Free white pines to mill

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sctstoys72

sctstoys72

ArboristSite Member
Joined
Mar 11, 2008
Messages
96
Location
cordova KY
a guy practically gave me a stand of pines on his property,haven't seen them yet, he says some are down,but alot standing, he thinks there white pine.Question is what should i watch out for? Laws, ect. there in ohio,i'm in KY about 50 mi away. I have a trailer W/winch and a bandsaw that will saw 26 ft there is a bunch of big nice trees 12" or bigger. Any advice
 
dallasm1

dallasm1

ArboristSite Operative
Joined
Apr 16, 2008
Messages
150
Location
Point Roberts, WA
I don't know of any laws that would be a problem (maybe exceeding the weight restrictions or your trailer?), however logistically I find the biggest problems in getting the wood to the trailer, onto the trailer, and then off of the trailer again. Sometimes I am fortunate and there is an excavator on site that can place the logs onto my trailer but there are problems with that as well. My trailer (a tandem axle car style) isn't built for logs, so the fenders are very flimsy and they are taking quite a beating. I make sure I put 4 or 5 bunks (4x6, or 6x6) across the width of the trailer to distribute the weight across the frame. As far as getting the logs onto the trailer, there are some good threads on AS if you search "Pulling wood out of the bush" and similar phrases you will see a lot of information. What size are the logs that you will be loading? Oh, I see, 12in. Those are big logs. I just loaded some similar size cedar, 12 to 30 inch, and I had to skid them off the trailer.
 
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Backwoods

Backwoods

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Joined
May 18, 2008
Messages
448
Location
Camas Valley Oregon
In a case like yours I like to mill the logs on site and leave the tailings, it will take fewer trips to take the mill there and get the lumber home then it will bringing whole logs home. Just put together a full cut list of all the sizes that you think you may need and cut plenty of each size. If you are not sure how you may use the wood then cut beams that are common sizes of wood that you can mill it down to later. A 6x12 can be milled into 1x6-2x6-4x6 or 1x12-2x12 as well as other multiples that you may have a use for later.
 
Sawyer Rob

Sawyer Rob

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Dec 25, 2005
Messages
4,229
Location
Midwest
The biggest problem i've seen with milling FREE logs on site is, when the guy that gave them to you see's the lumber pileing up, he soons gets annoyed that he "gave them away". Folks give logs away because they have no value to them, but when they see the "lumber", all of a sudden they start seeing $$$ and they get upset! They NEVER see what it takes to get the FREE logs to turn into that pile of lumber though...

Rob
 
olyman
Joined
Jul 29, 2006
Messages
26,895
Location
iowa
The biggest problem i've seen with milling FREE logs on site is, when the guy that gave them to you see's the lumber pileing up, he soons gets annoyed that he "gave them away". Folks give logs away because they have no value to them, but when they see the "lumber", all of a sudden they start seeing $$$ and they get upset! They NEVER see what it takes to get the FREE logs to turn into that pile of lumber though...

Rob

got that 1000% right--same with a big cottonwood im going to wack up--good as pine for sheeting on the roof--no one wanted it---38 dbh--and straight up over 40 feet---sawyer--"gave them away"--yup--lets see--csm or bandsaw--trailer,pickup,fuel,chainsaws and support things,time--yup--"free"
 
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sctstoys72

sctstoys72

ArboristSite Member
Joined
Mar 11, 2008
Messages
96
Location
cordova KY
Yeah,i'm not going to push my luck, going to haul the whole logs,need to figure a way to use the 8000lbs winch on the front of the trailer to get them on there. he says theres 45,50 trees some 100ft tall.
 
sctstoys72

sctstoys72

ArboristSite Member
Joined
Mar 11, 2008
Messages
96
Location
cordova KY
how would you rig this,i have a set of tongs and a smooth ramp made from wide channel, thought maybe could pull up the ramp,but would get harder as the trailer gets full?
 
Marklambert61

Marklambert61

ArboristSite Operative
Joined
Nov 30, 2007
Messages
194
Location
Michigan
free logs

You should mill them to cants on-site saves a lot of trailer space and get rid of the bark the bugs love so much.

Milling cants later at your own pace is fast work....Sweet!

Good luck
Mark
 

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