Hickory and Oak - Woodworking Talk

frankp · 07-20-2009, 12:31 PM

So I went to my mom's place over the fourth of July weekend and did some tech repair etc while visiting. We also discussed building a french drain and wall along her driveway because she gets a huge amount of runoff from her neighbor's yard.

In order to build such a drain and wall, though, she has a couple of decent sized hickory and an old dying oak tree that need to be felled. I told her I can do that without much trouble.

So why should you care? Well, I'm wondering if it's worth it for me to fly out there and rent a truck to haul the wood back home with me. I figure the trees are about 12-18 inches in diameter at the 2 foot mark and probably 40 feet tall each. I know hickory is good furniture wood, and oak is always useful but is it going to be so heavy and hard on my tools that I won't find it useful?

How might you load it into a uhaul truck if you were going to do something like this? I'd suspect I'd have to cut it to lumber before loading since there's no way I can think of to easily load logs into a truck like that. (Especially for 700 miles over route 40.) Also, I'd suspect the weight might be an issue in a truck like that so if anyone has other recommendations on how to rent a capable vehicle, I'd love to hear them.

FrankP

**Daren** · 07-20-2009, 02:22 PM

If I was doing it I would have the logs sawn into lumber near your moms place and just haul the sawn lumber back when it is ready. No need to haul all that extra bark/mill slab 700 miles. And lumber is a heck of alot easier to load and haul. I would do some looking for a sawyer close to her place and see if you can arrange for him to pick them up and mill them (that fetching them part will be at additional charge, but still cheaper/easier than hauling logs around like plan A)
Here is a link to a nation wide list of sawmills I am working on. List link thingy If you don't find someone there shoot me a PM with her Zip code and maybe I can help find a guy ?

frankp · 07-20-2009, 03:44 PM

Thanks, Daren. I was considering just using an Alaskan to cut them into somewhat reasonable size lumber. I'm guessing that will be a long back breaking process though, so I'll look into sawyers in the meantime.

DRB · 07-20-2009, 11:45 PM

While it may be satisfying to salvage some timber from the house my opinion is that the size trees you are talking about will make it not cost effective. I think you could probably buy the equivalent amount of lumber at home for less then it would cost to have it milled then transported 700 miles. If you do it have it sawed local and cut the logs short enough to fit inside a Uhaul. You may want to sticker it outside at your mothers for a while before transporting it. Otherwise I fear you will overload the Uhaul. By sawing it and drying it before transporting you will save big time on weight and volume. I would only saw the top grade logs (to the first limb or limb scar) and anything that is less then a #1 common board I would not bother hauling 700 miles just give it away or if your mother has a fireplace make it into firewood. Just my 2 cents.

frankp · 07-21-2009, 12:01 AM

DRB, thanks for the suggestions. I was thinking of doing the milling myself, but I hadn't considered the added weight of the moisture. That's definitely something to think about. I suspect there are several tons worth of wood there, but keeping only the "good stuff" is a good idea. I know someone from this forum mentioned living very near where my mom is, so maybe when I'm ready to do it I'll just post a "come and get it" sort of thing.

**TexasTimbers** · 07-22-2009, 12:40 PM

Frank,

I know it sounds tempting, and even fairly straight forward. But this is the kind of thing that can easily turn into a logistics nightmare, or worse.

IMHO you need to pass on it, unless everything falls into place for you miraculously. You have to find a local who has all the equipment AND he is willing to do it for double cheap.

What are the odds. No question mark there because that was a statement not a question.

Sure, it could turn out to be unusually smooth and easy to make all the arrangements you'd need to make, provided the logs even warrant it once you drop them and get a peek. But if you want to just play the odds, you'll pass. JMHO.

Having said all that, drop one of the trees leaving a about a 3 to 4' stump in the ground if you can do that safely. Then, using you chainsaw knock the slabs off the stump free-hand. That will give you a small taste of what milling all of them would be like.

Once you have your mini-cant left standing whack it off at the ground and throw it in your trunk (sealed) and at least you will have enough wood to resaw once back home to make a surprise something for your mom. That cant is going to be one heavy pup alone though, and you'll need an awful big Gomer to help you get it in the trunk.