or at least do a 75/25 split of your time. 1 week a month blow downs, 3 weeks thinning.
overall you will probably get more yield in the long run by thinning?
Catch 22....... Only you divide and conquer. Do one 3 days, the other 2 days or 3 days. Do some in the morning and then some in the afternoon. Maybe start hiring. Just keep going, only you know, maybe don't work so hard it will always be there. 🤔 Video takes a lot of time, too. Good luck.😊
Divide and conquer I think will be the best strategy. Slow and steady. The video making does make all tasks take longer for sure
This may sound dumb but here goes. Alternate month by month. Maybe every third month only saw.
I don't recall hearing how old your plantation trees are. Just wondering.
About 45yrs old
Thinning the red pine I believe you should hire a logger, it was to big of a job for myself on my own land, and I got the money, you can just stick to the blow downs,let the logger do the rest. So how many acres do you have Sandy
Hey Brian! I have a video coming out soon about a logger and pricing and that
This red pine plantation is around 12-15 acres or so
@@sawingwithsandy the logger I had required 20 acres min. So maybe they would want to take more than just thinning
In my next video I"ll get into more details about numbers they gave me but they did say it was possible for a thinning at my place by taking 30% of the stand
Maybe alternate back & forth? You,ll always Have ow downs. God Bless. Bd safe HAPPY .others Day to all.
Get those blow downs first. Also maybe conscript a few on those nieces and nephews to assist, Im sure they'd like to help out thier favorite Uncle Sandy 😅
Hahah I don’t think I’ve got any extended family who could do any tree
Do you have an estimate of how many excess stems you have? To my untrained eye, you could remove every other row and then every other tree and still be overcrowded. The rule of thumb of not removing more than a third per thinning would be violated, etc. Near my old home in NY, some Great Depression planted pines that were never thinned were crushed by the acre during an ice storm in the 1990s. Until they rotted, they were a serious fire hazard. I would lean toward thinning. If you can sell some as pulpwood, it would be a bonus.
I don't have an estimate. I"m aiming for removing every third row to give enough wind protection and good access for future thins I"m thinking.
Another great video Sandy ! my choice is to harvest fallen trees
Thanks for that and for all your support! Great to have ya along or the videos
😀👍
There comes a time when you have to get some help in.
I think I’d need a few helpers to harvest trees, process trees and run the sawmill
You just about got it right!
Need a third log support so you never drop another one.
I agree with ya there. I had originally spaced the log bunks out so I could drive my tractor in there to clean out sawdust and pick up lumber stacks behind the sawmill but it's a pain and real close with 8' logs
Get some help, do a favour for a favour deal. Split the milled timber or lumber fairly with someone hauling out the fallen logs while you get on with some combination of milling or thinning. You can even afford to be generous because the opportunity cost is high, with the gain otherwise being entirely a loss.
I can come help
Thanks Martin!
Hire a crew or spend the majority of your time where you get the most reward for your hard work and a minority elsewhere.
Think you're right Tom. Will come down to one or the other
I was going to comment as someone else has. Department of Natural Resources usually has a list of approved silviculture contractors. It may be helpful to have the help to gain on the workload instead of thinking financial totally. You'd receive some stumpage, the stands would be thinned, and meanwhile you could focus on the blowdown. It might not be a total win financially, but your stands would be in better shape...a future financial win.
For sure. I’ve been in contact with them and a few loggers recently. I’ve got some updates coming in a video soon
You do need to thin your pine stand.ASAP. You should be aware, that in forestry, there something as being to late. As pine becomes older, the increment will reduce. Old pine do not grow very much. That´s why you should thin your pine early and hard. In Finland I once saw a cold storage of pine. In late spring, they brought a lot of pine logs to the mil. The logs were then stacked in a mixture of snow and sawdust, in a shady and windshield place. In August - where no logs were available - they would brake frozen logs from the storage, and keep the mill going even in summer.
As for your forest i propose you concentrate on milling trees from storm surge etc. - in summer preferable spruce because of the risk of blue stain and beetles in pine. As for the pine stands, I suggest you hire a contractor with a wood processor, so it will be done. Later you can saw big logs - that s always funnier.
I would put the word out to all who want wood and tell them come and help and share the wood with them. That way the job gets done and nothing goes to waste.
I like that idea. I wouldn't want anything to be wasted
@@sawingwithsandy You need help. The thinning won't wait forever, so you need to mark those trees that need to be thinned and either cut them yourself and invite (hire, free for removal, etc) others to remove them. Since your red pines appear to be all the same age, size and relatively small in lumber yield, they're probably most useful as something other than dimensional lumber and therefore I wouldn't bother with them on your mill.
