How bout a warm welcome for.......LARRROOOOOOOO

[Piston]

I mentioned the good ole' Forestry Forum on another site, and a member over there seemed very interested in our wonderful place to hang out.  He sent me a message asking where to post a "intro" thread as he didn't see a "new member intro" section on here.  I advised him to just start posting away and we'll all chime in.  ;D

So, hope you don't mind Larro, but I'm welcoming you here before you even ask for it  ;D

How bout a big ole welcome to one of our newest members  8) 8) 8) 8) 8) 8)

Oh...and tell us a bit more about yourself.   ;)

[rbhunter]

Welcome Larro.

[samandothers]

I hope you will find this a warm welcome when you do arrive!

[clww]

Come on in.

[Magicman]

Well Larro Darro, I see that your registered on the 18th so it is time for an intro and telling us about your wood/lumber/sawing interest.   

[Larro Darro]

Thank you Piston, and rbhunter. I'm down here in Altha Florida and have a little bit of timber land. 28 acres of longleaf, 20 of slash and about 50 of hardwood.

I call the hardwoods old growth, but it was logged with ax and crosscut saws around 1900. My slash was just thinned a couple of years ago. The longleaf were planted on 1/1/2000. {the reason I can remember the date, when me and Daddy would stop to fill the hoppers with trees we would spend a few minutes listening to the Citrus Bowl on the truck radio. MSU outlasted UF that day 37-34. And as a proud Nole, whoever is playing the gators is my second favorite team}

Right now my longleafs are on a federal conservation program. The program ends next November, and I have arranged to have it strawed soon thereafter. I sold the straw on the slash until I had them thinned.

We used to saw most of our own lumber, pine, oak and red cedar, but since my dad died 11 years ago, I have sawed very little. When we had our house built they used all store bought lumber, but my parent's house was mostly homegrown.

I look forward to getting to know you guys. And learning a whole lot in the process.

Larro


Edit: I see there has been more posts while I was typing. {I'm trying to do about five things at once here} So thank you for the replies from Magicman, clww and samandothers.

[Magicman]

Well at least we have you flushed out of hiding so now you can spend your time defending yourself.   :D

[thecfarm]

We are in a warm spell here in Maine. So it's easy to send you a warm welcome. Good thing it was not January when you joined or it would be a cold welcome.  :D
What did you have for a sawmill? Or still have it?

[Piston]

Welcome again Larro, it's all downhill from here  :D

What do you mean by....

and I have arranged to have it strawed soon thereafter. I sold the straw on the slash until I had them thinned.

I'm not familiar with that. 

I'm also interested if you still have the sawmill, and what type it is. 

[WDH]

Straw as in "pine straw".  Like the little bales you buy for landscaping in the big box stores, at least down here in the South. 

"I sold the straw on the slash until I had them thinned."  Slash refers to slash pine, Pinus ellioittii.  It produces the second best straw because of longer needle length.  Longleaf straw is the best as it has the longest needles.

[thecfarm]

Must use the straw like us non grits eaters use bark as mulch.
And how is the straw havested?

[sandhills]

Welcome Larro, nice to have you here.

[WDH]

It is baled, like small hay bales. 

http://www.google.com/imgres?imgurl=http://www.greenwiselandscapeproducts.com/images/pine-straw-bales-orlando.jpg&imgrefurl=http://www.greenwiselandscapeproducts.com/pine-straw-bales.html&h=299&w=448&sz=52&tbnid=wbpfKd6V8AuxDM:&tbnh=90&tbnw=135&prev=/search%3Fq%3Dpine%2Bstraw%2Bbales%26tbm%3Disch%26tbo%3Du&zoom=1&q=pine+straw+bales&usg=__hShR2II-zV2B6RymlD8DjkLmIcQ=&docid=aTargUXzifwPuM&sa=X&ei=KXIVUsGNHLXI4APBkoDoBA&sqi=2&ved=0CC8Q9QEwAQ&dur=439

[POSTON WIDEHEAD]

It is baled, like small hay bales. 

http://www.google.com/imgres?imgurl=http://www.greenwiselandscapeproducts.com/images/pine-straw-bales-orlando.jpg&imgrefurl=http://www.greenwiselandscapeproducts.com/pine-straw-bales.html&h=299&w=448&sz=52&tbnid=wbpfKd6V8AuxDM:&tbnh=90&tbnw=135&prev=/search%3Fq%3Dpine%2Bstraw%2Bbales%26tbm%3Disch%26tbo%3Du&zoom=1&q=pine+straw+bales&usg=__hShR2II-zV2B6RymlD8DjkLmIcQ=&docid=aTargUXzifwPuM&sa=X&ei=KXIVUsGNHLXI4APBkoDoBA&sqi=2&ved=0CC8Q9QEwAQ&dur=439

Sometimes you just have to draw them a picture. 

[Larro Darro]

We used to hire a band sawmill. Now I use my cousin's Wood Mizer. The last time we cut was when a HUGE oak had to be removed from over my mother's house. That was at least three years ago. These days I get a lot of good deals from Lowes. My BIL works on the Pro desk, and he lets me know anytime they have a big returned order.

