If a tree falls in the woods?

The answer is: turn in to lumber. Consequently, I drove up to North Carolina with a truck full of logging equipment to go slabbing with my family over Thanksgiving.

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My father had a tree fall at his house in October. I asked him to not cut up the tree trunk with the intention of bringing my chainsaw mill. I spent time with my brother, grandfather, aunt, uncle and cousin on Thanksgiving. Unfortunately my parents had gone to visit my sister. In the afternoon, my brother and I got started by felling two standing trees that were dead or going to die.

The tree that first fell was an oak tree. It took out the crown of a sweet gum tree. I had some initial confusion over the species. After felling the damaged sweet gum and a dead tree on Thanksgiving, I returned on Black Friday. Unfortunately my brother had to work. I started by sectioning up the oak into 8 foot logs. I used a small winch to try and free the lowest section from the root ball. I didn’t want to get my chainsaw chain into the dirt—because this seriously dulls the teeth. Instead I got as close as I could and whittled a way. In hindsight, I wasted a lot of inertia trying to get the base section out.

After calling it quits on the base section, I setup my mill to slab the crotch section at the top of the oak tree. My mill can only cut a 16” wide cut. The crotch was about 24” at the top. I chopped off the wings of the crotch and measured the cant to try and get it down to 16”. I left a bit too much and had to hew it with a long-handled ax. I got four 2-inch thick slabs from the crotch. These slabs should make cool table tops. They have a split down half of the slab that screams for bowtie inlays.

Next, I loaded up and headed across town to spend time with the in-laws. Turns out my father-in-law’s neighbor Roger has some black walnut trees that seem to be dying. One of them had already fallen over and he was dragging it out of the woods. As if under the guidance of Providence, I just happened to have my mill in my truck. Imagine that.

Before getting started, my father in-law, Roger, and I carpooled to see Roger’s friend’s newly acquired bandsaw mill. Super slick. When we returned, I recommended that I not slab the largest log and crotch section due to my limited mill capacity. Instead I slabbed the smallest piece that seemed solid. Some of the wood had ants and otherwise seem to show signs that it was starting to decay. There is another standing black walnut that looks to be on its way out. I expect more walnut wood to come from that stand. Quite a bit of work, perhaps the title should be Hard Work Slabbing.

I love the woods. My grandfather and I spent lots of time in those woods over the years logging mostly yellow pine and milling it on a 36” Frick 00 circular mill driven by a OLD 3 cylinder GM diesel engine. Maybe that machine becomes a Makercise project, just dreaming.

Here is my previous chainsaw milling video:
https://youtu.be/K6NuQdlpvfY

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I use Anchorseal 2 to keep the end grain from drying too quickly. I use a Stihl MS391 with a 20" bar. I picked up some additional tools to make the job go smoother:
Below you'll find my affiliate links. If you click the link and make a purchase, I receive a commission. You can read my full disclosure policy here- https://www.makercise.com/privacy-policy/
Ripping Chain: http://amzn.to/2io0rl3
Wedges: http://amzn.to/2inQuUy
Cant Hook: http://amzn.to/2jf5zwk
Anchorseal 2: http://amzn.to/2jfWmn4
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Видео If a tree falls in the woods? канала Makercise