Urban logging. Anyone do it?

[TreeTarget]

Very cool Bermie. It truly looks like paradise where you live.

Also enjoyed the article on Sam Maloof Beast. It's hard to imagine the amount knowledge lost when a craftsman such as Sam Maloof passes on. In the mass production society we live in today, does anyone even do mortise and tenion joints anymore? I've been reading Clifford Ashly's Book of Knots recently and have often thought of all the knowledge that is lost with modern advancements and when one generation is replaced by another. Even as younger climbers and newer tools and techniques replace older, I wonder if there will even be a place for old school climbers in the future. Kind of reminds me of a lyric in an old ELO tune...

"You're sailing softly through the sun
in a broken stone age dawn.
You fly so high".

I have had a problem with that myself, for a very long time. From quite a few years ago, I felt an urge to leave things behind. I am still stuck to my computer to learn at a pace that I never imagined before...but I have disliked and distruste technology more, the more I learned about it and used it.

I spent very little for my bow at a pawn shop, spent even less to have it modified, shot better than I would have ever dreamed I could...and basically gave it away. I want a bow I make...a long bow, or daiku.
Same has happened with tools. I HAVE to use power saws (I don't have the lifespan for continuous sawing, and I don't have access to a waterwheel).

But otherwise, I prefer the hammer and chisel, the gouge, the rasp and the blades of the draw, pear and pocket knives. Mortise and tenon joints are solid, functional and quite secure when applied properly. I can't think of another way I would prefer, and when you craft a piece that will be around for (hopefully) ages, you know it isn't coming from X-Mart or Hunan Province.

And speaking about tools...In the last year, I have been making my own. Not much more than a monkey with a stick compared with a fully functional machine shop...but I am not ashamed of the outcomes. Some were lessons not to do it that way again, but most are turning out to be surprising successes.
He's not lost...S. made something of his good work, and that will be here long after long after our worries are gone.
Just remember to do your duty and pass on what you know...

 

[Groundman One]

I know theres a milling forum, But I'm wondering if any tree service owners harvest the lumber from take downs.

We keep all the firewood we can, obviously, and we have a guy with a nice little trailer mounted clam and since last year he's been picking up a lot of our stuff. He'll take pieces as small as 8" across and about 8' long. The biggest he can handle is about 2'x20', depending on the wood. He never pays for it, but it saves us from bucking it up, loading it, taking it to the yard, dumping it, letting it take up space while it rots of burning it, so it's a good deal for both of us.

Sometimes he gets some really nice pieces (pine or spruce usually), but we don't charge him for them, in exchange he'll load up some stuff we want to keep and drop it off at our yard for us. Real time saver.

 

[tree md]

A little recycling

A little recycling that my friends are doing. I do the tree work on their property but brought these large rounds in from another job. They use their property to host weddings for a side business. Pretty cool little venture IMO.

Anyway, the have requested all the large rounds and pieces that no one wants for firewood. Kind of convenient for me because no one wants the really big rounds and I either have to split it or travel to dump it. They live right up the road so it is very convenient for me to just drop it up there for them.

Here are some of their creations. The grass runway with the decorated logs is where the bride and groom enter:

 

[Tree Machine]

Excellent examples, MD.

 

[John Paul Sanborn]

Larry, how deep are those rounds? I've done it a few times and find they do not last if just cookies.

 

[tree md]

John, they are 6-8 inches. The pics are a little deceiving, the cookies at the bottom are nearly 3' in diameter. I had originally cut them in right at 1 foot lengths to roll out and load. He called me back up there to cut them in half again for him because he was having trouble burying them deep enough to make them even. He stained and lacquered them that day after I took the pics which should help a little with longevity. Don't matter how long they last to me though... I'll make more.