Urban logging. Anyone do it?

[Tree Machine]

This little table was pure accident. I had a waste piece, turned it cut side up and fitted it on waste chunk. Yea, oops.

Isn't it marvelous what nature can do?

Eden, are you out there? I've got a special little table that will bring tears to your eyes.

 

[Tree Machine]

I'm not sure if this image came out OK.

 

[Bermie]

I've got two coconut palms to remove as soon as the wind drops...they are in the back garden of the Historical Society (300 yr old house, and 200 yr old ones nearby...40lb nuts over the roof, electric pole guy wire...yadayada)

I suggested I make a bench for them out of the stumps...see the influence!

 

[Tree Machine]

I've got another picture here somewhere..... oh yea, there was about 4 minutes of sunshine this month, as soon as the sun came out I grabbed Eden's table and ran outside with it.

 

[talltreeclimber]

Heres a pic of cedar logs in the back of my urban log truck. Pretty funny. They are going to make some nice boards..... Mike

Thats a nice truck in the top right corner

 

[Mikecutstrees]

Thats a nice truck in the top right corner

Its prone to breaking down 20' out of the driveway. Tows behind an F-450 nice though.... haha J/K

 

[talltreeclimber]

Its prone to breaking down 20' out of the driveway. Tows behind an F-450 nice though.... haha J/K

oooooOOHHHHHhhhhhhh thats low... friggen plastic pullys at least it wasnt towed behind a ranger. hahaha

 

[EdenT]

Eden, are you out there? I've got a special little table that will bring tears to your eyes.

Man it did!!!

You are a craftsman of the first order. I LOVE YOUR WORK!:love1:

I had a go at making one of your benches on the last job we did. Sadly I didn't have my camera. Happily the customer loved it and took pictures. I will send you one when she sends it to me. It's nowhere near as good as anything you do, yet. But as I said in my note, your work is inspiring and I am planning to practice whenever I can.

:yourock::yourock::yourock::yourock::yourock:

 

[EdenT]

Dang it!

I can't rep Tree Machine for a while yet. Could someone please give him a fix of the green for me. I will rep you back....Thanks.

 

[Tree Machine]

No repping necessary. I'm still sort of unclear what the whole rep thing is about. I assume it's good, but can I trade in rep points for cash and prizes?

Here's my wreck of a back porch. This is really sad. There's a beautiful piece of oak crotchwood laying face-down, half buried in the snow. Just above that a couple pieces of vertical grain oak, weathered and abused and in the way of things, and then to the left, a little bench. Let me pull a couple pictures of that. It's an interesting piece I threw together with scrap chunks.

 

[EdenT]

I know this will be good!!!

 

[Tree Machine]

I had a woodworker friend one day telling me how complicated dovetail work was, and mortise and tenon work and how specialized the tools were and how long it took to do this kind of work.

I took him out back, got three chunks of big-dimension scrap and a chainsaw. It took longer to lay out the lines than to cut and fit the thing, about 6 minutes once the materials were there.

I was trying to express a point that it wasn't as complicated as he was making it out to be. Afterwards, I really took a liking to the piece.

 

[Tree Machine]

The difficult, messy and time-consuming parts are the surfacing and finishing, which clearly I skip over those parts.

 

[Tree Machine]

See, here's how a mortise and tenon are done.
Carve out the tenon portion, leaving it extra long. Cut the very end of the tenon off. Lay that piece on the surface, trace it with a pencil and cut it out.
It requires a little steadiness in doing the plunge with the tip of the chainsaw, care and attention to kickback.

 

[John Paul Sanborn]

I cabinet grade woodworking it is very difficult to do high-end joinery.

There is a slight difference betwixed your timber bench and this guitar amp case. (not mine! random search)

Not to beat down on what you did, I just think you are selling the trades short.

BTW have you done any more of that style? Have you seen any failures of the mortise along the grain?

 

[Tree Machine]

Not to beat down on what you did, I just think you are selling the trades short.

Not selling anything, but I know what you mean.

