Bill Wilcox
03-31-2010, 12:20 PM
Several weeks ago, I was lurking around on Craigslist looking for materials on the cheap to build my shop ( the 3rd stall in my garage). I already found a nice band saw, drill press and 60,000 btu shop heater.
Well it was 9:30PM and all of a sudden this ad popped up.
It was an ad for some black walnut. 160-180 timbers, 14"-4" diameter, 8'-12' long. There was no picture on the ad however the price was right.
I responded to the ad and the gentleman called me back with directions to where the wood was. I drove up there and met this person and we hit it off right away. As we were riding in his truck I was telling him what I do now that I'm retired and his interest perked up. When we got to where the BW was, I couldn't believe my eyes. This stuff was beautiful. All the wood came from a BW plantation that was planted in the early 80's and this pile was the thinning that was done almost 2 months ago. We quickly shook hands and made the deal.
I went back home and called several of my friends who have trucks and a trailer and we began hauling this treasure to my place. After the first load we knew that a snowmobile trailer was not a very good trailer to use and from then on just used pick-up trucks.
The problem was not the moving and lifting of this wood. We could load the trucks in 5-10 minutes. It was the drive. This pile was located 1 hour from me. All in all it was a great time getting out with friends and doing something that raises a sweat. I took us a better part of 2 weeks to get everything moved because we could only do it 3 times a week and being all disabled and one buddy has cardiac issues, we needed to take our time. On the last trip, we spotted some fallen box elder in a person's front yard and one of the trunks had several large burls. We pulled over and talked with the owner and he told us that we could take all the wood we wanted. Well on our drive back down was stopped and cut 2 nice burls off the trunks and thanked the owner and off we went.
The burls are on top of the pile.
I also found on CL some free paint and scored 2 5 gallon pails to seal the ends. I figured with all of the logs I have now that AS might break the bank. So I use my logging tongs and wood rollers to move the timbers around and get the ends cut and sealed right away. I move about 20 logs a day to the stacking pile and behind those I have 40 more timbers to cut and seal. Not bad for $150.00.
Well it was 9:30PM and all of a sudden this ad popped up.
It was an ad for some black walnut. 160-180 timbers, 14"-4" diameter, 8'-12' long. There was no picture on the ad however the price was right.
I responded to the ad and the gentleman called me back with directions to where the wood was. I drove up there and met this person and we hit it off right away. As we were riding in his truck I was telling him what I do now that I'm retired and his interest perked up. When we got to where the BW was, I couldn't believe my eyes. This stuff was beautiful. All the wood came from a BW plantation that was planted in the early 80's and this pile was the thinning that was done almost 2 months ago. We quickly shook hands and made the deal.
I went back home and called several of my friends who have trucks and a trailer and we began hauling this treasure to my place. After the first load we knew that a snowmobile trailer was not a very good trailer to use and from then on just used pick-up trucks.
The problem was not the moving and lifting of this wood. We could load the trucks in 5-10 minutes. It was the drive. This pile was located 1 hour from me. All in all it was a great time getting out with friends and doing something that raises a sweat. I took us a better part of 2 weeks to get everything moved because we could only do it 3 times a week and being all disabled and one buddy has cardiac issues, we needed to take our time. On the last trip, we spotted some fallen box elder in a person's front yard and one of the trunks had several large burls. We pulled over and talked with the owner and he told us that we could take all the wood we wanted. Well on our drive back down was stopped and cut 2 nice burls off the trunks and thanked the owner and off we went.
The burls are on top of the pile.
I also found on CL some free paint and scored 2 5 gallon pails to seal the ends. I figured with all of the logs I have now that AS might break the bank. So I use my logging tongs and wood rollers to move the timbers around and get the ends cut and sealed right away. I move about 20 logs a day to the stacking pile and behind those I have 40 more timbers to cut and seal. Not bad for $150.00.