Hi Sandy. About 30 years ago, I took a woodlot management course with the MNR in Perth. They suggested that the bush would be healthier if 1/3 was thinned. Take out the low value trees (crooked, crowded, split leaders, etc) first. Then, 10 years later, make the next cut.
There is a Wood lot management group in Eastern Ontario, which is a very valuable resource and info source. You may be able to contact them through Kemptville College.
I don't know if they still do this, but, in the past, Kemptville College held a Wood lot mangement seminar event every February. Good place to network and make valuable contacts.
I agree with the others who suggest: thin a bit, limb and clean up, mill logs and repeat.
Hi Sandy!!😀😀
It's always a good thing to salvage the down trees. However if you don't get at thinning the red pine it's going to get too tall for its diameter and it will be hard to thin it properly without it wanting to fall over. I would definitely consider having a logging company come in and do the first thinning. That would be the best advice I can give you.
Take care my friend!!😀😀💚
Logger Al
Hi Al! I agree with you there. The trees are getting too tall and too thin to not get to the thinning. I"ll pay the price with a wide-spread blow down if I don't get to it
can the red pine logs be debarked and stored with out the insect issues???
My friend, I think mistake one was not delimbing all the Punji sticks. Next time.
Those things sure are a headache. This tree when it came down had those limbs dug down into the dirt
Yup, Clean them stems. They'll roll better!
Make selective thinning your first priority. Good work, great channel.
Thank you
Hey Sandy! Love watching your channel! I've learned a lot from watching.
My suggestion would be to do the job that NEEDS to be done. Start the thinning! If not, you'll never get caught up on anything.
I’d have to dedicate 2-3 days to thinning, 1-2 days cleanup, 1-2 days processing. Schedule being adjustable as needed of course. I actually plan on some management of my 40 to transform it slowly into a (mostly) birch farm/plantation so I enjoy seeing your problems, ideas and solutions.
I find the issue is I can cut down 75 trees in a day no problem but then what takes the real time is delimbing, skidding, bucking, sawing into lumber and often times I can get all that done before the logs get bugs in them
@@sawingwithsandy completely understand, so limit to 15-20 for felling. Allocate more time to process, whatever is manageable. Little nibbles that way you don't choke and feel as over whelmed.
As for blow down, open to friends and neighbors maybe. Any groups that offer firewood to those in need? Have them come get the blow down maybe.
I would concentrate on thinning a bit more than cleanup is all, better quality wood, more net gain in the long run.
Not sure, it's like 6 of one and a half a dozen of the other !!!!! That is a very good question my friend !!!!! Myself I would lend a friend a hand yet I don't live close enough .😢 I'm in S/W Michigan . I can send prayers yet you just might have a lot of firewood for sale !!!!! Sorry I don't have a good answer but will pray about this situation 🙏
Appreciate your sharing, Sandy. Hard work and frequent improvising. Sometime an unexpected change or challenge introduces opportunities for wisdom and growth. Usually occurring when it's inconvenient. Stay safe, strong, healthy and successful. Looking forward to your next video. 👍🙏👊
Thank you Jerry. I always appreciate you tuning into the videos
Ahhh, THANK YOU for giving us a dose of turning trees into lumber! LONG overdue.... Question: I know pine doesn't pack the BTUs of hardwood and it's got a lot of pitch... or creosote buildup when burned, but would it be viable to harvest the red pine for firewood? Just a question I don't know the answer to....
Hi Carl, you brought up a good point. I do like burning softwood and probably burn 1 full cord or 2 of softwood between the spring and fall of the year. Woudbn't be a bad idea to use the red pine for that that doesn't goto lumber. Or I could use it for camping or something similar.
i see you finally got rid of your snowlol.All i saw is spruce and a bit of hemlock, makes nice lumber. Take care.
One thing ive not heard spoken of.
Is protecting the trees to the common windward side.
.
Leave that outside row or 2 to help protect the trees with lesser roots out in the stand.
Ive seen many cases of people taking the nice big trees to the wind side, only to end up the next spring with a staggering amount of trees on the ground.
.
Otherwise me personally, areas where the average stump size is way below average. Id probably just start over by removing all trees in those areas. And replant with more distance between trees.
.
The problem your having is a common problem to my area. oregon coastal environment, with red alder. If left thick with trees tell 25-ish years old, the response from thinning is mute. as the trees left dont really repond to the thinning.
.
0.01c
Share the wealth and hire someone to help you thin saw and work the property!
That could work.
IMHO I would divide it up, taking care of as much blow down as I could before the boring insects take to the wing in the warm weather and infest your healthy trees. Do your thinning during winter months. Stock pile your logs from both for the summer season. Simplified but a thought. Just a thought. One thing at a time?
