Enough wood for the whole Creek

[Donny Lawson]

Me and our whole Public Works Dept. have been helping out our neighboring town to recover from a Severe Tornado from last week and we have been putting in 13hr days picking up brush and trees from the yards and I can honestly say that we have hauled enough wood of all kinds to supply everyone here at the Creek a lifetime. We have been going since last Thursday and average 130 plus Dump truck loads a day. It is being hauled to a BIG open field and piled up with large dozers.I would like to cry with every load I carry and watch it slide out of the truck. I've seen so much Maple,Walnut,Cedar,Hackberry,Oak and so many other kinds just pile up. I pulled up behind another truck today and saw Cedar 20-30 plus inches 8-10ft long. Walnut logs bigger than that. People are begging us to help get it out of there yard. We have certian sections we work and it's hard to say no but we can only work so fast. It's all piled up next to the road so its easy to get to.I have brought home a few pieces and would like to make some bowls for the owner of the trees. I can only get a piece or two in my floor board and the rest has to go to waste. We have not even put a dent in getting it picked up. I know its a bad situation for the homeowners but they want the wood gone. I hate it for them but I also hate to see all that beautiful wood to go to waste.

[John Hart]

Yeah...that's a bitter-sweet situation. I anguish over the destruction. Must be awful. I would think the trees will keep for a while, and after the heavy lifting is over, you could always go back.

[Donny Lawson]

193771193770Just a few pics.

[David E Keller]

I hate it for those folks, and I hate to see all that wood wasted. I'd fill the floorboard everyday with nice crotch pieces... If you saw them into rough blanks, you can probably increase your yield per trip. That hackberry may be really nice in about 6 months after it's brewed for a while in the pile.

[Steve Schlumpf]

Been through that before and it is heartbreaking to see all the damage! One thing to be careful of is internal damage to the wood! When a twister goes through - that uprooted tree was moved in directions it wasn't designed to go and could be full of ring shake damage or other cracks as a result. Could be... just check for any damage before lugging the wood home.

[David Warkentin]

The tornado that went through our area on the 15th dropped lots of trees. So did the one on the 27th. Got two burls harvested from first tornado. One was about 18 inches across and the other maybe 3 feet.

[Doug Thompson]

Last Thursday we traveled down 81 in VA, after a 12 mile traffic jam we saw a entire neighborhood and truck stop that was hit hard... most of it was gone. Very sad to see.

[Dan Forman]

Those storms packed a lot of devastation. Hope the area can get back on it's feet before too long, and that you can harvest some of that wood.

Dan

[Montgomery Scott]

Seriously true. Spalted hackberry is quite a valuable commodity. Ray Allen liked to use it in his segmented turning frequently. It's a shame to see all that go to waste. Hopefully there will be some effort to reclaim it.

[Bernie Weishapl]

Boy that is a lot of wood and great that you could get some wood. It is a sad situation. I hope and pray that they can get back on their feet. Been thru and seen what a tornado can do first hand and it ain't pretty. Helped at Greensburg, Ks. when the whole town was leveled with what they thought was a 1 mile to 1 1/4 mile wide tornado.

[Edward Bartimmo]

I understand...Houston was the same way after Ike. It took them 6 months to mulch up all the trees. They had to build elevated spotting platforms to coordinate movement of trucks and bulldozers through the maze of piles. There were sites like this all over Houston area. It was devastating to realize the loss. In Galveston the city opened the site for select individuals to reclaim wood. The result was a number of galleries carrying turned and carved pieces from the trees with the proceeds going to charities.

[Donny Lawson]

193837193836193835Here are a few more pics from today. The pics will show a comparison with my truck in the foreground. The dozer is small compared to the size of the pile. I did find a guy that had a nice size Cherry tree that was unrooted and he was going to use it as firewood but he said I could have it all if I wanted it. It's about 14-16" through. I told him I would make a nice bowl for him for the wood. Now i just have to get up there and cut it up.

[Lee Koepke]

I know it would be a royal pain, but if you could write addresses on some of the logs, we could turn a bowl or two for those that lost so much ....

I wish I could take the time and help out !!!! I will be up in the Blairsville area May 21st/22nd ..

[Jeff Nicol]

What is the plan for all the wood? IS it all going to be burned or mulched or what? It just makes me feel terrible to see it all piled up like that and for all the folks who have lost so much, I just can't fathom it all. We went through it with my BIL in Slidell LA when Katrina went through, they had 50 big trees go down in their yard and the whole community was devastated. They have a 10 acre piece out in the country that has a swampy patch that is still a bunch of tipped over tangle of trees. Many of them are cypress and gum trees of some sort so I hope to go down this fall and get some of it and I hope that as many others as can help out in GA do the same.

The bad thing is the tornado season is just getting started! May God bless all the victims and keep everyone safe cleaning up the destruction,

Jeff

[Donny Lawson]

I know it would be a royal pain, but if you could write addresses on some of the logs, we could turn a bowl or two for those that lost so much ....

I wish I could take the time and help out !!!! I will be up in the Blairsville area May 21st/22nd ..

I wish I could bring some home from every yard to turn them a bowl out of but it is not possible.I have brought home a piece of walnut,maple crotch,and another homeowner is going to give me a whole cherry tree today. We picked up the brush yesterday and they said they were going to keep the wood to maybe burn but after I told him I would like a piece to make a bowl out of he gave me the whole tree. I am writing the address of where the wood came from so I can return later in the year with a bowl for them. The wood I brought home last night I have already got it cut up into bowl blanks with the location it came from. The Cherry I'm bringing home today is not a wild cherry but I think an American Cherry and was uprooted so it should be in good shape inside. It's probally 14-16" through. I will post some pics when I get it. If I get the whole tree I will probally have some to give away too.

[Cathy Schaewe]

That is very sad.
Up here, it just keeps raining and flooding, and raining and flooding. Then the trees just float down the river.

[Lee Koepke]

I wish I could bring some home from every yard to turn them a bowl out of but it is not possible.I have brought home a piece of walnut,maple crotch,and another homeowner is going to give me a whole cherry tree today. We picked up the brush yesterday and they said they were going to keep the wood to maybe burn but after I told him I would like a piece to make a bowl out of he gave me the whole tree. I am writing the address of where the wood came from so I can return later in the year with a bowl for them. The wood I brought home last night I have already got it cut up into bowl blanks with the location it came from. The Cherry I'm bringing home today is not a wild cherry but I think an American Cherry and was uprooted so it should be in good shape inside. It's probally 14-16" through. I will post some pics when I get it. If I get the whole tree I will probally have some to give away too.well .... i am not very quick at turning bowls ... but if you get me some with addresses, I will do the same !!!!

[Donny Lawson]

Here is some of the Cherry I picked up today. It is processed and ready to turn. I ended up with 14 blanks.,2 nice crotch pieces,1 burl,and 11 regular bowl pieces.193926193925

[brian watts]

BURL?? u holding out on me HUH??LOL donny were i was at down there today i felt SO SO sorry for the people there. for me today i just drove down one RD. and saw some people out there cutting wood and told them i would help them for 3-4 hr today . i got some nice cedar but i will go back sunday and try to help out some more people to clean up . just wish there were more people there to help them folks out because they do really need all the help they can get. i never seen anything like this before i heard today the twister was half mile wide and travel for 35 miles though this area. i will take pic of this sunday and post some people can see ..brian