Salvaged Timber

F

f350ca

Forum Guest
Register Today
Another none metal related post.
My sister and her husband have a cottage on a saw mill site they bought from my aunt 30 or 40 years ago. It was her dads sawmill. It hasn't operated in about 50 years, but there has been mills there from the mid 1800s.
Most of the mills around here stored they're logs in the water to keep pine beetles at bay. The bottom of the bay is littered with sunken logs, some BIG some small.
Generally you need a permit and jump through many government hoops to extract these but this time we beat the system.
A small hydro dam was built on river in 1910, it raised the lake level about 10 or 12 feet. The flooded land was never purchased. My sister pays property taxes on land where the logs sit, although its under several feet of water.
You still wouldn't be able to salvage them as they remain the property of the original owner. Now the catch, my aunt held on to the timber stamp when her dad passed away, they're her logs.
According to fish and wildlife its fish habitat if they're below 15 feet, these are at the most in 10 feet of water.
My nephews backed a boat trailer into the lake and winched a couple onto the bunks and brought them down.

IMG_1276.jpg

Both logs turned out to be pine, one clear, one knotty. Both preserved in the water for 50 to 150 years,

Thanks for looking
Greg

IMG_1276.jpg
 
You stumbled upon a sort of gold mine… well seasoned wood is hard to find, maybe because many people didn't think their grand-grand-grandchildren would have an interest in woodworking!
 
I love to hear when people get things back that rightly belong to them. Congrats!

GG
 
Do you plan to sticker and dry your own?
Please keep us posted on your results!
Should be very nice.


Daryl
MN
 
I don't know, Greg. I might be speaking out of my rear, but I think I'd be inclined to pull timber out of there regardless of depth if I was likely to get away with it. Can you imagine the laughter from past generations if they were to be told the government wanted the fish at 15' deep to have your timber? I've heard of serious salvage operations happening over the years in the great lakes pulling up some seriously valuable logs. I'm all for saving old-growth that's still growing, but not so much if it's at the bottom of a lake or river...
 
Wood reclamation, whether it's from under the water or an old building that is being demolished - is cool in my book.
The beauty of the logs brought up from underwater is so unique.

I enjoyed the ending of the story: "by the way you've been paying property taxes for land out into the lake..."
 
Thanks for the interest. It seams fulfilling in a way finally sawing a timber that may well have been fallen over a century ago. Will probably be reclaiming more. I don't have a need or intended use for the lumber right now and can't think of a better place to store it than its current location. I've only been sawing for myself and friends, its amazing how many logs Im offered. Someone was in today, apparently they're taking down some big white pines at the cemetery on Wednesday, was offered them. Will post how that goes.
A micro burst touched down in this area two years ago, made for some choice sawing.
This Ash came down a few lots over, measured 34 inches on the butt log.
IMG_0224.jpg

Made some beautiful lumber.

IMG_0239.jpg

This is the quarter sawn results of one log.

IMG_0243.jpg

A lumber company was cleaning up a nearby area, some Butternut came down, but its considered endangered now, they couldn't take it but the guys let me know about it and even loaded it for me.

IMG_0195.jpg


Greg

IMG_0224.jpg IMG_0239.jpg IMG_0243.jpg IMG_0195.jpg
 
:greenwithenvy:

Probably who don't like a lot woodworking is because he never had such a nice wood!
 
That's some fine looking timber there, however it seems cruel to make the dog stack those logs !
 
Back
Top