river wood

Frank Fusco

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Mountain Home, Arkansas
I caught a bit of a TV show about loggers in Louisiana. These guys used boats on a river and jumped in (with the alligators and cottonmouths :eek: ) to find old logs. They then chained them and dragged to shore for shipping and sale. The show said these had been logged about 100 years ago but never made it down river for retrieval. The show did not say what kind of wood they were but did state they were in perfect condition because of lack of oxygen in the mud. The logger bragged that some of the eight foot logs were worth as much as $900.00 each. Now, I have thought that part of the country only had cypress, pine, a few tulip and not much more. What kind of wood do y'all think it might have been to be so valuable??? :huh:
 
I have watched that logger show once or twice but they are a bit mellowdramatic for me. They also have a very expensive wood oak that they dig from the Bogs in England & Ireland a Black Oak that are over a couple hundred years old.

The sunken logs absorb the minerals in the water and develop loverly characteristics that are prized by some WWers.

As for the type trees in the south, They have a large variety of woods from Pecan to Cypris, Oaks, Live Oak, Magnolia, Pines, Poplars and so forth. But I think the value is not so much the species as it is the effect of being submerged in the mire and the changes in texture and color that is so valuable.
 
I worked for a couple of years clearing log jams from some local streams. I about cried a few times when I had to cut up some really nice logs we found. One maple had awesome color. I plotted for a week or 2 trying to figure out how to get that log to a sawmill. In the end it got sawed into blocks and washed down stream. Those blocks were so heavy I couldn't even pick one up. Would have made some dandy bowls.
 
........ The logger bragged that some of the eight foot logs were worth as much as $900.00 each. Now, I have thought that part of the country only had cypress, pine, a few tulip and not much more. What kind of wood do y'all think it might have been to be so valuable??? :huh:

The only thing I can think of is 'sinker' cypress. It is the cypress logs that sank. They are dark in color, but I dont find cypress particularly attractive. Sinker Cypress sometimes goes for as much as $6.00/Bd Ft. I suppose if a log was large enough in diameter, it could be worth $900.00.
Generally cypress is fairly inexpensive in La. but not very desirable outside of La.
It is very light weight, holds screws very well, holds up to weather very well when bent it holds the new shape fairly well and that is why it was desirable for the old wooden shrimp boats. I still make furniture out of it from time to time - almost exclusively for Ex-Louisiana people.
 
Some people believe that no more than 60% of all the logs that were commercially harvested in the 19th Century and "floated out" actually made it to the mills. The balance sank in rivers. I also read that more than a million "harvestable" logs are lying on the bottom of the harbor outside Duluth, MN/Superior, WI. I know that some of the rivers in Michigan's upper peninsula have many logs on the bottom, as they can be seen in the summer/fall when the water is low. I've thought about trying to bring one up and have it sawn into lumber. However, I understand that a vacuum kiln is necessary to properly dry the wood, and I don't know where one is located.

I'm sure any area that was once covered with timber has old logs at the bottom of the rivers.
 
Have to wonder :huh: how long wood will last in an oxygen deprived water environment.
When I belonged to the JCs many (make that many-many) years ago, we had a member who scuba dived in the Great Lakes for a hobby. One year he and some friends discovered an old ship wreck somewhere off Wisconsin. It was loaded with white oak timbers, some as long as 40'. They had been submerged for a century or more. He quit his job as a successful engineer and salvaged the timbers for resale to be used in expensive furniture.
 
I love watchin those shows, and I would love to have some of that wood - BUT.

Man, that is too rich for my blood.

I am still at a stage whereas I am amased by the woods that are within my wallet. I just don't need the fanfare of some 500 year old English Bog wood with tight growth rings that nobody will notice anyway.

Whew, my American Walnut, really turns me on.
 
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