Thread: Trees from road project

If recovery is 30% or less,and sometimes it is,then your sawn cube will cost a bit more than $500.Also,your "sawn cube" wont be all select grade,particularly after seasoning.Have been using a lucas mill for 12 years,so my advice comes with a degree of qualification.If you are sourcing logs regularly,then it may pay you to purchase a mill of your own.They certainly aren't difficult to operate,no rocket science involved,a good understanding of log breakdown(try and quartersaw as much as possible)as well as log tension.Having a sound knowledge of tree species and timber utillization helps also.

I picked up one of Neil's Sheoak logs the other day and got around to slicing it up this morning on my bandsaw. I now have some slices I think will be more or less suitable for tool handles, eventually. This was my first attempt at sawing green logs and there's a lot I don't know about resawing. I also found out today that was about the biggest log I think I could safely handle.

Thanks Neil. Now to wait for a year or so for it to dry out.

i have done jobs for golding contractors on road projects and for a few developers who have used the timber for everything from park benches and shelter sheds, to fences and guideposts.

getting timber sawn by a mobile miller cost between half and a third of the cost of buying teh same timber from a sawmill/timber years.

i have offered to buy logs of developers but none are interested. its just easier to chip it.

every board that comes of my mill is accurate and normally better quality than teh crap that you but from the big boys at ridiculous prices.

i have never recovered less than 35% from a log unless it was hollow or full of defect. and tehse logs can be used for other things, split post, garden edgind etc.

i have even offered my time (free of charge) to go around a development site and mark the trees that are usable. so they can be put aside. still not interested.

i have offered to go threw before work has started and fall/remove any tees that i wanted. still no.

its just crazy. for every log that they wont sell/use i have to cut another down.

We can only hope that things change Carl. Plant a seed of thought and watch it grow.

I know I have now at least 3 tree loppers that have been converted

I have to agree with Carl on this one

Thanks for your input, Carl. I can see the developers point of view - the simplest way is the easiest way.

However, I'm writing the specs that they're pricing against in a tender, so if I can get "best use of resources" included as a principle, I can mandate that they MUST get usable timber milled, and either used on site or sold off site.

I've been talking to the environmental teams and there is definitely some interest.

It'll take a while, but I'll keep working at it. The change from burning to chipping was a big step forward, so I'm sure this will happen, it might just take a while.

One way to get this changed is to feed it into the 'probity' processes of govmint bodies. One reason they chip the stuff is that it means that they don't have to consider tendering for its sale! That's why if you can get them to let you take the timber and mill it they don't want you to make money from it - they can fill in a form that says 'no commercial value'. So what we want is that there is another exception from the rules about having to offer for sale by tender where the contractor undertakes to recycle. And yes, green pressure will help get that achieved.

i have also contacted the qld government and brisbane councill and noone is even interested in chainging anything, i have sent countless emails and phoned so may people.

lets hope things change in the future.

Me too cause I wanna buy this baby . To clear residential developments. and a few other contracts and for blockies. It can be fitted with a bailer for woodchip powered powerstaions or mulch can be left to stabilize soil. a few other mods and it will be possible to remove root and rock to 20-30 inches for house pad s an road building [ame=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hf0F7TuDBS4&feature=related]YouTube - PT-400 by Primetech[/ame]

Originally Posted by weisyboy

i have also contacted the qld government and brisbane councill and noone is even interested in chainging anything, i have sent countless emails and phoned so may people.

lets hope things change in the future.

I have always found the local council(s) to be more than accomodating,when it comes to roadside log removal,depends which council you deal with i suppose.The logs(roadside) are apparently under the jurisdiction of the E.P.A,not local council.

Looks like something out of Terminator - they even got Arnie to drive it!

I've found developers, and councils to be approachable about the idea, but they always stress the need for people to do what they say they will do. if you say you can take the logs, get the bloody things gone, don't mess 'em around,place a priority on it, this is why they are so reluctant to deal with the logs - same story all the time. Be professional about it.

Be it the local council, mining companys etc, the place i now have the most luck is to attack the person in the department directly involved in any organisation. If its the council its the environment officer, if its a mining company, its the rehabilitation officer. Show them your as keen as mustard and baffle them with a bit of bs *(make sure you know the botanical names of trees with these people) and then invite them to leave their cozy little office and show them what you can do. Before you know it they are introducing you to the public relations officer who then takes happy snaps of your portable operation and tells the world they have an environmental awareness of a natural resource at hand and the advertising for you is free. Just put a plumb in you mouth, waste a few hours and its all good But you wont win them all. Make them understand and show them what you can do

Hope that works with Capel sands lol and those big old Jarrah stands