Just this spring I have got the last of my Daddy's woodworking tools from his old shop, but haven't got them set up yet here yet. {the shop I built was half full before I could get the equipment moved} My 85 year old mom moved closer to me and my sister a couple of years ago. The old home place is a mile down the road, and until I got it all moved, it was a worry having it just sitting there with no one around. But as far as I can tell nothing was stolen.

Going through all the odds and ends that wind up in a fifty year old shop, I found some cool tools that had belonged to my grandfather. {or maybe great grandfather} Finding the old tools reminded me of when, forty years ago we had built a log cabin on our Chipola River land. That was before we had a generator, so we had to use the old tools to build it. Our methods were what had been used a 100 years before in 1873. Well, other than pickups, chainsaws and a tractor.

One of my hobbies is old tools. I collect what I like, and can afford. Just last week I found a really nice wooden handled hacksaw at the Habatat for Humanity thrift store. I think I paid $4 for it.

Later on I will ask what you guys think are the pro's and con's on saw logs vs. waiting for poles with my longleaf. I'm 52, and have no kids, so I have to think about spending the money before I die. With interest rates as low as they are, poles are looking to be as good a bet as anything. But I will save that for another day.

Larro

Edit: I just saw the questions about straw. Down here most people with pine trees, slash and longleaf, sell their pinestraw each year. This year for the first time I saw some done with a round baler pulled behind a tractor. Up until then the only way I had ever known about was a hand baler. The labor is mostly Mexican. They rake the pinestraw by hand into big piles, then use the baler to pack it. They use small trailers to bring it out of the woods, then load it into semi trailers. On the 20 acres of longleaf here behind the house, I'm making $2K for the first raking. It will be less after that, because it will have two years worth of straw on the ground.

[thecfarm]

Pine straw is just like grits to me. All I know about either I have learned right here on the FF.  :D

[Piston]

That's really neat that you got your grandfather's old tools, those are so much more valuable than the already valuable old tools  ;D

I have never heard of baling pine needles  ???  You guys in the south do some strange things  :D :D

I have about 10 acres of a really thick stand of large pines, I never once thought that the thick layer of pine needles underneath could ever be worth anything, to anyone. 

[thecfarm]

I think that pine straw is almost hollow and stiff and it kinda breaks in 2 when bent? Not like our white pine needles. Our white pine needles will rot or keep the mositure in and start to rot quick.

[WDH]

SYP pine straw is a very big business.  The straw is hydrophobic in that it repells water, but as a soil covering, around landscape plants, it keeps the soil moist and from drying out.  It also retards weed growth.  To use it, though, you have to sign a paper agreeing to eat grits, so it will definitely not work in the North Glaciated Land above the Mason-Dixon Line  .  It would surely be an abysmal failure in Maine. 

[Piston]

I think that pine straw is almost hollow and stiff and it kinda breaks in 2 when bent? Not like our white pine needles. Our white pine needles will rot or keep the mositure in and start to rot quick.

Dang it!  My needles are still worthless!  Oh well, it's better that way, I'd hate to have to sign a paper to eat grits....

[Larro Darro]

Our pinestraw doesn't last long in a flowerbed. But if you are selling instead of buying, that is a good thing. It is so common here, I never thought about it not being used all over. We also use a lot of cypress bark mulch in flowerbeds down here. I guess you use what you got.

Some of the tools that I found were a drawing knife, broad ax and an adze. Also a six foot two man crosscut saw. There are some others that I'm not sure of. Those belonged to my father's father. My mother's father was a logger. {among other things} He was quite a bit older than my granny, and he died 75 years ago this month. He rafted logs down the Appalachicola River to Ochesee Landing, where the steamboat took them on to the sawmill. I have a few of his things, like {I can't remember the name} two spikes connected with a short chain.


Edit: I was over on another thread, and they were all talking about grits. We eat them, but don't really talk about them very much.

[POSTON WIDEHEAD]

Pine straw is the #1 theft in S.C.

[DanG]

Welcome to the forum, Larro!  I'm over here in the bushes between Greensboro and Chattahoochee.  It's good to have another neighbor on board.

[Skidder Kev]

welcome to the forum larro darro

[Larro Darro]

Pine straw is the #1 theft in S.C.

A few years ago I noticed a pinestraw trailer in my cousin's pines, so I wrote down the tag number. She lives in Tampa but has a couple hundred acres of timber here. I called her and ask if she was selling her straw. She wasn't, so she called the sheriff with the tag number. He laughed, and said I won't have to look that one up. That is my brother in law. He called and found out my uncle on the other side of the family had sold her straw. When questioned about it, he said he knew they were too busy to bother with it, so he was taking care of it for them. That was nice of him.

[Larro Darro]

Welcome to the forum, Larro!  I'm over here in the bushes between Greensboro and Chattahoochee.  It's good to have another neighbor on board.

Thanks Dan. It is a small world. My wife's ex is from Chattahoochee. We pass your way when we go to Tallahassee. {not that I do that anymore than I have to. The traffic has got crazy the last few years}

[Chuck White]

Welcome to the Forestry Forum, Larro.

[Raider Bill]

Welcome!!!

[Larro Darro]

Thank you guys, Kev, Chuck and Bill for the welcome. I'm still wondering around in the dark here, but look forward to getting to know you guys.