Boastful pic

Hello all

A tall ash tree came down at the top of the orchard last year. I looked at it and thought: that's not going for firewood!

So I had a chap with a very clever home-devised chain-saw and frame combo come and plank it up (4" and 2") and next year it will be in the kiln for a short while before he makes into a table and bench. Meantime I'm going to use some of the trunk which I held back to stay whole to do some green turning and come up with a few chairs.

He told my husband we had about £1800-worth of planks there!

Forgive me for boasting but I'm so pleased and happy when I look at those stacks.

Best wishes, Rosalind

Wonderful! Be sure and post pictures of the table and benches and chairs when they are finished or as they are progressing.

Thanks Judith! It may be SOME TIME before the finished articles as it all has to season, though if I get my druthers I shall get some turned this summer.

I am wondering what to do with all the fresh sawdust (heavily mixed in with dried leaves) which we cleared up off the ground afterwards. Husband says he can use it for drying out the bowler's run-up on the cricket field but I think that's a bit low-demand!

Hi Rosalind,

Very nice Ash bolts you have there all fletched up well. Now, if you would permit me, you need to get them off the ground at least 500 mm, and "end seal" those fletchs as soon as you can. Ash is the worse, but all wood does it, they will split all apart on you. The drying process has to be slowed way down. If these two little things don't take place, you still may have fire wood and/or mulch on you hands in just one season. Beautiful wood, great job saving it, you will make beautiful things out of it, and the tree will live on through your efforts, I am sure, but milling is only 1/4 the process, dry and taking care of the wood is almost more important.

Regards,

jay

Hi Jay

Thanks very much for your careful advice - however I didn't mill it myself, it was done by a guy who does it often and is being stored (not clear from the pic perhaps) in deep year-round shade on a north-facing slope. I am in S.E England where it never gets very hot. I will talk to my guy about what you say though, as I haven't heard about end-sealing being necessary before. Will the fact that the whole trunk has been on the ground for a good few months make any difference? Struck me looking at the interior that it had been pretty well protected by the shade and the winter and wasn't much different from freshly-felled ash.

I will have a look at the height off the ground tomorrow (it's dark here now).

Thanks and best wishes.

Hi Rosalind,

The spot in the picture would be just fine for storing the wood, (in a shed or under something better.) The getting them off the ground is pretty important, also what the stickers are made of is too, as they can "photo graph the wood" with a sticker pattern if not down well or with the correct species of sticker. Some folks don't bother end sealing, and there is nothing I can do about it, but say o-well. It does take more effort, and it does make a difference. If left on the ground, or near it, it will pull moisture up and the lower fletched could rot. We band our fletch bolts together so we can move them easier and keep the tree as one unit for sale or use in our furniture-timber wrighting projects.

Regards,

jay

Rosalind Riley wrote:I am wondering what to do with all the fresh sawdust (heavily mixed in with dried leaves) which we cleared up off the ground afterwards. Husband says he can use it for drying out the bowler's run-up on the cricket field but I think that's a bit low-demand!

Sawdust is quite good on raspberries for example.
There's an old text about sawdust with a catchy title http://us.naturespath.com/blog/2009/07/10/sawdust-my-slave
Here's a motivational excerpt - "I had never had a slave before, except my wife"... This was in 1951

Hi Crt

I love the idea of sawdust being my slave! We had to clear it up as it was on an orchard and we need the grass for the sheep, but I will certainly deploy it as mulch if we get one of our dry spells (S.E. England can be very dry in summer). I do use mulch but have not used sawdust before.

I have had a look at the idea of using it to grow King Oyster mushrooms but I wonder when I'll get around to that! You need fresh sawdust and this couldn't be much fresher.

Thanks!

Be aware of two things about sawdust (altough I believe they are both mentioned in the text):

- it can move pH to the acid side (raspberries don't care because they like it that way)
- it can use up nitrogen when decomposing so complement it with some high-N dressing

What a beautiful sight !