Turning lemons into lemonade

Archer · Sep 30, 2022

Okay, now onto some of the lemonade...last week we made trip out to the countryside...the weather was a bit of mixed bag that day, but it was a wonderful place to be...

This appears to be a log graveyard of sorts...

I think @STANDY would like this place as much as I do...

This is just a fraction of what was there...

Here are Daniel and Randy, preparing our trunk for sawing...

Our trunk was too large for the sawmill they have that uses a bandsaw, so to saw this up they used a chainsaw sawmill. This is an attachment to a chainsaw fitted with a longer bar, that allows you to cut slabs from a piece of wood like this. It works very well, but the loss of wood is greater with this method because the chainsaw is thicker than the bandsaw is (more wood lost to chips), and this is more labour intensive. Here are some photos I took during the process:

To get a better feel for how it works, I shot some video that I have edited into a little montage...it's under 3 minutes and worth watching if you are curious about this kind of thing...

In talking to the guys, they said that they have hit all kinds of debris inside trees like this. Bullets are pretty common from hunting, but they have hit pipes, bricks, chunks of concrete, etc. They even find fence posts and wire - ironic then that this is one of the trees on their property...

The bullets they leave in and those don't do any damage to the saw - I was kind of hoping that we'd find some in this tree, but nothing but wood was in this one.

Last few photos don't want to show, so I'm breaking the post up again...

Archer · Sep 30, 2022

You never know what you are going to end up with when you cut into a tree, and that is part of the fun for these guys. There was great anticipation each time a slab was removed, the sawdust brushed away, revealing the next layer of wood. They both said that when it comes to maple trees, the wood is often quite uniform and not terribly interesting. Thankfully, that isn't the case here:

They said that this is one of the best maples they have ever seen for colour and figuring, so we are very excited that in the end we will have some really great looking slabs. This was our trunk, fully sawn, at the end of the day:

This project has been a bit of hurry up and wait process, and that now carries on. These slabs will air dry for 6 months, then spend 6-8 weeks being kiln dried, before we move onto the next phase. We have a lot of wood here, so we aren't quite sure what to do with all of it, but as user @vintage hab suggested, one of those will be large maple slab table for our eating area. We want to honour this tree as much as possible, so will be keeping some live edge to remind us where it came from. This will be located in our solarium room, which has large patio doors to the back deck, where we can eat at the table and see exactly where the tree once stood.

We are also looking at making some small tables for family members, charcuterie boards for people, etc.

This company also does the table construction, so they will be doing the rest of the work once the wood is dried. We'll make many trips out there I'm sure to decide how we want to turn all this into something as beautiful as that tree was. Inside the shop we had a look at a table in progress:

Thanks for following along on this journey so far, and I'll update this thread when we move forward.

Cheers, Al

Dan S · Sep 30, 2022

Those slabs look amazing, Al. I would love to see something with a live edge.

Walrus · Sep 30, 2022

bvertz
I didn’t consider that trees had a life span, but I learned this spring. My fully mature maple didn’t leaf out, and then it dropped a large branch in the first windstorm of the year. It had to come down. Planted two new red maples and a red oak in its place.

Al, your story and pics are touching. And reminded me of law school, when we learned about the right of lateral support in property law.

That does get confusing. In my area if the tree is on your neighbors property and causes damage to your home it doesn’t automatically mean your neighbor is on the hook for the damages. I was able to remove a tree on my neighbors property although it was on his property line the limbs were on my roof and grew into the power lines going to my home after the last telephone pole which means I am responsible for paying for damage to those lines.

I’m 90% sure what I did was legal I had already cut back his tree once on my dime and just decided I didn’t want to continue cutting around power lines. He never complained as some of the limbs were on his roof and siding as well which is just an open invitation to carpenter ants around here.

Archer · Sep 30, 2022

Dan S
Those slabs look amazing, Al. I would love to see something with a live edge.

Thanks - yes even with just a "chainsaw finish" they really look good. Once we get them dried, levelled, and completely finished, I expect that the grain will really pop.

pdxleaf · Sep 30, 2022

First time I've seen a ladder used with a chainsaw to cut a tree. Very interesting. The stories that tree could tell.

