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What are the most beautiful and unusual logs you have ever cut?

Started by Squirrell_Boy, June 05, 2007, 02:49:36 AM

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Squirrell_Boy

 I am curious and have seen some amazing stuff posted here. I am talking about logs that you have cut that grew in your area or region. Pictures please if you have them.

Hope this hasn't already been posted recently. This enquiring mind would like to see what is out there. Sometimes you get some real surprises.

A friend often says that opening a log is like opening a Christmas present, you never know what you'll find.

"Of course we don't know what we're doing. That's why they call it research." Albert Einstein

Swede

A log I´ll never forgot about; Ø76cm/82cm and 5,5M long spruce I sawed for a customer 05-March. Looked turned but it vasn´t.  :) I got more than 90% lumber out of it. Couldn´t lift it up with the loglift but there came an excavator on the road who gave me some help.
The customer came by with his tractor and for turning the log we used the front end loader.

Swede.

Had a mobile band sawmill, All hydraulics  for logs 30\"x19´, remote control. (sold it 2009-04-13)
Monkey Blades.Sold them too)
Jonsered 535/15\". Just cut firewood now.

woodmills1

 here are some shots......the first two are of a large elm from saugus mass, the second is a very large maple from macs apples in londonderry NH that I had to split with the 066 first and the last is a set of nested bowls done by a pinkerton acadamey high school student from maple stock I provided.



James Mills,Lovely wife,collect old tools,vacuuming fool,36 bdft/hr,oak paper cutter,ebonic yooper rapper nauga seller, Blue Ox? its not fast, 2 cat family, LT70,edger, 375 bd ft/hr, we like Bob,free heat,no oil 12 years,big splitter, baked stuffed lobster, still cuttin the logs dere IAM

jim king

This is maybe my favorite so far but there are several others close.








TexasTimbers

Jim that red stuff looks like my box elder. Of course it can't be because I have the only patch on the planet with as many trees as prolific as they are. ;D

But what is that stuff?
The oil is all in Texas, but the dipsticks are in D.C.

Dodgy Loner

I was thinking the same thing, kevjay.  What kind of wood is that, jim?
"There is hardly anything in the world that some man cannot make a little worse and sell a little cheaper, and the people who consider price only are this man's lawful prey." -John Ruskin

Any idiot can write a woodworking blog. Here's mine.

flip

I don't have ANY clue what that stuff is but if you would like to ship 300-400bf my way I would really appreciate it ;) ;D
Timberking B-20, Hydraulics make me board quick

Burlkraft

Quote from: jim king on June 05, 2007, 09:54:54 AM
This is maybe my favorite so far but there are several others close.


Jeezzzz Jim, This was a hard one for you ....Huh  ??? ??? ???

You have the biggest variety of the coolest wood on the planet....How could you choose... ???  ;)  ;D ;D
Why not just 1 pain free day?

jim king

This is a wood that we worked on for well over two years to identify .  It was a total mystery until our scientist from the U of SC found it in a collection of papers from 1794 written in German detailing it perfectly.    The USDA Tropical Forestry Lab gave up on this species some time ago and left us on our own.  We have since found several subspecies.

Attached you will find a note verifying the   species name from our mad scientist friend in the U of SC.   He was so excited he wrote part in Spanish and part in English.

Para: "james king" <jameskingpe@yahoo.es>
Asunto: RE: "pink flame" has a name
   
Jim,

A short note, which I will expand later:

I have dissected the flowers, took pictures, and compared the data to all but two books (the report on the Explorama flora and the other one on the Leticia site) I just requested these books from interlibrary loan.

Pink flame hembra keys out clearly to the Rinorea subgroup IIa.1. 'Haughtii' Multivenosa complex. It only contains two species which have so far been known to science only from a handful of collections from southern Colombia and SW Brazil from Acre (Acre is the Brazilian state across the border river).

Hembra is distinct from macho, but I can only judge hembra because ony hembra came with flowers. Hembra is clearly distinct from both species in the multivenosa complex, and unless it matches some new species that might be revealed in the above two books, we are dealing with a new species of a rare genus. Rare because rarely encountared, nevertheless the tree may be locally common. You can tell me how common it is on your sites.

