A Little More Wood

[Baxter Smith]

When I got back from Maine a couple days ago, my daughter mentioned a couple people had called about some wood I might want. I didn’t wait too long to return their calls.:)
One was a tulip poplar my wifes nephew had taken down in front of his house. It may not be much for turning wood, but a bowl for one of my wifes family tends to pay dividends. It certainly makes those tool expenditures a whole lot more palatable.;)
The next morning I cut the 13’ log into three sections. Each a little over 4 ‘ long and rolled them onto my trailer.
259240
Two looked like it would be enough so made a second trip.
259241
They came off a bit easier.
259242
I just told my wife to put her weight behind them.:D
In the afternoon, I picked up some oak and cherry burls that a tree trimmer had saved for me.
259243
It wouldn’t roll. Just had to be dragged and pried.

The next morning it came off without a hitch,
259244
though I did have a bit of hydraulic fluid oozing out of one of the cylinders when I set it down.
259245
After getting the burls unloaded, I cut one of the poplar logs into more manageable pieces.
259246
Since my power feeder/log roller was coming for dinner, I had him give me a hand.
259247
Hope the pics were of interest!

[William Tanner]

Very nice wood. Looks like you know how to handle it too.

[Brian Kent]

Pretty awesome stuff, Baxter! That should last you until the end of the week.

[charlie knighton]

love the burls, the popular is huge, how many sections did you get, about 4??????? ya never know what you are going to get down here with popular, Terry had some half white and half black, supposely lighting strike

big stuff, enjoy.......

[Kathy Marshall]

Now that's a haul! That should keep you busy for awhile!

[Dave Fritz]

Ok my keyboard is getting wet looking at the equipment you have to load and haul wood. Well thought out! I believe Rude Osolnik made many of his famous candle holders out of tulip poplar. Judging from the work you've displayed here, you'll make good use of them.

Dave F.

[Dick Mahany]

Great pics. Look like you'll have plenty of nice pieces from it! Those huge log rounds on the trailer look scary to me. I live on a hill and if my neighbors down hill ever saw me drive into the driveway with a load like that they'd be very nervous:eek:. Have fun.

[Bernie Weishapl]

Now that is a haul Baxter. Should keep ya going for a day or two.

[Brian Libby]

Nice haul! I have turned a little Tulip poplar and it turns rather nicely, as to be expected it is on the soft side.

[David DeCristoforo]

You can keep the poplar. But just drop off those two burls. I'll move my truck out of the driveway to make room...

[Dennis Ford]

Nice score on the wood. I love the "H" Farm-All; my granddad had one like it. We had a "M" that I spent many hours on.

[Chip Sutherland]

Nice wood haul. Like the red tractor a lot, too.

[Eric Gourieux]

You definitely loaded up your trailer with those bad boys!

I'm looking to make some modifications to my trailer and add a winch and noticed your setup. Do you "ROLL" all of the bigger logs that you load? What if they won't roll (crotches, burls, etc)? It looks like your cable wouldn't clear the back of your trailer if you were to drag the log rather than roll it. Is that correct?

[Baxter Smith]

love the burls, the popular is huge, how many sections did you get, about 4??????? ya never know what you are going to get down here with popular, Terry had some half white and half black, supposely lighting strike

big stuff, enjoy.......
Charlie, I cut the poplar into three sections 50" long since that is all my bandsaw sled can handle. The other piece you may have seen in the pics is only 6-8" thick. I took it just to clean up the yard. The lower section I cut into 5/4 quarter sawn material. Its all clear. Just finished splitting the upper section. It has quite a few knots in it but I will still try and resaw it. The middle section should be mostly clear. I will try to turn a few bowls from it just to give to my wife's nephew.

You can keep the poplar. But just drop off those two burls. I'll move my truck out of the driveway to make room...
You don't have to move it just yet David, its a bit of a drive to get there. If you want to stop by, you can have anything here you can pick up.;)

Nice score on the wood. I love the "H" Farm-All; my granddad had one like it. We had a "M" that I spent many hours on.
A small compact utility tractor would be a lot more practical, but it might not hold up long doing things like this.

