Hey everyone, welcome back! Today we are doing a log pickup. It’s been a little while since I’ve done one of these, so I’m excited to get out here and pick up a new log.
Here is the log that we’re getting today. This is a walnut log that was struck by lightning about 10 years ago, so it’s not in super great shape. But it’s always really interesting to see how trees react to that kind of stress and try to start growing back. We can see some pretty good structural defects here at the cut, and some crazy things going on with the sapwood out here.
You can see this split that goes all the way down the log. The tree is trying to grow back around that area and heal itself.
This log is kind of long. I think it is around 25 feet long or so. We’ll try and get out of here in two pieces, and see how that goes. The approach is kind of interesting. Normally, I would try and pick one of these logs up from the big end, but we can’t come in here through this garden and grab it. So I have to grab it from the small end, and I’m not really at the right angle right now.
I think I should be able to swing it around and get it up there.
It’s chained a little too high, but it’s pretty heavy, so it shouldn’t crash too hard.
Because I have this weird approach angle, I didn’t quite get it turned fast enough, and now it’s in the way of the arch coming back up. So I’m using this jack to push and roll over so I can sneak this arm by.
This thing is going to fight me the whole way. All these limbs and nubs and things, they kind of are going the wrong direction, which is why I normally load from the other end. If you can load from the butt end, they just kind of find their own way on and you’re not fighting all these nubs the whole way.
I’m going to try to lift the end up so it’s floating, and then it’ll just swing on in. And that actually seems to be working.
I’m going to chop this log in two now, and I’ll end up with about a 10 foot log, which I’m hoping I can fit on the trailer next to the other log. I think there must be a big void in this log, because there is so much water pouring out as I cut this.
After getting some chains around it, I can haul it up onto the trailer.
Got them both on there, got the arch folded on top… time to head home.
We are back at my property now, no problems on the way back. I had a blast. I really miss these log recoveries, because I enjoy the creative problem solving process you go through as you’re trying to get these things onto the trailer.
Getting these things off of the trailer is a lot easier than getting them on, thanks to the telehandler.
This thing has to be full of water. I roll it over, and it starts leaking. It is definitely water logged. I think this log is going to be pretty interesting once we get on the saw. From a traditional standpoint, this is 100% a junk log. I’m not quite a traditionalist, at least in that sense. When we open this thing up, we’ll be able to see how this tree fared with getting basically boiled and having its sapwood explode, creating this giant fissure down the side of it.
This one also answers a question I get a lot, which is “why are these trees being removed?” This one was no questions asked, a hazard tree. It was only a matter of time until this fell on their house. So its removal makes sense in that regard.
That’s going to do it for this one. Thank you as always for joining. I greatly appreciate it. For any questions or comments on urban logging, the saw mill, or anything back in the shop, please feel free to leave me a comment. As always, I’ll be happy to answer any questions you might have. And until next time, happy woodworking!