Therefore the name will have to revised from Rinorea aff. multivenosa or R. aff. longistipula to Rinorea sp. nov. #1.

Exciting!

Mihaly
Mihaly Czako, Ph.D.
Senior Research Associate
The University of South Carolina
Department of Biological Sciences
700 Sumter St.
Columbia, SC 29208, USA
czako@biol.sc.edu
Tel.: (1-803) 777-8928
Fax: (1-803) 777-4002


Dodgy Loner

That's pretty exciting to live in a part of the world where you can actually find trees that are still unknown.  If I find a tree around here that I can't identify, it's invariably an exotic species. ::)
"There is hardly anything in the world that some man cannot make a little worse and sell a little cheaper, and the people who consider price only are this man's lawful prey." -John Ruskin

Any idiot can write a woodworking blog. Here's mine.

Squirrell_Boy

That bowl is bloody beautiful! I hope no one died making it. That is one intense blood red.
"Of course we don't know what we're doing. That's why they call it research." Albert Einstein

customsawyer

One that I like to talk about most would have to be a sassyfras log that I was able to get several 1X10X13 out of and the wood is just as pretty as you could ask for.
Two LT70s, Nyle L200 kiln, 4 head Pinheiro planer, 30" double surface Cantek planer, Lucas dedicated slabber, Slabmizer, and enough rolling stock and chainsaws to keep it all running.
www.thecustomsawyer.com

Squirrell_Boy

Pictures from an unusual log i recently started to cut.

"Of course we don't know what we're doing. That's why they call it research." Albert Einstein

Dodgy Loner

Wow!  What the heck was that?  Some kind of maple?  Birch?
"There is hardly anything in the world that some man cannot make a little worse and sell a little cheaper, and the people who consider price only are this man's lawful prey." -John Ruskin

Any idiot can write a woodworking blog. Here's mine.

Squirrell_Boy

Yes, it is a Maple i believe i know which kind, but i have yet to verify it. It had been cut a long time ago and was sitting amongst a large amount of wood waste. I would say it was about a year from being ant food. It was a short, large diameter log that had begun to decay at both ends. I can only account for the dramatic color changes being due to some sort of the spalting process. I lightly hand planed it and wetted it for the pictures. It has a significant amount of blister figure and incredible curly figure. Remember that this is the midwest near the Mississippi river and i have never seen a Western Big Leaf Maple in this area. I am quite positive it is not a WBLM. Blister figure does occur in other species of Maple and some other trees, but i personally have never seen it in this region. I'll tell you more and post more pictures later if you are interested. I took many pictures and often stopped in disbelief at what i was seeing.
"Of course we don't know what we're doing. That's why they call it research." Albert Einstein

Dodgy Loner

I'd love to see more pictures, and you're right about bigleaf maple not occurring in your area.  It's quilted figure, not blister figure, that is primarily restricted to bigleaf maple.  The figure on that board definitely looks like a soft maple of some sort but the coloration does not.  I agree with you, it's probably just from sitting out so long.
"There is hardly anything in the world that some man cannot make a little worse and sell a little cheaper, and the people who consider price only are this man's lawful prey." -John Ruskin

Any idiot can write a woodworking blog. Here's mine.

Daren

Experience is something you don't get until just after you need it.

Squirrell_Boy

Yes, Dodgy Loner i too believe that it is one of the soft maples. I am using R Bruce Hoadley definition's for figure and it seems to fit his definition for blister figure as he describes quilted as more elongated. Obiviously i have never cut WBLM before and this is the first i have ever come close to anything like it. I have heard this kind of figure described in various ways, blister, bubble or quilted. I think they have a few more, but we would have to check with the left coasters. I would definately describe it as blister figure IMHO. That is what it resembles, but it is a matter of semantics and perception.

Daren, i have seen many of your posts and your website and would definately say that we are kindred spirits when it comes to the type of logs that we go after and the way we cut. I admire your work. This log proved to be a test of my will as blister or quilted figure tends to occur on flatsawn / tangential surfaces and this had very intense curly figure on the radial or quartersawn surface. I decided to pursue the blister type figure for as long as it would go. It did run out the deeper i got into the log, but the curly stuff remained. I love spalting too, but have never seen such vivid colors. It is actually a pale orange in places.



