Speaking of big ones...

[scsmith42]

A couple of months ago FF member Frank Seaforth called me and told me that he was passing along a slabbing opportunity for a 203" circumference black walnut that was practically in my back yard.

8)  8)  8)     THANKS FRANK!!!!!!

After speaking with the owner's rep, turns out that the tree was black oak.....  : and it was larger than 203"  :D

The tree was located at a local college in an inner court yard, and was dying.  Unfortunately no way to get a crane, or even a trailer into the courtyard.  Fortunately the skid steer and the backhoe could be threaded through one entryway; otherwise it would have been very difficult for me to tackle this project.  The college hired a tree service company to remove the canopy and drop the log for us.

Normally I prefer to bring large logs to the mill, as it is easier having all of the support equipment available.  In this instance it wasn't an option so we loaded up the slabber and took it to the log.

After mobilizing the equipment we trimmed the 32' log into a couple of 13'7" ones.  Both logs were over 75" at their widest points so we had to do a little trimming in order to get them within my 72" max cut. 



 

We used the skid steer to roll them apart and set up the slabber and commenced milling.  Due to the height of the log, we slabbed 20" off in the first pass and set it aside for later re-slabbing.  Talk about a dancing skid steer! We had to sling it in order to get the CG a few feet behind the back of the forks. 



 

After taking a 7-1/2" and a few 4-1/2" slabs off of the log we placed the 20" slab back on and milled it into 4-1/2" ones.  After that we started on the second log and then placed the bottom portion of the first log onto it for finishing.  I designed my slabber primarily for quartering 40" logs, or cutting larger ones into thirds for subsequent reprocessing on Tom, so there are a few idiosyncrasies that we have to work around when slabbing.



 


Many of the slabs had some really nice color and spalting:



 


Getting the slabs out of the courtyard was a challenge (the smallest ones weighed 2,200 lbs and the largest ones over 4000 lbs).  Finally we tried wheeling them out like a wheelbarrow with a hand truck under one end and the skid steer under the other.  We trashed the hand truck but got them all out.



 


Here is the final result; I think that it was worthwhile.  They have been treated with Timbor and placed in the air drying barn.  Looks like it will be a few years before I can recover the investment, but I hope that these will turn out to be something special.



 

[Ljohnsaw]

  WOW

That is a purdy big slab!  And purdy, too! 8)

[kelLOGg]

Nice, Scott. How many trips did it take to haul the slabs back home? Is that Elon U.?
Bob

[cbla]

wow! that's impressive. beautiful looking slab.

[Peter Drouin]

That's a biggie.

[Seaman]

Nice job Scott, I'll be down in a couple of years to pick up my finders fee ! ;D ;D ;D

FRank

[Magicman]

Nice Scott.  I see a corporate conference table.   ;D

[drobertson]

this one qualifies for sure!  good job on getting in and getting out!

[WDH]

Scott, you never cease to amaze me.  It would be worth a trip just to see those  ;D. 

[slider]

Better get a cap on that bald head.Ax me how I know.

[POSTON WIDEHEAD]

WOW Scott! 

[clww]

Nice Scott.  I see a corporate conference table.   ;D

Exactly what I see, too. ;)

[Chuck White]

Beautiful wood right there, Scott!

Job well done! 

[78NHTFY]

Truly impressive--a job like that separates the real pros from the wanna-me's :D :D.  All the best, Rob.

[fishpharmer]

Where there's a will there's a way. Is not just a cliche.

Impressive!

[GAmillworker]

That is amazing.

I hope my willow oak will produce a slab or 2 that nice.

[slider]

I would like to see more of how you store those big slabs .Nice job.

[mad murdock]

Those are some real nice pieces!! anyone take the opportunity to count rings on that tree? I be it has been there for a few days!

[scsmith42]

Nice, Scott. How many trips did it take to haul the slabs back home? Is that Elon U.?
Bob

Bob, two trips for slabs, and two trips to demobe the sawmill, skid steer and backhoe.  All in all 6 trips.

The log came from Meredith College.

[scsmith42]

Nice job Scott, I'll be down in a couple of years to pick up my finders fee ! ;D ;D ;D

FRank

:D  Thanks again for the referral!

[scsmith42]

Scott, you never cease to amaze me.  It would be worth a trip just to see those  ;D.

Thanks Danny.  I just figure that I'm "channeling my inner Jake" when I tackle a project like this!   :D

[scsmith42]

Nice Scott.  I see a corporate conference table.   ;D

Yeah, me too.  When I look at the slab pile I hope that I see about 16 corporate conference tables, and two Roubo workbenches!  :D

[scsmith42]

this one qualifies for sure!  good job on getting in and getting out!

It was interesting maneuvering around and trying not to damage anything. 

We tried several different ways to get the slabs out, including having the backhoe on one end and the skid steer on the other (that was some interesting synchronization going around corners and up and down ramps....), and also moved several by picking up one end with the backhoe forks and then running a sling to the other end.  We ended up doing that after the hand truck died of fright!

[scsmith42]

That is amazing.

I hope my willow oak will produce a slab or 2 that nice.

It ought to.  Good luck milling it!

[scsmith42]

Thanks everybody for the kind comments. 

Slider, I'll snap some pix and post them soon.

Mad M - it wasn't that old - something like 80 years or so.  The University has some photo's dating back to the early 1900's when the dorms were built and the tree was just a little thing back then.