I can produce high-end stuff, but the fact of the matter is, I am an arborist. If I wanted to be a cabinet maker, furniture builder or instrument maker, then I would be that and wouldn't be an Arborist.

I tend to construct things that an Arborist would conveniently be able to do, outside of a studio, usually onsite. And always of bigger stock, wood you can't stuff through a planer.

Back in '92 I moved to Costa Rica for a year. My purpose was to learn the Spanish language and to look up this legendary guy, a famous woodworker. I was willing to volunteer, sweep the shop, do whatever to learn some of the craft which I was lacking. I found him, he interviewed me and offered an unpaid apprenticeship, which to me was gold. I have been working with wood since childhood, my Dad was a building contractor and my Grandfather a carpenter. I could speak the language of woods and tools with a good sense of depth, so that's why I was taken on.

6 months of intensive learning, my main focus was joinery, the entire dovetail series and other joint styles, but dovetailing is what they did really well. Surfacing, sanding and finishing to 1200 grit, a high-polish luster on some of the world's finest hardwoods. I picked up a lot on bowlturning, but that really wasn't my interest. High-precision, high-end works of art were what my focus and intent were all about. Here's Barry's website for any who want to see what an incredible opportunity I was able to experience.

 

[Tree Machine]

So I am very clear what it takes to 'not sell the trades short'.


This is why I've asked the readership if anyone knows a way to surface the rough-cut lumber, onsite and in the field. That would change things. Surfacing is the hardest part on big surfaces. If I spend more than a few minutes on this aspect, it interferes with making a living. So, it's a rare instance where I pull out the belt sander because that means assuming unemployment for the time.

My wife has asthma, so creating sawdust here at home is frowned upon.

Here's a piece I actually sanded, it was a Lucas-milled piece of bur oak, I have kept it around for almost 10 years and finally decided one day to do something with it. Since it was fairly smooth already, I went at it with 36 grit to get the saw marks out of it and increase the tolerance of the sliding stop-dovetail. Then I smoothed the ends and made it a little nicer. Last part of the day, trying to use non-tree time.

On this one I chose to use a flaring buttress, split in half and each half turned upside down. I'll post a couple more pictures later, but right now, I gotta go out and be an arborist.

 

[John Paul Sanborn]

I bet he had to sharpen his tools a few times on this Lignum vitae. Spec. Gravity of +1 it is some hard stuff! When i lived with my parents after getting out of the USMC I had a little turning shop in the garage. I love hollow-form work, I wish i had room here.

 

[EdenT]

Great thread! Keep those pics coming.

JPS, the stuff you have shown is high quality, and beautifully finished and I expect very time intensive. What I like about TM's stuff is it is quick, rough and ready. While it is not as precise as the products you have shown it has it's own rustic appeal and a utilitarian focus that appeals to me greatly. It's also a great way to do something in the field with a piece of wood that might otherwise be destined for the chipper. It is reminiscent to me of old log cabins and camping grounds with 'log furniture'. I also dig the fact that if a HO is having a tree they love removed for some other reason (safety) you can quickly make them a keepsake (which also keeps the carbon sequestered for longer).

Unlike you guys I was never that good at woodworking. At school trying to use a wood plane my greatest achievement was staining pine crimson by taking the end of my thumb off (boy that took a long time to heal). Probably fortunately I was never allowed near a wood lathe. The Lignum vitae vase you have pictured is truly a reflection of natures wonder and beauty.

Just on a side note, when I was young I once took a circular saw to an old dried out Acacia root (just to see what was inside). Insanely dangerous I realize now, but the grain once uncovered was just amazing. I sanded it back and put a couple of coats of lacquer on it. It sat on my Dad's mantelpiece for about ten years. (I think he kept it because it was the first bit of woodwork I had produced without requiring a trip to the ER). Well worth carving up roots if you happen to get a large one.

 

[John Paul Sanborn]

That Ironwood thimble-vase is off his buddy's site, not my work.

All my pic's are too big, and i lack the software to resize.

As I said, I was not trying to bust on his work, then he clarified that he does know how to do fine work to...