Dead and blown down trees

[oakiemac]

Hi all,

Does anyone out there mill logs from blow downs or dead logs? I have access to large amounts of hard wood from a blow down that happened 18 months ago and was wondering if the logs are still good. Thanks for the input.

[Bibbyman]

The short answer is yes,  probably, maybe.

If they would have made really good logs before they were blown down,  they should make some great lumber now.  After 18 months,  the sapwood would probably be a loss.  

If they were trees of average quality before the blowdown,  you may get some good common lumber from them.  Again, the sapwood will likely be bad.

If the trees were of poor quality before, then I'd say their best use would be firewood or worm food.

[Jeff]

If they are like trees that we got from a big memorial day blow 3 years ago my answer would be "The short answer is no,  probably not, but maybe.

This was what the weatherman called "straight line winds". Many of the trees we took in from that storm were stressed so bad that they had wind shake. Most were battered so bad before they tipped over that they had horizontal cracks in the bark. I would say if the trees were in weak soil and tipped over they may be allright. If it was a severe storm with abnormally high winds that did the damage, there will be some damage to the lumber within.

[Moulder]

So is there away to tell if a tree suffers for ring/wind shake before you cut into the tree? I know that when I have turned bowls in the past I could not tell until iI started to turn them and it was a waste of time as the wood was only good to burn.

[Tom]

No.

Usually shake is in the bottom of the tree and you can see it at the stump end of the log......sometimes......maybe.

[ARKANSAWYER]

  I have spent the last two days cutting oak logs that were felled Dec 2001 and have laid in a pasture since then.  I got some buggy lumber and good ties from it.  For the most part the sap wood was rotten on the red oaks and after you got the mushrooms off the white it was just stained.  Trees that died in the fall or winter keep better then those that went down in early spring.  I would cut them if I could get them as you do not know till you open them up.  For shake I cut off at the butt and then go up about 2 inches and cut it again.  Shake will crack along the growth rings and a good tree will crack from center to edge.
ARKANSAWYER