Personally, I would keep harvesting the blow downs as fast as I could. At least the other trees are still growing. I don't know your time needs, but sense I am retired and have a lot of extra time, I myself would try to maximize the harvesting and running the mill. If you could start to catch up on the blow downs, then it would make sense to gradually mix in some of the trees that you want to thin. Just my two cents. By the way, even though your forest could use a little thinning, it actually looks pretty good. Overall, I think that you are doing a fantastic job of both taking care of your forest and running your sawmill.
Nice to see you milling a bigger log!
Honestly, since you basically make your living from trees you've gotta do both. Trees left to close together will never develop into big timber, AND it turns into a major fire hazard.
But maintaining a forest of that size is sure not a one man job! You need to bring in some help!
Good video, I would take blow down sooner then later, depends on the need, and quality of log, size, etc . Love that mill, I think I need one. Here in BC, on our property, low flat, wet land we have lots of 2+foot trees, Hard to get. But worth it when I do. Love it keep it up. Cheers
Hi Sandy, for mine I would get a pro crew of thinners in and each season use your time to do the value added lumber. Also those thinnings would surely be good firewood or boilerwood wouldn't they? One things for sure,the Red Pine will be much more valuable when properly thinned. Cheers from HB NZ
i would concentrate on thinning. deadfall will always be with you. besides, who needs a bunch of strangers buzzing(literally) on your property.
Thinning, definitely. Long term forest health should be your primary concern. If you thin, you will have fewer blow downs because the trees will increase in diameter much faster. Take a look at the growth rings of trees that have been properly thinned vs. those that have not.This will give you an idea of how much faster they trees will grow when thinned. I've seen some cases where thinning will more than double the size of growth rings for the first few years. In long run it is more about maximizing the volume of wood. Since the volume of a tree grows with the square of the radius the larger a tree gets the more canopy etc. it will need. Simply falling and leaving to rot the smaller trees is better in the long run than doing nothing as in only a few years your larger trees can be putting on more volume per year than each of the trees you thinned.
I would concentrate on thinning and only cut cants as large as practical for posts and beams which at a later date could be reprocessed and sliced thinner as needed.
Hopefully that would significantly cut down on your initial processing time.
Currently you are doing the 180 degree flip, I would try to see if the 90 degree sequential flip results on faster processing
I will be starting to cut into my red pines this summer, and thinning is necessary because the trees are getting fairly tall and skinny. The first project on the list is the sawmill shed. I will be selective thinning as my forest is not as large as yours and crows, other large critters and perhaps ice storms broke tops when the trees were younger, creating a bunch of crooked and/or split trunked trees. But I can't help but think the thinning will also contribute to more blowdowns later on because there will be less "collective" protection. Do you find this is the case?
Pick up what's down and saw that first. Your other logs will still be there growing, just slower because it's so thick. Thin when you get caught up.
Address your ground loading first! Ground loading and wood chipped paths ameliorate the spread of forest fires. It could cause you to lose the whole shebang!
I run a Kascosaw2B I go for the bigger die offs first would consider logging crew for part of thinning, definitely not all
It's hard being a one-man crew and there's always tough decisions. I would say thin your red pines there is more trees there than you will be able to cut in your lifetime. Try and enjoy yourself.
here's an idea ---tell loggers that they can have a certain # of logs free if they give you another # to you ---then you can get thinned and get your lumber too? while concentrating on sawing.
You should mount some kind of pulley in the roof beams so you can lift them up fairly easy. Maybe even and iron beam with some kind of cart on it that can hoist the lumber, roll it in then lower it at the sawmill.
Good use of my r&r time watching your vid. Good issue to have for a man who owns a sawmill. Best to you!
I agree with ya there. It's one of those problems that in the grand scheme, isn't too bad
I do not have many logs And nothing to thin out , but in your case I would thin out 2 days at a time and Gather fallen trees 1 day at a time , maybe 3 to 1 days ,,,
how about building a shed that is big anoth to put your logs in to stop the bugs from getting to them and then take them out when you need them, i bet you could make something like that or get a metal shed with a door ever side like a indoor and a out door, love from Wales 😁😁👍👍
Perhaps there is a chemical spray option for saw logs that would extend the rack storage time?
Can you enlist the help of some of your neighbors especially if you offer a portion of the wood brought down or retrieved?
Good idea. Not too sure but worth a shot
Usually time is always the limiting factor
I would contact your local forester/expert. There should be some calculus involved in determining the a) time you invest in sawing down fall, and the costs and payback thereto, and b) putting the effort, alternatively, into thinning your red pines, for a future payoff in volume of your stand. Finally, as others have suggested, you just may need some help, albeit temporary. For room, board, and airfare, I am sure there are takers...
