Erasing 200 years of history

[francist]

That’s a pity about the tree, it’s nice to be around the grand old specimens.

Elm is indeed nice wood. I’ve only come across it once when we had some wind damage on a property and one came down. I got a bit for turning as well as a few short pieces I cut into slabs. It looks a lot like oak in terms of the open grain but it much easier to work with.

 

[OldCarGuy]

sorry to read that.
I am also sorry that you chipped it up. Maybe you saved some lengths so a sawyer can cut it up and make some nice elm boards for a future project? Elm is a great wood (although I never worked it) for building furniture. And you would have that wood to admire even though you took it down. It can be stacked and stickered, or kiln dried and ready in some time.

We are not in a logging area. Hence no saw mills around.. I found a friend of a friend that has a small board cutter. And saving some of the manageable pieces to be sawed into planks.

 

[woodchucker]

We are not in a logging area. Hence no saw mills around.. I found a friend of a friend that has a small board cutter. And saving some of the manageable pieces to be sawed into planks.

you'll be surprised how many small sawyers there are. These guys come to you and you pay for it. But they can give you some much better cuts than a large mill.

 

[verbotenwhisky]

you'll be surprised how many small sawyers there are. These guys come to you and you pay for it. But they can give you some much better cuts than a large mill.

I follow and watch "Out of the Woods" with Nathan Elliot on YouTube and have been for years, those small band saw saw mills are all over the place.

 

[projectnut]

You're lucky the Elm tree lasted as long as it did. I don't think there's been one in our area for close to 50 years. Back in the 1950's Dutch Elm disease came through wiping out just about every tree along the streets. The city did multiple sprayings throughout the years but had little success. They eventually all died off and the streets were bare for several years. We went on a replanting binge about 20 years ago. Some of the Elms were replaced with Ash trees while others were replaced with Maples.

About 10 years ago the Ash Borers started coming through decimating that species. We still have 4 Ash trees in the yard, but they have to be vaccinated every other year to the tune of $250.00 per tree.

When we built the house, we overcompensated for the fact that we were in a former corn field. We planted over 50 trees on a little over half an acre. They all grew like weeds and before long it looked more like an old wood lot than a yard. Over the last 10 years we've been taking them down as they either crowd out each other or get so out of control they'll damage something.

In the last 10 years we've either had to take down or lost close to 50 trees at our house and the family cottage.

 

[Karl_T]

My farm is almost 1/2 forest. Before my time, all the chestnut trees died. Lost most all the elms 30 - 50 years ago. Then Oak wilt got a bunch 10 - 20 years ago. NOW emerald ash borer is attacking the ash trees. What's next?

Looks like i will have a box elder and prickly ash forest.

 

[woodchucker]

What's next?

Lord of the Rings look (Sauron).

 

[rwdenney]

you'll be surprised how many small sawyers there are. These guys come to you and you pay for it. But they can give you some much better cuts than a large mill.

I keep hearing stuff like this, but in my area (and perhaps the OP's area is the same) I couldn't find anyone prepared to take the trees we've had to remove. The problem they claim is transportation cost, though I suspect they are just too lazy to deal with wood not grown on their own farms, and don't want the slight reduction in profit margin it might impose. I have friends in other parts of the country who made a tidy sum selling their trees to a mill, but around here we can't even pay them to come get them. After Sandy, I had two trailer loads of straight, large 20' pine logs sitting in my field for two years until we found someone willing to (be paid to) haul them off.

But my wood is no good for woodworking, and Elm is beautiful wood for furniture. It's a shame the sawmills are lazy these days.

Rick "nobody (excepting present company, of course) wants natural wood in their homes any more" Denney

 

[OldCarGuy]

I keep hearing stuff like this, but in my area (and perhaps the OP's area is the same) I couldn't find anyone prepared to take the trees we've had to remove. The problem they claim is transportation cost, though I suspect they are just too lazy to deal with wood not grown on their own farms, and don't want the slight reduction in profit margin it might impose. I have friends in other parts of the country who made a tidy sum selling their trees to a mill, but around here we can't even pay them to come get them. After Sandy, I had two trailer loads of straight, large 20' pine logs sitting in my field for two years until we found someone willing to (be paid to) haul them off.

But my wood is no good for woodworking, and Elm is beautiful wood for furniture. It's a shame the sawmills are lazy these days.

Rick "nobody (excepting present company, of course) wants natural wood in their homes any more" Denney

You're spot on that folks not wanting natural wood look. In 1987 I built a 6,000 square foot six bedroom five bathroom two story Tutor home with 10' ceilings. I used wide fluted door & window moldings with machined decorative rosettes, 12” crown molding, 12” base molding. All in solid oak natural finish. That the new owners painted all trim WHITE. All the cabinets in the kitchen, bathrooms, pantry, and laundry room were solid natural cherry. The kitchen had abundant amount of cabinets in beautiful natural solid cherry. The new owners gutted the kitchen and replaced with cheesy looking white Formica cabinets. All the others were painted white. My real estate agent suggested that I paint everything white. I said there's no way I would. That the new owners would have to do...

 

[OldCarGuy]

A friend of a friend picked up some smaller logs yesterday. He owns a small homemade sawmill with a size limit of 16". Today I loaded seven logs up to 40" in Diameter by 8' long on my flat bed trailer. I've been searching for a saw mill to cut them up into usable boards. No luck so far. May have to get into the logging business myself.. For now I'll just store them on this trailer in one of my off premise garages... there's some serious weight here...