We've got two large Doug Firs outside the front door of the house. For some reason this year they've been heavily dripping sap all summer. Every time the dog goes out he comes back licking his paws trying to get the sap with seeds off of them. Our shoes get covered and pick up gravel from the path, so much so that I have to go at them with my small spyderco to get the debris off. As much as I like the trees, we've been sorely tempted to let Daniel and Randy have a go at them. I even have my own ladder they could use.

Dry for 6 months, then another 6-8 weeks? Now you'll know what it feels like when we send our watches to a watchmaker...😁

BlackTalon · Sep 30, 2022

Archer
This whole ordeal is more than just trees, and it has been infuriating, sad, and sometimes downright funny. The need to remove the 10 meters of trees on the developer's property, plus the boundary trees, all stems from the site engineering that was done for the new subdivision. The abrupt elevation change between adjoining properties required a retaining wall, drainage, catch basins, etc. It could all have been avoided if they had just gradually changed the grade, rather than making this very extreme transition.

Grade should slope away from the foundation, and that coupled with sloping from the lot line towards the house would likely have resulted in limited area for patios, useable lawn for kids to play in, etc. and the ground surface would stay wet a lot longer in the middle of the back yards. I suspect the houses would have needed to be located further from the lot line to keep decent back yards if the retaining wall approach was not used.

Anyway, sorry to derail. You are winding up with some pretty nice wood. x2 on sending some to Standy so he can make some knife handles. Get some knives made that will match the table.

Archer · Sep 30, 2022

BlackTalon
Grade should slope away from the foundation, and that coupled with sloping from the lot line towards the house would likely have resulted in limited area for patios, useable lawn for kids to play in, etc. and the ground surface would stay wet a lot longer in the middle of the back yards. I suspect the houses would have needed to be located further from the lot line to keep decent back yards if the retaining wall approach was not used.

Anyway, sorry to derail. You are winding up with some pretty nice wood. x2 on sending some to Standy so he can make some knife handles. Get some knives made that will match the table.

Yes, I do understand that. My point was that they could have more gradually changed the grade from the end of the trees out to the roadway, negating the need for any of this.

The redesign they are doing on the wall has raised the base of it up considerably, with the grade tapering to a low spot in the back yards of these homes (from the wall and from the foundations), which will form a swale that will lead to the rear yard catch basins. As the contractor said yesterday..."it's gonna be a swamp"...but I guess that's not my problem, as the new owners will have to deal with that.

TheGreekPhysique · Sep 30, 2022

As a big fan of nature and the great outdoors myself this really stinks to see and I am sorry Al. Your mindset is commendable and good on you for making the best out of the whole situation. It reinforces to me my goal of one day hopefully being blessed enough to own a home on a big piece of land.

140dave · Sep 30, 2022

Archer
As the contractor said yesterday..."it's gonna be a swamp"...but I guess that's not my problem, as the new owners will have to deal with that.

Until they “prove” that the water is running down the newly created hill from the higher elevation property…. your house. That’s the way it works here at least, you are responsible for runoff from your property and proper diversion to protect those below you. Just something to think about getting written in now as you sign off on the tree removal.

Archer · Sep 30, 2022

TheGreekPhysique
As a big fan of nature and the great outdoors myself this really stinks to see and I am sorry Al. Your mindset is commendable and good on you for making the best out of the whole situation. It reinforces to me my goal of one day hopefully being blessed enough to own a home on a big piece of land.

Thanks. You know, we've had 25 years here without much disruption in the back, other than the farmer working his crops. My wife has taken this quite hard - the day all the trees were cut down she stood out there crying. She then got angry and wanted to move, but unless we move way, way out into the country, we know that the same thing can happen again.

We aren't against development generally - there is a housing shortage here and people need places to live. But these are all $1 million+ homes, some very much +++ of that number. These aren't really helping out the average family trying to get into the market a whole lot. We actually pushed for some more affordable housing to be part of this, but the developer isn't interested.

In the end we still love where we live, and have great neighbours all around us.

Syrte · Sep 30, 2022

Hey Al, sorry to hear about the loss of your trees- hopefully some architects would be able to give your trees another type of life which would make some people very happy.

