A friend just moved into a new house in an older Columbus Ohio subdivision.

The property has 2 trees that she needs removed.
One is a 3-4' dia Shag bark Hickory and the other is an 4-5' dia oak.

She is going to pay a company to remove the trees unless I want the lumber
and I would have to get the trees out of there with little or no cost to
her, (and in a hurry too!)

My question is would it be better to contact a local lumber company and see
if they may want the lumber and work out a deal for my friend, or would it
be worth taking on the project myself and keep the lumber?

These trees are very close to the house (and neighboring houses) and I would
not feel comfortable cutting them down. Is the lumber from these trees
worth hiring the felling of the trees and getting someone with a portable
sawmill there to cut it up?

Thanks.
Rick

rcox at sandsdecker dot com

Rick,
You need to get someone who knows wood very well to come out and look
at the trees. They can then tell you if it is worth the effort. If you
can find a local mill, they may be interested. DON'T try to take them
down by your self unless you are a professional logger. If the wood
isn't good for lumber, it may still be good for turning. Find the local
woodturners club. We then to be like flys on manure when it comes to
downed trees. Unfortunately, you are too far away for me to get there.
robo hippy

Rick Cox wrote:
A friend just moved into a new house in an older Columbus Ohio subdivision.

The property has 2 trees that she needs removed.
One is a 3-4' dia Shag bark Hickory and the other is an 4-5' dia oak.

...
These trees are very close to the house (and neighboring houses) and I would
not feel comfortable cutting them down. Is the lumber from these trees
worth hiring the felling of the trees and getting someone with a portable
sawmill there to cut it up?


Unless the trees are rotten inside (not uncommon) or have too many
branches too low on the trunks, or some other problem the answer is
certainly yes. Those trees are big enough to yield useful cabinet
lumber. Many sawyers hesitate to process Urban trees because of
the high rate of foreign inclusions (nails, tacks, bullets etc) in
them.

One fellow here on rec.woodorking found a fellow with a portable
bandsaw who was happy to saw his trees and split the wood with
him so long as the tree owner agreed to pay for any broken bandsaw
blades. As it was, none were broken.

One of the protable bandsaw companies mainains a directory of people
who do that. A portable bandsawyer in your area may also be competent
(and bonded!) to fell trees or know someone who is.

--

FF

Rick,

I recently harvested 3 white oak trees from my church's property. They were
coming down due to a building expansion. The trees were 15-18" in diameter
and 12 to 18 feet of useful trunk and free. The contractor knocked them
down for free. A buddy with a tilt bed flat bed hauled them to the sawyer
for free. The sawyer charged 80 cents a board foot to cut them up. I had
it all cut to 4/4. I ended up with over 400BF of white oak, mostly clear, a
few knots on the upper section, for $325 to the sawyer. I hauled it home in
my pickup. I do have to let it air dry for a year. So, IMO, it is worth it
to harvest desirable trees. As another poster mentioned, there is a network
of sawyers that will bring the sawmill on site. I think Wood Miser has such
a directory on their website. I've heard that hickory checks very easily,
so you might check that out before taking that tree. I sealed the ends of
my oak with Green Wood Sealer from Woodcraft. A quart bottle for under ten
bucks did all of the white oak plus another 100 BF of black walnut that was
given to me a while back.

Good luck!

Bob


]
"Rick Cox" wrote in message
. ..
A friend just moved into a new house in an older Columbus Ohio subdivision.

The property has 2 trees that she needs removed.
One is a 3-4' dia Shag bark Hickory and the other is an 4-5' dia oak.

She is going to pay a company to remove the trees unless I want the lumber
and I would have to get the trees out of there with little or no cost to
her, (and in a hurry too!)

My question is would it be better to contact a local lumber company and
see if they may want the lumber and work out a deal for my friend, or
would it be worth taking on the project myself and keep the lumber?

These trees are very close to the house (and neighboring houses) and I
would not feel comfortable cutting them down. Is the lumber from these
trees worth hiring the felling of the trees and getting someone with a
portable sawmill there to cut it up?

Thanks.
Rick

rcox at sandsdecker dot com

Personally, I would want some of it milled at 8/4. This is the stock
that I use for table legs.
robo hippy

Rick Cox wrote:
She is going to pay a company to remove the trees unless I want the lumber
and I would have to get the trees out of there with little or no cost to
her, (and in a hurry too!)


It would probably be worthwhile if she'd still pay to get the trees cut
down.
It's going to be very expensive to get those cut down.

Keep in mind, you'll need a lot of space to stack and sticker them to
airdry, unless the guy with the woodmizer has a kiln or knows someone
with one (again, this is kind of expensive).

But if all you have to do is pay the Woodmizer guy, and you're willing
to let it air dry, and you're willing to accept the fact that it won't
all be FAS grade hardwood, it's worth a shot. I'd recommend having the
guy cut the wood extra thick, as it will shrink as it dries. If you
want 4/4, have him cut it thicker than 1 inch, just to be safe (allow
for bowing, etc as it dries too).