Those were the days!

[Scott Loven]

Now this (http://images.google.com/hosted/life/f?q=lumber+source:life&prev=/images%3Fq%3Dlumber%2Bsource:life%26start%3D20%26n dsp%3D20%26hl%3Den%26sa%3DN&imgurl=61c8fc0a6ae32376) is a pile of lumber
Here (http://images.google.com/hosted/life/f?q=lumber+source:life&prev=/images%3Fq%3Dlumber%2Bsource:life%26start%3D40%26n dsp%3D20%26hl%3Den%26sa%3DN&imgurl=b56ede74f06de72e)is another
Any one know why the start the cut (http://images.google.com/hosted/life/f?q=lumber+source:life&prev=/images%3Fq%3Dlumber%2Bsource:life%26start%3D140%26 ndsp%3D20%26hl%3Den%26sa%3DN&imgurl=0ad3b4a0b5fb0e64) so high off of the ground?

Scott

[Russ Sears]

I clicked on the "more details" link. It's from 1939 and is at the Seattle Cedar Lumber Manufacturing company. So I guess that's, um, cedar. Bet it smelled wonderfully.

[Dell Littlefield]

Take a look at the length of the saw. They needed to get high to be able to get a good movement of the saw. Additionally, if it was cut lower, there would be more problems in stacking, sawing or handling the bottom log, not to mention the wasted slabs. With all the wood available in those days, it was probably not considered worth the trouble to cut it lower.

[george wilson]

In Western Va.,during WWII,the government came in and cut down a forest of walnut trees. They took only the tall stumps for rifle stocks,and left the rest to rot.

Another story,and I knew the old guy: He worked in a shipyard in WWII. The marine Architect got it backwards,and thet placed the 12"X12" ash beams that made up the deck lengthwise on the deck,instead of crosswise. Any fool new better. They were made so strip it all off,and saw up the timbers into short pieces and burn it. No one was allowed to keep any. The workers hated doing that,so wasteful.

[Bruce Benjamin]

"...That looks like the board I want right down...There! Do you mind if I sort through this stack if I promise to restack it when I'm done?" ;):D This would be a Home Depot lumber dept. employee's worst nightmare.:eek:

Bruce

[Tim Cross]

That is a large Sitka Spruce tree that the two fallers are working on. They are working from the springboards so they can get above the bell shape of the bottom of the trunk. Where I live on Vancouver Island there are still plenty of stumps with the springboard notches still in them. What a great picture. My hats off to the woodworkers of previous generations.

[Fred Belknap]

That is hard work. When I was a boy, my brother and I helped our dad cut cross tie log. He had a Karo syrup bottle with I think kerosene in it to lubricate the saw. We used wedges to maintain the kerf and to force the tree to fall where we wanted. I still have the old crosscuts hanging out in a shed just rusting up. Makes one appreciate a chainsaw.

[Art Kelly]

The lower part of the trunk of a tree is the "butt" and was often not harvested because the timber is inferior. I read somewhere that the butt contains a lot of sap.

See http://www.wisconsinhistory.org/dictionary/index.asp?action=view&term_id=9533&term_type_id=3&term_type_text=things&letter=b

[John Bush]

The area we live in was old growth cedar ground and was harvested in the early 1900's. We have several stumps that are 6-8' in diameter with new cedar trees growing out of them that are 2-3' in diameter as well. Nice lawn art!!

[Scott Loven]

Here are two interesting picture (http://images.wisconsinhistory.org/700008010032/0801000405-l.jpg)s of a log sled (p://images.wisconsinhistory.org/700008010032/0801000404-l.jpg)
How they did it (http://images.wisconsinhistory.org/700003030026/0303000568-l.jpg).

[David Keller NC]

Rather amazing to see the attitudes toward safety that were prevalent in those days. I wouldn't want to be the guy standing on the logs in the air.

Another story of the mindset during WWII - Key Largo had a very large forest of cuban Mahogany trees - the whole island was clear-cut to make the ply for PT boats. After the war, a large fraction of these PT boats were used for target practice or simply sunk; the Federal government didn't want a huge amount of war surplus material flooding the market and causing a large recession.

[Jim Kountz]

Man those pictures are like porn for woodworkers!! Talk about a gloat!! If SMC existed back then a post would have went something like this:
Hey guys, is this a gloat? I scored a few board feet of lumber this weekend and hauled it home on my wagon. I got it for $.25 a board ft!! Good??

[Tom Walz]

Second for Mr. Littlefield

The butt swell makes it much harder to handle the cut log. Once the tree is down it is bucked into 16, 18, 20, etc foot length depending on the optimum yield. If you think about how logs are cut in a mill then imagine slicing boards off a stump that is 12 feet long with the kind of taper stumps have. The fixturing would be very difficult and there would be a lot of passes through the saw before you got full length boards.

You would also need a much bigger saw to get very little more lumber.

At a guess harvesting down to the ground would yield maybe 1% more of very expensive lumber.

As to where to cut. If you look you will see that the tree shape sort of “breaks” where they are cutting. The outline of the tree is a parabolic curve up to that point. After the cutting point the tree is more of a straight taper.

Tom

[Anthony Whitesell]

Tom and Art have the combination of correct answers per The Learning Channel. The sap that sags in the butt of the tree makes it difficult for insects to get in and damage/infect the tree. It also makes it difficult and gummy to ax or saw through. So they used the springboards to get above the tough part of the tree. It also allowed them to harvest straighter timbers for easier stacking and milling.

[Tom Walz]

Hey, thanks.

With staff, cutomers, employees and kids almost no one comes right out and tells me I am even partially right.

Tom