Can you get some other trees replanted in a place where they cannot be disrupted? The loss of a tree is always sad.
I was quite saddened when the roof of Notre Dame burnt down, those oak trees were 100 to 200 years old when they were used to build the roof structure 850 years qgo.
So essentially we’re talking about tree beams that were 1000 years old. I lost my pictures of the fire but I was right thete when it happened and people on the streets were crying.

Archer · Sep 30, 2022

140dave
Until they “prove” that the water is running down the newly created hill from the higher elevation property…. your house. That’s the way it works here at least, you are responsible for runoff from your property and proper diversion to protect those below you. Just something to think about getting written in now as you sign off on the tree removal.

Well, I have all the site drawings, all the drainage plans, etc. and in my view water was never a problem before this development happened, so if it is after, it's got nothing to do with me.

As the developer said "we have to do a lot of this to deal with water coming from your property"...and my reply was "you know all those trees did that just fine before..." 😀

Just so you know, there is a weeping tile going in behind the retaining wall, so any runoff that goes down the back of that wall from my property will be picked up by that, and directed to the catch basins.

Archer · Sep 30, 2022

Syrte
Hey Al, sorry to hear about the loss of your trees- hopefully some architects would be able to give your trees another type of life which would make some people very happy.

Can you get some other trees replanted in a place where they cannot be disrupted? The loss of a tree is always sad.
I was quite saddened when the roof of Notre Dame burnt down, those oak trees were 100 to 200 years old when they were used to build the roof structure 850 years qgo.
So essentially we’re talking about tree beams that were 1000 years old. I lost my pictures of the fire but I was right thete when it happened and people on the streets were crying.

Yes, we have already planted a bunch out there. About 30 seedlings, and 3 trees that were about 3 meters tall. We will add more next year, but we wanted to wait until all the excavation for this retaining wall was done before we put too much back there. We are of course only planting native species, as our goal is preserve this type of woodland as much as possible.

Our wood is all cut into slabs, but the square stock you see in some of the photos of the yard has been used in architectural features on the outside of some of the homes being built in the new subdivision. This particular mill really only uses wood taken from urban trees that are being removed for other reasons, so his whole business is putting this material to good use.

Syrte · Sep 30, 2022

I just texted pictures to a couple of architects I know in North America, one of them says those slabs are beautiful-
She suggests reaching out to Room and Board, they’re a furniture company based in Minnesota that focuses on sustainability and American craftsmanship. She says worth reaching out to them directly.

eugeneandresson · Sep 30, 2022

That’s just horrible. Trees (and all other non-human life) is precious…they are the lungs of our planet. I truly wished people cared more for trees and nature. But that’s a can best left closed. Lemonade…yes…but lemon meringue pie…now that’s something to aim for : perhaps you folks can try and offset the loss of trees by planting the same amount of new ones…just a thought.

vintage hab · Sep 30, 2022

For some inspiration, here are some photos of a friend's table, who used a similar slab to make a table and benches, all with bark edges. The wood is bubinga (african rosewood).

STANDY · Sep 30, 2022

Let me know if you want a knife with the handle made from your tree @Archer

Mates rates and you won’t be charged for the handle material 😉

I only need a few small blocks 😗

perks713 · Sep 30, 2022

Archer
The land that this new development was on, was prime farmland.

I actually figured that’s why the bank is going to be 3 feet lower than your land. They came in and took any soil with value. Same was done when my neighborhood was built in the 50s. Take all the good soil, back fill with sand.

Walrus · Sep 30, 2022

eugeneandresson
That’s just horrible. Trees (and all other non-human life) is precious…they are the lungs of our planet. I truly wished people cared more for trees and nature. But that’s a can best left closed. Lemonade…yes…but lemon meringue pie…now that’s something to aim for : perhaps you folks can try and offset the loss of trees by planting the same amount of new ones…just a thought.

I do agree. I don’t mind taking down a tree carpenter ants or other elements of nature have killed but I had to take down some beautiful ones the past few years. Storms taught me to watch trees for cracks etc. taking them down to avoid them crashing into your home and possibly hurting someone inside is justified but I don’t enjoy it.

Turning lemons into lemonade

Archer

Archer

Dan S

Walrus

Archer

pdxleaf

BlackTalon

Archer

TheGreekPhysique

140dave

Archer

Syrte

Archer

Archer

Syrte

eugeneandresson

vintage hab

STANDY

perks713

Walrus

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