Amazing burl find

[Brian Brown]

Well for this area at least. I went to the landfill today to toss some prunings from the yard, and in the wood pile, perched high at the top (about 10 feet) there was a box elder trunk about 6-7 feet long and 3-4 foot diameter. The entire outside is covered with burls.
I want it!!!
I just don't know how to go about getting it. Any Idea what this will weigh? I am guessing about 1200 lbs. The burls are a bit beat up in places from the front end loader and dump truck that got it there, but it looks like a lot of good burl. I know there are laws regarding green salvage, but I don't know what they are to help use them for leverage. I do have the name and number of the guy in charge for the county. I know the county won't be crazy about me taking a chainsaw there, because of liability but I still want to try. Because this log is at the top of the pile, laying horizontal, I think I can drive a large steel stake into each end, put a chain on, and try to get the county to lift it to the ground for me with a front end loader. Any other Ideas of how to get this beast off the pile with the least additional damage? Also, if I do get it, I need to know about how deep the burl wood might go into the log, so I dont waste the good stuff when I cut it.

[Ken Fitzgerald]

Brian,

Here I'll bet the guys at the dump would help me with the front end loader. Good luck!

The maple burl I got last year.....some of it the burl went almost all the way through.

Good luck with your project!

[robert hainstock]

I'm not going to be mch help prian, cause I'm looking at a similar problem. It is a maple crotch tweny in by five or six feet. at least it is in the woods next to a trail. Let us know how it works out for you. Steve and I will have to impose on Jack again and get him to haul it out and lift the pieces with his tractor.
Bob

[Jerry Gerard]

Who knows how deep that figured wood goes , if you can try to get it out of there in one piece . Rent a trailer if you have to , it sounds like it will be worth your money and effort .


BTW post some pictures of this beauty once you get it . A few 6 packs of Bud gets a lot done around here .;)

[Burt Alcantara]

Some green across the palm will help with the green on top of the pile.

Burt

[Paul Engle]

Yea baby , I think in some counties the landfill ops are not county employees ( they are here) but contract like the ones in Mtn Home use to be... I think ...gives em salvage rights to any and all at the land fill .... no heart burn with some green and brown, best way is to ask ... good luck with that and some pics for sure...

[Phil St.Germain]

Most landfills will not allow you to use a chainsaw but you might get lucky if you just talk to some of the folks that work there. I have been able to get some nice wood out of my local transfer station just by asking and the guys there have loaded my truck using their equipment. I got myself a 1200 lbs maple log covered with burl by asking and giving a couple bowls to the guys.

One work of caution, if it takes a front end loader to get it into your truck, once you get home, it is going to take an equally sized effort to get it out. DAMHIKT.

Phil

[Matt Hutchinson]

Well, not that this will help much....

I have never tried to get anything from a landfill. But there is a "green only" landfill I go to, and they do allow chainsaw use. It costs $25 for a permit to remove wood, but it's worth it. Maybe all you have to do is find out where to get a permit? Good luck!

Hutch

[John Shuk]

I checked a log weight calculator but used silver maple instead of box elder as a species since it didn't offer BE. It shows about 2660 lbs for a 7 ft log small end 36" large end 40".
Box elder burl is nice stuff. It really isn't practical for lumber but is nice for turning. I would just cut it up and slab it for bowl blanks.

[Brian Brown]

Ohhh! I just got a virtual hernia thinking about that weight! :(

[Johnny Kleso]

Go up with a few McDonals happy meals and a few bucks handy and talk to the man in change..

If you have a chanin saw dont tell him just cut it up and run.. Or just say your son dumped your price tree and you want it back!!! Yeah thats the ticket that fool dumped my price turning tree and I want it back :) hehehe

[Kevin Pelletier]

Well for this area at least. I went to the landfill today to toss some prunings from the yard, and in the wood pile, perched high at the top (about 10 feet) there was a box elder trunk about 6-7 feet long and 3-4 foot diameter. The entire outside is covered with burls.
I want it!!!
I just don't know how to go about getting it. Any Idea what this will weigh? I am guessing about 1200 lbs. The burls are a bit beat up in places from the front end loader and dump truck that got it there, but it looks like a lot of good burl. I know there are laws regarding green salvage, but I don't know what they are to help use them for leverage. I do have the name and number of the guy in charge for the county. I know the county won't be crazy about me taking a chainsaw there, because of liability but I still want to try. Because this log is at the top of the pile, laying horizontal, I think I can drive a large steel stake into each end, put a chain on, and try to get the county to lift it to the ground for me with a front end loader. Any other Ideas of how to get this beast off the pile with the least additional damage? Also, if I do get it, I need to know about how deep the burl wood might go into the log, so I dont waste the good stuff when I cut it.







