I might have a stick or two of walnut. Hate working with it though. Walnut dust is caustic or something.
Walnut can be a problem as it tends to have higher levels of naturally occurring herbicides and can be allergenic if breathed in while working it. http://blogs.cornell.edu/nysipm/2016/11/29/natures-herbicides-and-lessons-from-black-walnut-trees If you got any you don't want, brother I'll take it. FU Justin.
I've got some stabilized spalted maple. You probably know this, but in case someone doesn't: to stabilize wood, you take the wood & put it in liquid plastic in a vaccuum sealing container. When you draw a vaccuum on the container, it will force the liquid plastic into the wood. It dries hard & has the effect of strengthening brittle wood. Burls are beautiful, but a nightmare to work with. They tend to bust and break because of the chaotic grains & just general hardness. Gotta keep your tools REALLY sharp to work burls, but stabilizing burls help guard against that. I finally broke down & bought carbide tipped tools because I hate sharpening them. Stabilized wood is still wood, but it will feel different. The way I polish most all my pens is to use a low melting temp plastic called plastic pen polish (PPP). So my pens don't feel like a wood of any kind anyway. One of the wildest looking types of pen I've made is a stabilized corn cob pen. They look great, imo. One exception is when I work with cocobolo*. If not completely dried out, this wood has TONS of natural oil. I use that oil to polish the wood. I just turm my lathe up to full speed and use old denim strips to create lots of heat. Just put lots of pressure as the wood spins. Hold it in the same place until it starts smoking slightly, then just work your way down the stick of wood. Got to be careful because you can get uneven colors causing striping. But it darkens the wood just a bit & that oil makes it shine like a new penny. It's a pretty sharp look. *Cocobolo oil is really pungent. It smells like a really strong beeswax to me. If you have allergies, I don't recommend working with cocobolo. I don't have any, but this stuff makes my eyes water & the snot roll. The oil is a blessing & a curse. Despite it being a pretty hard wood, the oil makes cocobolo one of the best "turning" woods I've worked with. Very little dust too. Kingwood is similar but not nearly as much oil and less pungent. **Sorry for the dissertation just to say, "Yes. I have some maple."
The guy that introduced me to turning made an osage orange/cocobolo call for someone. But when the guy's lips swelled up to a size that Mick Jagger would say, "Damn. Those are some big-assed lips!", he realized he was allergic to it.
I may have posted this before, but these big hollow beeches are dangerous to cut. I got away from this one, but it brought smoke and destruction on what ever it fell on.
That's the fastest I've ever seen anyone process a tree of that size. It was a big ole beech. Sounds like you're using one of those NASCAR model chainsaws.... Serious question: Is that an Oliver tractor? Also, I can't do too much stuff (I could drive the tractor for you), but I'd love to come hang out with you when you're doing this stuff. That's my kind of fun.
It's a 1963 Case 730. 60 hp with only brakes on only one wheel - that doesn't work that well - which makes life interesting when you are on the side of a mountain.
I'll probably be cutting some trees, snaking them in and splitting them up, as weather allows this winter. If you have a date that you can get up here, come on up. Always good to have a spare tractor driver.
Because I can't make picture frames or burn fires with dumbells. I tried, neither turned out well. Also, I wouldn't be able to start a thread on 8th using a Monty Python song.
I have cut about 3 Ash trees lately. They all had died out due to whatever plague hit the Ash trees. I've not burned any yet, but I've heard it is good stuff. And that it will keep for some time without rotting. You are fortunate if you get two years out of beech after it is cut, unless it is put in the dry.
It's the emerald ash borer. Invasive bug from Asia that feeds only on the Ash trees. My FIL lost 4 of his and got a ton of firewood out of it. Shame as they were ~80-100' tall. That's several diseases/bugs from Asia that have wiped or are in the process of wiping out major populations of North American trees. Chestnuts (disease) were and Elms (bugs) were almost entirely wiped out, Walnuts (disease) got close and now Ash.
My mom uncovered some records of sales and estimated inventory of my families (small, but profitable) chestnut/walnut logging operation in the mountains of NC from around the turn of last century. The Chestnut blight devastated rural WNC. In 30 years it wiped out a ~200 year old industry.
We had a timberking B20. Hated to see it go but was so thankful my sister and I no longer had to sling slabs
I have an old school bus that I'm considering using the frame to build a band mill. The frame is over 30 feet long and straight as a stick, as they say. If I get the time, I'm hoping I can build one for under $3,000.
