Dan Oelke
08-15-2005, 7:13 PM
We have a fairly good sized wood lot in South Central Wisconsin. It is very sandy soil and goes from a rocky hill down to tamarck swapland. About 3 years ago now we had a fire that burned through about 15-20 acres of it. The juniper brush is now thankfully gone, but couple of wood piles were reduced to ash. Most of the trees did not burn up, but were killed off as the grass and weeds under them burned. We need to clean this area out so that the new growth can take over. Many / most of the oaks are coming up from the roots, and a bunch of poplar are growing up in another area. I would also like to spike in a bunch of hard maple and/or walnut for my grandkids to be able to use.
So - back to my original point - there are a number of trees that just aren't big enough for anything, some that will make firewood, and a few that I hope can be sawn for lumber. I walked it this past weekend again, and found at least 2 or 3 white pines that were about 20" on the stump. There are at least a dozen red-oaks that are that big or bigger, with anywhere from 10-25' of clear trunk. There are also some poplar, but not that big for the most part.
My big question is - if we cut them down this winter and saw them up in spring what are my chances for decent lumber? Will the worms have gone in very far in 3 summers? Any good resources for help on this? Any way to tell before paying a lot of $$$ for the sawmill?
Thanks!
So - back to my original point - there are a number of trees that just aren't big enough for anything, some that will make firewood, and a few that I hope can be sawn for lumber. I walked it this past weekend again, and found at least 2 or 3 white pines that were about 20" on the stump. There are at least a dozen red-oaks that are that big or bigger, with anywhere from 10-25' of clear trunk. There are also some poplar, but not that big for the most part.
My big question is - if we cut them down this winter and saw them up in spring what are my chances for decent lumber? Will the worms have gone in very far in 3 summers? Any good resources for help on this? Any way to tell before paying a lot of $$$ for the sawmill?
Thanks!