A Tree I Sawed Today

[Tom]

This afternoon I put a cypress log on my mill that was damaged on one side a lot of years ago and the scar had not healed over so the sapwood was missing.  There was plenty of wood left though.  a radius measured 30 inches and  we wanted badly to count the rings.  As tight as they were it would have taken us a month of Sundays so Bill, the owner of the business where I was sawing, counted the rings in an inch and we multiplied it by the radius.  It suggested that the tree was at least 450 years old.   This was not the butt since no flare was visible so we were working with the mature portion of the tree and it must have been older even yet.

Bill wanted it cut for processing later on a resaw so I started taking boards to square the cant.  After taking many boards in excess of 12 inches I ended with a 20x20 cant.  because of the heart check he asked me to cut 20 inch boards to a 12 inch cant.  Then I turned it and cut 12 inch boards to a 12x14 cant and removed it from the mill.  It's unusual for a tree of this age to be free from shake and rot.  There were no woodpecker holes and the boards were full of birdseye and provided much pecky material.

After we cut it up, we took a break and discussed the history of the world  during the life of the tree.  It had to have started its life along about the same time as Christopher Columbus was hanging on for dear life to his ill fated ships.  It lived through the Spanish Conquistadors and English Forts and settlements along the St. Johns, the Revolution, The War Between the States,  WW1, WWII, Korea, Viet Nam, Desert Storm and finally was sawed into lumber today destined for furniture and we hope another 450 years.  

Working with trees is certainly humbling.

[timberbeast]

Sure is humbling,  Tom.  I took a 40 ich dbh cedar down a few years back,  and was shocked that there was no rot in the middle.  When I was sawing through the heart of the butt log,  I pulled a board off to throw on the stack,  and noticed a round lead ball,  sawed in half,  maybe about 40 to 50 caliber,   didn't slow down the mill or anything.  This ball was about 6 or seven inches from the middle,  so I figure it must have hit the tree when it was 12 in.  at MOST.  Never did count the rings,  or try to,  it was raining hard and I was sawing like a madman so I could get the lumber out before the road became impassible.  It had lots of deep orange and pink in it,  though,  really pretty boards.  I actually cut maybe 10 fence posts from the limbs.
Wish I would have had time to take a chunk off to save and look at later,  as to age,  but didn't think of it at the time.

[Bud Man]

Humbling Indeed ==As my own years pass I'm in awe of a trees ability to live for hundreds or even thousands of years.    It makes me think how short a man's life is in comparison.      But then I think to the reverse, as in the life of a Mayfly and I become thankfull.   As I age I've become aware that the sands in my hourglass lessen and I realize there is so much to learn, see, do, and experience that the need to sleep seems like a waste.

[L. Wakefield]

   Oh Budman, good buddy- I wish I had enough resilience and little enough stress to feel that way! Right now, sleep is my salvation! I just get criminally tired- non-functionally tired. I keep saying to myself- 'no one should feel like this'. But I tell you, one or two days away from the stress at work- and enough sleep- and I realize there is something else to life.  lw

[woodmills1]

it is funny, last week i was on school vacation and cut and harvested almost every day.  worked hard, was sore but not tired and i slept like a log.  this week all school no wood except two customers to load on wed. and i am tired but don't sleep.  watch stupid movies and am tired in the morning.  will be up at 5 tomorrow chompin for the majick noise ordinace hour and a half of 7:30 so i can run the mill.

[Bud Man]

Done the family raising and the chores for others .   Just me and the missy and what pulls at me, could never finish her to do list but I'm pretty good at distracting her completion time tables.   Trouble is,  with nothing major pulling at me, I realize how difficult it is to be satisfied entertaining one's self, but   that something else is mighty luring --:D