Cut down a tree for the sake of having stock

Doug Jones

Member
Messages
224
Location
Indiana
When you are like me or another guy if you need a tree you just go cut one. If you want it spalted you just leave it out for awhile. If you want a burl you just look a little harder.I don't have the acreage another guy does but I have axes to a far amount of land to cut on.:thumb:

Saw this quote in another thread, do any of you cut down perfectly good trees just for the sake of turning stock?:eek:

When and if I need wood, I always look for trees already down.:clap:
 
Hmmm ... I can't see myself cutting down a "not-dying" tree just for turning stock, but maybe there's more to this than he posted? Maybe he and his friend are doing harvesting anyway and are milling for lumber as well as for turning stock? I could see myself doing that too if I was managing a woodlot.

cheers eh?
 
I'd not cut down a tree in the yard that provides shade and or a place for songbirds etc, but on a woodlot, yeah, why not :dunno:

Trees are a crop, just like wheat or corn, so when the tree is growing well, and of the right size, why not cut it down, and why not for turning stock, I mean they cut down trees and mill them for lumber.......... and that gets used in FLATWORK :eek::eek:

:D :wave:

A tree in a yard, is not a "crop" to be harvested, but if that tree were brought down by disease or a storm, certainly using it to make turning stock is better than it ending up in a landfill, trees on tree lots are there to be harvested.

Cheers!:)
 
Really depends on where the tree is growing.

You can't cut tree down just for turning if it's growing in a city or a populated urban area.

But if you live in a rural area or a densely wooded area it's really not a big deal.

Like Stu said, where do you think lumber for flat work comes from?


I was watching a show on PBS the other night about trees that are used as crops. They where showing Australian Eucalyptus trees that take 6 years to grow to a height of 100 ft and 12" diameter. These trees where harvested for making paper
 
I agree. I don't cut tree just anywhere. I have the use of my dads farm which has a lot of pasture area. Only problem is it is probably 70% cottonwood and 25% ash with some hackberry thrown in. But I do go get me a tree once in a while. The tree is not wasted because my BIL takes the rest for firewood. So it is not wasted at all.
 
I would be the author of that quote. And the answer is yes I have cut down a fine specimen of a tree just to get the burl. Some times the rest ends up in the stove other times it ends up as ant food and squirrel houses. The ants end up as bird food, the bird ends up as fox food and so on.
Lets not forget that every December thousands of trees end up as a temporary decoration just to be pitched in the trash a week or two later.
 
I would be the author of that quote. And the answer is yes I have cut down a fine specimen of a tree just to get the burl. Some times the rest ends up in the stove other times it ends up as ant food and squirrel houses. The ants end up as bird food, the bird ends up as fox food and so on.
Lets not forget that every December thousands of trees end up as a temporary decoration just to be pitched in the trash a week or two later.


:) I know a couple of forums that would go ballistic if they read this
 
You are right Ron. It reminds me of people who get all upset because animals are killed for food.

I live on 400 acres much of which is woods. I wouldn't hesitate to cut a tree down if I needed the wood.
 
The wood I scrounge is all from trees down from one reason or another. But, I would harvest from a wood lot for a desirable tree. As stated, wood is a renewable resource. Plus, often cutting one tree opens the area to sunlight that promotes faster growth on surrounding trees. I'll be cutting down four Dogwoods soon where the space is needed for a parking lot. If I hadn't asked for them, they would have ended up on a brush pile and burned.
 
I get all upset when the local utility companies put felled trees in the tree chipper instead of asking me or Ned if we want to come harvest them. Does that make me like those other felled tree upset people? :rofl:

Felling a tree on your own land (or with the property owners permission) isn't really any different than hunting. I guess it sort of makes sense that people who get upset at the one get upset at the other.
 
Lets not forget that every December thousands of trees end up as a temporary decoration just to be pitched in the trash a week or two later.

I agree with you that its kind of a silly tradition. I went for years without a Christmas Tree, but now that we have a baby, the wife insists we get one, so I do. I merely go out in the woods and cut one down.

Generally I don't have an issue with Christmas Trees because they are a harvested crop, no different then corn, or wheat. They are grown for a specific purpose, their life span is short,and the crop rotation is short, well for a tree anyway at less then 10 years. At the same time the land is dedicated to Christmas tree plantations so its not like millions of inmature trees are being harvested before they grown.

Chuck brings up something that is a problem with any forestry aspect though, and that is the one size all approach to forestry. I do not grow Christmas trees, but I do grow High Bred Hackmatack. This is a wood that is similar to Christmas Trees in that it is grown in plantations, is a short-lived tree that does not get very big, and is destined to be paper and not a sawlog.

Hackmatack and Christmas trees are more like corn, you grow them for a specific purpose, then you harvest them,all of them in one big fell swoop (clear cutting) and then plant more. Some trees are more like cattle in that you let some grow to maturity, the undesirable ones you weed out at a young age,and the selection process is ongoing and just that; selective.
 
