Daninvan
ArboristSite Operative
Forecast was calling for ten days of rain starting tomorrow, so it seemed like a good idea to head out today to the city log dump to do some chainsawing.
Arrived about 9 AM with my regular buddy who is a bowl turner, it was a few degrees below freezing, blue skies and a gorgeous morning. A bit of fog hanging over the harbour, not much snow on the hills yet, and quite a few ships at anchor, enough that 'armada' jokes seemed appropriate. The log dump being on a local beach is in a prime location!
There is no snow at the beach either, it was all just frost. Close to 3/4" thick in places, that much frost is pretty unusual here. I am far from a photographer with my sad little phone camera, but the light sparkling on the frost was pretty amazing, wish I could have done it more justice.
There was even a bit of a moon to see. Sorry, not sure why this one is showing sideways.
So the reason we headed to the log dump today was not to mill up any logs, but rather to clean up some slabs that we had milled previously, but which had cracked or warped in the drying process. My slab storage area (AKA a small garage) is completely stuffed full and I can no longer afford the luxury of storing slabs that are less than perfect. So the plan was to cut out the good sections from larger slabs.
I didn't want to do it in my yard or in the lane as it would make too much of a mess and generate a lot of noise that would invite complaints from neighbours. So the log dump seemed like the obvious place. Here is about 75% of what we brought down. The large slab on the right in the first picture is catalpa, there are several more slabs stacked behind it. Most of what we cut up though was cherry. A few maples and other odds and ends.
After we were done the back of the Subaru was pretty full! The smaller pieces pack in with a lot more density than do a bunch of mismatched slabs. It took two cars to bring the slabs down, but only one to take the cut up pieces back.
Too much digital zoom in this next picture, but it shows a log drifting by the shore. Don't want to plow into this while you are waterskiing! Typically the logs in the dump are a combination of logs that float in like this one, and city trees from parks, boulevards, schools, etc that have come down for whatever reason.
Finally a picture of the light on the beach right beside us. The sun was shining through some trees on the crest of the hill behind us and left some interesting contrast with the light and shade. Can see some unfortunate haze in the background too. The rain will be welcome, it'll clear up the air in town and likely be snow up in the hills for the skiers and for the drinking reservoirs.
This has been the worst year by far for logs showing up at the log dump. There was a storm this August that was reported in the local paper as having taken down 500 trees in the city, and not a single one has showed up at the log dump! I am starting to think that our great run of ten years or so milling at the beach may be coming to a close.
Arrived about 9 AM with my regular buddy who is a bowl turner, it was a few degrees below freezing, blue skies and a gorgeous morning. A bit of fog hanging over the harbour, not much snow on the hills yet, and quite a few ships at anchor, enough that 'armada' jokes seemed appropriate. The log dump being on a local beach is in a prime location!
There is no snow at the beach either, it was all just frost. Close to 3/4" thick in places, that much frost is pretty unusual here. I am far from a photographer with my sad little phone camera, but the light sparkling on the frost was pretty amazing, wish I could have done it more justice.
There was even a bit of a moon to see. Sorry, not sure why this one is showing sideways.
So the reason we headed to the log dump today was not to mill up any logs, but rather to clean up some slabs that we had milled previously, but which had cracked or warped in the drying process. My slab storage area (AKA a small garage) is completely stuffed full and I can no longer afford the luxury of storing slabs that are less than perfect. So the plan was to cut out the good sections from larger slabs.
I didn't want to do it in my yard or in the lane as it would make too much of a mess and generate a lot of noise that would invite complaints from neighbours. So the log dump seemed like the obvious place. Here is about 75% of what we brought down. The large slab on the right in the first picture is catalpa, there are several more slabs stacked behind it. Most of what we cut up though was cherry. A few maples and other odds and ends.
After we were done the back of the Subaru was pretty full! The smaller pieces pack in with a lot more density than do a bunch of mismatched slabs. It took two cars to bring the slabs down, but only one to take the cut up pieces back.
Too much digital zoom in this next picture, but it shows a log drifting by the shore. Don't want to plow into this while you are waterskiing! Typically the logs in the dump are a combination of logs that float in like this one, and city trees from parks, boulevards, schools, etc that have come down for whatever reason.
Finally a picture of the light on the beach right beside us. The sun was shining through some trees on the crest of the hill behind us and left some interesting contrast with the light and shade. Can see some unfortunate haze in the background too. The rain will be welcome, it'll clear up the air in town and likely be snow up in the hills for the skiers and for the drinking reservoirs.
This has been the worst year by far for logs showing up at the log dump. There was a storm this August that was reported in the local paper as having taken down 500 trees in the city, and not a single one has showed up at the log dump! I am starting to think that our great run of ten years or so milling at the beach may be coming to a close.
