Dead standing trees - how long before too buggy?

[Dan Oelke]

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!

[Tom Sontag]

Red oak and poplar are the kind of species that do not particularly keep well on the stump. Rot resistance ratings can be a decent indicator and 3 years is plenty long for bugs to get into those woods. Sapwood is the first to go of course, so you might be able to tell before even dropping the tree. Once the log is on the ground, viewing the end carefully will tell you if it is worth sawing. If you lack log readng experience, your sawyer should be able to tell.

[Scott Loven]

I had a cherry tree that was dead for a few years before I cut it down. I took the logs in my mini van (Ya that was big fun) to a guy with a bandsaw mill. I got 150bf of good lumber for $.15bf. its worth a look.
Scott

[Andy London]

I can only base my comments if the trees were in my region but based on my experience the Pine and Oak would be fine but the poplar would be pretty much gone. I have a wood lot and am amazed at how fast this wood rots.

You will pretty much have your answer once you cut a few trees and it's probably a good time in order to let the regrowth come in.

Good Luck!

Andy

[Bernie Weishapl]

On this same line how about Ash and Hackberry. How long can they stand before they are no good. I found some really good looking Ash and Hackberry trees. The Ash would yeild about 15 to 18 foot long trunks that are about 12 to 16 inches in diameter. Also the Hackberry trees are 10 to 14 inches in diameter and about a good 8 to 12 feet of trunk length. These were killed about 3 yrs. ago when the Rural Electric cut down trees that were in their lines and sprayed the rest with a herbiside to kill them so they wouldn't grow into their lines as the trees spread their canopys. Thanks.


Bernie

[Dan Oelke]

As a follow up - I got off the phone with the DNR forester for the county. After talking to him I might not try to use them for furniture lumber - maybe some timbers.

From what he said after a couple of years trees left standing will tend to crack and check badly when sawn. Also tend to twist more than normal as they dry.

I'm not sure how much of an expert he is - but that's what he told me.