Trees coming down! - advice needed

[Victor Robinson]

My parents are having some trees felled on their property. A large madrone, some California bay laurel, and possibly some red oak.

The tree guys will charge considerably less to simply cut up the trees and leave them on the land. I'm wondering what size to tell them to cut up the logs. Since this is not at my own home, milling/stacking/drying large logs would be difficult, and I don't think there will be quite enough oak to get a project's worth of flooring out of - which would be my main use for a bunch of oak. Though I don't know how to estimate bdft from tree size.

On the other hand, turning blanks seems like a good use of the madrone and laurel. I was thinking 18"-24" pieces? Diameters will vary probably anywhere from 18" down to 4-6". This would probably be a lifetime's worth of turning blanks for me so can't really complain about that!

Would appreciate some thoughts - sort of an extremely unexpected (but pleasant!) supply of lumber and I need to let the tree guys know by tomorrow.

Thanks!

[Danny Hamsley]

If you plan to have any of the logs sawn, cut them 8'6" minimum.

[peter gagliardi]

And either paint the ends immediately with a couple coats of latex paint, or better yet, Anchorseal. That oak will start to split in less than a day if not. Especially Red Oak.

[ryan paulsen]

If you google log board foot calculator, you should be able to get a good idea of the wood you may have. If you're going to get it cut into boards, leave the logs as long as possible, especially if you have them milled on site. I would judge based on how much clear log you have and go from there. I cut my logs to 10' before bringing them to the mill, and the sawyer told me he wished I had left them longer still. If you have to move the logs yourself, then I would cut them as long as you can and still have them be movable. It would be nice if the tree company could line up the logs for you to make milling easier.

[Robert Engel]

8-9'
I usually have my logs cut to 10'6"

[Jamie Buxton]

Is it really red oak? Usually madrone grows near live oak. Or, put it this way...can you get long straight trunks of the oak? Or are the trunks short and gnarly? You'd probably not get much flooring from live oak. OTOH, live oak is a really pretty oak -- lots of ray fleck -- so it'd probably make interesting bowls, or short slabs could make Nakashima-style tables.

[Cody Colston]

For furniture building, 8'-6" is a good length. That allows trimming off any end checks and still leaving an 8' board which is plenty long. For turning blanks, cut the log a couple of inches longer than the diameter.

[Frank Drew]

And either paint the ends immediately with a couple coats of latex paint, or better yet, Anchorseal.

Super important, especially so during the hot months. The sooner you end-coat the pieces the better, like right away. Also worth giving serious consideration to -- and maybe the tree guys can do this for a reasonable fee -- rip cut the logs down their lengths, right through the pith (middle); along with the Anchorseal, or similar product, that can do a lot to limit end checking.

[Jon Nuckles]

If you search the Turner's Forum, you will find tons of information on cutting and preserving turning blanks. You will definitely want to cut lengths at least several inches longer than the diameter and remove the pith to minimize cracks. Madrone moves about as much as a wood can, so I imagine it is very tough to dry without cracking. Your best bet is to rough turn it right away, but it sounds like you have too much to do that. If you post this question on the Turner's Forum and put madrone in the title, you will likely get some expert advice from Reed Gray (Robo Hippy), a professional turner who uses a lot of madrone and is very generous in taking the time to help others.

[John C Bush]

Madrone is an interesting wood to work with. If the trunk is straight(ish), you may be able to get some minimally reactive stock. I had some, both straight(ish) and crazy twisty splitting and made some unique boxes and small lidded chests. I used natural edge curved slabs for the lids to make a six bottle wine box. Turned out great and sold at a benefit auction for couple hundreds $$$.(works out to ~~$1.12/hr.) It has a smooth texture, mills and finishes well. I saved the stump and a friend turned a 16" dia. bowl out of it. After the 1st rough turning he boiled it, let it dry a few months and then finished it. It developed "puckers" as it fully dried and is a beautiful coffee table art piece now. Hope you can use your parents tree!!

[Victor Robinson]

Thanks all for the excellent advice. Since I have had only one day's notice, there hasn't been a lot of time to consider the best way of doing this but I've tried to research as much as I can. Given that, I think the best approach will be to have them cut the trunks up into turning sized pieces a few inches longer than diameter. I will hopefully try to get out there today or tomorrow latest with some latex paint or anchor seal if I can find it between now and then.

If I had more warning I would have been able to measure the trees and consider whether they are suitable for long logs. Wonder how much it would cost in this area for someone to come out with a portable mill...probably not very common.

Jamie - you are absolutely right, it's live oak, not red. I wrote red oak to mean "not white" but I see it's actually many varieties of live oak that we are surrounded with.

John - the madrone is actually quite tall (40-50ft) and with a fairly straight trunk. However, the tree has died over the past few years for some unbeknownst reason.

[Rod Sheridan]

Victor, if you have a bandsaw at home have some of the logs cut into 3 to 4 foot lengths and make your own lumber.

here's a link to thread I posted on that subject.

http://www.sawmillcreek.org/showthread.php?182034-Making-Lumber-on-a-Bandsaw&highlight=making+lumber+on+a+bandsaw

Regards, Rod.