Maplewood resident Luke Havel lost an American Elm to Dutch Elm Disease recently and decided to bring in a sawyer to cut it into usable lumber.He said he wasn’t sure what he might do with the lumber. It’s now stacked in his garage to dry.
Lighting struck the tree a little more than a year ago, and Havel thought it might be saved, but when it got the disease recently he said it died quickly.
I saw that and was surprised to hear that you found a guy to come and saw up the tree trunk. So many times I have heard of people wanting to sell a trunk of an oak or a walnut which are valuable hardwoods and they cannot. The sawyer is worried about nails that were nailed into the tree for everything from the kid’s treehouse to the closeline being nailed into the tree. My understanding is that one nail can pretty much ruin a saw blade. Is that situation true still today that it was hard to find a guy who would come out to saw up the lumber. The figuring in the wood really looks like it will make some interesting table tops.
I am sure many sawyers dont want to buy urban logs because you just never know whats inside. They probably would take it for free though. They know that if you are not interested in milling it yourself then it will end up as fire wood or mulch. Since I wanted to mill my tree for my personal use I didnt have that issue. It was not difficult tracking Bert down, I just emailed a couple hardwood suppliers in the area and one of them recommended Bert. Plus, he demos for Woodmizer at the St Louis Woodworking show. We were fortunate not to hit a single “foreign object” in my tree. But, if we had, it would have cost me $35 for a new blade. He brings several blades on site for this purpose. He said most urban logs you can expect 1 to 2 blades due to metal of some sort.
This is really cool! And a good reminder to all of us to check the health of the trees on our lots. No, I don’t work for a tree service. But we live on 1/5 acres in Maplewood and have taken down 10 large trees on just our small property. While I am always sad to see a big tree removed with all the shade and wildlife it brings, I was so thankful last year when I found that one of my massive trees (about 4 feet in diameter) that I cut down was completely hallow on the inside of the trunk. One more midwest thunderstorm and it would have taken out mine or my neighbors house. Sadly, Maplewood doesn’t have too many Maples. Thirty years ago there weren’t a lot of residents investing in landscaping in Maplewood. As a result we have a lot of soft wood or junk trees that were left to grow and have reached the end of their brief lifecycle. I would encourage everyone to learn what kind of trees are on their lot, understand the lifecycle and prune or remove trees as risk of falling over during storms. And maybe plant a Maple in it place!
Thanks Doug and I agree completely that its a shame so much of the urban forest goes to landfills, firewood or mulch when it is full of Oak and Walnut and Ash. Anyone interested in doing something similar can contact Bert Elliot at First Cut Custom Sawn Lumber, 618-520-4502. As seen in the pictures his mill is portable and he can take it virtually anywhere.
Good job, Luke. That’s a beautiful stack of lumber all neatly stickered. I’ll be curious to see what you make from it once it has properly dried. There is so much urban wood that just goes to landfills. It’s heartening to see some that’s not. Great idea.