Logging In Tokyo.....

[Stu Ablett in Tokyo Japan]

Well maybe not "Logging" but I'm getting some logs of sorts and some VERY nice wood!!
Here is a Link to my page on the subject.

Recently a very large house and the surrounding grounds have been scheduled for demolition, so they can rebuild and put up yet another apartment building. We are losing a very big chunk of green space in out neighbourhood. It is all private property, so there is nothing we can do about it. My lovely wife was walking by the place the other day, and she went and asked the foreman if I could have some of the trees they are cutting down. The guy said "sure thing".

I've gotten a number of loads, and I should be able to get a heck of a lot more. The wood is mostly "Japanese Evergreen Oak" which is a hardwood and seems to be in the beech family, but looks a lot like Oak as well. I can't beat the price!

I got one tree that was bug damaged, and the wood is REALLY nice looking....


It is the one in the middle that looks like a rose


This pic does not do the wood justice.

I've made up my own mini chainsaw mill........

and with a guide board, I can get the logs down to a size I can run through Big Blue, my resaw bandsaw...

(I don't know how many pics I can post at once, so I'll continue this in another post)

[Stu Ablett in Tokyo Japan]

OK, on to my Resaw Bandsaw, known as Big Blue (it is an old Hitachi saw that I rescued from a going out of business auction).


Here we can see Big Blue earning his keep!

Some of this wood is VERY hard and VERY heavy, but Big Blue just hogs through it like no ones business!!


about an hour and a half's work.

Many many more trees to harvest on the site as well....


All of these....

and...


this nice big on as well


even one Zelkova tree!!

Cheers!

[Jerry Clark]

WOW Stu, that is a great find-- how did you move the logs? Looks pretty heavy. Thanks for showing.

[Don Baer]

Stu thats a super find. Glad to see someone recuing and urban from extintion.

[Bruce Page]

Very cool Stu! You'll be opening your own lumber yard soon!

[Stu Ablett in Tokyo Japan]

WOW Stu, that is a great find-- how did you move the logs? Looks pretty heavy. Thanks for showing.

Good old grunt work. I have a limit of the length that I can cut (just under 4') so I get them to cut the logs to that length. I then put them in the back of my little van.



and then I use my electric hoist to put them down into the Dungeon.....



But down in the Dungeon, I'm running out of space!!!

I need to clean up my storage area, so I can sticker this lumber and leave it for a couple of years.

Cheers!

[Vaughn McMillan]

You never cease to amaze me, Stu. Obstacles just don't get in your way, do they? From logs to lumber, all in the middle of Tokyo through a hole in the floor. Brilliant stuff...my hat's off to you.

- Vaughn

[Ian Abraham]

Cool

I guess you are in trouble if you get given a tree over 3ft dia though

For the drying do you have some fans and a dehumidifier? Each 100kg of green wood probably carries 30-40 kg of water you will have to get rid of. It can be done, but you need to be able to get rid of the water.

Cheers

Ian

[Stu Ablett in Tokyo Japan]

Cool

I guess you are in trouble if you get given a tree over 3ft dia though

For the drying do you have some fans and a dehumidifier? Each 100kg of green wood probably carries 30-40 kg of water you will have to get rid of. It can be done, but you need to be able to get rid of the water.

Cheers

Ian

Very good point.

The wood is going into the Dungeon Annex the storage area beside the Dungeon, that is accessed from another hatch under my large van (that hatch is steel reinforeced concrete and weighs about 200 lbs for each piece, there are 3 pieces) or through the hole in the wall behind the shelf.........

I'll be putting an aircon in there, and it has a dry setting which will pull the water out of the air, the dry setting is designed for hanging you laundry up in a room and drying it out.

I'll then have to put a sump pump in to get rid of the water, like I have in the Dungeon.

Cheers!

[Gail O'Rourke]

Awesome...but I want to know what it's going to come OUT of the Dungeon looking like.

Great pictures.

[Stu Ablett in Tokyo Japan]

Awesome...but I want to know what it's going to come OUT of the Dungeon looking like.

Great pictures.

Thanks Gail!

I'll let you know in a couple of years when it is all dry and ready to use!

I have to say, my lovely wife already has plans for most of it!!

I'm working like a dog getting this done, I went by the site again today, and the foreman pointed to a stack of logs waiting for me to pick them up!

I could not do it today, but I'll get at it tomorrow for sure.

I'm running out of space to put all of this, but where there is a will, there is a way, and I got to say, I've got the will!!

Cheers!

[RichMagnone]

Stu, I've been following this adventure on The Oak and here and, as always, I am impressed with your work. I wish I had half the ingenuity and work ethic that you do. I am usually happy to just actually clean up the garage.

It sounds like you need to build a dungeon below/next to the dungeon soon.

[Bob Noles]

Stu,

I have been following you around on several forums for about a year now and I am always amazed with your adventures. You are quite possibly the most amazing WW I have ever ran across and by far the most innovative human being for sure

I love reading your quests and adventures and really appreciate you taking the time to share them in so many ways and so many places.

[Stu Ablett in Tokyo Japan]

Well thanks guys, but really, I'm just doing what I like, or LOVE to do and having fun too. I've never been the type to sit in front of the TV and drink beer on a Sunday (not that there is anything wrong with that, just that it bores me to tears!).

I'm really limited here for people who share my enthusiasm for wood working, and those who understand the challenges and the feeling when you overcome an obstacle, thus I kind of show off my stuff on a couple of forums, this one and The Oak mainly, as I like the feeling of both places, some of the other online forums are just too darn big .

I really feel that I'm just in the starting blocks, my main accomplishment has been to build a shop!!

When I look at the outstanding work that many of you produce, (I'll take Gail as an example!!) I'm in awe, I hope to get near that level of work some day, but for now, I'm still setting up my little Dungeon workshop!

Seriously, I'm still just a wood hack, hoping to gain some skill and insights from many of the real craftsman and artists that populate this and other forums.

Cheers!

[Stu Ablett in Tokyo Japan]

Tonight I sit here reaching for the pain killers, man, my whole body aches!! I went today and got some more logs, there is more stuff there than you can shake a stick at!!

Today I got some more Sakura, (cherry) and a couple pieces of Kuri, or Chesnut, it looks super nice.......


Now my cap is about 10 inches or so long.
Those suckers were PAINFULLY heavy, they are over 300lbs each I think! These trees are from the "Medium Size" category....

I did drag the one out with the little van, but getting it into the van, that was hard work!

Moving on to bigger and heavier things.......

Sorry, these images were taken with my cell phone....




The guys told me that that backhoe thing with the claw on it would have trouble picking this one up, it would have to drag it, and then stand it up and tip it into the dumptruck, so being the kind sole that I am, I offered to take it off their hands, but to do so, I'll need to get something a little bigger in the saw dept.
I noticed that some of the other trees, the Oaks and such are nearly as big as this one. I asked the guys if I could cut them up on site to make it easier, they said "Sure thing" so the plan now is to get a bigger saw, make my mill, and start making (more) sawdust!!


I'm looking at this older Husky with a 2' long bar on it. It is a Model #185CD, it has a 85cc engine, and is supposed to run just fine, but it is hard to start. I figure a carb cleaning and a new sparkplug and it should be good to go. It is on auction now for $240, I hope I get it for that much!

I'll then make a larger version of the chainsaw mill I found at http://www.backwoodshome.com/articles/tresl39.html



So am I nuts or what..........?

Don't answer that....