Thread: Thoughts on cutting logs by Moon Phase

Sorry, I think your mentor has lost his marbles or is trying to pull ya leg...

I know the Carpathian Spruce cutters do that.... Don't know the details but I know there's some voodoo around it, full moon in summer or whatever it is.
Pitch and sap levels change by season... And the less pitch and sap the better so the seasonal aspect makes sense, particularly in softwoods. Moisture gradients also play a big part in how a individual log will cut so I can see some logic in that too. Internal tree moisture levels would I figure change from wet season to dry season etcetera etcetera.

yknow, trees have a lot of water. Lunar phase exerts pressure on water: tides, increased incidence of sleep disorders due to the brain living in a sack of fluid, banana plants mostly bell with the lunar cycle( Theys like 89% water)... all sorts of weird and wonderfull stuff occurs in nature because of the fluctuations of the gravitational pull caused by the moon having an excentric orbit. Does it affect trees? Most certainly! Does or effect trees enough to measure? i don't know... But those Carpathian Spruce cutters think it does.

heres the thing... I ain't going to find enough idiots to go wading through the bushes in the dark with a bloody great chainsaw cutting trees by the light of the hunters moon to keep the mill fed for a day, much less a month. I'm perhaps slightly mad, and at times desperate enough to cut a few corners... But even I won't fall trees in the dark. There's a difference between crazy and stupid.

id not be surprised if there was a difference... Whether it's quantifiable or not, and whether it's substantial enough to matter who knows? But I'm running a business that requires ongoing regular supply of logs so we're going to fall and hack and stack regardless.

Lots of people plant their veges by the moon chart and they don.t have to do it in the dark. Moon charts are available from some bookstores. Could be worth investigating further. Cheers, Fred

Originally Posted by John.G

I/ / / id not be surprised if there was a difference... Whether it's quantifiable or not, and whether it's substantial enough to matter who knows? But I'm running a business that requires ongoing regular supply of logs so we're going to fall and hack and stack regardless.

I'm in the opposite camp, Local ecology, Seasonal variability, and short, medium and long term weather events are going to dominate sap movement and other biological factors related to wood. Any variability caused by the moon is going to be trivial to non-existent.

Here's some info from the wood Professor in the US )see http://www.woodweb.com/knowledge_bas...he_Season.html) that runs the wood web.

From Professor Gene Wengert, forum technical advisor: Maple is sensitive to the temperature of the log and freshly sawn lumber. The more quickly maple is logged, sawn into lumber and dried aggressively, the whiter it will be. The time involved is very short when the temperature is warm; the time is quite long during cold temperatures.When warm, maple begins to oxidize, just like an apple turns brown after you take a bite of it. The oxidation reaction is more rapid as the temperature increases. Oxidation of maple can produce brown, pink and grayish colors. Also, when warm, the blue stain fungus is more active. For these reasons, people have different ideas on when to harvest maple (and other species). The strength, hardness, elasticity, machinability, glue-ability and other properties do not change with the seasons or with the moon.

Originally Posted by Marcus79

Hi All, I would like to hear your thoughts on cutting trees by the phase of the moon. A gentleman who has been mentoring me on milling explained how cutting by the moon phase is quite common in the part of Europe he is from but can't find much info. Whether you think it works or not just would like to hear some thoughts on the matter. Thanks in advance

Like your thinking Marcus79
Every chance the moon's gravitational abilities affect moisture movement within a tree,particularly full moon.
Not sure though what the ramifications are for the miller slicing up the log
Would like some more data regarding this if possible
A lot of stuff us humans don't know but we like to think that we are experts on everything.
Always look outside the square and be bold enough to challenge others opinions Marcus79 .
If they have been cutting trees by the moon phase in Europe for many years,chances are there is a very good reason for them doing so
Certainly a interesting concept that i personally will investigate further,without prejudice...MM

I agree there could be some merit to it but whether it's to a worthwhile degree I'm not sure. When I was learning woodturning at high school I was thinking of cutting some apple wood from the orchard as I'd heard it was nice for turning. I remember my grandfather saying something about cutting it at a certain moon phase to reduce the chance of it splitting as apple wood readily splits just by looking at it, but can't remember what he said. He was big on doing everything by the moon like planting veges, making salamis, grafting fruit trees, even getting haircuts.

Was just speaking to dad on the phone as I read this so I asked him if he knew anything. Straight away he said how in Italy in the old days they used to specifically cut timber for tool handles by the moon. He recalled something like maybe in the few days before a full moon in winter when the tree was pushing the least sap, but couldn't remember for sure.

sounds like voodoo bullshyte to me

Originally Posted by MAPLEMAN

If they have been cutting trees by the moon phase in Europe for many years,chances are there is a very good reason for them doing so

I wouldn't put too much credence on what has been done in Europe for hundreds of years
- slavery
- bleeding as a form of widespread medical treatment
- burning witches at the stake
- eugenics
- alchemy
- flat earth theory
ETC

So much of what "has been done for a good reason" in the past has turned out to be bollocks.

Yes indeed, makes you wonder how our "scientific" practices will be viewed in a couple of hundred years.

Originally Posted by Big Shed

Yes indeed, makes you wonder how our "scientific" practices will be viewed in a couple of hundred years.

There's nothing wrong with the scientific method, it's the humans using it that make the mistakes and mis-interpretations.

Originally Posted by BobL

There's nothing wrong with the scientific method, it's the humans using it that make the mistakes and mis-interpretations.

I wonder how often somebody justified themselves with a similar statement just before they burnt another witch.

Cheers

Doug

Originally Posted by BobL

I wouldn't put too much credence on what has been done in Europe for hundreds of years

I wouldn't put too much credence on what has been done in America for the last two hundred years!...MM

Originally Posted by MAPLEMAN

I wouldn't put too much credence on what has been done in America for the last two hundred years!...MM

Yeah pretty crap I agree - but before you get too critical take a look at this page - the list of american inventions over the last 200 years
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Catego...can_inventions

This is a list of those just starting with the letter C

• C (programming language)
• Cable television
• Cable tie
• Calculator
• Candy apple
• Candy corn
• Carbon dioxide laser
• Carbon fibers
• Carbon microphone
• Carbonless copy paper
• Cardiac Pacemakers, Inc.
• Cardiopulmonary bypass
• Carter's Little Liver Pills
• Cash register
• Catalytic converter
• Charge-coupled device
• Chemical laser
• Chemical oxygen iodine laser
• Cigarette
• Circular saw
• Clothes hanger
• Clothespin
• Coca-Cola
• Cocaine (drink)
• Commodore 64
• Communications satellite
• Compiler
• Compliant bonding
• Comptometer
• Confocal microscopy
• Continuous subscription service
• Contour crafting
• Hammond Electric Bridge Table
• Cooler
• Cordless telephone
• Cotton candy
• Cotton gin
• Cotton swab
• Crash test dummy
• Crayon
• Credit card
• Cromemco CYCLOPS
• Crossed-field amplifier
• Crown cork
• Cryotron
• Crystalate
• Curiosity (rover)
• Curium
• Cyanoacrylate
• Cyclocomputer
• Cyclotron

Originally Posted by doug3030

I wonder how often somebody justified themselves with a similar statement just before they burnt another witch.

Cheers

Doug

They would not have used a scientific method because they would have been too busy relying on the phases of the moon.