Brian, I drive into the landfills all day long it's part of my job I would not right to the town right away they are the ones enforcing the rules I would simply go to the land fill talk to the loader operator and ask if there is a chance you can have that piece of wood. BUT be ready to move it then if you dont have acess to a flat bed or trailer rent and gp there with it. because if they are going to be breaking rules to get it for you they are not goign to want to do it twice so be ready to load it right away. only go to the town level if its needed. here in ct I get stuff out of the land fill all the time and if I ask the town they say no for liability reasons if I go right to the loader operator and im ready to move it I get what i wanted.

[Curt Fuller]

Brian, what Kevin just said is what I do. I carry a chain in my truck and have had the loader operator lift heavy pieces into my truck. I honestly get at least half my turning wood from the green waste dump here locally. Sometimes you might want to sneak a cold pack into the operators pickup on the way out too.

[Brian Brown]

I Got It! :D:D:D:D:D:D

At least a part of it. My new chainsaw got a real workout yesterday (my old fat body too :o). I really only got about 20% of the burl. It went really deep into the log, and I felt bad about cutting through the burl, but I only have a 16" bar. Filled the pickup about 1/2 way, before my body rebelled at the 96 degree temps :(. Funny story, I tried to talk the front end loader operator into helping me get it off the top of the pile. He finally agreed, and moved over to the pile. I pointed to the log I wanted, and he shook his head no. I pointed again, and he turned off the engin, got out and told me "You don't want that old junky stuff covered in knots (burls), let me dig down and find you a nice clear piece. It will only take a minute." I told him I was sure I wanted that piece, and he looked at me like I was nuts :eek:. Apparantly most scavangers are just after firewood. I gave him a quick lesson in burl, and it's use. He finally agreed, pulled it off the pile, and left me to cut up my strange knotty wood. I worked for about 3 hours, and got some of the wood. I'm trying to decide whether to go back and get more. It was really beautiful inside. I'm not as sore today as I thought I would be :D. When I talked to the land fill director, he said go ahead. I asked if I could take my chainsaw, and he hemmed and hawed a bit, and said it is awfully dry out there (fire) for a chainsaw. I promised to do the work where there were no combustable weeds, (which is almost everwhere) and he told mde to knock myself out. Now I just got to get the stuff cleaned and sealed. I'm out of town now, but I'll try to get pics next week and post them.

[Matt Hutchinson]

Congrats Brian! It's awesome that everything worked out! Can't wait to see the pics.

Hutch

[Bernie Weishapl]

Congrats Brian. I am glad it worked out for you. Now can't wait to see what comes of it.

[Jon Lanier]

I Got It! :D:D:D:D:D:D


You know the rule, no pics = didn't happen. :o

[Brian Brown]

Ya mean I gotta actually make somthing??

[Brian Brown]

So after SWMBO saw the load of BE burl, and found out I only got part of it, she insisted we go get more. We doubled the haul. Here it is. The piece on the pallet is separate because I couldn't lift it. Don't know how I got it in the truck. My Stihl M210 got a real workout. I'm curious how this will look when turned. There were a few pockets I hit while cutting that looked like the chainsaw was spitting blood. Only a little bit of red stain shows now, but I know it's in there hiding! There are some strange shaped chunks here, and a few bad cuts. but I hope I can get at least one pen from this. :D Some of the bad cuts were from when the tree was cut down, but most were from me trying to cut around the prettiest burls. There will be a lot of waste here. Too bad! :( Thank heaven for good women in our lives. When we got it home, it needed to be sealed right away, but I had a broken pipe to fix before the house flooded. So I fixed the pipe, and the LOML sealed as much as she could before she ran out of Anchor Seal. Excuse me, can I borrow a cup of Anchorseal. ;) Now she will claim all the wood for herself! :eek:

[Nathan Hawkes]

Dude, I hate you. Really, I'm just very jealous. Nice score!!!!!!!!!! Incredible!

[Jim Becker]

Oh, my....what a haul...

[Steve Schlumpf]

Congrats Brian! Absolutely beautiful wood - well worth the effort! Looking forward to seeing what your wife turns out of HER wood!

[Brian Brown]

Yeah Nathan, I was having a serious bout of self loathing too, then I got over it! :D

[Tamara Brown]

Steve, Thank you for siding with the wife on the gloat of wood. I figure that I helped prep it, and like everything else Brian has, it is mine! Good thing for him, I share!

[Ron Petley]

What a haul!!
Is it dry, or will you have to paint the cuts to keep the burl from cracking. I have some and I painted them with latex paint. Come time to cut them up I could not see the burl, either covered with bark or paint. I have later read that you can paint them with wood glue thined with water and then you can stil see the grain. Good luck.
Cheers Ron.

[Brian Brown]

This burl is green as grass. SWMBO cut into the first one tonight, and got splattered with BE Juice. I have anchor sealed most, but still have a few to go. I have no idea where I am going to store all of this. I also got an offer today for an apricot tree, a large maple branch, and some walnut. To think when I first started this hobby, I wondered where I would ever get wood to turn. I have decided from now on, the only wood I am getting is figured, spalted, or burl. I just don't have the storage space for any more.

[Ken Fitzgerald]

Brian..it's amazing how much "slop" comes from "green" wood! Congrats!