Thining a small stand of EASTERN hemlock

[goatchin]

From what I've read from yall from the PNW coastal areas, thining in hemlock stands is a "sin" because of the extreme blowdown potential after thining. As you noticed in the title I'm on the east coast with eastern hemlock. We (meaning my father and I-I'll be doing the felling) will be needing to get around 2,000bft of hemlock cut down and are having it milled by buddy w/ a portable mill. The wood is being used to rebuild doors on our dairy farm freestalls and othe odds and ends.

This stand about 3/4 acre of staight hemlock and the rest of the woodlot is hardwood and soft wood mix. we will be needing to select a few hemlock trees to meet the 2,000bft. from the straight hemlock area. There are a few trees that are 25"-28" DBH but im not sure how solid the centers are going to be. most are 20-24". I'm figuring that I'll need to drop at least 8 to make the "quota"-would my figuring be close? My question(s) are: Would i want to take the biggest trees and gamble that the centers will be ok?, or should i take one tree from a 15' or so radious then another from the next 15' radious circle?

Pics will follow of the stand in a day or two to give yall a better idea of what im talking about...when ever i get over to it after school and remember to bring the digital camera with me.

Thanks for any advice

 

[RPM]

Are there any conks on the trees? Western hemlock out here in BC is notorious for rot (we call it hem-rot). Basically if there are any conks on the stem figure that for approx. 3' above and below the conk there will be rot.

Another way to check is to bore with your saw into the butt of the tree and see what you get saw dust wise and whether or not you hit a big void - be careful bore cutting with the saw. Or you can go around with an axe and sound the bottom of the tree - give it a good wack and see what it sounds like. I wouldn't worry about hurting the tree by cutting into it with your saw. I do a lot of destructive sampling to see what a marginal tree will look like and how it will process out. We sample alot of western cedar and hemlock. If the butt is rotten you can always long butt the log until you hit sound wood. That is usually what we are after when we sample - how much of the butt log will we lose before we hit sound wood. 10-20' is not unusal in our hemlock cedar stands. I'd be tempted to take a big one just see...and if there was rot - long butt until I got a good sound piece.
Leave the younger thrifty stems for later and deal with the big lunkers before they all turn to junk.:greenchainsaw:

 

[goatchin]

RPM-that was one of my thoughts too b/c this stand hasnt been harvested in hell...30 or so years i'm guessing because i wasnt alive that long ago and there isnt a solid or rotten stump in the stand. I just have to be careful of how big of a tree i take out b/c our friends saw mill can only handle logs 28" and smaller...could be a PITA.

A little off topic but still dealing with this situation. The guy with the sawmill charges 55 cents/bft...is this a good price? we may do some swapping of lumber b/c i'm also having him mill up some windfallen but solid cherry and hard maple. he build furniture to sell. Just curious if yall think the 55 cents is a good/decent price

 

[hammerlogging]

Pretty fair price on the milling but careful on the trade, the cherry is worth a lot- $3/foot milled, maybe (check on this, I'm not in cherry country, or into lumber)

I've cut giant old growth eastern hemlock, standing dead hazard trees, and they were all solid, the ones with rot you could tell from the outside, ugly looking bark, and so forth. Go for the big ones, but consider if you're going to be able to move them or not, and maxing out the mill is not necessarily the most productive way to go.

 

[PA Plumber]

I would drop the larger trees first. Especially if there is sign of rot/damage and/or the existence of Wooley Adeldgid (sp).

I logged off about 12 acres of Eastern Hemlock over the last little while.

Very enjoyable trees to fell. Not very enjoyable trees to limb!

8 of the larger trees should be enough, if there is limited/no ring shake or rot.

Over all I do enjoy logging Hemlock. Wish it was a lot more profitable.

 

[goatchin]

yea i agree on limbing the suckers...seems they got more legs than a centipede has legs lol

okay thanks guys for the "guidance", i'll snatch up those that are close to and a bit smaller than the mills limit.

I might get the pictures on here for the hell of it in a day or two