......... Do you "ROLL" all of the bigger logs that you load? What if they won't roll (crotches, burls, etc)? It looks like your cable wouldn't clear the back of your trailer if you were to drag the log rather than roll it. Is that correct?Eric, I don't know if the line from the winch would clear the back of the bed or not. When I built the bracket for the winch, I wanted to keep it below the level of the pipe rail. I figured I didn't need to load an 8' log for turning. Rolling takes a lot less effort (its just an old boat trailer hand winch and an old guy doing the cranking). Keeps the wood a lot cleaner for cutting up later too. And since my chainsaw and bandsaw are doing the cutting.....:) Before I added the winch, I just cut things shorter and or split them on site and used a handtruck. Loaded some 300 pound pieces that way though getting them up the ramp wasn't always easy. I can crank it up now. I have the parts to build a bigger hand truck...someday. When I find the parts, I may try and build a logging arch with wheels that I can pull up for longer lengths.

[charlie knighton]

btw, what are the specs on that bandsaw.......and the sled

[Baxter Smith]

Charlie, the bandsaw is an 18" Rikon picked up on craigslist for $400. The good deal went out the window when the motor went a year later. Replaced it with a 3 hp Baldor. The resaw height clearance is 11 1/4" with the 3/4" plywood sled on it. The sled can handle up to 50" lengths. I cut the poplar close to that length, but it is a too tight to make positioning and rolling something that large/heavy very easy. Without my sons help, I wouldn't have gotten nearly as much sawn. Neither the saw or the sled was designed for the use of cant hooks.:)

[kevin nee]

Nice score! What kind of oak? Cherry is always fun and in my opinion White Oak gives a nicer finished product, but Red Oak is easier to turn. I am sure it is in good hands

[Baxter Smith]

.....What kind of oak? .............. Kevin, that is still to be determined.:) When I first saw the bark, I assumed it was red. When I trimmed a little bit off the ends to make it lighter to load it didn't look quite right. When I took another quick look this afternoon at the end grain, I still wasn't quite sure since it appears to be mostly sapwood or burl and is rough cut and coated with anchorseal. Not quercus alba or quercus falcata but beyond that I can't tell you. There is one small spot of heartwood that I will have to look more closely at.

[Donny Lawson]

Great haul on the wood. What does the inside of the Cherry look like???

[Baxter Smith]

Donny, I don't have a clue on the cherry. I have just been working trying to get the poplar cut up for lumber. The outside is pretty clean so there should be some solid parts inside. A month ago I pulled these burls out of a logging area with a hantruck. 259423 I had to cut up this one 259424and lug it out by hand because it was just too far and too hard to get to. It should be similar.

[Joe Hillmann]

Could you put up more pictures of the loader on the farmall? I have never seen one like that and am trying to figure out how it works.

[Baxter Smith]

Could you put up more pictures of the loader on the farmall? I have never seen one like that and am trying to figure out how it works.
Joe, it is a trip bucket loader. It will lift but has no down pressure or tilt. When the lever with the loop on the end beside the amp meter is pulled back, the hydraulic cylinders extend and the bucket is raised
259522
because the top of the cylinder is also attached to the front end of the loader arms behind the bucket.
259523
The lever beside the rear wheel is attached by a cable to another lever that trips the bucket.
259524
When I got the tractor there was a lever beside the bucket,but I didn’t like having to get off to trip it. The bucket also had a single pieceof angle iron on the back to keep it in position. I changed it to the three pieces of box tubing so I could vary the angle. At some point in the past there were several breaks or cracks that were repaired by someone that even makes my welding look passable. When I restored the tractor about 10 years ago, I never did get around to painting the bucket or strengthening the front lever. The galvanized nail was supposed to be temporary.:)

259525
The bucket bottom was rusted out and had manure forks on the front. I replaced the bottom with another piece of steel and added a thicker front lip for strength and enough weight so it would dump when tripped.
259526
Hope you can follow all that. If you would like more info, you might checkyour Sears and Roebuck catalog.;)
259527

[Dennis Nagle]

The gas tank on my motorcycle is made from a Farmall "A" gas tank. Is yours an "A" model?