@ronald lots to consider for sure. It’s challenging since I’m not selling lumber currently for profit so it’s hard to put a value on anything since the only value right now is my enjoyment in the process. I’m more or less trying to figure out a way to get it all done while not wasting blow downs or logs that get cut down but not sawn up in time before the bugs get them
Maybe there is a nonprofit group that provide wood to the less fortunate in the area that would come and collect some of it for their donation efforts.
MM77 Approved 👍🏼👍🏼……………………………………………………………. I don’t know what to tell you Sandy, you are in a “ damned if you do, damned if you don’t” situation. Maybe with the new chipper you can just chip up the blow downs and concentrate on thinning for the saw mill, or vice versa? You would have a bunch of chips for your trails. I know it’s not a perfect solution, but at least they just wouldn’t just be bug food.
That’s very true! Whatever the case may be I’ll need a second sludge machine with the work I’ve got ahead of me haha
Just make cants. That gets the bark off and make custom lumber later as needed.
You are going to have to start thinning even a little at a time will start helping. I would thin with a mind set of creating access to remove fallen and harvest trees from the inner forest. Got to start somewhere.
I think you’re right Chad. I have to start before long
May I ask how many acres you
Own thank you 👍
I would do thinning in winter and the rest as time allows.
i'm sure a few more helpers be glad to help for portions of the products. as for first log if some of the protrusions were leveled off it more likely would have rolled onto mill.
The log ended up being too short for the width of the log deck unfortunately. It was only on by 3" or so on each side and it rolled a bit too far to the one side. Some helpers would certainly do the trick
Unthinned, they will grow slower. But, the growth rings will be closer, the wood will be more dense, the lumber will be stronger. Utilize the resources that you must, first, to reduce waste (your dead falls and wind blowdowns). The standing trees will wait. Quality will stay high.
Yeah I sure would like to get into the thinning. I may be forced to do that sooner than later and leave some blow downs for now. The trouble with waiting is the red pines are getting squeezed for resources right now since they’re so densely planted so I’m getting a fair bit of mortality. Another trouble is with red pine is if you wait too long to thin and then finally do thin the remaining trees will be tall but too thin in diameter and be susceptible to breakage.
Makes sense. I live in hardwood country so Woodlore management is different. Good luck.
50/50 There is only so much you can do for the time allotted.
That’s for sure!
thin
Hi Sandy,
I really enjoy your videos ! I'm face with the same problem. I'm waiting to see what your other viewers think.
Thank you!
why is easier for you, thinning out our getting the fallen trees out?
Take 80/20 or 70/30 with the more difficult on the higher percentage and the easy on the lower. in addition you can call a logging company to thin out the more difficult area. there you get the profit on the long run.
Lots of good ideas. Thank you
Be selective , mill the money trees and pile up others for off season firewood production. Schedule the thinning operation between the other
One of the issues I have is the trees that are blowing over are softwood so they get boring insects in them in a few weeks once cut down like the red pines
Sandy remember how to eat an elephant not all at once but one bite at a time sometimes it seems overwhelming stay calm and keep moving forward it will work out
That's a great way of putting it Ronald! One step at a time
I need your problems
I use the word "problem" lightly as I certainly am fortunate to have this "problem"
For the log that fell down, attach a cable to mill, go out around log, and back to mill or one of the overhead beams.
Its called par buckling, with the 180 degree turn in cable, same affect as adding a block.
A handy method for getting logs on a trailer with no equipment around.
If theres a danger of needing more control of the log, do a full rap on it with the cable.
.
Or just use the tractor, lol.
As obviously, it would save a lot of time and effort.
not sure about on the ground
It's a tough one for sure Rodney
Hi Sandy,
You're a man almost overwhelmed by a wealth of riches. Yeah, you got a thinning issue.
I recall hurricane Camille on Mississippi coast in '60s. Just flattened hundreds of sq miles even 60-70 miles inland. So many downers all pointing north. Couldn't get crews in to salvage before the blue stain hit plus the slopes/hills made for dangerous situation. For almost 2 decades you could still find patches of overgrown blow downs.
May i suggest forget milling the thinnings...just make a deal with a mulch company or a huge dairy (bedding) and bring in a big tub grinder.
We had a hurricane a decade or so ago here in Texas and the big city picked up downer trees, hauled them to a 15(?) ac old industrial site and brought in a behemoth tub grinder and multiple tractors and claw equipped excavators.
They worked for months turning trees into mulch. *MOUNTAINS* of mulch
Just a thought