I get all upset when the local utility companies put felled trees in the tree chipper instead of asking me or Ned if we want to come harvest them.

The problem is that those workers have to get the work done and get out of the area. People who say they want the wood sometimes don't show up when the crew calls them.

There's a woman around here who prepares wood for turners and she has established contacts with the crews. But when they call, she has to go. They won't wait or leave the wood on the side of the road.

And you have to be willing to take it on a continuing basis - not just a one time thing. If you're willing to meet all those conditions, they'll generally be happy to work with you. A small gift for them every now and then doesn't hurt either.

Mike

[They won't let you cut the trees down because of liability issues. Suppose you cut a tree down and took down one of the electric wires in the process, or dropped the tree across the road. No, they cut the trees down but are happy to give the wood away.]
 
Last edited:
All kidding aside, Mike hit it right on the head. They just don't have the time to wait. Where I live the Right-of-Way people get paid a bonus for x amount of feet cleared per day. Its easier and faster to chip it and move on.

I would think these people are doing you a favor anyway, trees along the sides of roads make terrible lumber. Where I live, which is where they lay down sand for traction on the ice and snow, that sand get driven into the bark of the trees. As they grow, that sand gets embedded in the wood and will dull chainsaws and turning tools quickly.

Even if you don't live in the land of the ice and snow, dust along the roads gets driven into the bark and the tree grows up around that with less intense, but the same dulling results.

I have said this a million times. Not all trees are destined to be turned into a woodworking project. Sometimes they are just meant to be firewood, made into paper, or even ground up into mulch. Every time the power company comes by to ask permission to cut back the right of way, my answer is simple.

"If you cut off some limbs, you minds well cut it at the stump and get rid of it. At the same time point your chipper out in the woods and blow the chips just as far out there as you can get...the chips are good for the soil. And if other landowners don't want the chips on their land, I'll take all the chips you can give me." (I use the chips for mulch around my flower gardens)

And their response is always the same too. "We wish all landowners were like you."
 
It is funny how things work Travis. When the power company came around here to trim. The guy came up to the house all nervous like. I asked him what I could do for him? He says I with the tree company and we are trimming on this road. I need to have your permission to take some limbs off your trees. I said show me what you are doing. So he did. Made him walk the whole road front of my piece.Then I said to him looks to me like you need to just start here and trim them all at the stump. He had the biggest look of relief on his face. Got them to clear cut a 40 foot wide by 365 foot patch of brush for free:rofl:
Saved me the trouble and the chain saw gas. They even came in with a crane to take a 110 foot pine down. By the time they where done I had the spot for my shop cleared. and about an extra half acer of pasture.:thumb:
 
Interesting thread.. I see no problem with harvesting a tree for the wood in the right situation.. as has been said, they will grow back. I hate to see trees just pushed off into piles and burned just to clear the land.

As for the Christmas tree, I went to the artificial tree years ago. We have a brand new one still in it's original box and still sealed that's about 2 years old...
Since it just the two of us now, we don't put up a tree most years... I just decorate the outside of the house and hang decorations in the trees in the front yard.
 
Folks,

There are trees and there are trees. If you're talking about Southern Pines in SC, they're a dime a dozen. Poplar trees in VA are relatively short lived, grow fast, and constitute a cash crop situation. Personally, I try not to kill any living thing. but I also try not to take that to extremes. If I'm protecting my country, family, friends and self, I have no problem taking a life, be it that of a poisonous snake close by, a rabid animal or dangerous biped (I'll let you figure that last one out). If I'm trying to protect a house, promote growth or prevent an accident, I use a chainsaw with no hesitation. By the same token, I recognize that culling deer and varmints is generally good for the species, but I have a problem with the killing of disappearing species. Many of my friends are hunters and use the meat for food. That's fine, but as for cutting down a tree for ornamental purposes, such as turning a bowl etc., I let nature or urban renewal do the work . Wind, lightening, insects and old age provide me with more than enough to turn. Rare trees from the rain forests, I think, should not be cut down for any reason. Their disappearance will harm us all. My two cents.
 
I used to work as a forest sawyer. I have a good friend who was going to have his 40 acres logged and he asked me to look over the bid. After giving him some advice he was able to more than double the bids for his trees. When I wanted to turn some cherry I mentioned the idea to him and he took me out in the woods and pointed to a nice veneer cherry and said "take that one".:D I schooled him some more about the value of wood and we went and found a twisted, diseased cherry to cull. I now have a dozen or so full stick hard maples spalting in his woods. He cut them down for firewood but doesn't like messing with the stuff you have to split so he just trims off the top and leaves the main trunk. :D:rofl: Theres also a couple of beech trunks ageing for proper spalt. I'm thinking about actually gathering all these trees in one spot and putting them up on blocks so that the spalting is more uniform in the trunk. I might have to think about getting anchorseal in 55 gal. drums........
 
Top