Big Lonely Doug

[Rod Sheridan]

Hi, here's a link to an article about a very special tree.

https://www.theglobeandmail.com/arts/books/article-meet-doug-bcs-biggest-celebri-tree/

I purchased some original old growth Douglas Fir timbers that had been installed in the barrel house of the Gooderham and Woorts distillery in the 19th century.

I wonder if they're from a relative of Doug?

regards, Rod.

P.S. Try this link in case the first doesn't work for you

https://thewalrus.ca/big-lonely-doug/

[Mike Chance in Iowa]

Thanks for sharing! It's a shame so few magnificent giants like this are left. How amazing it would have been to walk around a whole forest of like-sized trees.

[Rod Sheridan]

Thanks for sharing! It's a shame so few magnificent giants like this are left. How amazing it would have been to walk around a whole forest of like-sized trees.

Thanks Mike, you are right, it's amazing to walk in the coastal rain forest.

It's a humbling experience to stand next to a tree that was old before Europeans came to this country.

The first growth Douglas Fir timbers I obtained from the Distillery District are beautiful wood, I'm trying to use it respectfully...........Rod.

[Malcolm Schweizer]

I salvaged an old sailboat mast of douglas fir, and used it to build a wood paddleboard. It was old growth stuff, well-aged. It gave me a new love for the species. It finishes to a beautiful color, and ages nicely.

I love stories about old trees. I read a story of where one scientist studied how trees can communicate through their root systems with (for lack of better words) electronic pulses. They are living things, so when I use one to make something, I feel a sense of reverence. I believe we have a duty to show respect to this dwindling natural resource.

Here is an interesting thought which I do not subscribe to, but my conspiracy theorist friend who believes anything as long as it's far-fetched believes to be true; Devil's Tower, the theory says, is actually the stump of a giant tree, and what we know as trees today are actually twigs compared to what trees used to be. It's a fun thought, unless you know that Devil's Tower is actually an extinct volcano that has eroded, leaving behind the exposed lava tube. Still, I now see a giant tree stump every time I see it. Wouldn't that be cool? I guess it would be unless it was a nut-bearing, fruit-bearing, or conifer tree, in which case standing under it could be risking your life should one decide to fall at just the right (or wrong) moment.

[Aaron Rosenthal]

Two thoughts:
My support beams inside my 1930 house here in Vancouver Canada are 8x8 old growth Doug Fir. My neighborhood is being rezoned multi-family from single family use, and when I sell, my house will be taken down.
The idiots at City Hall insist the drywall from my renos be recycled, the old glass type stucco be removed and sent to a recycling facility, etc. etc. but the beams and joists will go to the dump - the recycling possibilities are endless, but all the developers claim recovering the old growth fir costs too much. The city's charges, permits etc. run at ~$640,000.00 for a single family dwelling, so the developers are right. Pity.
My 2 cousins lived in houses side by side in Encino California. Both downsized and their houses were torn down immediately. Their support beams? Old growth heart wood Redwood.
It breaks my heart.

[John K Jordan]

The first growth Douglas Fir timbers I obtained from the Distillery District are beautiful wood, I'm trying to use it respectfully...........Rod.

A friend of mine built his house with posts, beams, rafters and more cut from recycled old growth douglas fir, dredged from a waterway near the Great Lakes. His posts throughout the house are 12" square, cut from 24"x24" beams, apparently once used as floating walkways along the waterway for the loggers to use when poling logs. I think he said the beams were originally 50' long. They all have through holes with the wood stained black from the iron in the chains that held the beams together. Stunningly beautiful in construction, his place looks like a museum.

[Jim Koepke]

I have a big hunk of doug fir that is supposed to be from some of the piers built in Portland for the war effort back in the 1940s.

Not sure what it will be, but there might be enough to make the sides and then some of a chest.

jtk