pine stumpage
I cut down a white pine that was 30" at the stump, and had fun doing it. But now comes the hard part. What the heck am I going to do with such a huge pine log? I already have a 4-year supply of hardwood firewood, so using it for firewood is out of the question. What are my options? Is there a way I can use this thing, or even make money off of it? I'm not sure if a sawmill will buy it since it had some very large branches, but I guess I should ask before "throwing it away."
Right now the best plan is to pull it into the woods with the tractor and let it rot. However I would like to be more creative than that. Any ideas??
Good morning Burroak,
About your white pine bonus
I would strong suggest that you invest invest in an alaskan mini mill or
locate someone with a portable band saw mill and do the following which will allow you to have fun and make money at the same time.
1. cut the log to what ever length the band saw mill can cradle safely-
with an Alaskan Mini mill it will not be an issue but will be a bit more
work as it is a system that will require tow folks using a helper handle.
2. Dimension the pine to four by four inches(actual) and then cut the four by
fours slightly longer than eight feet to acount for shrinkage.
3 dimension the four by fours to one by ones (actual size) and then stack them to dry out with a tarp and fan to push air through them using a box fan or two.
a. the bandsaw mill will allow you to do this safely and quickly.
4. The one by ones will be excellent kindling you can sell for fire starters dipping them in paraffin which will be wicked in to the wood fiber.
5. you could sell one foot by one foot blocks of soft wood kindling soaked in Paraffin.
6. cutting the one by ones to the one foot length or smaller with the band saw mill will be much safer than using a chain saw or circular saw.
With balance of the short log/blocks let you can make one by one stickers for drying the four by four blocks.