Cut & haul day-Stonewall Jackson's Prayer tree

[Roger Chandler]

Well we had a few members of our club to come and get to the cutting and hauling of some of the Jackson Prayer tree. The reporter and photographer from our local newspaper was on scene to document some and it seems a series will be following......I don't know how soon it will be written up and published, but I think in the next few days.

We hauled off 4 truck loads, some on a big trailer, and left 2 log pieces for the owners to make some boards at the bandsaw mill. We still have the largest part of the tree to get...........we need a bigger chainsaw, for this area of the tree!

Pic no. 1 shows Starke Smith cutting a section. Pic 2 shows me with the owner and reporter from our newspaper. Pic 3 shows Starke crawling up a section to get higher. Pic 4 shows fellow creeker Nate Hawkes counting the growth rings on a limb...way over 200, and he could not count them all. Pic 5 is Nate sitting on the tree. Pic 6 is one of the trailers we loaded up. Pic 7 just shows some of the action....I think we were trying to decide how to approach the next cuts.



197393197394197395197397197399197401197404 You all said lots of pics..........more will come as we move to other phases of the project, and maybe a few of the first pieces turned.

[Harvey Ghesser]

Congratulations, Roger! You did good!

[Tim Thiebaut]

My god that thing is massive! How in the world will you cut the lower section its so big?

[Bruce Pratt]

Save a cross section of the base of the tree if you can, it will make a nice timeline (http://www.arborday.org/trees/majtreesmain.cfm)for a local museum.

[Roger Chandler]

The very bottom of this thing is over 9 ft in diameter..........I don't know how to get a cross section with the saws we have........right now it is 36" bar on the biggest saw..........that 42" bar I mentioned in the other thread, that saw is out of commission at the present.

[Roger Chandler]

My god that thing is massive! How in the world will you cut the lower section its so big?

We are still workin' on that one Tim...........

[Karl Card]

WOW is all I can say. It would be a cool deal to do something for a museum as someone else stated. But I also realize you can only do what you can do...

[Roger Chandler]

WOW is all I can say. It would be a cool deal to do something for a museum as someone else stated. But I also realize you can only do what you can do...

We are going to place a plaque that we will make up and have engraved on a cnc machine for a display piece along with the historical information to accompany it..............the timeline........I just don't think we can do that one.

[Ken Garlock]

Hi Roger, that is one fantastic project you have.

Maybe you could contact Roy Underhill, he may have access to a two man saw like they used 100 years ago. You know, the ones you see on TV butchering the California redwoods. Heck, you might entice Roy to come over and get into the act....

Just a thought.

[Baxter Smith]

Great pictures Roger! I would let you borrow the two man crosscut hanging up in my living room but it still wouldn't handle a 9' diameter. A not too smart..... and wasteful way to do it would be to cut V notches around it to get the body of the saw in deeper... but if the alternative is leaving it there to rot.....

[Steve Schlumpf]

Wow! That tree is/was massive! Happy to hear about the reporter being present! Hope he interviewed a bunch of folks! Appreciate the photos!

[Roger Chandler]

Great pictures Roger! I would let you borrow the two man crosscut hanging up in my living room but it still wouldn't handle a 9' diameter. A not too smart..... and wasteful way to do it would be to cut V notches around it to get the body of the saw in deeper... but if the alternative is leaving it there to rot.....

Baxter,

We discussed that very option.........it was near 100 degrees today, and the heat index was well over 100, so we stopped until perhaps next week..........maybe by then we will formulate a plan of attack.

[Roger Chandler]

Wow! That tree is/was massive! Happy to hear about the reporter being present! Hope he interviewed a bunch of folks! Appreciate the photos!

He did Steve...........me and the owner, and about 4 of our members.....hopefully, he got a good story, and he also knows some of the folks personally who we need to have communications with concerning some of the prospective venues for the turnings........he said he would plant a seed with some of these folks about our endeavor.

[Steve Schlumpf]

Cool! Still thinking you should send out some emails to National Geographic, PBS, History Channel, Discovery, etc because of the preservation of history aspect of this endeavor. No matter. Just be safe, have fun and create lasting memories! Thanks for sharing the event with us!

[Roger Chandler]

My god that thing is massive! How in the world will you cut the lower section its so big?

After giving some thoughts on Tim's question on how we will go about cutting up this massive tree...........I think this will be a likely sequence...

First a plunge cut, about say 15" from the last face, then begin cutting billets or blanks of wood about 18" x 20" in size about 6 inches thick or maybe 8" thick. A lot of chainsawing for sure, and we will have to use a lot of sharpening........there seems to be very hard wood in this tree, and some areas have significant grit, which as you know shortens the effective cutting time of a chain.

There was a huge maple taken down in our neighborhood recently, [52" diameter trunk] and that is the way the guy took out the stump and largest parts of the trunk. See thread of some of the tree:

http://www.sawmillcreek.org/showthread.php?163067-quot-Little-quot-ambrosia-gloat-of-massive-proportions&highlight=

I know this can be done, and we will need the biggest chainsaws we can find. Work a plenty for sure!