"Of course we don't know what we're doing. That's why they call it research." Albert Einstein

Dodgy Loner

Daren and Squirrell_Boy, I've sawn up quite a few trees over the last several years, but nothing like those ones.  Thanks for sharing, hopefully I'll come across something like those one of these days! :)

Daren, how did the standing trees in the thread you linked to turn out?
"There is hardly anything in the world that some man cannot make a little worse and sell a little cheaper, and the people who consider price only are this man's lawful prey." -John Ruskin

Any idiot can write a woodworking blog. Here's mine.

Squirrell_Boy

Wait! That was just the little boards, now it's time to see some of the bigger stuff. I could write a little book on this log. It is a strange story. Sometimes nature gives you a gift and it is up to you to make the best of it. I cut it the best way i could think of with my feeble mental (and physical) powers. It presented some interesting choices.



"Of course we don't know what we're doing. That's why they call it research." Albert Einstein

Dodgy Loner

*insert long whistling noise here*  Now I'm really jealous!  Are you going to try to sell those boards, or will you use them yourself? ???

I've cut some apple up that had a little bit of curl in it.  It was a tree that my grandad planted 40 years ago.  I made a coffee table for him out of it last Christmas.

You can kinda see the curl in this picture:


This is what the table looks like:
"There is hardly anything in the world that some man cannot make a little worse and sell a little cheaper, and the people who consider price only are this man's lawful prey." -John Ruskin

Any idiot can write a woodworking blog. Here's mine.

Squirrell_Boy

That is a beautiful table! Sentimental too i bet. That kind of stuff means a lot to me and i love to cut up trees for people who have some kind of emotional attachmment to the tree. I love the live edges, kind if serpentine sweep to your table and the wedged joinery.

I have some emotional attachment to the the log i am showing because of all of the unusual circumstances surrounding the obtaining of it, when i cut it open and some other things that happened. It is truly one of those things that makes you think there are mysterious events that happen in life for some unknown reason. I am not kidding.

I hope to keep some for myself, but most it will be for sale once i am done documenting everything and writing it up. One of the great things in life is seeing what others will create with it. I also need to eat and pay my bills. I hope some of it will end up as fine art, like some beautiful furniture, a slab table top, electric guitar body or other musical instrument or even some fine turning. Who knows? It will be exciting to see.

I don't mean to get all philosophical, but one of the truly great things about this forum is the sharing of knowledge, experience and creativity. It is a great community with a sense of humor and people who don't hoard their knowledge or experience. My hats off to all the people who created this forum and the dedicated contributors who give selflessly.

When i started cutting this log i was like a kid who wanted to run around and say "Look at this! Isn't it amazing!" It was like look at what nature or God created and i was able to help facilitate it's beauty to others.

We all know cutting logs is part science, part art and mostly luck. I got lucky.

I hope others will post their experiences like this.
"Of course we don't know what we're doing. That's why they call it research." Albert Einstein

Dodgy Loner

Thanks, SB.  You're right, the story behind that table gives it sentimental value that is worth many times more than the table itself.  The tree was a lot of fun to saw - every board was nearly flawless, just a couple of small knots in the very center, and the color was just unbelievable.  I know what you mean about getting excited when sawing up a beautiful log.  It's like unwrapping a Christmas present.  You're not sure what you're going to get, but you're pretty sure you're going to like it :).  And when the boards turn out as nice as the ones in your picture, you'd be crazy not to get excited.
8) 8) 8)
"There is hardly anything in the world that some man cannot make a little worse and sell a little cheaper, and the people who consider price only are this man's lawful prey." -John Ruskin

Any idiot can write a woodworking blog. Here's mine.

Squirrell_Boy

Just wanted to post some more pictures of the funky maple i cut. 50 inch wide slabs with mineral stain and some of the most unusual figure i have ever seen. Some people refer to it as Landscape figure. It is an optical illusion that creates a three dimensional effect. It is sometimes called Landscape figure because it can resemble mountains, hills or something like a lunar landscape.
"Of course we don't know what we're doing. That's why they call it research." Albert Einstein

jpad_mi

Wow, that is some beautiful wood SB! Your enthusiasm is justified.

DL, I love that table! Very nice work! How do you get the bark to stay on?
Jeff P. in Michigan

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