DJ’s Timber
1st June 2007, 10:48 PM
Starting a new thread here to tell the story on the Redgum log that Tonto wanted to know a bit about. This is the log we're talking about.
http://www.woodworkforums.com/attachment.php?attachmentid=24752&d=1149942876
To start off with, this tree was on my Uncle's farm near Benalla which he bought about 11 yrs ago. It was still standing and dead when he bought the place.
After having some discussions with the local Mill owner here where I live, it was decided to harvest some logs as some were beyond my capabilities.
We spent half a day trimming the head off the tree as it could not be felled in one go due to it being close to the fence which just happened to be the boundary fence.
It took Tim (bloke on the right) an hour just to climb the tree, but once he was pass the first fork which was about 10 or so metres up it was easier going for him. He then proceeded to lop off the head. Most of the main branches were in excess of 600mm dia. Could feel the thud off the branches hitting the ground from 100 metres away :o.
Anyway once the tree was down, it was then a matter of getting the bits on the truck and back to the yard. This picture is of the top half of the trunk being winched on to the truck.
http://www.woodworkforums.com/attachment.php?attachmentid=24753&d=1149942876
The top half of the trunk was from memory 4.5mt long and about 2.2mt in diameter. The lower half was 3mt long and just over 2.4mt in diameter. Had to use the winch off the cruiser to stop the log rolling as it was being winched up onto the tray. The top half was estimated to weight around about 10 to 12 tonne, with the lower half about 15 tonne.
Getting the lower half on a few days later was a bit more hair rising. Had to use the tractor that you can see in the back ground to help nudge it on to the tray, the winch on the truck could not pull it up completely. Once the log was on the tray, Ken (truck driver) then started to pull the tray back up and once the tray came off the ground the whole front off the truck lifted about a foot off the ground I kid you not.
Anyway we finally got them back to the yard. Our problem now was how to cut the suckers up. The Dedicated Lucas Slabber could only cut up to 1.6mt. In the end we bought a bigger bar and I modified the slabber to take the new bar. We could now cut 2.4mt wide slabs :2tsup:. Also had to raise the frame of the mill to start off the first few cuts. So over a period of week or 2 we then slabbed them all up.
This one is a grainy picture that I took with my Phone of the lower half that has been slabbed.
http://www.woodworkforums.com/attachment.php?attachmentid=24754&d=1149943088
The slabs are now air drying down at the yard. And I will see if I can get some more pictures from Tim from when it was being cut down.
http://www.woodworkforums.com/attachment.php?attachmentid=24752&d=1149942876
To start off with, this tree was on my Uncle's farm near Benalla which he bought about 11 yrs ago. It was still standing and dead when he bought the place.
After having some discussions with the local Mill owner here where I live, it was decided to harvest some logs as some were beyond my capabilities.
We spent half a day trimming the head off the tree as it could not be felled in one go due to it being close to the fence which just happened to be the boundary fence.
It took Tim (bloke on the right) an hour just to climb the tree, but once he was pass the first fork which was about 10 or so metres up it was easier going for him. He then proceeded to lop off the head. Most of the main branches were in excess of 600mm dia. Could feel the thud off the branches hitting the ground from 100 metres away :o.
Anyway once the tree was down, it was then a matter of getting the bits on the truck and back to the yard. This picture is of the top half of the trunk being winched on to the truck.
http://www.woodworkforums.com/attachment.php?attachmentid=24753&d=1149942876
The top half of the trunk was from memory 4.5mt long and about 2.2mt in diameter. The lower half was 3mt long and just over 2.4mt in diameter. Had to use the winch off the cruiser to stop the log rolling as it was being winched up onto the tray. The top half was estimated to weight around about 10 to 12 tonne, with the lower half about 15 tonne.
Getting the lower half on a few days later was a bit more hair rising. Had to use the tractor that you can see in the back ground to help nudge it on to the tray, the winch on the truck could not pull it up completely. Once the log was on the tray, Ken (truck driver) then started to pull the tray back up and once the tray came off the ground the whole front off the truck lifted about a foot off the ground I kid you not.
Anyway we finally got them back to the yard. Our problem now was how to cut the suckers up. The Dedicated Lucas Slabber could only cut up to 1.6mt. In the end we bought a bigger bar and I modified the slabber to take the new bar. We could now cut 2.4mt wide slabs :2tsup:. Also had to raise the frame of the mill to start off the first few cuts. So over a period of week or 2 we then slabbed them all up.
This one is a grainy picture that I took with my Phone of the lower half that has been slabbed.
http://www.woodworkforums.com/attachment.php?attachmentid=24754&d=1149943088
The slabs are now air drying down at the yard. And I will see if I can get some more pictures from Tim from when it was being cut down.