[Baxter Smith]

Its an H Dennis. Has a 17 gallon tank. The A was a slightly smaller tractor with a 10 gallon tank.

[ed hoxter]

baxter, your going to need a bigger trailer. ed

[Rich Aldrich]

Nice load of wood. Woodaholic comes to mind. I just saw one, then I realized that I was looking in the mirror.

[Baxter Smith]

baxter, your going to need a bigger trailer. ed
Not for another poplar Ed! One is enough.

Nice load of wood. Woodaholic comes to mind. I just saw one, then I realized that I was looking in the mirror.
You might be right Rich. But as long as I have a wife who doesn't mind being in the pit......;) 260168 Maybe she would like a bandsaw mill for her birthday next month. At least it gave me some practice with the McNaughton. Turning these was like taking a shower to cool off. Even the light were dripping.:) 260169

[Kathy Marshall]

Baxter, you are a wood milling machine!

[Hilel Salomon]

Baxter,

Before I got a place in the VA mountains, I thought of poplar as a cheap alternative to pine. I discovered that it really is a nice wood for almost everything. It's soft when it is wet, and gets very hard when dry. It often spalts beautifully, takes stain or paint well and turns nicely. No, it isn't cherry, maple or walnut, but you will find that it is quite nice.
Lots of luck,

Hilel

[Dan Hintz]

It's funny... when a few Poplars went roots up at a neighbor's place, the vast majority of the reactions were "leave it where it is, unless you want some practice blanks." Now that it has dried for a year or so, I'm seeing some serious chatoyance throughout the pieces, and some great color (red and blues) in some of them. It's not a burl, but it's interesting in its own right. I'd say you did pretty good getting those pieces, Baxter. I need to do a little more digging locally to see if I can get a hold of similar burls...

[Jeff Nicol]

Nice stuff Baxter, I sure wish we had tulip poplar here in WI as it is great wood for carving and I use it for drawer sides and for any other secondary wood needs when building furniture. I like the greenish brown of the heartwood for turning and another thing is that it is great for laser engraving and wood burning projects. I might have to bring the truck out east and load up some of that.

I think everyone needs a tractor now matter where you live, they are just so much fun! I love my 1955 Ford 640 with loader, it is just right for working in the woods, short, wide front and all the power I need so far. But my buddy has a 4 wheel drive Kubota that I wish was mine!

Free wood is the best wood!

Jeff

[Baxter Smith]

Baxter,

Before I got a place in the VA mountains, I thought of poplar as a cheap alternative to pine. I discovered that it really is a nice wood for almost everything. It's soft when it is wet, and gets very hard when dry. It often spalts beautifully, takes stain or paint well and turns nicely.

Hilel
Thanks Hilel. I used poplar for the subflooring when I built my house. A couple years later, I picked up a lot of wide (20"+) 5/4 and 6/4 rough sawn poplar when a local millwork went out of business. Ended up using it for the cabinets and trim in my kitchen and dining room since it was what I had at the time. I will leave the unturned section left under a tarp for the summer to see what happens with the spalting. I know its not very rot resistant so will have to keep an eye on it.


.......... and some great color (red and blues) in some of them..............QUOTE]
Dan, its a lot of fun to watch it being sawn. I took a couple logs to a mill a few years ago that were used for wainscoting in my basement. The colors are quite striking when first sawn but turns to shades of brown with time.

[QUOTE=Jeff Nicol;2098812]Nice stuff Baxter, I sure wish we had tulip poplar here in WI as it is great wood for carving and I use it for drawer sides and for any other secondary wood needs when building furniture. I like the greenish brown of the heartwood for turning and another thing is that it is great for laser engraving and wood burning projects. I might have to bring the truck out east and load up some of that.

I think everyone needs a tractor now matter where you live, they are just so much fun! I love my 1955 Ford 640 with loader, it is just right for working in the woods, short, wide front and all the power I need so far. But my buddy has a 4 wheel drive Kubota that I wish was mine!

Free wood is the best wood!

Jeff
..



Thanks Jeff. I agree on all counts though I have never tried the carving.